What Runs Where on Athena: Help Info

Title and description:

ahelp
Gives help on programs that are part of the Andrew System

To run:

athena% add andrew

athena% ahelp

athena% ahelp keyword

See also: olh

Title and description:

Answerbook
Description: former Sun documentation browser; please use URL below for all current Sun docs

To run:

See the Sun documentation site

Title and description:

apropos
Description: searches for strings and key words in man pages

To run:

athena% apropos search_string

See also: man

Title and description:

athinfo
Description: retrieves information about a workstation in multiple categories; can be run remotely

To run:

athena% athinfo host query

athena% athinfo host queries (prints allowed queries for host)

See also: stella

Title and description:

info
Description: "pseudo-hypertext" browser for information files in GNU info format, used by many GNU applications. The second form below is most useful for viewing info files that are not linked to the "standard", system-wide ones

To run:

athena% info ( starts from a "standard, system-wide info home page")

athena% info -f infofile (starts from the given info page)

See also: man, yelp

Title and description:

locate
Description: searches for full path to a file based on file name or path fragment which is input. The command will print back all full paths matching the search pattern (wildcard characters are allowed). Currently this is only useful for finding things on local hard drives of Linux machines

To run:

athena% locate pattern

See also: man

Note:

depends on a "locate database" that must be kept current- typically this is rebuilt periodically from a cron script. This is currently not implemented on standard Athena machines

Title and description:

man, xman
Description: supplies information from the UNIX Programmer's Manual about many UNIX commands and applications. man uses a command-line interface and xman uses an X interface. Can also be available for Third Party applications in lockers (i.e. if you run application foo in locker bar by doing add bar; foo then man foo may give you useful information). If you want information about man itself, just do man man

To run:

athena% man search_string (for a command-line interface)

athena% xman & (for an X interface, Sun only)

See also: apropos, info, locate, olh, yelp

Title and description:

olc, olc_answers
Description: online system allowing users to be connected to Athena Consultants. A user enters a question that may be answered in real-time or queued if no consultants are currently available. olc_answers is a browsing system for olc "frequently asked questions"

To run:

athena% olc (command-line interface)

followed by an appropriate keyword at the olc> prompt (typing help gives useful information)

athena% olc_answers

There is a Web version of the stock answers

See also: olh, sendbug

Title and description:

olh
Description: online Athena-specific information system, accessed via Web browser

To run:

athena% help

go to the olh Web page

See also: olc, man, olta, sendbug

Title and description:

sendbug
Description: bug reporting system for Athena software. Prompts will guide you through questions to answer concerning the problem. Please be as detailed and specific as possible. Giving exact keystroke sequences that will reproduce the problem is particularly helpful and may hasten problem resolution

To run:

athena% sendbug

See also: olh, olc

Title and description:

stella
Description: allows users to examine and edit information about a workstation in the Moira database

To run:

athena% stella host options

See also: athinfo, moira

Note:

Many or all of the update options will be inaccessible if you lack sufficient permission. Omitting options will supply all available information about host

Title and description:

tellme
Description: tells Athena root password, Athena cluster combination

To run:

athena% tellme root (for root password)

athena% tellme combo (for Athena cluster combination)

Title and description:

whichlocker
Description: tells which Athena locker a program is in

To run:

athena% add outland

athena% whichlocker program

See also: lookup

Note:

whichlocker will not find programs that are not in lockers but are in the Athena release instead. Currently the information database is maintained manually and may contain omissions, inaccuracies and be out of date. It is still a quite useful utility however

Title and description:

yelp
Description: Gnome help browser- displays information about various Gnome-related applications, as well as many system man and info pages

To run:

athena% yelp &

See also: info, man

Title and description:

mysql
Description: client, server and support utilities for MySQL SQL database

To run:

athena% add mysql

athena% mysql -u username -p --host=hostname (to log into a MySQL database as user username on host hostname)

Once logged in, commands are entered at the mysql> prompt. Some of the major ones include:

mysql> create database foo; (to create a new database foo; database administrator needs to set permissions to let you do this)

mysql> use foo; (to use a database foo)

mysql> create table bar; (create a data table bar associated with current database)

mysql> insert into bar... (insert data into table bar)

athena% mysqladmin options (to perform various administrative tasks on a MySQL database; users need sufficient permissions to do this)

There is a home page and documentation download site

See also: Open Office Database, sqlplus, Star Office Database

Note:

To create databases, you need to run the mysqld daemon on a machine dedicated to this purpose. You can also access and manipulate databases through C code linking against the libmysqlclient library. Other utility programs exist, mostly with names starting with mysql... See documentation for details

Title and description:

Open Office Database
Description: database component of Open Office office suite- select File -> New -> Database

To run:

athena% ooffice &

There is a local Web page; also a Getting Started guide and User guide; also the openoffice.org support page

