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UNIX account frequently asked questions

Click on the questions for shortcuts through this document.

You may also want to log on to our secure server for some web-based Account Management options.


How do I access my ENGR account?

Find a terminal or personal computer connected to the campus network. For example the computers in Milne, Hovland, or your department's computer lab are on the network. "SSH" to "flop.engr.oregonstate.edu" or "access.engr.oregonstate.edu". On an Windows computer in some labs, SSH is found on the desktop. On a Macintosh in the Hovland lab, open a console and run 'ssh'.

At the "login:" prompt that appears after connecting to an ENGR UNIX host, type your ENGR login name and hit return. At the "Password:" prompt, type your ENGR password and return. Your password will not display on your screen as you type.

What does "TERM = (network)" or "TERM = (vt100)" mean?

The value of the TERM environmental variable determines what terminal emulation will be used to display characters to your screen-- how many lines long, how to make the terminal beep or flash, etc. At the "Term = (something)" prompt, type the name of the terminal emulation you want to use. For Macintoshes and IBM compatibles, "vt100" is usually the correct emulation. For Xterminals, use "xterm".

What does "flop 1%" mean?

This is your system prompt, like "C:" on DOS machines. The number before the percent symbol increases by one for each command. Type history or just h to see a list of past commands. To run a command again, type "!number" where number is the command's number from the history listing.

How do I change my password?

To change your password, use the web interface at TEACH.

Your password should be secure and easy to remember. First names and your login name are especially insecure. For a more detailed explanation of password requirements, see this document.

How do I read and send electronic mail?

For mail within the unix environment, we recommend pine. Pine uses a menu system for reading and sending mail, possible commands are listed at the bottom of the screen, and pine has detailed on line help. Type "pine" or "/usr/local/bin/pine".
Another good option is to use webmail at http://webmail.engr.oregonstate.edu
And, of course, you can use any other secure IMAP compliant mail client in unix or windows.

How do I use a particular command; what options are available?

Our UNIX systems, have on line manual pages or man pages . To learn more about a specific command, type "man commandname" (man ls). To learn what man pages are available for a particular command name or a concept, type man -k string (man -k shell or man -k ls).

How do I use my modem from home to access my ENGR account?

The campus modem pool and terminal server are maintained by Information Services. For information, on dialing in, see the following page:

http://tss.oregonstate.edu/consulting/faq/modem

If you connect to the internet through a commercial ISP (Peak, ProAxis, Comcast, etc.), once you are connected you should be able to access your account using SSH.

How do I report a problem with an ENGR UNIX system?

Send electronic mail to support.

Shell and Changing Default Shell

  • If you have problems like xhost: command not found, check your path with: echo $path
  • To change your path, edit your .cshrc file. Then either logout and log back in, or source ~/.cshrc
  • You can get the most current dotfiles, which will have the most recent path, and any important variables with: /usr/local/bin/getdotfiles. Your old dotfiles will be saved.
  • If you would like to change default shell, go to TEACH.

Printing from Engineering Labs

  • The printer names are dear115, rog338, kec1130, and hov108

Hints on Disk Usage

  • The current quota is posted on http://engr.oregonstate.edu/computing.
  • Your specific quota and overal usage is available in TEACH.
  • Each user has a soft and hard quota. The soft quota is the amount of disk space that you can use without problems. You can exceed your soft quota for up to one week. If you do not go back below the soft quota within one week, your account will be disabled. You will have to contact support to get your account re-enabled. When you reach the hard quota, you will be unable to write anything more to the disk.
  • To find out where (what directories) your disk usage is in, type: du ~. You can also get this information from the quota area of TEACH
  • Mozilla caches files within your home directory. Often this cache size is too large. If so, you can decrease the cache size within Netscape preferences.

Article Information:

Date Created: Sep 10, 2003
Last Modified: Wed, Jul 25, 2007 1:50 PM
Views: 14013