Greetings -- There has been some confusion for the first assignment on the differences between cs161@fas and cs161-list@fas. This will hopefully clarify the appropriate uses of the two lists. cs161-list@fas -------------- This is the course discussion list. It is intended to be a relatively low-volume list. It is used by the course staff to clarify certain types of questions and for pressing announcements. Students should feel free to post to this list, but they should note that their posts will be sent to the entire class. As such, questions should be pertinent to a significant portion of the class, and not just you and your partner. Types of questions that are discouraged include, but are not limited to, "Why does my locking code keep failing?", "How do I use <insert feature> in CVS?", etc. Basically, if you've got a question that you don't think others will care about, send it to cs161@fas. On the other hand, there's lots of questions that are great to ask on the discussion list because they impact the entire class -- examples include pointing out bugs in the assignment or in OS/161 (e.g., the questions we got today about Question #8 on Assignment 2). Others include questions like "Is anyone else's matmult code taking on the order of days?" The discussion list is a good way to build consensus about weird behaviour in OS/161. So, basically, use your discretion. Personally, I think discussion on this list is great, but try not to unnecessarily fill up other people's mailboxes. cs161@fas --------- This is the list for communicating with the course staff. It is the primary and preferred mechanism for asking us questions, and it is the list we check most frequently. If you're not sure where to send a question, send it here -- if it's important, we'll raise the issue on cs161-list. As mentioned in section, please make sure to ask substantive questions. Don't just ask "Why does X do Y?", ask "Why does X do Y? In most cases, X seems to do Z, but itseems to be doing Y here because interrupts are off, but I don't understand why, etc." We make no absolute guarantees about answering either list, but our intent is to read and answer cs161@fas before cs161-list@fas. Anyway. Good luck on Assignment 2, and make sure you've read the assignment and started designing before you come to section this week. -mike