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Q: How can I get an account ?
A:
The only way to obtain an account is by filling an Application for Computer Account Form which you can get from here and print it, or obtain a hard copy from the Systems office (143MSB). After the signed form is brought back to Systems' office the account will be ready in 1 bussiness day unless otherwise specified. Please see here if you qualify and if so, under which terms.
Q: What are the supported services of the department?
A:
Please see our services page.
Q: What are the supported pieces of software ?
A:
Please see our software list.
Q: What are the machines of the department ?
A:
Please see our machines list.
Q: How can I edit files?
A:
The two main available editors are the GNU Emacs and Lucid Emacs.
Much of the work that you do on the computer will involve editing files at one point or another. There are many editors provided, emacs, GNU Emacs, Lucid Emacs, and vi. Each editor has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each has developed a loyal following. Take the time to try them all and decide which one best suits your needs.
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vi
vi has many attractive features. It has extremely powerful searching and global replacement capabilities. It is also "standard" in the sense that it is supplied with the Unix operating system; once you learn vi you will know how to use it on any platform. vi also provides a way to recover files lost when a system crash occurs during editing.
On the other hand, vi is strictly a one-file, one-window editor. It also has two modes: edit and command. Some users find this distracting.
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emacs
Emacs allows you to view multiple files (or different parts of the same file) in separate windows. You can also cut and paste text between windows in emacs.
On the downside, emacs is not as standardized as vi; you may find the key bindings at one site completely different from those at another site.
There is more detailed information available on emacs, vi, and GNU and Lucid Emacs.
Q: How can I install my own cgi scripts ?
A: Local users may create cgi-bin programs. To do this the user should:
- Log into cgi.cs.kent.edu with your normal departmental account.
- Create a directory in /var/www/cgi-bin/users.
- Place publicly executable files in this directory.
- Use the URL http://cgi.cs.kent.edu/cgi-bin/users/dirname/filename
For example: To run the program foo in the directory /home/httpd/cgi-bin/users/bar, use the URL
http://cgi.mcs.kent.edu/cgi-bin/users/bar/foo
The machine cgi is a PC running Linux. It has a full complement of compilers and interpreters. Executables for this machine must be compiled on this machine (or any other compatable Linux machine).
Executables from other platforms (hp, sun, sgi, ...) will not run on this machine.
Please be advised that access to this area is a privilege. This area is NOT for storing data and files. Users abusing this area
are subject to sanctions outlined in the Computer Systems Policies of Use
Q: How can I print a Postscript file?
A: Files containing ls Postscript code can be previewed and printed on the laser printers. First, make sure that the Postscript file is correct by previewing it using Ghostview. Postscript is a programming language, and there may be errors in the file. If the file is displayed correctly by Ghostview, it will be printed correctly. NOTE: Ghostview does not handle printing very well. DO NOT print Postscript files from Ghostview!
To print a Postscript file, you simply need to use the lp or lpr command.
Example
Let's say you want to print the Postscript file myfile.ps on the printer called graphlab.
a) Preview the file by issuing: ghostview myfile.ps
b) If all is well, print the file by issuing
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On an HP-UX machine:
lp -dgraphlab myfile.ps
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On a Linux Machine:
lpr -Pxtermlab myfile.ps
You can replace graphlab or xtermlab in the examples with whatever printer you want to print to as well as replacing myfile.ps with the actual name of the postscript file you wish to print.
Q: What's the difference between the lp command and the lpr command?
A: A short description from the man pages is given below.
lp - User-formatted printing
SYNOPSIS
lp [ options ] file1 ...
DESCRIPTION
The lp command allows you to specify how many pages of a document are printed on each physical page and control the format in which a file is printed.
The lp command recognizes file types (like Postscript, DVI or ASCII) and performs the necessary conversions automatically (unless its file type is explicitly specified an an option).
OPTIONS
-d printer: Specifies a particular destination printer. If none is given, the value of the PRINTER or LPDEST environment variable is used. (A printer list is available) .
-oa: Force printing as ASCII document (also used to print Postscript file as text).
-ops: Force printing as Postscript document.
-odvi: Force printing as DVI document (i.e. do DVI-to-Postscript conversion first).
-opcl: Force printing as PCL document.
-ohpgl: Force printing as HPGL document.
-ob: Do output a banner page
-od: Do automatic double sided printing (Only printer 3si is capable of double sided printing.)
-o1: Print one page of the file on each physical page.
-o2: Print two pages of the file per physical page (default).
-o4: Print four pages of the file per physical page.
-o8: Print eight pages of the file per physical page.
-o16: Print sixteen pages of the file per physical page.
-ow: Print wide output.
lpr
SYNOPSIS
lpr [ options ] file1 ...
DESCRIPTION
The lpr command allows you to print files to the various departmental printers.
A quick example of how to print a postscript or plain text file to the printer named xtermlab would be:
lpr -Pxtermlab myfile
Where myfile is the name of the postscript or plain text file you want to print.
Q: How can I print a .dvi file created by LaTeX?
