Using studsys from the CU101 lab

Logging in

The terminal should be showing a login screen which asks for username. If it's not, you can just turn off the JavaStation (small box next to terminal - switch on back) and turn it back on again. In general, this is a terrible thing to do to a computer, but the JavaStations don't have any disks, so it doesn't hurt them.

Enter your username and password (the password will not echo so that no one can read it over your shoulder) and you should see a few screens, then the desktop. When it asks which desktop you want, choose CDE (probably the default).

How to log off

You can end your studsys session by clicking on the EXIT button at the bottom of the screen (near the middle).

Changing password

You don't need to change your password each time you log in, but the first time you should definitely change it, because the temporary password is too easy for hackers to guess.

To change your password, you open up a terminal window to enter command lines. To do this, click the right mouse button on the desktop background - choose Tools - then choose Terminal. This will open a window with a command line prompt at the bottom like: 

  studsys.mscs.mu.edu >
Next you type the command passwd . This program will ask you for your current password and then ask for a new password (you'll type it twice to make sure you've got it right). There is no way for us to find out this new password, so be sure you'll remember it. If you write it down, keep it somewhere safe. Also it's best not to write down the machine name on the same paper.

Don't share your password with anyone!

Creating a new subdirectory (folder)

Now we want to create a new folder and put some command files into it. Open the File Manager, if it's not already open (it's the file drawer on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen). Make sure you're in your main directory, then choose File - New Folder... from the menu. Give the new folder the name bin . You can create folders in this way whenever you want. To remove a folder, click the right mouse button on the folder and choose Put In Trash .

Copying files

Let's copy some command files from the folder (directory) 
  /users/faculty/mikes/51/mcs-bin
to your new bin folder.

To do this, open a new File Manager. You will now have two File Manager windows open. In the first one, double click on your bin folder. In the second one, we want to find the files to copy. First double click on users at the top of the File Manager. Then double click on faculty and then mikes and then 51 . This is the folder named 

  /users/faculty/mikes/51
where various things will be put during the semester.

The folder we want is mcs-bin, so click on that. You should see two files, 2col and noM . First click on 2col to highlight it. Now, hold down the Ctrl key to indicate that you want to work with more than one file, then click on noM, hold down both the Ctrl key and the mouse button, and drag from the second File Manager to the first.

This is also a good time to set up a projects folder. Move to your home directory and create a new folder named projects. Then, right click on projects and choose properties. The Permissions page (you can switch with buttons at the top) can be used to prohibit other users from seeing your project files. Remove read and execute permission for Group and Other, then click Apply (at the bottom) and OK.

Now, any folders which you create inside this project folder will be invisible to other users of studsys. This is a good place to work on homework assignments.

Editing a file

Now we want to change the contents of one of those command files. We do this with the Text Editor, which is like a word processor without many options. It's designed for use by programmers rather than for producing fancy looking documents. Start the Text Editor by right clicking on the desktop and choosing Applications - Text Editor . This will open the Editor window. We want to change the file 2col which is now located in your bin directory. Choose File - Open... and then make sure the top line shows your bin directory (with a / at the end). You should see the two files 2col and noM listed at the right. Double click on 2Col . The editor is pretty straight forward. You'll see one line starting with enscript . You should change mikes in the middle of the line to your login name. Then choose File - Save and then close the editor.

Profile setup

Each user can have a file with the unusual name .profile (that is, the name starts with a period). This allows you to customize many features of your interaction with the Unix operating system. We won't be doing much with this file, but we want to do a little bit.

First copy the file mcs-profile from 

  /users/faculty/mikes/51
into your home directory. Then, click on the name of this new file (in your directory and edit it to read .profile .

This file will now run automatically each time you login. Right now, you should logout and login again (remember your new password!) to get some things reset (by the .profile).

Email

Your email address on studsys is your login name, followed by @ followed by mscs.mu.edu . You can read and send email using the GUI mailer, dtmail. You start this by clicking on the letter tray at the bottom of the screen. When you are asked to enter your password, use the same one you login with. You should then see the mailbox, probably with one welcome message in it.

Reading messages is pretty straight forward. To send a note, choose Compose - New Message from the menus. Fill in the To: line and Subject: . The Cc: line is to send copies to other addresses. For instance, to send a note to me, you would fill in mikes (a) mscs.mu.edu .

Type your message in the main box. Remember you can cut and paste from other windows, if you are trying to send complicated information. Also, use the Attachments menu to include existing files with your message. Choose Attachments - Add File... and then pick the file you want to attach. This is an especially good way to send Java source code, sample runs, and other homework items.

When the whole message is ready, click Send (at the bottom).