Hi, I'm a non-CS major at BU on a throwaway account. Don't worry, you're not alone.

We can SSH onto an Ubuntu server named HARVEY to test Linux versions mySQL, PERL, PHP, Python, Ruby and display our own web pages.

http://harvey2.binghamton.edu/

We also have access to an FTP site for software like Mathematica, Maple, and Matlab, and there is another page for access to a bunch of VMs that have certain software packages on them. Look at ssl.binghamton.edu.