=================================== Using the ACADUNIX IBM Unix machine =================================== -IAN! idallen@idallen.ca ACADUNIX is an IBM RISC computer running the IBM proprietary version of Unix named "AIX". The machine is located on the network over in the ITS machine room in "C" building at the Woodroffe campus. The ACADUNIX machine is accessible on the Internet from most anywhere in the world using the name: acadunix.algonquincollege.com When connecting to ACADUNIX you should use the secure "ssh" program and/or protocol to make your login to ACADUNIX safe from network snooping. Windows users should look for a program namded "PuTTY" and select the "ssh" protocol to connect to ACADUNIX. (PuTTY is installed on most Windows computers at Algonquin College. A free downloadable PuTTY for Windows can be found using a Google search for "putty download".) ------------------------------ Your Login Userid and Password ------------------------------ Your login userid is your usual Algonquin userid (similar to abcd0123) and your initial password is your PIN number. (Your PIN number is available by logging in to ACSIS first; your instructor cannot help you with this information.) You should change your ACADUNIX password after you log in using the usual Unix "passwd" command. If you forget your password, contact ITS at extension 5555. (Your instructor cannot reset your ACADUNIX password. Only ITS can do that on ACADUNIX.) ITS may (or may not) limit each account to only five simultaneous logins into the ACADUNIX machine (five simultaneous logged in sessions). ITS may also kill off any programs you are running at midnight each day. Try logging in again if you get disconnected. Your userid and password are case-sensitive. Many students fail to log in because they forget to turn *ON* NUM-LOCK when they use the keyboard keypad. Other students forget to turn *OFF* CAPS-LOCK. Use the regular keyboard if you have problems with the keypad. ----------------------------------- Connecting to ACADUNIX from Windows ----------------------------------- If you use Windows, you must use the PuTTY program (or other SSH-capable program) to connect to acadunix.algonquincollege.com using the SSH protocol and the default port number (22). If you find that connecting to ACADUNIX using SSH hangs, you have hit a bug in the SSHD server on ACADUNIX. You will have to use the "telnet" protocol (port 23) to connect instead. Select port 23 in PuTTY and try again. (Your userid and password are not encrypted when you use telnet - avoid it if SSH is working.) -------------------------------------- Connecting to ACADUNIX from Unix/Linux -------------------------------------- From a Unix/Linux/Knoppix/Floppix command line, you can connect to ACADUNIX using the "ssh" command: $ ssh -l abcd0001 acadunix.algonquincollege.com Replace "abcd0001" with your Algonquin College ACADUNIX login userid. Make sure you distinguish between a lower case "l" (a letter) and the digit "1" (a number). You may also prefix the host name with your userid: $ ssh abcd0001@acadunix.algonquincollege.com If you cannot find PuTTY or any other "ssh" program, you can use the insecure "telnet" program that is available for most any operating system, including Windows, Linux, and MACOS-X. I don't recommend telnet; use ssh. You cannot currently connect directly from ACADUNIX to machines in "T" building; however, you can connect from machines in "T" building to ACADUNIX. (Machines in "T" buidling have private IP names and addresses that are not visible from ACADUNIX or from anywhere else.) If you find that connecting to ACADUNIX using SSH hangs, you have hit a bug in the SSHD server on ACADUNIX. You will have to use the "telnet" program to connect instead: $ telnet acadunix.algonquincollege.com login: abcd0001 abcd0001's Password: Your userid and password are not encrypted when you use telnet - avoid it if SSH is working. Your window size may also be incorrect; see the terminal.txt file for additional help with telnet. ------------------ The ACADUNIX Shell ------------------ The shell you first get when logging in to ACADUNIX is the Korn shell (/bin/ksh): $ echo "$SHELL" /bin/ksh This shell is somewhat less powerful than the BASH shell used in Linux, but somewhat more powerful than the original Bourne shell. You will note that the arrow keys do not navigate your command history in the default Korn shell. A copy of the open-source bash shell, commpiled for AIX Unix, is available on ACADUNIX by typing "bash" at the shell prompt: $ bash bash-2.04$ This ACADUNIX version of the bash shell is almost identical to the bash shell running on modern Linux systems. The arrow keys work in this bash shell; they do not work in the Korn shell. I recommend that you type "bash" as soon as you log in to ACADUNIX. You can automatically start the bash shell upon login by inserting the command name "bash" into your ".profile" file in your home directory. Executing a BASH shell should be the *last* thing you do in your .profile file; anything placed after it won't execute until you exit the BASH shell at logout time. --------------------------------- Terminal Type and Erase Character --------------------------------- Depending on the kind of system you use to connect to ACADUNIX, your terminal type and erase character may not work correctly. Read this Notes file for details: terminal.txt *** DO NOT USE VI or VIM until you have configured your terminal correctly! ---------------------------------- The VI and VIM editors on