Using Your



Using Your

FAS Unix Account

Copyright © 1998 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

All rights reserved

Table of Contents

Overview of Unix and Your FAS Unix Account 1

Unix: What is it? 1

The FAS Unix Systems: What are they? 1

Your FAS Unix Account: What is it and how do I access it? 1

Your FAS Unix Account's Password: How do I change it? 2

Privacy: How private is my FAS Unix account? 2

File Management 3

Your Home Directory: What is it? 3

Files and Directories in My Home Directory: What are they and how do I get details on them? 3

File and Directory Permissions: How do I view and set them? 4

Your INBOX's and Home Directory's Disk-Space Quotas: How do I check them? 5

Text Editing: How do I create or edit a text file? 6

Aliases: How do I create a shortcut for a Unix command that I use frequently? 6

Communicating with Others 7

Email: How do I use it on fas? 7

Running Pine and accessing its main menu 7

Canceling an action 7

Sending an email 7

Receiving and reading an email 8

Replying to an email 8

Forwarding an email 8

Deleting an email 8

Viewing an email that I have sent 8

Saving an email to another folder 9

Accessing emails that I have saved 9

Selecting a printer 9

Printing an email 9

Creating nicknames for individuals' email addresses 10

Re-justifying sentences or paragraphs 10

Fixing a garbled screen 10

Forwardmail: How do I forward my email to another account when I'm on vacation? 10

Blockmail: How do I stop someone from sending me junk email? 10

Finger: How do I find out whether someone is logged into fas? 11

Finger: How do I customize my own finger output? 11

Ytalk: How do I chat with someone on fas? 12

Write: How do I send a message to someone's screen on fas? 12

Ph: How do I look up someone's directory information? 13

Printing 14

Your FAS Laser Printing Budget: How do I check it? 14

Your FAS Laser Printing Budget: How do I add funds to it? 14

Printing Files on fas: How do I print files on the FAS Unix systems? 14

Appendix A: Basic Unix Commands

Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands

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Overview of Unix and Your FAS Unix Account

Unix

What is it?

Unix (pronounced "yew-nix") is the operating system that runs Harvard's email and web servers. Unlike a Windows or Macintosh computer, which is typically used by only one person at a time, Unix is designed to be used by many people at once. Unix provides a fast and stable multi-user computing environment, perfect for Harvard's 18,000 users. For instruction on basic Unix commands, see Appendix A: Basic Unix Commands.

The FAS Unix Systems

What are they?

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Unix systems are known collectively by the Internet address fas.harvard.edu (fas). When you log into fas, you are automatically routed to one of six identical hosts, named login1.fas.harvard.edu through login6.fas.harvard.edu.

For some computer-oriented courses, you will need to use the Instructional Computing Environment (ICE) cluster. These systems are known collectively as ice.fas.harvard.edu (ice). When you log into ice, you are automatically routed to one of four hosts, named ice1.fas.harvard.edu through ice4.fas.harvard.edu.

In room B-14 of the Science Center, you will find 33 workstations, an additional pool of Unix machines, named ws1.fas.harvard.edu through ws33.fas.harvard.edu. These machines can provide you with a graphical interface to the FAS Unix systems, known as X Windows.

Finally, a number of other FAS Unix systems provide specific services. Machines named www1.fas.harvard.edu through www3.fas.harvard.edu serve as FAS's web servers and are collectively known as fas.harvard.edu. A machine named news.fas.harvard.edu functions as FAS's USENET server. All incoming and outgoing email is handled by four machines, named smtp1.fas.harvard.edu through smtp4.fas.harvard.edu, which are known collectively as smtp.fas.harvard.edu. POP mail programs like Eudora and Netscape Mail rely on a server called pop.fas.harvard.edu to retrieve email, while IMAP mail programs rely on a server called imap.fas.harvard.edu. Finally, a machine called ph.fas.harvard.edu provides directory information on most FAS faculty, staff, and students.

Your FAS Unix account

What is it and how do I access it?

As a Harvard student, you are entitled to an account on the FAS Unix systems. You can use this account to log into lab computers (PCs and Macs alike) throughout campus, to send and receive email, and to publish your own homepage on the Internet. You can connect fas.harvard.edu (fas) from any lab or kiosk computer on campus as well as from your own personal computer in your dorm. That is, you can check your email or design your homepage from anywhere on campus!

To connect to fas, you must use a TELNET program. If you own a PC, the FAS Network Installer disk will allow you to install a program called CRT onto your computer. If you own a Mac, the FAS Network Installer disk will allow you to install a program called BetterTelnet onto your computer. Both of these programs are available on all public PCs and Macs, respectively, throughout campus.

When you run CRT on a PC, a Connect window should appear. Select fas.harvard.edu from the window's Session List or type fas.harvard.edu into the Hostname or IP text field near the top of the box, and then click the OK button.

