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USING THE DOE SUN UNIX WORKSTATIONS

Updated May 2007; Original Document by Malcolm Stewart

1.    INTRODUCTION

2.    THE COMMON DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT(CDE)

3.    TEXT EDITORS

4.    WEB BROWSER

5.    EMAIL

6.    PRINTING

 

1.  INTRODUCTION

This document is targeted to those students who have had little or no exposure to the SOLARIS Common Desktop Environment (CDE or GNOME) used in the Carleton University Graduate Laboratories, and to those who are looking for documentation on some general UNIX programs and commands.
 

2.  THE COMMON DESKTOP AND GNOME ENVIRONMENT

CDE and GNOME provides the user with a user with a windows-type environment in which multiple programs can be run simultaneously. The most important applications in this environment are the Control Bar-located at the bottom of each workspace windows-and the Terminal Window.
Sun CDE Manuals
Sun GNOME Manuals
  • The Control Bar
It is in your best interest to familiarize yourself with the control bar when you first start to use CDE as this will greatly increase your confidence with application. The control bar is basically a menu of the CDE management tools: a more compete description of the tools available from the Control Bar can be found in Table 1.
Control Bar Icon and Menu Description
Name
Description
Clock
What time is it Mr. Wolf??? Don't bother asking a wolf look here for the time
Calendar
Clicking on the calendar icon will open up a calendar program with which you can keep track of meetings and events. Inside this program you have the option to view by Day, Week, Month, or Year 
File Manager
Clicking on this icon will open up an iconized view of your personnal workspace. In the file manager you can create or delete(put in trash) files and folders, change access permissions on files and folders, and reorganize your files and folders by drag and drop.
Personnal 
Applications
Clicking on the icon will open up whatever program the icon represents (in Figure 2 the clicking on the icon will open a text editor); alternatively you could click on the little arrow above the icon and a menu of programs will appear.
Email
Clicking here will open the CDE email tool.
Workspace 
Selector
The Workspace Selector is made up of 4 buttons representing 4 different workspaces. Having different workspaces allows you to spread out applications so that any one workspace does not become too cluttered.
Print Manager
Clicking on the icon will open up the print manager from which you can search for available printers, view print queues and delete your entries on the print queue. 
Style Manager
Clicking on this icon opens an application with which you can personalize your desktop environment. For example, you can set colour schemes for your windows, set mouse click rates, change background graphics, etc..
Application 
Manager
Clicking on this icon opens up a directory in which are located all of the basic desktop tools and applications available--including all of the tools available on the control panel.
Help 
Click on this icon to learn more about the CDE. 
Trash
Clicking on this icon will open up the trash can folder in which you can delete the files and folders that you placed here with the file manager.
  • The Terminal Window
The terminal window is the most important window in UNIX systems. A terminal window can be opened by clicking on the arrow for personnal applications on the control bar or by holding down the left mouse button, selecting the tools menu, and then releasing the mouse button on terminal. The following is the terminal icon as it appears on the desktop.


When opened the terminal window provides a prompt line in which UNIX commands can be given. Figure 3 shows the terminal window:

 
The next section: Basic UNIX Commands covers the different commands that can be used in the terminal window.
  • Basic UNIX Commands
For those not familiar with UNIX, a few common commands are listed below, and some common flags are mentioned:
Sun Solaris 9 Command Reference Manuals
For "Unix Command Manuals" search use: apropos ; Ex: apropos who ; Will give information on the keyword "who" and related commands.

  Basic UNIX Commands (flags in brackets)
man
help utility
find
find files/directories which match a string
cd
change directory
jobs
list jobs that are running (-l)
ls
list (-a, -s, -l, -F, -R)
*,?,[]
wildcards
cp
copy(-i, -r)
>
direct output to file
pwd
print current directory
>>
appends output to end of file
mkdir 
make directory
rmdir 
remove directory
<
direct input from file
rm 
remove file(-i, -r, -f)
|
pipe one process into another
ps
process status(-aux)
&, bg
put jobs into background
history
show last commands entered
fg
put jobs into foreground
chmod
change file attributes(read, write, and execute access)
^Z
(ctrl+Z)
interrupt current job
~
home directory
more
page through an ASCII file
~user
user's home directory
kill 
kill a process (-9)
telnet
remote login to another machine
logout
logout of your account
rsh,ssh 
remote login to another machine(more functional)
exit
exit a UNIX session
grep
print out matching stings in files
ftp
transfer files with a remote machine