ACADUNIX ---------------------------------- The text editor you get by typing "vi" on AIX is the stock Berkeley version of "vi" distributed with most commercial versions of Unix, including AIX, since the early 1980s. It is *not* the open-source "vim" editor available under Linux. Many of the commands are identical; but, some things are different. Two important differences are the lack of feedback when you are in input mode, and the undo command having only one level of undo. A copy of the open-source vim editor, version 6, compiled for AIX Unix, is available on ACADUNIX by typing "vim" (not "vi") at the shell prompt. This version of vim is similar to the version of vim running on most recent Linux systems. You might want to define and save this alias on ACADUNIX: $ alias vi=vim $ vi # <--- now vi starts new vim instead of old vi If you add the above alias line to the start of your .profile file, you will have the alias defined every time you log in. If you run the BASH shell (instead of the default AIX Korn shell), also put the above alias line into your .bashrc file. The vim editor starts up in "vi-compatible" mode, which means all the nice vim features are turned off (the editor behaves much like the stock "vi" command) unless you explicitly ask for them to be turned back on. Typing ":help cp-default" in vim will explain how to set "nocompatibility" mode to get the full vim features you are used to under Linux. As a quick start, you can do this to get the some good features of vim going: $ echo "set showcmd showmode confirm ruler" >>$HOME/.vimrc $ vim (Note that the stock IBM AIX version of VI will not read .vimrc.) Read this Notes file for further VI/VIM help on ACADUNIX: vi_basics.txt ------------------------------------- Commands for a multi-user Unix system ------------------------------------- These commands are useful for looking at or interacting with other people on the same machine (e.g. on ACADUNIX): - who - w - finger - write - talk Both talk and finger take user@machine name command line arguments, allowing interaction with people on other machines (if they permit it, and if the network permits it). Note: The Algonquin ITS department usually blocks finger and talk from working between machines. To prevent users from writing on your screen, use: mesg n when you log in (or in your .profile). To enable writing, read the man page for "mesg". To exit from write, type your EOF character at the beginning of a line. To exit from talk, type your Interrupt Character. (The Unix EOF character is often ^D [CTRL-D] and the Interrupt Character is often ^C [CTRL-C].) Remember: all these programs have manual pages! "man write" -------------------------------------- Sending and Receiving mail on ACADUNIX -------------------------------------- ACADUNIX student accounts contain a file named ".forward" whose contents forward all your email to the main Algonquin email server. You normally won't ever receive any email on ACADUNIX because of this. If you want to bypass this forwarding temporarily, you can preface an ACADUNIX userid with a backslash (two backslashes, if you're typing into a Unix shell). For example, to send mail to "abcd0001" on ACADUNIX: $ mail \\abcd0001 Subject: this message will not be forwarded Hi! Userid abcd0001 can read this using the ACADUNIX mail command. ^D $ If you are typing an email address directly into a mail program (such as Netscape Messenger, Pine, Eudora, etc.), you don't need to double the backslash. One is sufficient: \abcd0001@acadunix.algonquincollege.com Only use double backslashes if typing at the Unix Shell. If you want to permanently disable the ACADUNIX forwarding of email to your main Algonquin account, you can remove or rename the .forward file in your ACADUNIX $HOME directory. You can also put two addresses into the file, so that your email goes to two places, i.e. change .forward to be: \alleni alleni@algonquincollege.com The above contents of my .forward file means that email sent to me on ACADUNIX will go both into my real ACADUNIX mailbox as well as having a copy of the email sent to my main College mailbox. Note the use of the backslash on the local address to prevent further forwarding. Mail to ACADUNIX from other machines has been disabled by ITS. You cannot send email to the machine from other machines. -------------------------------------- Reading your College EMail on ACADUNIX -------------------------------------- The "fetchmail" program available under Linux has not been compiled and installed on ACADUNIX, so you can't use it to get a copy of your main Algonquin email for reading on ACADUNIX. (Since the source code to this program is available, you could download it and try to get it to compile yourself, if you're adventurous!) What you can do (from anywhere, including from ACADUNIX) is use TELNET to look at individual messages on the POPmail server, by typing the POPmail commands directly into the server (Windows users will have to replace "pop3" on the telnet line below with the number "110"): $ telnet inmail.algonquincollege.com pop3 Trying 205.211.30.3... Connected to algmail.algonquincollege.com. Escape character is '^]'. +OK algmail POP3 Server (Version 1.020i) ready. USER alleni +OK User name accepted, password please PASS mypassword +OK Mailbox open, 3 messages STAT +OK 3 17034 LIST +OK Mailbox scan listing follows 1 1809 2 12698 3 2527 . RETR 1 ...message 1 prints here... RETR 2 ...message 2 prints here... RETR 3 ...message 2 prints here... QUIT +OK Sayonara Connection closed.