When you run BetterTelnet on a Mac, an Open Connection… window may appear. Make sure that fas.harvard.edu is entered into the Host Name text field, and then click the Connect button.

Once you have connected to fas with either of these programs, you will be prompted for your username and password. At the login prompt, type in your username and then hit Enter or Return. Then, at the password prompt, type in your password and hit Enter or Return. For security reasons, what you type at the password prompt will not show up on the screen. Once you have logged in successfully, you will see a fas% prompt. (When you log into fas for the very first time, however, you first will be asked to take a quiz.) You will run all Unix programs and execute all Unix commands from this fas% prompt. (When doing coursework on ice, you will run all programs and execute all commands from the ice% prompt.)

Your FAS Unix Account's Password

How do I change it?

Type passwd at the fas% prompt and follow the on-screen instructions. If you have forgotten your old password, however, bring your Harvard ID to the Help Desk in room B-13 of the Science Center and speak with one of the User Assistants.

Privacy

How private is my FAS Unix account?

Unix systems are public computing environments. Consequently, your email, homepage, and anything else in your account are stored on shared, central hard drives. All of this data is, by default, readable only by you. However, FAS Computer Services's Computer Rules and Responsibilities, located at and on the documentation racks in room B-14 of the Science Center, notes, "Systems administrators, however, may gain access to users data or programs when it is necessary to maintain or prevent damage to systems or to ensure compliance with other University rules.") Beware that no public system is perfectly private or secure. For instance, any user on fas can see who else is logged into fas as well as find out what program a particular user on fas is running. As such, you should never use your Unix account for truly private communications or work.

File Management

Your Home Directory

What is it?

Your home directory is an area on fas to which only you have access. You can store your homepage, saved mail, and other data in this area, subject to a disk-space quota. As the FAS Unix systems are public computing environments, however, any data that you have in your Unix account are stored on shared, central hard drives. Because 18,000 users have accounts on fas, efficiency dictates that users' home directories be stored in a hierarchy. If you type pwd at the fas% prompt after logging into fas, you can see the branch of the fas hierarchy in which your home directory resides. Were John Harvard to execute pwd at his fas% prompt, he would see output resembling the following:

/home/j/h/jharvard

This output reveals the path to John's home directory on fas. Just as your personal computer stores hierarchies of folders, so do Unix systems store hierarchies of directories. Hence, John's home directory is a directory called jharvard, which is contained in a directory called h, which is contained in a directory called j, which is contained in a directory called home. Any directories contained in John's home directory, therefore, would be prefaced with the above path. For instance, all of Pine's saved mail folders are stored in a directory called mail in users' home directories. Hence, all of John's saved mail resides in /home/j/h/jharvard/mail/. (Incidentally, although Pine refers to your INBOX and saved mail areas as "folders," those areas are actually individual text files, where all of the emails in a "folder" are listed one after another in a single text file.)

For information on managing files and directories in your home directory, see Appendix A: Basic

Unix Commands.

Files and Directories in Your Home Directory

What are they and how do I get details on them?

If John Harvard typed ls –a at the fas% prompt after logging into fas, he would see output resembling the following:

. .addressbook.lu .history .logout

.. .aliases .inbox .pinerc

.addressbook .cshrc .login mail

(Were John not to include –a after the ls command, none of the items above whose names begin with a period would be displayed. These so-called "dotfiles" are, in general, "invisible" system files.)

The item called . (i.e., a single period) refers to the current directory—i.e., John's home directory. The item called .. (i.e., two periods) refers to the current directory's parent directory—i.e., the directory in which John's home directory resides. The file called .addressbook contains any nicknames that John has defined in Pine for individuals' email addresses. The file called .aliases contains shortcuts for Unix commands or programs that either John or system administrators have defined. The file called .cshrc contains preferences for John's FAS Unix account; e.g., this file is responsible for loading the .aliases file into memory. The file called .history contains a listing of the commands that John has recently executed. The file called .inbox contains all of the emails in John's INBOX. The file called .login contains a list of Unix commands or programs that will be executed or run as soon as John logs into fas. The file called .logout contains a list of Unix commands or programs that will be executed or run as soon as John logs off of fas. The file called .pinerc contains Pine's preferences. The directory called mail contains all of Pine's saved mail folders.

If John instead typed ls –al at the fas% prompt after logging into fas, he would see output resembling the following:

total 1597

drwx------ 3 jharvard student 8192 Jul 27 12:32 .

drwxr-xr-x 346 root system 16384 Jul 27 12:12 ..

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 6868 Jul 16 13:36 .addressbook

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 2285 Jul 16 13:36 .addressbook.lu

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 180 Jun 23 16:38 .aliases

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 557 Jun 23 16:38 .cshrc

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 448 Jul 27 20:40 .history

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 1545000 Jul 27 21:40 .inbox

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 540 Jun 23 16:38 .login

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 229 Jun 23 16:38 .logout

-rw------- 1 jharvard student 10326 Jul 27 12:32 .pinerc

drwx------ 2 jharvard student 8192 Jul 16 13:36 mail

(John's specification of –al rather than just –a compels the ls command to display the sizes of and permissions set for the items in his home directory.)

