EGR 103/Tours/UNIX and LaTeX

This page is basically a run-through of what is done during the first EGR 103 lab.

Logging In

• Sit at one of the 42 student PCs in Lab:B209
• Log in to the "WIN" domain (should be the default) using your Duke NET ID and password
  • The first time, the WIndows 8 installation on the computer may take a little time to get situated
• Open a browser and make tabs that point to
  • Pundit
  • EGR 103 class page
• Start MobaXterm - it may be called "MobaXterm" or "MobaXterm Personal Edition"
  • If MobaXterm asks for an administrator to unblock, you can click "Cancel" if you are on a public machine -- it will work fine.

Connecting and Validating Connection

• In MobaXterm, type

ssh -XY NETID@login.oit.duke.edu

where NETID is your NET ID in lower case.

• Type your password when asked - note that in MobaXterm the cursor will not move as you type in your password

At this point you should be at a command prompt for the Unix machine you've connected to - the prompt will, among other things, include a ~ to indicate you are in your home space. To validate that graphics are working and also to make sure your connection does not time out, type xterm & where the xterm command will bring up a terminal windows from the Unix machine and the & will make sure it runs in the background. Forgetting the & will cause the Unix machine to cease responding to new commands until the terminal is closed. If you get an error about display not set, you may have forgotten the upper-case -XY in the SSH command or you may have a firewall issue.

Basic UNIX Commands

• To see where you are in the file system, type

pwd

at the moment, you should be in /winhomes/NETID; if not, type cd to get home and then type pwd to make sure you are there

• To see what files are there, type

ls

First-time users may only have a folder called public_html in this folder. Files there can be accessed via the web at

http://people.duke.edu/~NETID

though those web pages should be for academic use only.