Teaching Unix to new students is a common tasks in many higher schools. This
paper presents an approach to such course where the students progress
autonomously with the help of the teacher. The traditional textbook is
complemented with a wiki, and the main thread of the course is a game, in the
form of a treasure hunt. The course finishes with a lab exam, where students
have to perform practical manipulations similar to the ones performed during
the treasure hunt. The exam is graded fully automatically. This paper discusses
the motivations and advantages of the approach, and gives an overall view of
the tools we developed. The tools are available from the web, and open-source,
hence re-usable outside the Ensimag.Comment: ITiCSE, Darmstadt : Germany (2011