The total 1597 means that roughly 1597 kilobytes (KB), or roughly 1.5 megabytes (MB) of data exist in this level of John's home directory; i.e., this 1597 does not take into account the sizes of files and directories nested in other directories within his home directory. The first column provides the permission listings (in the form drwxrwxrwx) for each file and directory in John's home directory. The third column containing mostly jharvards means that the items in John's home directory are owned by John. The fourth column, containing mostly students, means that John is in the student group on the FAS Unix systems. The fifth column reports the size, in bytes, of the items in John's home directory. The sixth column reveals the date and time at which the items in John's home directory were last modified. The last column contains the names of the items in John's home directory. Again, the item called . refers to the current directory, while the item called .. refers to the current directory's parent directory. Since .. is outside of John's home directory (i.e., "above" it in the hierarchical file structure of FAS), it is owned by an administrator's account called root, which is in a group called system.

File and Directory Permissions

How do I view and set them?

If John Harvard typed ls –al at the fas% prompt after logging into fas, he would see output resembling the listing above. The leftmost column in that output reveals the permissions set for each file and directory in John's home directory. Each permission listing consists ten components. The first component in the permission listing for some item signals whether the item is a directory or a file. If the first component is a d, the item is a directory; if the first component is a hyphen (-), the item is a file. For instance, the first component of the permission listing for the item called mail above is a d, since mail is a directory in which Pine stores all of John's saved mail. The remaining nine components of a permission listing for items in John's home directory can be considered in triplets, where the first triplet refers to John's privileges for that item, the second triplet refers to the privileges of John's group for that item, and the third triplet refers to everyone else's privileges for that item. As the FAS Unix systems compose a public computing environment, different users in that environment have different privileges for files and directories in that environment. The existence of this environment explains the need for different types, or triplets, of privileges.

Each triplet can be broken down further into three parts: a read permission setting (r), a write permission setting (w), and an execute permission setting (x). If a user has read privileges for a file, that user can view the file; if a user has read privileges for a directory, that user can list the contents of that directory with the ls Unix command or access files and directories within that directory. If a user has write privileges for a file, that user can edit that file; if a user has write privileges for a directory, that user can delete, move, or rename that directory as well as the files within. If a user has execute privileges for a file, that user can execute that file as a program; if a user has execute privileges for a directory, that user can change his current working directory to that directory with the cd Unix command.

For example, the permission listing for John's .addressbook file (the file containing any nicknames that John has defined in Pine for individuals' email addresses) is -rw-------. The first component of this listing signals that .addressbook is a file and not a directory, since it is a hyphen and not a d. The next triplet of components is rw-, which means that John has read and write privileges for this file. The next triplet of components is ---, which means that other members of John's group cannot read, write, or execute this file. The last triplet of components is also ---, which means that even users outside of John's group (usually called "the world") cannot read, write, or execute this file.

If you would like to change the permissions on a file or directory, you can type

chmod ( , where represents the individual or group whose privileges you want to change, ( represents the addition (+) or subtraction (–) of a privilege, and represents the privilege to add or subtract for . Valid choices for are u, g, o, and a, or a combination thereof, where u represents the owner of the file or directory, g represents all users in the owner's group, o represents other users not in the owner's group, and a represents the world.

Hence, if John accidentally gave all users on fas read privileges for a file in his home directory by typing chmod a+r at the fas% prompt, such that the permission listing for that file became -rw-r--r--, he could subtract those privileges by typing chmod og–r at the fas% prompt.

Your INBOX's and Home Directory's Disk-Space Quotas

How do I check them?

Type quota at the fas% prompt, and you will see output resembling the following:

Disk quotas for user jharvard (uid 353):

Filesystem blocks quota limit grace files quota limit grace

/home 8529 50000 50000 13 4000 4000

The /home row refers to the quota for and size of John's home directory. The 8529 in the blocks column reports that John has 8529 kilobytes (KB), or roughly 8.5 megabytes (MB), of data in his home directory. These data include any emails in John's INBOX (which reside in the .inbox file in his home directory), any files composing John's home page, as well as any other files and directories in John's home directory. The 50000 in the quota column explains that John may keep 50,000 KB (or roughly 50 MB) of data in his home directory. The 50000 in the limit column means that the absolute limit on the size of John's home directory is 50 MB; i.e., he may not exceed his quota for any reason. Were John's limit greater than his quota, John could occasionally exceed his quota for an administrator-determined number of days.

Note that 1,024 KB total 1 megabyte (MB).

Text Editing

How do I create or edit a text file?

Pico is a Unix program that allows you to create and edit text files. Text editors like Pico resemble typewriters more than they do word processors, as you cannot specify font faces or font sizes for text files.

