UNIX: Getting Started

Getting Started with UNIX

This page has been accessed times since May 14, 1996.

Conventions

Typewriter font = commands
Italic typewriter font = arguments to commands
Bold typewriter font = response from computer
% = system prompt
ENTER = press the ENTER key
^u = hold the Ctrl key and type u

Getting Help

Your local system administrator should be your first point of contact
The EITS Helpdesk provides e-mail and phone support to UGA faculty, staff and students for general computing-related questions
e-mail: helpdesk@listserv.uga.edu
phone: 542-3106

Workstation Support

EITS provides UNIX and workstation support to the UGA computing community through the Workstation Support Group. To contact WSG

e-mail: wsg@listserv.uga.edu
phone: 542-3106

Why UNIX

Multiuser with efficient multitasking
Effective use of resources
Security
Available on many systems from PCs to Supercomputers

Flavors of UNIX

All the basic commands are the same. Differ mainly at the programmer's level.
Major versions are the Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) and AT&T System V.
Some Workstation Variants: SunOS & Solaris(SUN), AIX(IBM), IRIX(SGI), ULTRIX(DEC), HP- UX(HP)
Some PC & Mac Variants: BSD/OS, Linux, SCO, ESIX, XENIX, AUX

Case Sensitivity

UNIX is case sensitive.
Most commands and usernames are in lower case.

command: cd and CD are different

username: smith, SMITH and Smith are all different

Getting On

UNIX is a multiuser operating system.

To get on you need:

User ID: used to establish file ownership, mailbox, and is known to all users of the system.
Password: used to verify the user ID. Keep your password secret!

You can get the prompt to login either by

Being at the console of a UNIX workstation
Connecting to a remote UNIX workstation
- Dial
- Telnet

Contact the UCNS Helpdesk for dialup and telnet assistance.

The system provides a message ending in "login:". Type your User ID at this prompt.
"Password:" is the next prompt. Type your password. It will not echo.

In both cases, you must type correctly. Backspace will not function, and case matters. ^u will erase all of what you typed so you can try again.

Getting Off

Close the session when you are finished so that no one can modify your files or send mail from your account by entering exit
Note: if you have running jobs you may have to enter exit a second time.

On-line UNIX help

The man command displays information from the UNIX manual set.
Use the command man man to see the options available on your system.

Navigating through the man command output:
space move down a page
ENTER move down a line
b move back a page
q quit

man command usage:
man [options] subject
subject is the name of a command, function, subroutine, etc.

Example: man passwd

gives information about the passwd command. Click here to give this a try.

The manual pages have a facility similar to a book index which can be used to find the name of a UNIX command or all references to a particular subject.

Syntax:
man -k subject

On-line Help Example

% man -k password

passwd (5) - password file passwd, chfn, chsh (1) - change local or NIS password information passwd.nntp (5) - passwords for connecting to remote NNTP servers passwd.nntp (5) - passwords for connecting to remote NNTP servers rfpasswd (8) - change RFS host password yppasswd (1) - change your network password in the NIS database yppasswd (3R) - update user password in NIS yppasswd (5) - NIS password file yppasswdd, rpc.yppasswdd (8C) - server for modifying NIS password file

Useful UNIX Commands

The following are some useful commands in UNIX. Click on the highlighted commands to pull up the associated man page.

man displays manual pages on-line
clear clears the terminal
date print the date and time
finger lookup user information
w lists information about logged in users
who lists information about logged in users
ps lists information about processes

The following are some useful UNIX commands related to files. Click on the highlighted commands to pull up the associated man page.

cd changes the current directory
ls list the contents of a directory
mkdir create a directory
rmdir remove a directory
cat concatenates of displays files
cp copies files
mv moves files
rm removes files
more look at a file one screen at a time
tail look at the end of a file

UNIX Command Syntax

Commands in UNIX are of the following form

command options parameters

Example:
ls -l *.dat

Use the man command to find detailed information about UNIX commands

UNIX Applications

Electronic Mail
Text Editing
Information Retrieval
USENET News groups
telnet/ftp

UNIX Applications: Electronic Mail

Basic e-mail services are built into UNIX
The mail command can be used to send/read e-mail. (See the manual pages for mail for more information.)

