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RSI 2001 Home > Help Me! > FAQ > Athena

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Athena FAQ

1. I typed 'logout' and it says there are suspended jobs. What do I do?
2. How do I lock the screen?
3. How do I copy and paste?
4. Can I get Mathematica, Maple, or Matlab on Athena?
5. Is there a spreadsheet? Like Excel?
6. How do I telnet into Athena? That is, what hostname do I use?
7. How do I run the program "foo" in locker "bar"?
8. How do I check how much disk space I have?
9. How do I eject a floppy?
10. How do I list files on a floppy?
11. How do I copy files from a floppy to my Paper directory?
12. How do I access a Zip disk on Athena?
13. How do I spellcheck my paper?
14. What's the name of that program that lets you see the people that are online?
15. How do I change my windowmanager?
16. Is there a way to load a program automatically when I login?
17. How do I change the volume on my workstation?
18. How do I compile a C program on Athena?
19. How do I compile a C++ program on Athena?
20. Is there a chemical modeller on Athena?
21. How do I access newsgroups (USENET)?
22. How do I kill a suspended job?
23. How do I find the number for a job?
24. What can I use to draw diagrams?

1. I typed 'logout' and it says there are suspended jobs. What do I do?

To kill off all the suspended jobs and log out, type logout again.

If you want to know what the suspended jobs are, type jobs. You will see a listing like

[1]  - Suspended              su
[2]  + Suspended              netscape

[n] is the job number of the job. Type fg %n to foreground any job.

2. How do I lock the screen?

Type xss-button &, then click on the box that appears.

3. How do I copy and paste?

In most applications, select by highlighting with the left mouse button. Then, paste by clicking the middle mouse button.

4. Can I get Mathematica, Maple, or Matlab on Athena?

Yes, all available. There are two ways you can reach the programs:

athena% add math
athena% mathematica &
     
athena% add maple
athena% maple &
     
athena% add matlab
athena% matlab &

From "Numerical/Math" dash menu, go to "Analysis and Plotting"

5. Is there a spreadsheet? Like Excel?

Yes, Xess, in the Spreadsheets submenu of the Numerical/Math menu of Dash, provides many Excel-like functions.

6. How do I telnet into Athena? That is, what hostname do I use?

Use the hostname athena.dialup.mit.edu. Or, x.dialup.mit.edu if you want to have X forwarding enabled.

We strongly urge you to use ssh instead of telnet, because ssh encrypts your connection and keeps your password secure. From Athena, you can use the "ssh" command much like the "telnet" command.

7. How do I run the program "foo" in locker "bar"?

athena% add bar
athena% foo

8. How do I check how much disk space I have?

athena% fs lq ~

9. How do I eject a floppy?

athena% eject floppy

10. How do I list files on a floppy?

athena% add mtools
athena% mdir a:

11. How do I copy files from a floppy to my Paper directory?

athena% add mtools
athena% mcopy a:filename ~/Paper

12. How do I access a Zip disk on Athena?

Information on this is located in OLC Answers.

13. How do I spellcheck my paper?

athena% ispell -t paper.tex

14. What's the name of that program that lets you see the people that are online?

There are many programs that let you see who's online.

A text mode display can be run: athena% znol. znol will also send you a zephyr each time someone logs in or out. To suppress those, run athena% znol -l.
A graphical display of who is online can also be run:
```
athena% add outland
athena% xzul &
```

15. How do I change my windowmanager?

See http://web.mit.edu/answers/xwindows/xwindows_newwm.html. The simple version is to add the following lines to your ~/.environment file:

add windowmanagers
setenv WINDOW_MANAGER foo

where foo is the desired window manager.

16. Is there a way to load a program automatically when I login?

Put it in .startup.X and .startup.sgi (if you're running the SGI setup, which is not by default). Don't forget to put an & after such commands

If you want the program to start when you are telnetting to Athena, put it in .startup.tty

17. How do I change the volume on my workstation?

On a Sun:

athena% add audio
athena% audiotool &

On an SGI: Use the little black triangular buttons on the casing.

18. How do I compile a C program on Athena?

You can use either cc or gcc depending on your personal preference:

athena% cc -o executablename source.c
athena% gcc -o executablename source.c

19. How do I compile a C++ program on Athena?

athena% g++ -o executablename source.c

20. Is there a chemical modeller on Athena?

Only on SGIs:

athena% add molsim
athena% quanta &

21. How do I access newsgroups (USENET)?

Run xrn (graphical), trn (text), or tin.

22. How do I kill a suspended job?

athena% kill %(jobnum)

23. How do I find the number for a job?

From the console where you started the job:

athena% jobs

24. What can I use to draw diagrams?

athena% xfig&