To use Pico, type pico at the fas% prompt, where is the name of an existing file that you want to edit or the name of a file that you want to create. In the UW PICO(tm) screen that appears, you can proceed to add or remove text from , using your keyboard's arrow keys ((, (, (, and () to move your cursor around the screen. (Incidentally, UW stands for the University of Washington, the author of both Pico and Pine.) All of Pico's commands are two-character sequences and are explained at the bottom of the screen, where ^ refers to your keyboard's Control (Ctrl) key. References to Control– below signify that you should type while holding down the Control (Ctrl) key.

To save your text file without quitting Pico, type Control–O. When prompted for the file name to write, hit Enter or Return.

To quit Pico, type Control–X. If prompted to save the modified buffer, type Y or N accordingly. If then prompted for the file name to write, hit Enter or Return.

(Incidentally, when you compose a message in Pine, the text editor you are using is Pico.)

For a list of basic Pico commands, see Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands.

Aliases

How do I create a shortcut for a Unix command that I use frequently?

If you type the same Unix command at the fas% prompt fairly often (e.g., pine or finger jharvard) and would rather type a single word to execute that command (e.g., p or fj), you can add a shortcut to the .aliases file in your home directory. To create an alias, type pico .aliases at the fas% prompt while in your home directory. Scroll to the bottom of this file and add a new line containing

alias

where is the single word you would like to type at the fas% prompt to execute

. To save this alias, type Control–X. When prompted to save the modified buffer,

type Y. The new alias will begin working the next time you log in.

For a list of basic Pico commands, see Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands.

Communicating with Others

Email

How do I use it on fas?

To send and receive email, you can use a program called Pine (Program for Internet News and Email). Recommended by FAS Computer Services for both new and experienced computer users, Pine offers a menu-driven interface and online help. With Pine, you can send email, receive email, reply to email, forward email to others, save your email into separate folders, print your email, and make an addressbook containing shortcuts to, or nicknames for, others' email addresses. Pine uses the text editor Pico as the means by which you can compose, forward, and reply to emails. Similar to Pico, then, all of Pine's commands are one- or two-character sequences. In the program's main menu, all of the commands are one-character sequences; in all other menus, commands are explained at the bottom of the screen.

For a list of basic Pine commands, see Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands.

Running Pine and accessing its main menu

To run Pine, type pine at the fas% prompt, followed by Enter or Return. To access Pine's main menu at any point while running Pine, type M. To highlight different fields and options in Pine, use your keyboard's arrow keys ((, (, (, and () or type the appropriate key or keys.

Canceling an action

If, at any point while using Pine, you wish to cancel an action that you are in the middle of performing (e.g., composing a message, saving an email to a folder, etc.), type Control-C. When prompted to cancel the action, type Y.

Sending an email

First, select the COMPOSE MESSAGE option from Pine's main menu. In the COMPOSE MESSAGE screen that appears, a To: field will be highlighted. Type the email address of the recipient of your message into this field. To send your message to more than one individual, simply type all recipients' email addresses into this To: field, separating the addresses with commas. (To send a carbon copy of your message to one or more individuals, specify their addresses in the Cc: field, again separated with commas. As in the business world, the recipients of carbon copies are not expected to reply to the message but are expected to be aware of its contents.) If one or more recipients of your message have FAS email addresses, you need not include @fas.harvard.edu after their usernames in the To: or Cc: field. Pine will assume that those usernames refer to @fas.harvard.edu addresses.

Next, highlight the Subject: field and type the subject of your message.

Finally, highlight the Message Text area and type your message into this area.

After you have finished typing your message, type Control–X. When prompted to confirm the sending of your message, type Y. Your message then will be sent. Once sent, however, your message cannot be canceled or removed from a recipient's INBOX.

Receiving and reading an email

Any email sent to your FAS Unix email account will be delivered automatically to your INBOX folder in Pine. To access your INBOX folder, select the FOLDER INDEX option from Pine's main menu. In the FOLDER INDEX screen that appears, you will see a list of any emails in your INBOX folder. This list specifies the dates on which the emails were sent, the senders of the emails, the size of the emails in bytes, and the subjects of the emails. Each email will be listed according to the date of it's arrival, with the most recently arrived emails displayed at the bottom of the list. To view a particular email, highlight it then type Enter or Return. (To scroll more quickly through your INBOX folder's emails, you can use the hyphen key (–) and space bar to move up and down, respectively.)

Replying to an email

Highlight or view the email to which you want to reply. Then, type R. When prompted whether or not to include the original message in your reply, type Y or N accordingly. If prompted to reply to all recipients, type Y or N accordingly. In the COMPOSE MESSAGE REPLY screen that appears, type your reply into the Message Text area that is automatically highlighted. After you have finished typing your reply, type Control–X. When prompted to confirm the sending of your message, type Y. Your reply will then will be sent.

