Week 1 Notes for DAT2330 - Ian Allen
Supplement to Text, outlining the material done in class and lab.

Remember - knowing how to find out the answer is more important than
memorizing the answer.  Learn to fish!  RTFM![*]
([*] Read The Fine Manual)

Buy the course texts before they are all gone, or before they send
back the extra copies!

Learn how to use the news software.
Post a message in algonquinc.test and then cancel it.

Read the course announcements.  You will find a link to the announcements
group outlined in blue near the top of the home page for this course:

     http://www.algonquincollege.com/~alleni/dat2330/01s/


Look under the "Notes" button on the course web page for these
study notes for the Linux textbook:

    chapter1.txt (Introduction)


Complete these Floppix Labs on http://floppix.ccai.com/

    Floppix Lab: 1 (Geting Started)
    Floppix Lab: 2 (Running Commands)

You can't boot Floppix from an MSDOS window under Windows95.
You must shut down Windows and restart in "pure" MSDOS mode.

If, during the Floppix boot process, you see anything that looks like
"not enough memory" or "failed" or "cannot fork" or "error", your
Floppix did not boot correctly.  Try booting from a different set of
Floppix diskettes.  If the problem persists, try different hardware
(change to another computer).

To reboot the machine under Floppix (e.g. to reboot into Windows
again), use the standard CTRL-ALT-DEL key sequence.

-------------------
TELNET from Windows
-------------------

You must configure your Windows TELNET client to connect correctly to
a Unix system.  See the course web page named "Using Telnet".  What
three things must you do when you use TELNET to Unix?

- drag TELNET window to full size (it will not expand further)
- terminal type: vt100
- lines: 24

- from the College, you can telnet to the name "acadaix"
- from the Internet, telnet to acadaix.algonquincollege.com

------------------------------
EOF and Interrupting Processes
------------------------------

To interrupt a process that is running on your terminal, use the
Interrupt Character, often CTRL-C (^C).
(You can program a different character; often DEL is used.)

Your EOF character, signalling end of input, is usually CTRL-D (^D).
(You can program a different character; but, it is almost never done.)

--------------------
Basic Command Syntax
--------------------

Many Unix commands need both a VERB and and OBJECT.   The following
incorrect attempts at Unix commands are wrong:

    $ /etc/passwd         (missing VERB; what are you trying to DO?)
    $ chmod 000           (missing OBJECT; change the mode of WHAT?)

Remember to tell Unix both what you want to do and to what object you
wish to do it.

-------------------------------------
Commands for a multi-user Unix system
-------------------------------------

These commands are useful for looking at or interacting with
other people on the same machine:

   - who
   - w
   - finger
   - write
   - talk

Both talk and finger take user@machine names, allowing interaction
with people on other machines (if they permit it, and if the network
permits it).

To prevent users from writing on your screen, use:  mesg n

To exit from write, type your EOF character at the beginning of a line.
To exit from talk, type your Interrupt Character.

Remember: all these programs have manual pages!  "man write"

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Notes
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GNU - Gnu's Not Unix
- Free Software Foundation (FSF) project
- rewrote Unix in the public domain (the way it started out)
- chief architect: Richard Stallman (original author of EMACS)

Linux "distribution" == Linux Kernel + GNU Utilities
- The GNU kernel hasn't progressed far  (named HURD)
- So, we use the Linux kernel with all the Unix-compatible GNU utility software