Who
administrates this system, should I encounter problems?
This system if administrated by the support staff of Digital Indigo
Technologies. If you have any questions, comments, or problems with
this system, please report them to support@digitalindigo.com.
Is there a fast way to go to/represent my home directory?
To move back to your home directory (the directory you start off
in when you log on) simply type "cd" from anywhere in the shell.
If you wish to represent your home directory in a regular expression,
use the "~". For example, to copy your "index.html" file to the
directory you are currently in, type "cp ~/public_html/index.html
.".
Can
I use wild cards in regular expressions?
Sure! For example, if you are in a distant directory, and wish
to move to you web directory, you can type "cd ~/pu*" to take
you back to your web directory. ***This works only if there are
no ambiguous filenames. For example, if you type "cd ~/pu*" and
there is a directory called "public_html" and a directory
called "pureJava", the computer won't know which to enter (since
they both start with "pu". In cases like this, simply spell of
the file more completely. "cd ~/pub*" would work in this case.
Do
I have a quota on my account?
All users are set up with a quota (a limit to the amount of drive
space they can use) to protect the system should a user mistake
occur. Your individual quota depends on the plan and hosting options
you chose. If your quota is too low and presents a problem for
you, please contact the system administration for an increase
of quota. To see your quota, type "quota -v" in the shell.
Can
I customize my finger information?
You can customize the ".plan" portion of your finger information.
This is done by editing the ".plan" file in your home directory.
When people request finger information about you, this file will
be sent to their display.
Can
I forward my mail to another system?
Mail that you receive can be forwarded to another system by editing
the ".forward" file in your home directory. For example to send
all of your mail to user@foobar.com you would edit your
".forward" file to look like this:
user@foobar.com
If
you would like to send it to multiple accounts, seperate address
with commas, for example:
user@foobar.com,
frank@unix.com
You
will notice that when using the forward feature, none of
your mail is kept locally on the system. If you wish to keep a local
copy of your mail, you would set up a .forward file like this:
\your_login_name_here,
first_forward@somewhere.com,
another_forward@anywhere.com
This
would cause mail to be kept locally, and be sent to the two users
listed on lines two and three. To resume normal interception of
mail, simply remove the .forward file. "rm ~/.forward"
How
do I see all of my files including ones starting with a period?
When you do an "ls" command in UNIX, it lists all files, except
those beginning with a period. However, there may be times when
you wish to see these files--.forward, .plan, and .cshrc just
to name a few. To see these files add the "-a" switch to your
ls statement. "ls -a" will show you all filenames, including those
that start with a period.
How
can I make a script run at a certain time?
To launch scripts and programs at a specific time, you need to
use the cron (short for chronometer) daemon. To set up a cron
job, type "crontab -e" in the shell. This will bring up your preferred
editor (set with the EDITOR variable). The syntax for a crontab
process is Minute (0-59), Hour (0-23), Day of the month (1-31),
Month (1-12), Day of the week (0-6 with 0 being Sunday). The "*"
wildcard can be used to substitute all numbers. See the man pages
for crontab "man crontab" for more specific information.
For example, if you wanted a script called "webinfo" to run every
night as 2359 hours, another script called "weekend.sh" to run
every friday at 1700 hours, and a script called "birthday.pl"
to run every January 24th, from your home directory, your crontab
edit would look something like this:
59 23 * * * ~/webinfo
0 17 * * 5 ~/weekend.sh
0 0 24 1 * ~/birthday.pl
After
choosing to save and exit your editing session, the system will
automatically launch your crontab processes. If a crontab encounters
any problems (or output) during the execution of programs/scripts,
an e-mail will be sent to the user who set the crontab. For addition
information on time-based launches, see the at command man page
"man at".
I
have shell variables set in my .bashrc file--they aren't working,
though.
If your shell variables aren't taking effect, check what shell
you're using. This can be done by typing "finger $USER". If you
are using the "bash" shell, you're .cshrc file won't be read,
or put into effect. In other words, make sure you have your enviroment
settings in the correct .Xrc file. To change your shell, see "Changing
Shell."
How
do I change my default shell.
In UNIX/Linux, various system shells can be used. Bash, tcsh,
ksh, and sh are just a few of the many you can choose from. To
set your shell on this system type "chsh" for the change shell
prompt.
How
do I cause events to happen on login, or logout?
You can write scripts or put shell commands in two different files,
".login" and ".logout". These files are automatically processed
each time you log in or out, respectivly.
Can
I make aliases or shortcuts for commands?
To make aliases you need to find out what shell you are using.
By default, this system sets you to the "tcsh" shell. That means
the shell automatically looks in the ".cshrc" file in your home
directory when you login. It is in this file you set your enviroment
variables, including aliases. For example, if you wanted to be
able to type "lm" and have it do the same thing as if you had
typed "last | more", you would type:
alias lm 'last | more'
An
alias can have no spaces in it. Make sure you remember this when
creating new aliases. Also, new aliases will not go into
effect until the shell is restarted (i.e. log out and log back in
again).
Is
there an easy way to move many files using UNIX FTP?
The FTP program can move multiple files between machines at one
time. However, it is usually default for it to ask permission
for each file, making it cumbersome to use. To move multiple files
at one time, ftp to the machine you wish to get the files from.
Next, go to the directory that contains the data you wish to download.
After that, type "binary" which will allow you to transfer binary
files such as graphics and programs. Next type "prompt", this
disables the computers query function for each file. Finally type
"mget *" to specify that you want to receive all files. That's
it! For a sample, see text below.
Example of user downloading the contents of "public_html" from
the machine named "alpha.fiorill.com".
ftp alpha.fiorill.com
Connected to alpha.fiorill.com.
220 alpha.fiorill.com FTP server (Version wu-2.4.2-academ[BETA-12](1)
Name (alpha.millersv.edu:fiorill): fiorill
331 Password required for fiorill.
Password:
230 User fiorill logged in.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> cd public_html
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> prompt
Interactive mode off.
ftp> mget *
My
executables used to work. Now they don't. Why?
The system may have been recently upgraded in a way such that
your binaries do not run. To make your executables work, you must
download the source code for the binaries, and make them again.
A comman mistake is made by those who already have the source
code, and type "make" again. Unfortunatly, this can include old
object files from the old operating system. Thus, your "new" binary
will still not run. It's a very good idea, and quite essential,
to type "make clean" before creating a binary. This should clear
out all of the old object files. Don't forget, you'll still need
to type "make" after the "make clean" to actually make the new
binary!
Summary:
1) Follow compilation instructions (usually in a file called README)
2) Type "make clean" to erase all old object and other files.
3) Type "make" to actually make the new binary.
Note, compilation of source code varies from program to program.
The above may not work for you. Please read the README file included
with your software before attempting compilation.
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