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  • Using Unix
    • Overview
    • Documentation
    • Using the Shell
    • Using X-Windows
    • File Manipulation
    • Net Commands
    • Editing Text
    • Formatting Text
    • Printing
    • Filters & Utilities
    • Programming
• Health and Safety

Using Unix

Overview

• General overview of the Unix operating system.
• Main features, advantages and disadvantages of Unix.

Unix Documentation

• Printed and on-line documentation for Unix concepts and programs.

Accounts and Passwords

• How to get accounts on computers at Stanford and within the School of Earth Sciences
• How to connect securely so that your password won't be captured by hackers.

Using the Shell

• The first step in using a Unix system is logging into a shell.
• The various ways to login and work with your environment.
• View common Unix commands and learn about special characters to watch out for.

Using an X-terminal

• X Window is the network-independent graphical user interface for Unix systems.
• The basic concepts of establishing an X Window session, including authentication issues.

File Manipulation

• Get background information on how the Unix file system works.
• How to do basic manipulations including moving, copying, changing permissions, and linking.
• How to do intermediate manipulation of files with data pipes.

Network Commands

• Learn about programs for remote login, remote command execution, and file transfer from one computer to another over the network.

Editing Text

• How to do basic and intermediate text editing with vi.
• The advantages and disadvantages of using the vi text editor.
• Print out a useful vi quick reference guide.

Formatting Text

• Simple text formatting commands.
• Identify varying ideologies behind typesetting.
• Produce formatted text and mathematical functions with the LaTeX typesetting system.

Filters and Data Utilities

• There hundreds of programs that are part of the standard Unix distribution, or readily available from public domain archives, that can be used to manipulate data.
• This section discusses a few of the more commonly used ones, particularly those that operate in the filter model so they can be combined into pipelines for complicated processing tasks.

Programming

• Unix offers many options for automating tasks and processing.
• There are three types of programming languages discussed here: shell scripts, interpreted languages, and compiled languages.