From Esam

Contents 1 ESAM Computing Wiki 1.1 Basics 1.1.1 Access 1.1.2 General Introductory Material 1.1.3 Available Software 1.1.4 Printing 1.1.5 Web Pages 1.1.6 Connecting to Other Machines 1.1.7 Other Miscellanea

ESAM Computing Wiki

This wiki is meant to be a living document to help members of the department navigate our computer systems. Everyone is encouraged to contribute to this page to help keep it current and accurate.

If you have any questions about department computing facilities, follow these steps in order:

1. Search this page
2. Ask another student
3. Ask your advisor
4. Ask the department computing coordinator, currently Prof. Chopp
5. Send an email to support@esam.northwestern.edu

Basics

Most of our computer systems run the Linux operating system. We currently have a mix of RedHat and Ubuntu versions, and the current plan is to eventually transition all the machines to Ubuntu. Beginners with Linux will most likely not notice any difference. A MS Windows computer is also available in the computer lab immediately to the right as you enter the computer lab.

Access

Computers for general student use are located in most graduate student offices as well as in the computer lab, M443. In the computer lab, the computers facing the north wall are available for general student use. Please be courteous and not lock the screens because this prevents others from using the computer. Forgetting to log out will also lock the screen, so always remember to properly log out (also a good idea for security purposes). Some computers in student offices are designated for particular projects and are not available for everyone to use. Ask your officemates if you are unsure of which computers are available to use. It is department policy that general use computers should not be placed on an individual student's desk.

All new computer accounts are created using netid authentication. Your netid is a three letter-three number combination assigned to you when you arrive at Northwestern, e.g. abc123. More information about netid's can be found on NUIT's website. Changes to your netid password through NUIT's website are automatically made on our system as well. Important: new students must change their password on the NUIT website after their department account is created so that their password info is updated.

Unless special arrangements are made, your files are kept on the central server, piggy. These files will be in your home directory when you log in to any linux computer in the department, so you don't have to log in to the same computer every time. Your home directory will then be /home/yournetid. We strongly encourage all users to keep their disk usage to under 1Gb of disk space. We are not strictly enforcing quotas, but it is a courtesy to others to not take too much disk space. Local disk space can be made available if your research requires additional disk space, and it is typically accessed by /stash/yournetid. Contact your faculty supervisor to obtain local disk space.

All directories in /home and most local /stash directories are backed up automatically. If you have any questions about whether a partition is being backed up, or if you need to restore a file from the archive, contact ESAM Support.

General Introductory Material

• Elementary intro to Linux
• Step by step guide to Linux
• Guide to Gnome window manager
• Guide to KDE window manager

Available Software

See also: Software

• Matlab -- Matlab is available on the department Linux computers. If you want it on your own computer, a student version is available via download through the McCormick IT department for a discounted rate here. Another alternative is to purchase the student edition at the Norris Bookstore. The McC IT version has extra toolboxes compared to the Bookstore version as well. For either option, the cost is a one time fee so long as you remain at Northwestern.
• Maple -- An older version of the symbolic math program is on the department computers. Newer versions cost $$$, so we won't be upgrading soon.
• IDL -- Think of it as Matlab on steroids. High powered graphics and math system. When the simple Matlab plots are not good enough...
• TeX/LaTeX -- The typesetting software that every student should learn.
• C/C++/Fortran -- The gnu version of all three compilers are on the system (gcc/g++/g77), and we have older version of the Intel compilers available as well (icc/icpc/ifc)
• ddd -- pretty front end for gdb debugger
• Acrobat Reader -- Invoke by typing "acroread filename.pdf"
• Xfig -- Drawing program
• OpenOffice -- The linux equivalent of Microsoft Office. Can read and write MS Office files, not as pretty, about as stable. Equivalent to Word/Excel/Powerpoint are oowriter/oocalc/ooimpress. Documentation can be found here.

Feel free to add your favorite non-standard applications here

If you need other software not listed here:

1. Ask around to see if it is already on the system,
2. Ask the department coordinator to have it added to the network

Printing

The default printer for everyone is the LJ4200 duplexing printer in the computer lab (to the left as you enter the lab). It prints double-sided by default. Single sided can be generated by using the correct printer queue, hence

lp -d lps file

will print file single sided. The color printer is accessed by

lp -d lpc file

Printing on the color printer is much more expensive, so before printing in color ask yourself 3 times whether it is absolutely necessary to print the document in color. If the answer is yes all three times, then you may print to it. Please be aware that this resource is expensive, and abuse will result in loss of services for everyone. The color printer is the Ricoh printer next to the computer lab door, and it is not able to print double-sided (see, you should have used the LJ4200...).

If you want to print to the LJ4200 printer from your laptop, follow the instructions here.

Web Pages

Personal web pages can be obtained with permission. Contact the department computing coordinator to create the page. It is McCormick policy that all pages on our server be restricted to school-related content only, and may not be used for personal content of any kind. You will be asked for the type of content you plan to include on your web page before it is created. Web pages will have addresses of the form http://people.esam.northwestern.edu/yournamehere.

Connecting to Other Machines

See also: Working Remotely

To get to another machine in the department, type "ssh machineName". To log in using a different ID, type "ssh userName@machineName". If you are already within ESAM, you can abbreviate the name of the computer, such as bert.esam.northwestern.edu -> bert. Examples:

• You are logged into chilly.esam.northwestern.edu as mclay and want to get to bert: ssh bert
• You are logged into chilly as mclay and want to get to bert, but as user alex: ssh alex@bert
• You are logged into cray20.usc.edu as mclay and want to get to bert: ssh bert.esam.northwestern.edu

If you are outside the department, you may not have access to SSH. You can obtain a Windows SSH client here. Mac OS X users can run the Terminal application and then use the ssh commands listed above.

Other Miscellanea

• A Latex class file that satisfies the graduate schools requirements for the PhD thesis format can be obtained here. Save this file into the directory in which you are editing your thesis and use the first line "\documentclass{nuthesis}".