A: The LaTeX document preparation system creates files with the .dvi extension. These files are viewed by the previewing program xdvi. To print the .dvi files using lp, you do not need to include any special flag on the lp command. For example, to print the file myfile.dvi that was produced by LaTeXing myfile.tex on the printer graphlab:
1. To preview the document, issue
xdvi myfile
2. To print the document, issue
lp -dgraphlab myfile.dvi
Q: What are the available printers?
A: Please see our list of printers link.
Q: What are the available fax machines (faculty only)?
A:The current department fax machine is a Brother MFC-9700. It is located in room 233F. The fax user's guide can be seen here
Information on setting up the fax machine software in Windows can be found here
Q: How can I create my own homepage?
A:
Creating a homepage (or multiple linked pages) is not difficult, but you need to do some preparation, write some HTML code, and test your page(s).
The following steps should get you started:
1. Create the public_html subdirectory in your home directory.
Just issue the following commands at the Unix prompt:
cd mkdir public_html
The cd command gets you to your home directory. The mkdir command actually creates the public_html directory, which will be the home for all of your personal Web pages. We'll call this your HTML directory from now on.
2. Create the index.html home page.
When people visit your Web site, the first page they will see is your home page. This page is in a file called index.html in the subdirectory public_html in your home directory. You just created the directory in Step 1, now you need to create the file.
3. Set file and directory permissions so others can read your work.
The Unix file and directory access permissions limit who can read your files and directories. To allow people to read your Web pages, you need to change the permissions on a couple of directories and files. Issue the following commands at the Unix command line:
cd
chmod go+x.
chmod go+x public_html
chmod go+r public_html/*.html
The chmod go+x . changes the access permission on your home directory to allow others to get to your Web pages. The other chmod commands change the permissions on your Web directory and its files. NOTE: Web pages must be readable by group and other, but you should never have any files that are writable by other. For more information on file permissions, see the manpage for chmod.
4. Get your link added to the department's list of user pages
If you have accomplished the steps above, you should be able to see your homepage by pointing a browser at http://www.cs.kent.edu/~yourname where yourname is your system login. If so, your page is ready for release. Check to make sure your links work correctly and then let the webmaster know that you have a page ready and your page will be added on the Department's website. You can add as many pages to your site as your disk quota allows.
Q: How can I use GNUPlot?
A:
Introduction
GNUPLOT is an easy-to-use interactive plotting package installed on the Math/CS computer network. It is entered with the command
% gnuplot
% is the UNIX command prompt. Exit with either of the commands
gnuplot> exit or quit
gnuplot> is the GNUPLOT command prompt. GNUPLOT is a public-domain package, available via anonymous ftp from ftp.dartmouth.edu in the subdirectory /pub/gnuplot. There is a brief man page
% man gnuplot
and an extensive on-line help facility available inside the program:
gnuplot> ? or help or help topic
First time users should peruse the man page and should read
gnuplot> help plotting
GNUPLOT draws pictures of two- and three-dimensional functions and data in windows on your workstation screen. It can also write to disk PostScript-language plot files, which can be printed on the laser printers. This very brief introduction discusses (through a few sample commands) how to use GNUPLOT to plot functions and to do simple ``connect the dots'' plotting of data from a disk file. It also discusses how to print out hard copy of output on a laser printer.
Plotting Functions
gnuplot> plot sin(x)
will plot the function sin(x), on the default domain [-10,10]. To specify a different domain, one can use (for example)
gnuplot> plot [x=0:2*pi] sin(x)
Connecting the Dots
gnuplot> plot "plot.dat" with lines
will draw a simple 2-D plot, connecting the dots with straight lines, of the data in the local file plot.dat. This file must have been generated previously (usually as the output from some other user program) and in the current working directory (or prescribed with its full path name). The contents of this ascii file should be two numbers (separated by spaces) per line--any number of lines--representing the (x,y) coordinates of the data points to be plotted.
gnuplot> plot "plot1.dat" with lines, "plot2.dat" with points
will plot both plot1.dat and plot2.dat on the same plot, using lines for the first data set and points for the second. The same effect can be accomplished with the following two commands in succession:
gnuplot> plot "plot1.dat" with lines
gnuplot> replot "plot2.dat" with points
For more information on these basic and important plotting commands:
gnuplot> help plot and help replot
Hard Copy Output
Once you have your plots looking as you wish in your viewing window, the following sequence of commands can be used to generate a PostScript-language disk file (here called ``plot.ps'') for laser printing hard-copy output:
gnuplot> set terminal postscript
gnuplot> set output "plot.ps"
gnuplot> replot or original plotting command(s)
The generated disk file can be laser printed (on your default printer) with the command (outside of GNUPLOT, at the UNIX level)
% lp plot.ps (HP-UX) or lpr plot.ps (Linux)
or on the selected printer graphlab (for example), via
% lp -dgraphlab plot.ps or % lpr -Pgraphlab plot.ps
For further GNUPLOT window plotting, you must reset these variables to their defaults by using the commands
gnuplot> set terminal x11
gnuplot> set output "STDOUT" or set output
For more information on this other basic command, and to see what other kinds of things can be set:
gnuplot> help set
-- Chuck Gartland / gartland@math.kent.edu
-- September, 2001
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