Classes start today at BYU. I actually teach on Tuesday and Thursday, so I've got another day yet. I'm teaching a class on programming language design (using Scheme) and large scale distributed system design. I've changed the text for the distributed system design class to Web Services by Gustavo Alonso, et. al. It's the first real text I've found that covers the material I want in the class.

One of the first things I have my students do is set up a Linux server. We use UML to put multiple sets of students on a single box. This year, we tried to get the SpikeSource stack working for the class, but it wouldn't work on UML. That doesn't surprise me. UML is very finicky. We may have to try Xen next time. If anyone has experience with the SpikeSource stack on Xen, I'd be interested in hearing about it. In the meantime, Dan Olsen, my TA, put together a set of instructions for setting a a Linux server for the class.