Connecting to C.S. Department Computers

What’s my username?

You have a unique “username”, or “login name”, which identifies you to the computer. You don’t get to make one up—somebody created one for you.

If you’re lucky, and you’re the only person with your last name taking a computer class, then your login name will just be your last name. However, if more than one person has the same last name, then one of you will have some extra letters.

If your last name doesn’t work, try your last name and the first letter of your first name, or your last name with the initials from your first and middle names. Login names are limited to eight letters, so if your last name is long, try making it shorter.

For example, if your name is Barack Hussein Obama, you should try:

obama (just the last name)
obamab (last name and first initial)
obamaba (last name, part of first name)
obamabh (last name, first initial, middle initial)
barack (it’s an unusual name—worth a try)

On the other hand, if your last name is long, like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, try:

rooseve (last name truncated to seven letters)
roosevel (last name truncated to eight letters)
roosevef (last name truncated to seven letters, first initial)
roosevfd (last name truncated to six letters, first initial, middle initial)

If none of those work, send email to your instructor asking for your login name, or ask a lab op on duty to finger you:

    finger roosevelt

What do I mean by “work”? I mean that both the username and the password have to be right. If you get the username wrong, it doesn’t tell you “bad username”; it still asks you for a password. Honest! This is a security thing, so a bad guy can’t easily find out what usernames are valid.

What’s my password?

Your password is your CSU ID. It’s a nine-digit number starting with 8, with no dashes or other punctuation. You should change it. If you’ve taken a Computer Science class recently, you may still have a login left over from that class. If so, your password will still be whatever it was from that class.

What computer do I use?

You don’t have to use the same computer every time. Your files are magically on all of the CS Department computers at once.

How do I actually get to one of these computers?

Computer Lab

The simplest way is to walk to the Linux Lab in the 1^st floor of the Computer Science building. It’s a room full of computers—sit down and log into one. You need a RamCard keycard to get into this room.

Connecting from a home computer

You may connect to one of the CS Department Linux computers from your home computer, and do your work from home. However, it is your responsibility to get your homework done. If your internet connection fails, or if your home computer breaks, that’s your problem—you have to walk to the Linux Lab in the Computer Science building, as described above.

You need to do your homework on one of the Computer Science Department computers. From that list, select a machine where its OS is Linux or Linux(64), and its USE is general.

Don’t pick the first computer in the list, because everybody is going to pick that one. Pick one whose name has some meaning to you—I use one whose name reminds me of my favorite comic-book character.

When you refer to a computer from that list, you must use its full name. For example, if the computer’s name is corn, you must refer to it as corn.cs.colostate.edu.

How do I log in?

Walk up to an unused computer, and wiggle the mouse.
There will be a large black box in the middle of the screen. Click on “Not listed?” at the bottom.
A smaller box will ask for your username. Type it, all small letters, followed by the Enter key.
Another box will ask for your password. Type it, followed by the Enter key.
If you succeed, not much will change, except that your name will appear in the upper-right corner of the screen.

How do I create a shell (terminal) window?

To create a shell window:

Alt-F2 gnome-terminal enter

Alt is like the shift key. Hold down the Alt key, to the left of the space bar, and press F2, which is way high up, above the 3 key. Then let go of both keys.

To get rid of the shell window:

Type exit or click on the × in the upper-right corner.

How do I get a browser?

Alt-F2 firefox enter

How do I log out?

Click on your name in the upper-right corner.
Click on “Log out”.
A box will appear in the center of screen. Click on “Log out” again.

Changing your password

Once you log in, you should change your password using the passwd command. Get a terminal window by right-clicking in the background and selecting “Open Terminal”. When the prompt appears, change your password like this:

    passwd

Reading your mail

You can read your mail with a web interface at http://webmail.cs.colostate.edu, if you remember to do that, or you can forward your mail to your non-CSU email address by creating a .forward file in your home directory:

    echo "SamStudent@gmail.com" >~/.forward

CS155: Introduction to Unix

Spring 2013

Connect