See also: mysql, sqlplus, Star Office Database

Title and description:

sqlplus (Oracle client)
Description: Oracle database SQL client

To run:

athena% add oracle10g

athena% setenv ORACLE_HOME /mit/oracle10g/arch/$ATHENA_SYS

athena% sqlplus username/password@database

where username and password need to be set up for you by the administrator of the database you are connecting to. They are not necessarily the same as your Athena username and password. Allowed values for database are at the beginning of stanzas in file:

/mit/oracle10g/10.2.0/sun4x_510/network/admin/tnsnames.ora (Sun)

/mit/oracle10g/10.2.0/i386_rhel4/network/admin/tnsnames.ora (Linux)

athena% add oracle8

athena% setenv ORACLE_HOME /mit/oracle/arch/$ATHENA_SYS

athena% sqlplus username/password@database

where username and password need to be set up for you by the administrator of the database you are connecting to. They are not necessarily the same as your Athena username and password. Allowed values for database are at the beginning of stanzas in file:

/mit/oracle/8.1.7/sun4x_58/network/admin/tnsnames.ora (Sun)

/mit/oracle/8.1.7/i386_linux22/network/admin/tnsnames.ora (Linux)

After logging on, you will get an SQL> prompt and can run SQL commands on the database you are connected to.

See also: mysql, Open Office Database, Star Office Database

Note:

Databases may come and go over time- currently accessible ones will always be listed in file tnsnames.ora. Only the client is available on Athena- you can't create new databases with it, you can only access existing ones you have access to

Title and description:

Star Office Database
Description: database component of Star Office office suite- select File -> New -> Database

To run:

athena% add soffice

athena% soffice &

There is 8.0 "what's new", 8.0 "getting started", the Star Office User Portal

See also: mysql, Open Office database, sqlplus

Title and description:

Course Descriptions & Schedules

To run:

go to the Subject Listings & Schedule page

Title and description:

cview, xcluster
Description: monitors current cluster usage. cview uses a command-line interface; xcluster uses a campus map and an X interface

To run:

athena% cview (for a command-line interface)

athena% cview printers (for printer information)

athena% cview phones (for cluster phone numbers)

athena% xcluster & (for an X interface)

For general cluster information for Athena and other platforms, look here

Title and description:

dash
Description: places a hierarchical menu bar at the top of the screen; some entries are informational; others launch Athena applications

To run:

athena% dash

See also: olh, olc

Note:

in pre-Athena 9.0 releases, or if you log in with the "dash interface" option. dash is normally already running. In Athena 9.0 and later, the GNOME interface menus perform the same function as dash

Title and description:

Humanities Lottery
Description: runs lottery for Humanities class sections

To run:

go to the information guide

Title and description:

Freshman Housing Lottery
Description: runs freshman housing lottery

To run:

go to the lottery page; if you don't have a certificate which is needed get one here

Title and description:

Phys. Ed. Lottery
Description: runs lottery for Physical Education class sections

To run:

go to the Phys. Ed. lottery page

Title and description:

SIS
Description: Student Information Service, which allows students to access their grades, register and access other academic information

To run:

go to the SIS Web page

Title and description:

xmitdir
Description: X interface to the online MIT directory, providing information from the Registrar's Office and the Personnel Office

To run:

athena% add mitdir

athena% xmitdir &

go to the Web version

Title and description:

Ask Us!
Description: enables users to electronically ask questions of MIT librarians

To run:

go to the Ask Us! Web page

See also: olc under Athena Help

Title and description:

First Search
Description: access to selected commercial bibliographic databases

Go to the MIT Libraries' VERA page (follow Provider Search, pick FirstSearch) (MIT only)

Title and description:

Net Entrez, Cn3D
Description: allows users to search Genbank and other molecular sequencing databases- now only on Web. Cn3D is a 3d molecular image viewer

To run:

athena% add entrez

athena% Cn3D & (to run Cn3D viewer)

go to the Entrez Web page; Cn3D information is here

See also: babel, CLC Free Workbench, Deep View, Geneious, molscript, pymol, rasmol, VMD

Note:

Cn3D can be used as a Mozilla helper application to view molecule description files in NCBI ASN.1 format. In order to configure it, select Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Helper Applications, pick New Type, and enter:

Description: NCBI ASN.1

MIME Type: chemical/ncbi-asn1-binary

Extension: val

Open it with: /afs/athena/software/entrez/bin/Cn3D

Title and description:

Encyclopedia Britannica

To run:

go to the Britannica Web page (MIT only) . There is also the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and thesaurus

See also: Wikipedia

Title and description:

Oxford English Dictionary

To run:

go to the OED Web page (MIT only); there is also the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and thesaurus

See also: oed

Note:

the oed text-mode client is similar to, but not as sophisticated as the former ox2 text OED client that is no longer available

Title and description:

oed
Description: text-mode client for accessing the Oxford English Dictionary

To run:

athena% add outland

athena% oed word

athena% oed "prefix*" (wildcards allowed if string is enclosed in double quotes)

See also: Oxford English Dictionary

Title and description:

Shakespeare
Description: Shakespeare's plays online

To run:

Go to The Tech or elsewhere for hypertext versions with glossary and search capabilities