Forwarding an email

Highlight or view the email that you want to forward. Then, type F. In the FORWARD MESSAGE screen that appears, specify the recipient(s) of this forward in the To: or Cc: fields. If one or more recipients of your forward have FAS email addresses, you need not include @fas.harvard.edu after their usernames in the To: or Cc: field. Pine will assume that those usernames refer to @fas.harvard.edu addresses. You may proceed to change the subject of the message or the message text itself. When you are ready to forward the message, type Control–X. When prompted to confirm the sending of the message, type Y. The message will then will be forwarded.

Deleting an email

Highlight or view the email that you want to delete. Then, type D. Pine will mark the selected message for deletion; the message will not be deleted physically until you choose to expunge it, just before quitting Pine. Just before you quit Pine, you will be prompted to expunge all messages which you have marked for deletion, at which point you can type Y.

Viewing an email that I have sent

Pine automatically saves copies of all emails that you send, reply to, or forward in your sent-mail folder. To access this folder, select the FOLDER LIST option from Pine's main menu by typing the letter L or by highlighting this option and hitting Enter or Return. Proceed to highlight your sent-mail folder and then hit Enter or Return. A list of all of the emails that you have sent will appear.

Saving an email to another folder

Highlight or view the email in your INBOX that you want to save elsewhere. Then, type S. You will be prompted for the folder in which to save the selected email. By hitting Enter or Return at this point, you can save the email to the default folder called saved-messages. If you would rather save the email in a different folder, type that folder's name before hitting Enter or Return. If the folder you specify does not yet exist, you will be prompted to create the folder, at which point you can type Y. After saving an email elsewhere, Pine will automatically mark that email for deletion from its previous location.

Accessing emails that I have saved

Select the FOLDER LIST option from Pine's main menu. In the FOLDER LIST screen which appears, you will see a list of email folders, including your INBOX, your sent-mail folder, your

saved-messages folder, and any other folders which you have created. Highlight the folder that contains the email that you want to delete, move, or view and type Enter or Return. A list of all of the emails in the selected folder will then appear, at which point you can proceed to delete, move, or view one or more of them, according to the instructions above.

Selecting a printer

Before you can print an email with Pine, you must select the printer to which you want to print. Choose the SETUP option from Pine's main menu. When prompted to choose a setup task, type P. If you want to print to a personal printer that is connected to your computer, highlight the

attached-to-ansi option. If you want to print to the line printer, free of charge, in room B-11 of the Science Center, highlight the Standard Unix print command option. If you want to print to one of the networked grayscale laser printers on campus, at a charge of $0.05 per page, select the Personally selected print command option, and then type A. When prompted for this printer's name, enter its name and hit Enter or Return. (A printer's name can be found on a sticker attached to the printer itself.) When prompted for the printer's command, type lpr –P, where is the name of this printer, followed by Enter or Return. The printer you have just defined should appear highlighted now in the Personally selected print command's Printer List. Proceed to type E, and, when prompted to commit changes, type Y. Your choice of printer will be remembered by Pine, even after you quit. (If you have already defined a printer to which you want to print, simply highlight that printer in the Personally selected print command's Printer List, rather than re-defining it.)

If you opt to print to one of the networked grayscale laser printers on campus, at a charge of $0.05 per page, you must have a positive balance in your FAS laser printing budget. For information on checking your budget or adding to it, see My FAS Laser Printing Budget: How do I check it? and My FAS Laser Printing Budget: How do I add funds to it?

Printing an email

After you have selected a printer, per the instructions above, highlight or view the email that you want to print. Then, type Y. When prompted to print using the printer you have selected, type Y. Your email will be printed as soon as possible to the chosen printer.

Creating nicknames for individuals' email addresses

Select the ADDRESS BOOK option from Pine's main menu. In the ADDRESS BOOK screen which appears, you will see a list of nicknames which you have created for individuals' email addresses.

To create a new nickname, type A. In the ADDRESS BOOK (edit) screen which appears, a Nickname field will be highlighted. Type the nickname that you would like to create into this field. Then, highlight the Fullname: field and type a full name for the email address(es) for which you are creating a nickname. Finally, highlight the Addresses: field and type the email addresses to which this nickname should refer, separating multiple addresses with commas. To save this nickname in your address book, type Control–X. When prompted to exit and save changes, hit Y.

Re-justifying sentences or paragraphs

Pine automatically inserts line breaks whenever a sentence nears the edge of the screen (usually when you try to put more than 76 characters on one line). While this feature maintains your email's margins, it can cause problems when you want to delete part of a sentence or paragraph later, as the smaller text may remain broken up across two or more lines. To re-justify a sentence or paragraph while editing an email, move the cursor to some location within the sentence or paragraph. Then, type Control–J. The sentence or paragraph will be re-wrapped to the screen's width.

