REMOTE
SENSING / GIS TEACHING LAB(BNR 208)
Department
of Geography and Earth Resources
College
of Natural Resources
USU
Unix Basics
UNIX, what's that?
Many, hopefully all, of you have used a
computer at one time or another. Weather you noticed it or not you
interface with the computer through three main utilities, these being the
keyboard/mouse, monitor, and operating system or OS. You'll notice
that the computers you are sitting in front of have a slightly different
keyboard/mouse setup and the monitors are fairly large but typical, however
as you log on you'll notice that things don't resemble the Microsoft Windows
OS (i.e. Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, or 2000) that you may be used to.
The operating system (OS) we use is called UNIX.
UNIX was originally developed at the AT&T
Bell Laboratories in the mid 1970s and is now used by "three quarters of
the technology or finance related companies in the Fortune 500".
"UNIX implements trades on stock exchange floors, handles file servers
at large banks, and, most notably, runs the network infrastructure for
Microsoft Corporation." (UNIX for Dummies 1993) "UNIX has been evolving
feverishly for 20 years. As a result, there have been many different varieties
of UNIX along the way." (UNIX for Dummies 1993) UNIX is a very
diverse OS, meaning that it has evolved many times and in many directions
since it's creation. These different "varieties" of UNIX allow the
OS to be ported onto, or written for, many different types of computer
systems.
UNIX was originally written without a GUI
interface, leaving all commands to be typed at a command prompt.
UNIX is a strong, stable environment in which large multi-tasked (several
processes at once) processes can be completed. (It also works wonders
in a networked environment).
We use Sun Microsystems version of UNIX dubbed
Solaris (Version 8) which is accompanied by a nice looking GUI interface.
If you want to learn more check out the UNIX
for Dummies book, it's a great reference that is easy to understand.
Getting started on the network:
* access the instructions for
getting started on the system at http://www.gis.usu.edu/~ bbanner.
* Feel free to experiment with the commands,
as it is fairly difficult to disrupt the system from you login accounts.
However, you can create problems in your own account, so read first.
Housekeeping:
* Everyone has their own login accounts and
personal space on the system. This space is yours, and everything
that you save will be there the next time that you login. ArcView
(one of the GIS programs we will be using) tries to save everything into
your home directory (the directory that you are initially in /home/<your_login_name>)
and this really clutters things, usually to the point where you loose data
or corrupt your project. (ArcView is just one of the programs that
tries to do this, therefore it is import for you to create working directories
for each project and tell the program where to save your work.) This
will enable you to create relative paths for your projects in ArcView and
keep your data organized.
* While working on a project be sure to always
save your work within the directory created for that particular project.
In other words, if we are working on a project for Cache Valley and we
create a sub-directory called "cache," all of the work that we do related
to that project will be saved within the "cache" sub-directory. Relating
this to the filing cabinet analogy, we do not just place all of our papers
in one file. We separate them into neat folders (or sub-directories) to
maintain some sort of logical (at least to you) order. Author: Chris
Mcginty
UNIX:
Unix is a computer operating system. When you first
log on to one of the Unix machines in the lab, you will see several windows
and icons on your 'desktop'. The windows are referred to as 'Command Tool
Windows' or 'Terminals', this is where you will enter commands.
There is a unique type of terminal called the 'Console'.
This window will display messages and warnings from the network, so it's
a good idea not to type commands in this window.
The desktop utilities are available through the control bar.
Examples include the 'file manager', 'mailtool', 'calendar', or 'clock'.
The
CDE also allows the user to more efficiently multitask by creating multiple
desktop environments. This is accomplished through the (default)
four buttons, 'One' through 'Four', in the middle of the control bar.
Each button is a different desktop environment. Left clicking on
a button transfers the screen display to that desktop. Users can
setup each desktop to a specific task. One desktop could be devoted
to word processing, one to internet use, one for gis work and one for image
processing for example. CDE remembers the condition of the user's
desktop and programs being run when you logout. When you login the
CDE will resume the programs and utilities you were running when logged
out. Therefore when logging out all the desktop environments must
be in the condition the user wishes to return to and programs such as Imagine,
Arc and Arcview should be exited, closed. Making them into an icon
leaves them running in the background.
Each Arrow Icon indicates a pop-up menu for other options. You
may close these by clicking the arrow again.
Additional programs may be brought up by placing your mouse cursor on
the background of your desktop (the space that is probably blue) , holding
down the right mouse button , and choosing from one of the menus.
RS/GIS
TL/ Utilizing the Lab Introduction
Home
Author:Bonnie
B. Banner _ RS/GIS Teaching Lab Manager, Department
of Geography and Earth Resources
College
of Natural Resources, Utah State University,
Logan, Utah 84322-5240, _ Lab Phone (435)797-1264, fax (435)797-4048
For Scheduling Information
_
bbanner@nr.usu.edu,
voice (435)797-7117