3.  Text Editors

Their are two types of Text Editors on the system.
***"Simple text editor" with single font, no control characters, no graphics. ( vi, vim, emacs, pico)
***"Document editor and Word processor" such as .doc .fm .wpd... which has multiple fonts, includes graphics, tables and formatting. (staroffice, framemaker, Desktop editors, latex)
  • Star Office 
      Star Office is a suite of office tools which includes a word processor,
      a mail client, a web browser, a database, spreadsheet and drawing editor.
      Star Office Home: /opt/staroffice
      Executable: star, staroffice or /usr/local/bin/star
      Documentation: Use help in the staroffice window.
  • Desktop Editor 
      The CDE and GNOME Desktop Editor will support some text formatting.
      Will not add any control characters, so it is suitable for
      writing programs and generating simple text files. 
      Editor Home: Desktop
      Executable: Desktop
      Documentation: Desktop
  • Adobe Frame Maker 
       Frame Maker is a "technical document, thesis" word processor. 
       
      Frame Maker Home: /opt/frame/current, /opt/frame
      Executable: maker or /usr/local/bin/maker
      Documentation: file:///opt/frame/current/webworks/helpdocs/en/index.htm
  • Latex 
       Latex is a structured text formatting and typesetting editor. 
       
      Latex Home: /opt/tex
      Executable: latex or /usr/local/bin/latex
      Command Line Documentation: man latex
  • Emacs 
      Emacs is the extensible, customizable, self-documenting real-time
      display editor. 
      Emacs Home: /opt/emacs
      Executable: emacs or /usr/local/bin/emacs
      Command line documentation: info -f /opt/emacs/info/emacs
  • Vi and Vim 
      vi and vim are screen-oriented (visual) display editors
      vim Home: /opt/vim
      Executable: vi, vim or /usr/local/bin/vim
      Command line documentation: "man vi" or "man vim"
Some `vi' Commands
In Normal Mode
In Command Mode
x
delete a character
:w
write the file
dd
delete a line
:w name
write to new file name
/string
search for string
:wq
write file and quit
.
repeat last command
:q!
quit without changing the file
r
replace a character
:r name
insert text from the file name into current file
o
open a new line ready for inserting characters
y
yank a lineinto the buffer
p
paste last deleted item(s)
ndd
delete n lines

4. Web Browsers

Two types of web browsers are available on the system. The text based browser (wget and lynx), and the graphical browser (firefox, staroffice and mozilla)
  • Wget 
      GNU Wget 1.9.1, a non-interactive network retriever
      Executable: wget or /usr/local/bin/wget
      Command Line Documentation: wget --help
  • Lynx 
      Distributed information text mode browser for the World Wide Web
      Lynx Home: /opt/lynx
      Executable: lynx or /usr/local/bin/lynx
      Command Line Documentation: lynx -help
  • Firefox 
      New generation of Mozilla Web browser
      Firefox Home: /opt/firefox
      Executable: firefox or /usr/local/bin/firefox
      Documentation: Use help in firefox window.
  • Star Office 
      Star Office is a suite of office tools which includes a word processor,
      a mail client, a web browser, a database, spreadsheet and drawing editor.
      Star Office Home: /opt/staroffice
      Executable: star, staroffice or /usr/local/bin/star
      Documentation: Use help in the staroffice window.
  • Mozilla 1.7 
      Version 1.7 of Mozilla 
      Mozilla Home: /opt/mozilla
      Executable: mozilla or /usr/local/bin/mozilla
      Documentation: Use help in the mozilla window.

5. Email 

       Several mail clients are available on the system. 
       Text based (pine); does not support IMAP and new mail protocols. 
       Graphical based clients ( Thunderbird, Star Office and Desktop Mail. 
       Web based mail using your preferred browser
       Mail protocols available from the server: IMAP and POP
  • Pine 
      Program for Internet Text based News and Email.
      Pine Home: /opt/utils/pine
      Executable: pine or /usr/local/bin/pine
      Documentation: man pine
  • Thunderbird 
      Mozilla Family of Mail Clients
      Thunderbird Home: /opt/thunderbird
      Executable: thunderbird or /usr/local/bin/thunderbird
      Documentation: Use help in the Thunderbird window.
  • CDE and GNOME Desktop mail 
      Solaris CDE and GNOME Desktop Mail
      Home: On Desktop
      Executable: On Desktop
      Documentation: On Desktop
  • Star Office 
      Star Office is a suite of office tools which includes a word processor,
      a mail client, a web browser, a database, spreadsheet and drawing editor.
      Star Office Home: /opt/staroffice
      Executable: star, staroffice or /usr/local/bin/star
      Documentation: Use help in the staroffice window.
  • Web Mail 
      Use the following URL to access the webmail server
      DOE webmail

6. Printing 

      Network Printers:
         lw5174  (double sided printer in room 5174)
         lw5174s (single sided printer in room 5174)
      Typical printer command:
         lp -d lw5174 filename
 

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