Fixing a garbled screen

If someone happens to send a Ytalk request or a Write message to your screen and Pine's screen becomes garbled, type Control–L. Pine's screen will be re-drawn.

Forwardmail

How do I forward my email to another account when I'm on vacation?

Forwardmail is a Unix program that allows you have your FAS email forwarded automatically to another account while, for instance, you are on vacation. Forwardmail also allows you to have a vacation message sent to the senders of any email that you receive, so that they know not to expect a quick response from you. This program also allows you to leave copies of any forwarded email in your INBOX on fas. To use this program, type forwardmail at the fas% prompt, and follow the on-screen instructions, or visit .

Blockmail

How do I stop someone from sending me junk email?

Blockmail is a Unix program that allows you block emails from specific addresses or with specific subjects. For instance, if you receive a lot of spam (i.e., junk email) from someone@, you can use Blockmail to filter from your INBOX any email from someone@. If you receive a lot of spam regarding get-rich-quick schemes, you can use Blockmail to filter any email with a subject line of, e.g., "Get rich quick". However, if someone@ acquires a new email address or if you start getting email with "Make lots of money" in the subject line, you will need to run Blockmail again to filter according to these new criteria. To use this program, type blockmail at the fas% prompt, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Finger

How do I find out whether someone is logged into fas?

Finger is a Unix program that allows you to find out whether or not a specific user is logged into fas.

If that user is not logged into fas, Finger will report the date, time, and computer at which the user last logged into fas. Finger will also tell you who a user is in real life and whether that user has new mail. To finger a user, type finger at the fas% prompt, where is the username of that user. If the specified username is valid and the corresponding user is logged into fas, you will see output resembling the following example:

Login name: jharvard In real life: John Harvard

Directory: /home/j/h/jharvard Shell: /shells/tcsh

Login Name Idle TTY Host Where

jharvard John Harvard 0:15 p0 login1 (jharvard.student.harvard.edu)

No unread mail.

No plan.

The In real life field above explains that jharvard's real name is John Harvard. The Idle field above reveals that John has not touched his keyboard for 15 minutes. The Host field above states that John is logged into login1.fas.harvard.edu, which is one of the FAS Unix systems. The Where field above explains that John is logged into fas from the computer having the Internet address jharvard.student.harvard.edu—i.e., John's personal computer.

You can also try to find out whether or not someone is logged into another University's or company's Unix systems by typing finger at the fas% prompt, where is the email address of that individual. However, not all Unix systems permit such use of Finger.

Finger

How do I customize my own finger output?

If John Harvard wanted to display a message to anyone who fingered him, he could create a text file called .plan in his FAS Unix account's home directory. To create your own .plan, type pico .plan at the fas% prompt. Type your message into the screen that appears; it may be as short or as long as you would like. To save your .plan, hold the Control (Ctrl) and type X. When prompted to save the modified buffer, type Y. Then, type fixfinger at the fas% prompt. (Any Unix files that you create are, by default, readable only by you. The fixfinger command allows everyone to view your plan.)

You can also create a text file called .project for your finger output, which is like a one-line .plan. To create your own .project, type pico .project at the fas% prompt. Type your message into the screen that appears; it should only be one-line long. To save your project, hold the Control (Ctrl) and type X. When prompted to save the modified buffer, type Y. Then, type fixfinger at the fas% prompt.

For more information on the text editor Pico, see Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands.

Were John to customize his finger output with a .plan and a .project, it might resemble the following:

Login name: jharvard In real life: John Harvard

Directory: /home/j/h/jharvard Shell: /shells/tcsh

Login Name Idle TTY Host Where

jharvard John Harvard p0 login1 (jharvard.student.harvard.edu)

Unread mail since Jan 1 12:00:00 1638.

Project: Harvard University

Plan:

"The cruelest lies are often told in silence."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

To prevent others from fingering you, type nofinger at the fas% prompt and follow the on-screen instructions. However, beware that other means exist on Unix systems for determining whether or not you are logged in.

Ytalk

How do I chat with someone on fas?

Ytalk is a Unix program that allows users to chat with each other. While ytalking with another user, everything that you type appears on the other user's screen, and vice versa. Before chatting with another user, you must ascertain whether or not that user is logged into fas and, if so, what Host the user is on. As explained above, the output of the Finger program can provide this information. To request a chat session with a user, type ytalk @ at the fas% prompt, where is the user's username and is the system reported by finger . Were John Harvard to request a chat session with you in this manner, you would see a message on your screen resembling the following:

Message from Talk_Daemon@login1.fas.harvard.edu at 21:06 ...

talk: connection requested by jharvard@login1.fas.harvard.edu.

talk: respond with: talk jharvard@login1.fas.harvard.edu

As soon as you typed talk jharvard@login1 or ytalk jharvard@login1 at your fas% prompt, the chat session would begin. (You should use the latter, however, when conducting talk sessions involving more than two people.)

