Physics Computing How To...

Last updated March 22, 2005.

Notes | Get an Account | Logon | Change Password | Logout | Use Email | Add a Printer | Create a Web Page | Troubleshoot HTML | SSH to Phylab | Mount the H: Drive

Notes

• The symbol % refers to a Linux command prompt.
• The symbol ^ refers to the Control key.
• Phylab and phylabserver refer to the server designated for undergraduate physics majors. For faculty, staff, graduate students, and visitors, replace these designations with phy and physerver respectively throughout the documentation.

Get an Account

Contact the Physics System Administrator if your account has not been added automatically. You must be a Physics graduate student or undergraduate, or you must be enrolled in a physics course which has a computing fee. Your user name is normally your first and middle initials together with the first 6 letters of your last name. Your initial password is your student number. Please change your password right away.

Logon

Windows: Press control-alt-delete. Select the SANDA (Sciences and Arts) network domain. (The other domain is purely local.) Type in your name and password. A profile will be created for you if one does not already exist, so you may customize your desktop environment.

Linux:

Change Password

Windows: Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to display the Windows Security dialog box. Click Change Password. Enter the information for changing your password on the SANDA domain.

Linux: At a command prompt %, type:

% passwd

It will prompt you for the old password, then the new one, then the new one again. This will change your password on phylabserver.

Logout

Windows: Select Start / Shut Down... / Log off [username]

Linux:

Use Email

Windows: Use Netscape Mail or HuskyMail. More information about campus mail is available at MTU Email Information. There are instructions for configuring Netscape and other mail programs. IMAP for Netscape 7 is recommended if you want a full mail client. HuskyMail allows you to access your email from anywhere with just a web browser.

Linux: Use Mozilla Mail or HuskyMail. More information about campus mail is available at MTU Email Information. There are instructions for configuring Mozilla and other mail programs. IMAP for Mozilla is recommended if you want a full mail client. HuskyMail allows you to access your email from anywhere with just a web browser.

Add a Printer

Windows: Laser002 must be added as a printer in your profile.

1. Start / Settings / Printers or Start / Settings / Control Panel / Printers
2. Double-click " Add Printer"; Next>
3. Select " Network Printer"; Next>
4. Select "Type the printer name, or click Next to browse for a printer." Click the Next> button. Do not type in a printer name.
   Show Me
5. Shared printers:
   Double-click SANDA to expand it if necessary.
   Double-click ENTITY to expand it.
   Select laser002; Next>
6. Default? Yes.
7. Finish.

Create a Web Page

In your home directory, create a subdirectory called "public_html". At a Unix prompt %, type:

% cd
% mkdir public_html

Your main web page should be called "index.html" in public_html, with all your web materials linked to this page and located within the public_html subdirectory. Your URL will be:

http://phylab.mtu.edu/~username/

Make sure public_html has read and execute permission for everyone:

% cd
% chmod a+rx public_html

Give each subdirectory in public_html read and execute permission:

% cd public_html
% chmod a+rx [subdirectoryname]

for each subdirectory. All HTML files, graphics, and other web media must have read permission for everyone. In public_html and in each subdirectory type:

% chmod a+r [filename]

Replace [filename] with * to do all files simultaneously. To learn more about "chmod", type:

% man chmod

To check the permissions, type:

% ls -l | more

SAMPLE WEB PAGE - To see how the page was created, load the page and do "View Source" from the browser menu. The sample includes most of the basics of HTML, such as text formatting, images, links, fonts, tables, lists, colors, backgrounds, and special symbols. The source code can be copied and pasted into a text editor for revision.

Web, email and copyright policy
Controlling access to your files and directories

Troubleshoot HTML

General Tips

• Unix and HTML paths are case-sensitive. Check capital and lower-case letters on file names, links, and paths.
• Check for spelling errors in HTML tags and in links and paths. Use a forward slash / and not a backslash \ in path names.
• Make sure all HTML tags which require a closing tag are matched with one.
• Be sure all quotes within a tag have closing quotes. Neglecting this may hide large sections of your web page from view.
• Make sure all web materials have read permission, and all web directories have read and execute permission.
• When you are creating a web page and checking it with a browser, be sure to reload or refresh to view changes.

Specific Problems

Problem: When you try to find your web page in a browser, you get " Not Found. The requested URL was not found on this server."
Solution: Check for errors in the path. The URL should be: http://phylab.mtu.edu/~username/
Make sure both public_html and index.html exist and that they have the correct permissions.

Problem: When you try to find your web page in a browser, you get " Forbidden. You don't have permission to access the page on this server."
Solution: Make sure the page and directory have the correct permissions.

Problem: You have an image in your web page, but only a broken graphic is shown.
Solution: The basic syntax of an image tag in HTML is <img src="URL">. Check the URL path very carefully and make sure there is an image at that path location. For example: <img src="pictures/lake.jpg"> would refer to the file "lake.jpg" located in the subdirectory "pictures" in public_html. The extension .jpg is necessary, and the case and spelling must match.
Make sure the image has read permission for everyone.
Make sure the URL is in quotes.
If the image was ftp'd, make sure it was done in binary and not ascii mode.

Problem: The format of the page looks very strange.
Solution: Check your tags and quotes. Some tags require a closing tag, so be sure there is matching closing tag. Make sure all quotes have a closing quote.

Be careful nesting the tags.

Problem: You believe you have corrected the problem, but the browser still displays the page with the incorrect format.
Solution: It is possible that the page the browser is displaying is in a different location from the one that you are editing. This may happen when you edit a page locally and then copy it to the web server. In Netscape, select "View" and "Page Source" to compare the source code of the browser version with the version you are editing.

When you load a web page, a copy goes to the cache (written to your hard drive), and it may be resident in memory. Netscape can be very stubborn about updating a web page--especially a graphic on the page--and it will try to use the cached version instead of refreshing from the server. Press the Shift button while hitting Reload to refresh the source. If this does not update your page, then the memory needs to be cleared (eg, by restarting the computer). Alternatively, you can use a different browser.

SSH to Phylab

To use a secure shell or transfer files between phylab and another machine:

Windows: Use the application SSH to connect to "phylab.mtu.edu".

Mount the H: Drive

While logged onto a PC you may access your Phylabserver files by mounting your Unix home directory as a separate drive under My Computer. This drive is traditionally assigned the letter H:, although another letter may be used.

Open My Computer. Under the Tools menu select Map Network Drive....

Drive: H:

Folder: \\phylabserver\homes

Check "Reconnect at Logon".

Show Me

In Windows Explorer and in My Computer you should see an H: drive mounted. The Unix files and directories are emulated in Windows icon format. Files and folders may be copied between the Unix drive (H:) and the PC desktop by dragging the file and folder icons. The H: drive will automatically reconnect the next time you log onto the PC.

Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards.
--Fred Hoyle