Note: The mail user interface is rather primitive and not user friendly.

Electronic Mail: Pine

We recommend using pine (Program for Internet News and Email)
Full featured, including the pico text editor and a built-in newsreader.
User friendly (and user configurable) interface
Built-in on-line help facility

Note: pine is not built into UNIX, but is available for free.

Electronic Mail: Pine Main menu

This is the Main menu for pine.


PINE 3.91   MAIN MENU         Folder: INBOX  313 Messages


 ?   HELP           -  Get help using Pine

 C   COMPOSE MESSAGE-  Compose and send/post a message

 I   FOLDER INDEX   -  View messages in current folder

 L   FOLDER LIST    -  Select folder OR news group to view

 A   ADDRESS BOOK   -  Update address book

 S   SETUP          -  Configure or update Pine

 Q   QUIT           -  Exit the Pine program

 Copyright 1989-1994. PINE is a trademark of the Univ. of Washington.

? Help                     P PrevCmd          R RelNotes

O OTHER CMDS L [ListFldrs] N NextCmd          K KBLock

Typing ? will get you an introduction to pine. To perform another task, simply type the single letter associated with the task. For example, to compose and send a message to another person, type c.
Note that case is not important for commands issued within pine.

Message Composition in `pine`

If you choose C from the main pine menu, you enter the message composition part of pine. Below is sample output of a composition session:


PINE 3.91   COMPOSE MESSAGE     Folder: INBOX  313 Messages

To      : wsg@listserv.uga.edu
Cc      :
Attchmnt:
Subject : What a great UNIX course
----- Message Text -----

Isn't this a great Getting Started with UNIX course?!?!







^G Get Help ^X Send   ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg ^K Cut Text  ^O Postpone
^C Cancel   ^J Justify ^_ Alt Edit ^V Next Pg ^U UnCut Text^T To Spell

On-line help in the `pine` Composer

From within the message composition part of pine, typing ^g will get you to the on-line help for the pine composer. Below is what the on-line help looks like.


PINE 3.91   Help on the Pine Composer                Line  19 of 145 13%

                       COMPOSER COMMANDS

CURSOR MOTION KEYS                     |EDITING KEYS
  ^B (Left Arrow)   Back character     | ^D       Delete current character
  ^F (Right Arrow)  Forward character  | ^H (DEL) Delete previous character
  ^P (Up Arrow)     Previous line      | ^^       Set a mark
  ^N (Down Arrow)   Next line          | ^K       Cut marked text or
  ^A                Beginning of line  |           delete current line
  ^E                End of line        | ^U        Paste text, undelete lines
  ^Y                Previous page      |           cut with ^K, or unjustify
  ^V                Next page          |-------------------------------------
  ^@ (Ctrl-SPACE)   Next word          |SCREEN/COMPOSITION COMMANDS
---------------------------------------| ^W       Whereis (search for string)
MESSAGE COMMANDS | GENERAL COMMANDS    | ^T       Spell checker
 ^C   Cancel     |  ^G    Get help     | ^J       Justify paragraph
 ^O   Postpone   |  ^Z    Suspend      | ^L       Redraw Screen
 ^X   Send       |  ^_    Alt. editor  | ^R       Read in a file

            E Exit Help                - PrevPage    Y prYnt
                                     Spc NextPage                  W WhereIs

UNIX Applications: Text editing

The built-in full-screen editor in UNIX is vi
Other common editors on UNIX systems
emacs
jove
xedit
We recommend the pico editor that comes with pine.

