University Computing Services

A brief guide to using UNIX on UCS computers at Florida State University.

If you need additional help, contact the Technology ServicesHelpdesk.

Introduction

Unix has four major components: the file system, the kernel, the command interpreter (shell), and commands (utilities) that provide high-level services to users. Standard Unix features include:

Hierarchical file system
Multiple simultaneous tasks for each user
Interactive sessions for editing files and debugging programs
Shell programming (C shell, Korn shell, or Bourne shell)

Logging In and Out

When you first establish a connection to the Unix system, it will respond by prompting for your login name (user name). Type your user namme and press the Return key. Then it will ask for your password. Type it and press the Return key. The password will not appear on your screen when you type it.

Login names and passwords are case sensitive, and login names must be entered in lower case.

For example,

    login: rt9876
    Password:  New+123

The login name is 'rt9876' and the password is 'New+123'.

When you are finished with your work you can log out with the command

% exit

Passwords

There are two ways you can change your password:

(1) If you know your password, and want to change it:

Login names and initial passwords are assigned by the system administrator. The first time you log you should change your password password to something you can easily remember by using the passwd command:

% passwd

The passwd program will request your current password and your new password. Then will ask you to confirm the new password by typing it again. The passwords will not shown on your screen when you type them.

A valid Unix password must have six to eight characters. The password must contain at least one special character. The password cannot be a word found in the dictionary and it cannot be your user name. The new password must differ from the old one by at least three characters.

(2) If you forgot your password, or just need help changing it:

Call the Technology Services Help Desk at (850) 644-HELP (644-4357), to get a new password or go to FSUID. You will be asked for your FSUCard number and Social Security number in order to verify your identity.

Groups

A "group" under Unix is a collection of users that have "group" access to files.

A user can see the names of the groups of which he is a member with the command

% groups

When you create files, they are associated with a group as well as with an owner (yourself). If you are a member of multiple groups, you can change your group identification with the command

newgrp group

Note that this command also creates a new shell process, and any unexported shell variables are lost or reset to their default values.

On-line Help

Man Pages

On-line help for Unix commands is available in standard Unix manual ("man") pages. Information about the command command can be requested by typing

% man command

A list of commands related to a topic or string can be requested with the -k keyword option. For example, a list of commands related to directories can be obtained with

% man -k directory

A quick reference for a command can be obtained with the -q option.

Commands Files Shells

If you need additional help, contact the
Technology ServicesHelpdesk
(850) 644-HELP (644-4357).

Contact the Technology Services Help Desk.