To request a chat session with someone on a different University's or company's Unix system, type

ytalk at the fas% prompt, where is the email address of that someone. However, not all Unix systems permit such use of Ytalk. To request a chat session with multiple individuals, simply specify multiple @'s or 's, separated by commas, after ytalk at the fas% prompt.

To quit a chat session or terminate a chat request, type Control–C.

Write

How do I send a message to someone's screen on fas?

Write is a Unix program that allows a user to send another user a message that will appear on the latter's screen. Before messaging another user, you must ascertain whether or not that user is logged into fas and, if so, what Host the user is on. As explained above, the output of the Finger program can provide this information. To begin messaging a user, type write @ at the fas% prompt, where is the user's username and is the system reported by finger . Then, begin typing your message. Your message will not appear on the other user's screen, however, until you type Enter or Return. You can only type 254 characters in a row before you must type Enter or Return. To quit Write, type Enter or Return, followed by Control–D.

Were John Harvard to message a user, the latter's screen would display the following text, followed by John's message:

Message from jharvard@login1.fas.harvard.edu on ttyp0 [UNAUTHENTICATED] at 12:00 ...

To message someone on a different University's or company's Unix system, type

write at the fas% prompt, where is the email address

of that someone. However, not all Unix systems permit such use of Write.

Ph

How do I look up someone's directory information?

Ph is a Unix program that allows you to access Harvard's online directory, which contains contact information for most Harvard faculty, staff, and students. To look up someone's directory information, type ph at the fas% prompt, where is the first name, last name, or first and last names of the person for whom you would like directory information. To look up directory information for a particular Harvard email address instead, type ph email="" at the fas% prompt, where is that particular email address. If the email address ends with harvard.edu, you can replace harvard.edu with an asterisk (*). Were you to type ph John Harvard or

ph email="jharvard@fas.*" at the fas% prompt, the output might resemble the following:

----------------------------------------

name: John Harvard

telephone: 493-1000

address: 1 Harvard Yard Mail Center

residence: University Hall

email: jharvard@fas.harvard.edu

----------------------------------------

Printing

Your FAS Laser Printing Budget

How do I check my FAS laser printing budget?

Type usage at the fas% prompt, and you will see output resembling the following:

Username: jharvard Owner: John Harvard

Site: u

Flags: None

------------- Laser Budget ------------ --- Laser Usage --- -- Balance --

Free Paid Overdraft Total Used Available Due

0.25 15.00 0.00 25.00 16.15 8.85 0.00

The Free field above refers to credits that John may have received from FAS Computer Services as a result of failed print jobs. The Paid field refers to the funds that John has contributed to his budget. The Used field details the amount of money that John has spent, in total, on laser printing. The Available field refers to John's remaining funds. The Balance Due field refers to funds that John must deposit into his budget before he can print again to a networked laser printer.

Your FAS Laser Printing Budget

How do I add funds to it?

You can deposit funds into you budget in three ways. First, you can insert bills into the cash acceptors in room B-14 of the Science Center. The cash acceptors accept $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills. Second, you can make a check for $10 or more out to "Harvard University" and present it to the User Assistants at the Help Desk in room B-13 of the Science Center. Finally, you can type termbill at the fas% prompt to have added funds termbilled to your account. All additions to your budget take effect within 15 minutes.

Printing Files on fas

How do I print files on the FAS Unix systems?

Type lpr –P at the fas% prompt, where is the name of the printer to which you want to print, and is the name of the file that you want to print.

Appendix A: Basic Unix Commands

To execute any Unix command, type it at the fas% prompt, followed by Enter or Return.

Unix commands are case-sensitive, where typing Tutorial at the fas% prompt is not the same

as typing tutorial.

Any bracketed text (e.g., [text]) below should be substituted with the appropriate command or name.

For more detailed information on Unix commands, we recommend A Student's Guide to Unix by Harley Hahn and Unix in a Nutshell by O'Reilly and Associates.

Online Help

|man [command] |Displays the user manual for the specified command. |

|tutorial |Displays the FAS Introduction to Unix Tutorial. |

File and Directory Management

|cat [file 1] [file 2] > [file 3] |Store the concatenation of [file 1] and [file 2] in [file 3]. |

|cat [file] |Displays the entire contents of the text file [file]. |

|cd [directory] |Changes the current directory to [directory]. |

|cp [file 1] [file 2] |Makes a copy of [file 1] and saves it as [file 2]. |

|head [file] |Displays the first 10 lines of [file]. |

|ls |Lists the visible files and directories in the current directory. |

|ls –a |Lists invisible and visible files and directories in the current directory. |

|ls –al |Lists invisible and visible files and directories, along with their sizes and permissions,|

| |in the current directory. |

|ls –l |Lists the visible files and directories, along with their sizes and permissions, in the |

| |current directory. |

|mkdir [directory] |Creates a directory called [directory] in the current directory. |

