This document can be of interest to users of
Note: only ssh, but not telnet can be used to connect to computers of PSU Computer Science Department.
If you plan to use on your personal computer a text-based terminal emulator (such as telnet, ssh or a modem program) it is important to make a good choice. Telnet is available on a all platforms sometimes as a part of a bigger software package. Quality text based terminal emulator will allow you to
Under Microsoft Windows
Under Linux you can use minicom (freeware included in the Redhat distribution) or telix (shareware).
If you know of any better freeware or shareware, please pass the information to jan.plaza@plattsburgh.edu and we will add it to this page.
Under Unix, to invoke a text based web browser, type:
Notice that emacs supports multiple buffers and allows you not only to edit a program but also to compile it without leaving the editor. To run the program, you can suspend emacs by typing CTRL-Z. After you run your program bring emacs back to the foreground by typing fg.
If you are working on a one-file C program, prepare a makefile and try a custom utility called c-work. This utility automates the edit-compile-run cycle.
On a text-based terminal you cannot have icons, menus and operations performed
with a mouse but you can use
a multiple screen manager, called screen. This utility allows the
user to alternate between up to10 different virtual text oriented windows, seeing only one of them at a time. With screen,
the user can edit a program
in one window and compile and run it in another.
On shakespeare, to start screen, type
hit space or return to pass the introduction; you will get a Unix prompt at the top of the screen -- this is window number 0. All other windows must be created.
Once all windows have been exited, a message will flash indicating that the screen program has terminated.
More information on the screen program can be found by typing under Unix:
You can have "screen" started automatically on shakespeare whenever you use a dial-in serial connection (using a modem). The following will handle this if your default shell is TC shell (tcsh). Edit the .login file in your home directory and at its end this code:
if ($?REMOTEHOST) then
if ($REMOTEHOST == t1-pool.net.plattsburgh.edu || \
$REMOTEHOST == 137.142.10.48 || \
$REMOTEHOST == planet1.net.plattsburgh.edu || \
$REMOTEHOST == 137.142.10.28 \
) then
setenv LINES 24
screen
endif
endif
You can change the number 24 in this code to the actual number of lines which fit in the window of your modem program. Notice that there must be no blanks (spaces, tabs) after the slashes which end the four lines above -- the easiest way to add this code is by using copy and paste operations.