The `pico` text editor

pico is a small but versatile text editor based on MicroEmacs
pico is the default editor in pine, but can also be used separately for editing text
DOS and MS-Windows versions of pico are also available

`pico` command summary

^G  Display the on-line help.
^F  move Forward a character.
^B  move Backward a character.
^P  move to the Previous line.
^N  move to the Next line.
^A  move to the beginning of the current line.
^E  move to the End of the current line.
^V  move forward a page of text.
^Y  move backward a page of text.
^W  Search for (where is) text, neglecting case.                  
^L  Refresh the display.
^D  Delete the character at the cursor position.
^^  Mark cursor position as beginning of selected text.
^K  Cut selected text (displayed in inverse characters).
^U  Uncut (paste) last cut text inserting it at the current cursor position.
^I  Insert a tab at the current cursor position.
^J  Format (justify) the current paragraph.
^T  To invoke the spelling checker
^C  Report current cursor position
^R  Insert an external file at the current cursor position.
^O  Output the current buffer to a file, saving it.
^X  Exit pico, saving buffer.

UNIX Applications: Information Retrieval

or Navigating the Internet

Text-based utilities
USENET news
telnet/ftp
X-Windows-based utilities (discussed later)
EFF's Guide to the Internet is available at the UCNS helpdesk. (Highly recommended)

USENET News Heirarchies


 bionet        Research biology
 comp          Computers and related subjects
 news          News about USENET
 rec           Hobbies, games and recreation
 sci           Science other than research biology
 soc           "Social" groups, often ethnically related
 alt           Controversial or unusual topics; not carried by all sites
 uga           University of Georgia local groups
 clari         Clarinet news feed

USENET News: Getting Started

People new to USENET should check the contents of the news.announce.newusers newsgroup. Articles explaining USENET, including network etiquette (netiquette) and Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) lists are available. Below is a recent listing of the articles on news.announce.newusers.

news.announce.newusers          18 articles (moderated)

a David C Lawrence  1  How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup
b the m team        1  Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups
d Brad Templeton    1  DRAFT FAQ: 10 big myths about copyright explained
e Mark Moraes       1  Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
f Mark Moraes       1  A Primer on How to Work With the Usene Community
g Mark Moraes       1  Introduction to news.announce
i Mark Moraes       1  How to Get Information about Networks
j Mark Moraes       1  Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet
l Mark Moraes       1  Rules for posting to Usenet
o Dave Taylor       1  A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
r Mark Moraes       1  Usenet Software: History and Sources
s Mark Moraes       1  Hints on writing style for Usenet
t Edward Vielmetti  1  What is Usenet? A second opinion.
u Mark Moraes       1  What is Usenet?
v Perry Rovers      1  Anonymous FTP: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
w Aliza R. Panitz   1  How to find the right place to post (FAQ)
x Chris Lewis       1  How to become a Usenet site
y Russ Hersch       1  FAQs about FAQs

Reading USENET newsgroups

Several common newsreader programs available under UNIX are
rn
trn
tin
pine can also be used to read news
newsgroups are treated like mail folders

Reading news with `pine`:

sample screen

PINE 3.91   FOLDER LIST              Folder: INBOX  313 Messages

------------------------------------------------------------------
Folder-collection   ** Default for Saves **       (Local) 
------------------------------------------------------------------

INBOX               sent-mail           saved-messages

------------------------------------------------------------------
News-collection                     (Remote)
------------------------------------------------------------------

uga.general         uga.tech            uga.announce.ucns



? Help       M Main Menu  P PrevFldr  - PrevPage D Delete R Rename
O OTHER CMDS V [ViewFldr] N NextFldr  Spc NextPage        A Add

Sample `rn` session

% rn
(Revising soft pointers -- be patient.)
Unread news in uga.general                   177 articles
Unread news in uga.tech                       24 articles
Unread news in uga.announce.ucns              14 articles

Finding new newsgroups:

Newsgroup alt.support.telecommute not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]
Newsgroup alt.fan.barney not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]
Newsgroup alt.philboyd.studge.is.a.dork not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]
Newsgroup rec.crafts.needlepoint not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]
Newsgroup soc.culture.swaziland not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]
Newsgroup alt.travel.canada.ontario.toronto not in .newsrc -- subscribe? [ynYN]

Other Internet Utilities

telnet
Used to connect to remote computers
You need an account on the remote machine
tn3270
Used to connect to IBM mainframes
ftp
Used to transfer files from a remote computer
Anonymous ftp is available at many sites