This document describes facilities available on Linux computers which are used in courses at the Computer Science Department. These features are presented here as if for the CSC221 class; in the case of other classes the suffix 221 used in the commands below should be replaced by the actual course number. Notice that below linux% represents the prompt of the Linux operating system; the actual prompt in your account may be different.
Contents:
Basic security and policy issues
The Computer Science Lab in Hawkins 053 B is equipped with
Except when classes are scheduled in the Lab, the Lab is open to all Computer Science students for individual work. You can enter the lab by sliding your college ID through the card reader at the door.
You can work on the lab machines in the following ways:
This is how to use Linux on these machines:
Your username (login name) on all the CS Lab machines is the same as in your campus e-mail account and in most cases looks like abcd1234; notice that the letters are lowercase. The password is the same as your password for the campus network (LDAP password). Notice that on Unix/Linux machines usernames and passwords are case sensitive -- upper case letters are not equivalent to lowercase letters.
The password should be a string of at least 6 characters, better 8 or more.
It should be not a valid word in ANY language.
It should be different from numbers such as your birthrate, SSN, date when
Declaration of Independence was signed, etc.
Passwords in Unix are case sensitive: using both lower-case and upper-case characters makes the password more difficult to crack.
Using digits, lower and upper-case characters in the password is a good idea, too.
Please make your password so that it conforms to these requirements. This is is important for the security of your files and functioning of CS Lab as a whole.
It is easy to create a good password but it can be difficult to remember it.
Here is one way to resolve this problem. Memorize a sentence and create a
password taking the first letter of every word (preserving the case of the
letter) and any numbers used in the sentence.
To change the password go to https://password.plattsburgh.edu
Electronic submission of assignments (for some courses)
linux% submit
This commands send the electronic files of the current assignment to the instructor. Notice that the command should be issued in the parent directory of the directory to be submitted. If before the deadline, you can submit and resubmit every assignment any number of times and only the last submission will be counted by the instructor. If you develop your program on a computer different than CS Lab Linux computers, you will need to transfer it to ssh.cs.plattsburgh.edu (using sftp or scp) and then use submit; for information on transferring files see help documents on network services and modem connections.
Copying course related files (for some courses)
The instructor may place files related to your course in a directory such as $csc221. You can access these files by commands such as
linux% ls $csc221
linux% cp -r $csc221/ASUBDIRECTORY .
(Notice the space and the dot at the end of the last command; the dot means "to my current directory.")
Accessing the web (for some courses)
The instructor may post course related materials on the web or create a web based discussion list, probably accessible from http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/FIRST.LAST where FIRST and LAST are the first and last name of the instructor. The web can be accessed by using konqueror, netscape or mozilla -- if you work under X-windows, or by using lynx -- if you use a text terminal.
linux% konqueror
linux% mozilla
linux% netscape
linux% lynx
Periodically clean up your account removing unnecessary files (such as *.o, *.bak, *~, #*#). This can be done by running a custom command
linux% clean -f
All directories under the current one will be cleaned by this command. The -f option causes that the procedure does not ask you for confirmation before deleting every nonessential file.
To remove an individual file, use rm
command.
linux% rm FILE
Create a system of subdirectories to keep your files easily accessible. You can create a subdirectory using a mkdir command, remove it using rmdir command and go to a subdirectory using a cd command. Use mv command to move a file from one directory to another or to rename it.
Becoming a comfortable Unix user
Learn basic features of Unix (Linux). (You can start from http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/jan.plaza/computing/help/) Do not hesitate to ask the instructor for help. Here, I will give only one hint: while typing Unix shell commands pressing the TAB key once or twice will complete the command or give a list of available options. Pressing up-arrow a number of times brings back recent commands. These features can save you a lot of typing! Try them out, and get into a habit of using them.
If your graphical user interface under X-windows has frozen, you can kill it by pressing simultaneously Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
If there are problems with the functioning of your account, logout and login again.
If the problem persists try to reset the account to the default setting by typing:
linux% /usr/local/custom/bin/setup-account
If you cannot login to a CS Lab workstation in the graphic mode, press ctrl-alt-F6. This will put you in the text mode. Try to login in the text mode and run /usr/local/custom/bin/setup-account
If this file does not answer your question, contact the instructor. For problems affecting many users contact the system administrator.
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