|more [file] |Displays the contents of the text file [file] one screenfull at a time. |

|mv [directory 1] [directory 2] |Renames [directory 1] as [directory 2] or moves [directory 1] into [directory 2] if |

| |[directory 2] already exists. |

|mv [file 1] [file 2] |Renames [file 1] as [file 2]. |

|mv [file] [directory] |Moves [file] into [directory]. |

|pwd |Reports the current directory. |

|rm [file] |Removes (i.e., deletes) [file]. |

|rmdir [directory] |Removes (i.e., deletes) [directory]. |

|tail [file] |Displays the last 10 lines of [file]. |

Other Commands

|( (i.e., up arrow) |Displays the previously executed Unix command. |

|( (i.e., down arrow) |Displays a more recently executed Unix command, after ( has been pressed at least once. |

|[command 1] | [command 2] |Direct the output of [command 1] into [command 2]. |

| |E.g., ls –l | more. |

|[command] > [file] |Creates or overwrites [file] with the output of [command]. |

|[command] >> [file] |Appends the output of [command] to [file] or creates [file] with the output of [command] |

| |if [file] does not yet exist. |

|banner "[string]" |Displays [string] in large text. |

|chmod [who]([privilege] [file or directory] |Adds (+) or subtracts (–) [privilege] from [who]'s privileges for [file|

| |or directory]. |

|clear |Clears the screen. |

|du |Displays the sizes of directories in the current directory. |

|echo "[string]" |Echoes [string] to the screen. |

|finger [username] |Reports whether or not [username] is logged into fas. |

|ftp [hostname or IP address] |Establish an FTP session with [hostname or IP address]. |

|grep "[string]" [file] |Displays every line in [file] that contains [string]. |

|lpr –P[printer name] [file] |Prints [file] to [printer name]. |

|lynx |Runs the text-based Unix web browser. |

|nfrm |Reports whether or not you have new mail. |

|passwd |Allows you to change your password. |

|quota |Displays your home directory's disk-space usage and its quota. |

|rwho |Displays a list of users logged into the FAS Unix systems. |

|ruptime |Displays the statuses of the FAS Unix systems. |

|ssh [hostname or IP address] |Establishes an encrypted connection to [hostname or IP address]. |

|telnet [hostname or IP address] |Establishes a TELNET connection to [hostname or IP address]. |

Harvard Unix Commands

|blockmail |Allows you to block emails from specific addresses or with specific subjects. |

|fixfinger |Ensures that the contents of any .plan and .project appear when you are fingered. |

|forwardmail |Allows you to have your emails forwarded to another account. |

| |Also allows you to have a vacation message sent to the senders. |

|nofinger |Allows you to prevent others from fingering you. |

|termbill |Allows you to add funds to your FAS printing budget. |

|usage |Provides details on your FAS laser printing budget. |

Appendix B: Basic Pico and Pine Editing Commands

The following commands may be used while editing a text file with Pico or while composing, forwarding, or replying to an email with Pine. In both Pico and Pine, any references to ^ among the commands listed at the bottom of the screen refer to your keyboard's Control (Ctrl) key.

For additional information on Pico and Pine, visit .

On-Screen Help

|Control–G |Displays on-screen help |

File Management

|Control–O |Saves the file (in Pico) or postpone the message (in Pine). |

| |(I.e., writes your text out to a file.) |

|Control–R |Inserts an existing file at the current cursor location. |

| |(I.e., reads in an existing file.) |

|Control–X |Saves the file and exits (in Pico) or sends the message (in Pine). |

Moving the Cursor

|Control–A |Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. |

|Control–B or ( |Moves the cursor backwards one character. |

|Control–E |Moves the cursor to the end of the current line. |

|Control–F or ( |Moves the cursor forward one character. |

|Control–N or ( |Moves the cursor down one line—i.e., to the next line. |

|Control–P or ( |Moves the cursor up one line—i.e., to the previous line. |

|Control–V |Moves the cursor forward one screenfull. |

|Control–Y |Moves the cursor backwards one screenfull. |

Editing Text

|Control–D |Deletes the character at the cursor's current position. |

|Control–I |Inserts a tab at the cursor's current position. |

|Control–J |Re-justifies the current sentence or paragraph. |

|Control–K |Cuts the current line |

|Control–L |Re-draws the screen. |

|Control–T |Checks the text's spelling. |

|Control–U |Pastes the most recently cut line—i.e., uncuts it—or unjustifies a recently justified |

| |paragraph or sentence. |

|Control–W |Searches for text. |

Seminar Evaluation Form

We would appreciate very much your evaluation of this seminar.

When you have completed this form, please give it to one of the seminar's staff members or leave it by the door as you leave.

Thank you for your time.

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Do you feel comfortable using your Unix account now? If not, why not?

What, if anything, should we add to or omit from this seminar?

What can the instructor and assistants improve upon?

What additional seminars would you like us to offer? Would you attend?

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