MA10126

Essential Unix

2. Starting a Unix session

We assume you are sitting at a PC connected to the BUCS network. First login to the network by entering your username and password in the login box (If you don’t see the box, press the CTRL + ALT + DEL keys simultaneously to make it appear). When you type your password, you see a line of *s appear. Click OK.

Now you should see the Windows desktop. Now we need to open a Unix window. Click on [Start] and choose

[All Programs] – [UNIX Applications] – [Amos, mary, midge]. This should bring up a login box titled “bucs – Xstart Client Startup Info”. Enter your username and password, then click OK (you may have to click the box titlebar to make it active).

A new window should appear, called a Unix Xterm window. This is where you will type your commands, one line at a time. When the system is ready to receive a command, it will display a prompt such as

mary $

at the start of the line. This indicates that you are logged on to the server called mary. You may need to change server, e.g. to use MATLAB you need to use the servers amos or midge. To change to the amos server, you type

mary $ ssh amos

End each command by pressing the Return key.

Whenever the Unix system is ready to receive a new command, it will write a prompt at the start of the line, ending with a $ sign. For example, typing the command “who” will produce a list of all users currently logged on to the Unix service. Do it now:

amos $ who

You have just issued your first Unix command.

In these pages, commands that you type will be written in bold Courier typeface.

You can create a new Unix xterm window by typing the command:

amos $ xterm &

Do this now. Choose which window is active by clicking on the titlebar. When you use a package such as MATLAB, you need to have two Unix windows open: one running MATLAB, and the other available for moving and editing files, etc.

When you want to end your Unix session, type the command “exit” and press Return. The Unix window should then disappear. It is important to exit from all open Unix windows to end your session, and not just log off the PC. Try this now by exiting from the second window you just created. Keep the original window open. (Note that if you logged on to another server using the “ssh” command, you will need to type “exit” twice.)

Now click on Directories in the linkbar, below, to start learning some useful Unix commands…