5 ms·

We (including the rest of the learning community) would love to help you - could you post on the forums the problems you are having and we'll try to help sort t

by jph00 9y ago

We (including the rest of the learning community) would love to help you - could you post on the forums the problems you are having and we'll try to help sort them out? If you've already posted, please at-mention me there so I don't miss it. It's a fine line between helping too much vs too little in lesson 1! For the next time we run part 1, we're thinking we'll have an optional weekend workshop to teach the necessary (non deep learning specific) software pieces - python, numpy, AWS, shell, etc. That would end up being a separate mini-MOOC I suspect. Based on the discussions on the forums it seems most students are between these two extremes, and largely follow the video advice, branching off sometimes where they need to do some additional research, or are already familiar with some alternative approach. Edit: actually thinking more about it - probably your best bet is to simply use http://crestle.com http://crestle.com . All the data, notebooks, and software is pre-installed, so you can start coding right away.

_raoulcousins 9y ago
If I'm understanding EC2 pricing, this looks a lot cheaper. What's the downside of using crestle instead of AWS for the course?
- anurag 9y ago
  (I built Crestle.) The downside is you don't get as much control over your environment (you get a terminal in the browser, but no SSH or sudo access, for example). If you have the inclination and ability to manage your own instances, EC2 is more flexible.
  - praseodym 9y ago
    Just wondering: what kind of infrastructure are you running on? If I were to build something like this I'd probably run it atop of EC2 or GCE, so pricing would never be lower than them.
    - ErikBjare 9y ago
      If people aren't fully utilizing their instances, you can offer lower prices since you can have more than one user per underlying instance. Not sure that's how he does it, but it's one way.
    - anurag 9y ago
      It's running on EC2 and uses spot pricing which is much lower than $0.90/hour.
  - mcintyre1994 9y ago
    This looks great, can you give any idea of what your invite request queue looks like/how long I might be waiting?
    - anurag 9y ago
      You'll get an invite as soon as you sign up.
cbrevik 9y ago
I'm doing part 1 at the moment, and the outdated AWS setup instructions on the site frustrated me a bit as well. Maybe an idea would be to leverage the community a bit more? Make it easier to edit the wiki for MOOC-students which are the ones watching/reading the material later on. And maybe refer to that wiki more on the site. I end up using the forums a lot for trying to find info on stuff that is not working, or I don't understand. But it's not an easy platform to find information since it isn't structured well.
- yorwba 9y ago
  It's been a while since I watched the course, but IIRC the setup video had an overlay that said to simply put "fast.ai MOOC" (or something similar) into the P2 request form. Worked perfectly for me. Did that not show up for you?
  - cbrevik 9y ago
    Yeah, that showed up for me. It was more about how to use the setup scripts, they had changed a bit it seemed. I thought if the resources around the course evolve over time, then the material should as well. It would be easier to keep a wiki up-to-date and refer to that, instead of a video (and site). For setup and "sidenotes" specifically, I'm not saying the lessons should be re-created in the wikis. Although the homework and lesson notes in the wikis was indispensable.
learner101 9y ago
Thanks for the reply. I had not (yet) posted on the forum as I was methodically searching through the previous replies to ensure my question had not already been answered. Thanks for crestle recommendation. I will now look into it. This should simplify my tool setup. If I still have questions around tool setup after posting, then I will at-mention you. I think the mini-MOOC (for people like me) is a great idea. I get lost in basic tooling (that many experienced devs can skip). So, if you guys include a mini-MOOC on tool set up, then this would benefit people like me tremendously and help us get up to speed with everyone else. Will the revamped course in October be offered online (like the current version is) for public viewing?
- jph00 9y ago
  Yes it'll be online a couple of months after completion, or you can apply to join remotely as an international fellow.
  - learner101 9y ago
    Excellent. Thank you.

by jph00 9y ago

_raoulcousins 9y ago

If I'm understanding EC2 pricing, this looks a lot cheaper. What's the downside of using crestle instead of AWS for the course?

anurag 9y ago
(I built Crestle.) The downside is you don't get as much control over your environment (you get a terminal in the browser, but no SSH or sudo access, for example). If you have the inclination and ability to manage your own instances, EC2 is more flexible.
- praseodym 9y ago
  Just wondering: what kind of infrastructure are you running on? If I were to build something like this I'd probably run it atop of EC2 or GCE, so pricing would never be lower than them.
  - ErikBjare 9y ago
    If people aren't fully utilizing their instances, you can offer lower prices since you can have more than one user per underlying instance. Not sure that's how he does it, but it's one way.
  - anurag 9y ago
    It's running on EC2 and uses spot pricing which is much lower than $0.90/hour.
- mcintyre1994 9y ago
  This looks great, can you give any idea of what your invite request queue looks like/how long I might be waiting?
  - anurag 9y ago
    You'll get an invite as soon as you sign up.

cbrevik 9y ago

I'm doing part 1 at the moment, and the outdated AWS setup instructions on the site frustrated me a bit as well. Maybe an idea would be to leverage the community a bit more? Make it easier to edit the wiki for MOOC-students which are the ones watching/reading the material later on. And maybe refer to that wiki more on the site. I end up using the forums a lot for trying to find info on stuff that is not working, or I don't understand. But it's not an easy platform to find information since it isn't structured well.

yorwba 9y ago
It's been a while since I watched the course, but IIRC the setup video had an overlay that said to simply put "fast.ai MOOC" (or something similar) into the P2 request form. Worked perfectly for me. Did that not show up for you?
- cbrevik 9y ago
  Yeah, that showed up for me. It was more about how to use the setup scripts, they had changed a bit it seemed. I thought if the resources around the course evolve over time, then the material should as well. It would be easier to keep a wiki up-to-date and refer to that, instead of a video (and site). For setup and "sidenotes" specifically, I'm not saying the lessons should be re-created in the wikis. Although the homework and lesson notes in the wikis was indispensable.

learner101 9y ago

Thanks for the reply. I had not (yet) posted on the forum as I was methodically searching through the previous replies to ensure my question had not already been answered. Thanks for crestle recommendation. I will now look into it. This should simplify my tool setup. If I still have questions around tool setup after posting, then I will at-mention you. I think the mini-MOOC (for people like me) is a great idea. I get lost in basic tooling (that many experienced devs can skip). So, if you guys include a mini-MOOC on tool set up, then this would benefit people like me tremendously and help us get up to speed with everyone else. Will the revamped course in October be offered online (like the current version is) for public viewing?

jph00 9y ago
Yes it'll be online a couple of months after completion, or you can apply to join remotely as an international fellow.
- learner101 9y ago
  Excellent. Thank you.