Introduction to research computing on Picotte#
This workshops teaches you how to use Picotte, Drexel’s high-performance computing cluster.
You’ll learn how Picotte is organized, how to connect and access Picotte, and how to submit jobs to the scheduler.
Preparation#
Understand shell basics
This workshops assumes you know the basics of how to use a Unix shell. You can learn these in our Introduction to the Unix shell workshop.
Install VSCode and the “Remote - SSH” extension
We’ll use Visual Studio Code (VSCode) as our interface to Picotte. VSCode lets us edit files, transfer data, and run commands, all from a single application.
1. Install VSCode
Download and install VSCode from code.visualstudio.com/download. Choose the installer for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux) and follow the default installation steps.
2. Install the Remote - SSH extension
Open VSCode. Open the Extensions sidebar by pressing Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (macOS). Search for Remote - SSH and click Install on the extension by Microsoft.
3. Ensure OpenSSH Client is installed
VSCode’s Remote - SSH extension requires an SSH client to be installed on your operating system. Typically, this is already installed, and there’s nothing you need to do. However, if you run into connection problems, try the steps for your operating system below.
Open Settings → Apps → Optional features and look for OpenSSH Client in the list. If it’s not there, click Add a feature, search for “OpenSSH Client”, and install it.
macOS includes a built-in SSH client, no additional setup is needed.
Most Linux distributions include an SSH client by default. If not, install it with your package manager (e.g. sudo apt install openssh-client on Ubuntu/Debian).