Point a web browser at
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220a-fall-2006/docs/pd1-intro.pdf
or alternatively (if working inside CCRMA) launch a pdf viewer (e.g., evince or acroread) and open the file with a typed command in a terminal
evince /usr/ccrma/web/html/courses/220a-fall-2006/docs/pd1-intro.pdf &
or
acroread /usr/ccrma/web/html/courses/220a-fall-2006/docs/pd1-intro.pdf &
(hints -- launch a terminal by right-clicking on the desktop background, selecting Open Terminal. Then copy a command directly from above into it by selecting the command with left-button mouse drag, followed by a release, followed by mousing over the terminal and a then a single middle-button click, ...phew... sounds harder as instructions, it'll become second nature)
Follow instructions in the document to learn basic operation of Pd. And when Pd launches, don't be surprised if the user interface has changed its look slightly since it depends on which version is running. It'll behave as predicted.
At this point, if not familiar with Unix, take some time to learn directory and file commands from any tutorial (there's a link on course page).
Continue with the lab documents pd2-sines.pdf and pd3-complexes.pdf found in the same directory. Patch files which you'll need to access for these are found in a parallel directory:
(from outside via web) ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220a-fall-2006/pd/<filename>
(from inside via file system) /usr/ccrma/web/html/courses/220a-fall-2006/pd/<filename>
...where <filename> is one of
adsr.pd jcrSynth.pd quadTest.pd sineGraph4.pd straightWire.pd
env1.pd ringSynth.pd sineMsg.pd
env2.pd noise.pd sineGraph1.pd sineNum.pd twoSines1.pd
env3.pd sineGraph2.pd sine.pd
fmSynth.pd partial.pd sineGraph3.pd spigot.pd
Patch files viewed in a web browser will show only a text representation of the patch. You can download these from the web and save them, then they will open in Pd as actual graphical Pd patches. If you're working outside CCRMA you'll need to have a copy of Pd to run in order to open them this way.