The CSE Environment - Getting Started

Table of Contents

• Logging In the First Time
• Setting Up Your Environment
• Logging Out the First Time
• Logging In the Second Time
• Logging Out the Second Time
• For More Information

Logging In the First Time

This document explains how to access the CSE Unix environment -- which you will use for most of your CSE courses -- from one of the CSE lab sites.  This is a two-step process.  You first need to login to Windows on a lab PC and run a program called X-Win32.  This program gives you a single window on the PC in which you can login to the CSE Unix environment.  Logout is also a two-step process.  When you logout, you must logout of the CSE Unix environment and also logout of Windows on the lab PC.  Please be sure not to skip one of these steps, or someone else may inadvertently gain access to your account!

• Find any free PC in the lab room.  (You should see the Windows logo if the last person has logged out properly.)  To login, momentarily press and hold the <control>, <alt>, and <delete> keys simultaneously.  This will cause Windows to prompt you for your account information.
• Click inside the "User name:" box and type the username that was provided to you by your instructor.
• Click inside the "Password:" box and type your password.  Your default password is the last four digits of your OSU ID number, followed by your first and last initials in lower case, followed by an exclamation point ('!') (e.g., Jane Smith's password would be something like 6789js!). Newer BUCK-ID cards have the OSU ID on them; it's the shorter of the two long numbers. Or, you may get it using BuckeyeLink (scroll down to "Personal Information" for the link to look up your OSU ID number).
• Make sure that "CSE" has been selected in the "Log on to:" box, then click on the "OK" button to complete the process of login to Windows on the PC you're sitting at.

After your Windows desktop appears, you may use the available Windows applications if you like -- but not now!  For most of your CSE courses, including CSE 221/222/321, you will need to login to the CSE Unix environment.  Before doing so this first time, however, change your currently insecure Windows password, as follows:

• Momentarily press and hold the <control>, <alt>, and <delete> keys simultaneously and a dialog box will appear.
• Click on the "Change Password" button and do the obvious. You should choose a password that you can remember and that no one else will associate with you or your account.  A good rule of thumb is to make it eight or more characters in length, and to include one or more numbers and one or more punctuation characters.

You should see (among other things on your desktop) a desktop icon, or shortcut, called stdsun.  This is the key item for the second step of the login process.  The CSE Unix environment consists of multiple Unix compute servers, all of which are essentially indistinguishable.  When your course account is created, a directory, called your home directory, is created for you on a file server that (along with the lab PCs and the Unix compute servers) is connected to the CSE network.  The hostname "stdsun.cse.ohio-state.edu" is an alias for all of the Unix compute servers on the CSE network that are available for student use.  When you log on to any of these machines in the second step of login, you are accessing the same files from your home directory.  So, you don't have to worry about which specific Unix compute server you login to from one time to the next.  The stdsun shortcut will take you to one of the Unix compute servers if you follow these instructions:

• Double-click on the stdsun shortcut on your Windows desktop.
• In the dialog box that appears, click in the "Please enter your user name:" box and type the user name provided by your instructor (the same one as for logging into Windows), then click "OK" or press the "Enter" key.
  
• In the dialog box that appears, click in the "Please enter your password:" box and type the initial password for your stdsun account (nearly the same one as for logging into Windows initially, except that it doesn't have the exclamation point ('!') -- e.g., Jane Smith's password would be something like 6789js; note that it will not appear as you type it), then click on the "OK" button or press the "Enter" key.
• The first time you login, you will be asked to change your password.  You may choose the same password as you did for Windows, although this is not necessary.  You will be prompted to retype your new password.  (If you logout and login to a Unix server again quickly, you may need to use your old password to login the second time.)
• Some windows will begin to appear inside the X-Win32 window on your PC's desktop.  After a few seconds the login process should be complete, and you will see your CSE Unix environment desktop inside the X-Win32 window.  This is called the "Common Desktop Environment", or CDE.  At the bottom is the front panel, in the upper left is the Help Viewer window, and at the top right is the File Manager window.  The Help Viewer provides on-line help for basic skills such as opening, resizing, moving, and closing windows.  It also provides help with the CDE, including help for the front panel and the File Manager.  You might wish to minimize/iconify these windows now to avoid screen clutter.
• The front panel can be used to launch applications.  If you click on the up arrow just above the icon of a computer monitor, a menu will pop up from which you can launch a Terminal window.  You'll use Terminal windows (sometimes called xterms) to enter commands and do your basic work.  You'll use XEmacs (sometimes called emacs) windows to edit files and compile and run programs.  To run XEmacs, type

  emacs &

  in an xterm window.  (Don't forget the "&" here, as it allows you to continue using the xterm window in which you typed the command.)  Sometimes you'll also need a web browser.  To run the Firefox browser, type

  firefox &

  in an xterm window. These are probably the only separate programs you will need to run for this course, as everything normally will be done with ordinary Unix commands in an xterm window, or by doing something in an emacs or browser window.

  By the way, we have noticed from experience that some students repeatedly quit emacs and then start new emacs windows while editing and executing their programs.  This is unnecessary and wastes your time.  Please learn how to use emacs (see the tutorial, or ask your instructor for advice on how to operate within emacs.)

Setting Up Your Environment

Set up your environment as follows:

• Click the left mouse button on the little arrow just above the computer-monitor icon in the front panel.  From the menu that pops up, click the left mouse button on the Terminal option.
• A window should pop up titled Terminal.  The top line of the Terminal window will be highlighted and will say something like /home/5/your-user-name, which is your home directory.  Below this, you should see prompt sign such as %.  Next to the % prompt, type:
  

/class/sce/bin/getsetup

and press the "Enter" key.  This command will change your environment as needed.  For these changes to take effect, you need to logout and then login again.

Logging Out the First Time

Remember that there are two steps to the process every time you logout: first, logout of the CSE Unix environment, and then logout of Windows on the lab PC.  To accomplish the first one, click on the tiny "EXIT" button near the middle of the CDE front panel.  After confirming that you want to logout, wait until all the CDE windows disappear, along with the X-Win32 window that allowed you to login to the CSE Unix environment in the first place.

Next, logout of Windows on the lab PC.  Click on the "Start" button in the lower-left corner of the screen and select "Log Off".  You will be prompted to confirm that you want to logoff.  Click on "Log Off" if you are sure.

Logging In the Second Time

Logging Out the Second Time

For More Information

For information about backing up your files before your CSE 221 or CSE 222 account expires at the end of the term, and restoring backed-up files when you start the next course, see the related document on Account Setup and Backup.

For more information about advanced activities, including customizing your CDE environment, see OSU-CSE Computer User Guide.