Title and description:

thesaurus, xthesaurus
Description: a simple online thesaurus

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% thesaurus

athena% thesaurus word

athena% xthesaurus & (X interface; left-click on window that opens for instructions)

There is also the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and thesaurus

See also: Wordnet

Title and description:

webster, xwebster (dictionary)
Description: simple command-line-interface dictionary lookup

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% webster word

athena% xwebster & (X interface; left-click on window that opens for instructions)

There is also the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and thesaurus

See also: ispell, thesaurus, Oxford English Dictionary, Wordnet

Title and description:

Wikipedia
Description: free online encyclopedia in Wiki format, editable by users

To run:

go to the English Wikipedia page

See also: Encyclopedia Britannica

Title and description:

Wordnet
Description: Wordnet is a lexicographical database from Princeton University that most closely resembles a thesaurus, although it also has features of a dictionary and even an encyclopedia, and some unique ones that are best experienced by trying it out

To run:

athena% add wordnet

athena% wnb (for an X interface)

athena% wn (for a command-line interface - lists command-line options)

athena% wn option word

go to the Wordnet Web page; there is also a Web version and local html man pages

See also: thesaurus, Webster Dictionary

Title and description:

Amaya
Description: developed by the W3C, Amaya is a complete web browsing and authoring environment and comes equipped with a "WYSIWYG style" of interface, similar to that of the most popular commercial browsers. With such an interface, users can easily generate HTML and XHTML pages, as well as CSS style sheets, MathML expressions, and SVG drawings (full support of SVG is not yet available, though)

To run:

athena% add amaya

athena% amaya &

There is a W3C Amaya page

See also: konqueror, HoTMetaL Pro, lynx, mozilla, Mozilla Composer, netscape, opera, Star Office HTML Editor

Title and description:

firefox
Description: default Athena Web browser, based on the Mozilla engine

To run:

athena% firefox & (or click on www button on Gnome applet bar if firefox is configured as your browser)

Typing about:plugins in the address bar will show currently installed plugins; the Enabled column entry on the right must be set to Yes for a given plugin to be active

Typing about:config in the address bar will show current configuration settings; selecting one, right-clicking and picking a selection from the popup that appears allows editing these

See also: mozilla, thunderbird, zap-firefox-certs

Title and description:

konqueror
Description: Web browser, graphical file manager and file viewer, based on KDE desktop environment

To run:

athena% add kde

athena% konqueror

There is a konqueror Web site

See also: Amaya, mozilla, netscape, opera, weblint

Note:

output is very verbose; you may want to dedicate the launch window to running it; on exit, processes related to it may take several minutes to terminate

Title and description:

lynx
Description: text-only Web browser for vt-100 capable clients. Usable over dialup

To run:

athena% add infoagents

athena% lynx

See also: Amaya, mozilla, netscape, weblint, w3m

Title and description:

mozilla
Description: standard Open Source Web browser

To run:

athena% mozilla & (or click on WWW button on Gnome applet bar)

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will automatically invoke Mozilla's news reader. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

For running Java applets in Web browsers, see Web browser Java plugin issues

See also: Amaya, firefox, konqueror, lynx, netscape, opera, pine, thunderbird, weblint, w3m, zap-mozilla-certs

Note:

for secure transactions you need an MIT certificate. Information about getting one is here

Title and description:

netscape (old- latest version on Athena is 4.78; firefox is now the preferred Athena Web browser)
Description: general-purpose Web browser. Incorporates a number of proprietary HTML extensions and Java support. Also incorporates a news reader that can be automatically invoked by links to news groups on the Web

To run:

athena% add infoagents

athena% netscape & (default release 4.78)

To run other releases:

athena% netscape-4.75 & (release 4.75, Sun)

There are newsgroup lists on the Web that have active links that will automatically invoke Netscape's news reader. Some other information about News and newsgroup lists is here

For running Java applets in Web browsers, see Web browser Java plugin issues

See also: Amaya, firefox, konqueror, lynx, mozilla, opera, pine, weblint, w3m

Title and description:

opera
Description: general-purpose Web browser

To run:

athena% add opera

athena% opera &

The opera development site is here

See also: Amaya, konqueror, mozilla, netscape, weblint, w3m

Title and description:

scripts
Description: Athena-based Web hosting service supported by SIPB with automatic configuration for many popular Web site hosting, Blog and Wiki Web-based services (MediaWiki, WordPress, Joomla, e107, others).

To run:

athena% add scripts

athena% scripts

Detailed information is here

Title and description:

weblint
Description: utility for checking validity and style of HTML pages

To run:

athena% add infoagents

athena% weblint file(s).html

athena% weblint directory(ies)

athena% weblint URL

The second form will recurse through listed directories, checking any HTML pages found

The third form will check the page at the given URL

For a Web-based validator see the World Wide Web Consortium's validator

See also: konqueror, lynx, mozilla, netscape, opera, w3m

Title and description:

w3m
Description: text-based Web browser; can display graphics, tables and frames

To run:

athena% add sipb

athena% w3m URL

See also: lynx, mozilla, netscape, opera, weblint