Department of Mathematics

F.A.Q.

If your question is not answered on this page or you do not understand the answer, you can contact the Helpdesk for technical help.

Unix

  • How to request network access for laptops

    To request network access for your laptop or your visitor’s laptop please go to the Network Access Request page.  You will need your Mathematics Department username and password to access this form.

    For help in determining what the laptop’s MAC address is see How do I find my computer’s MAC address

  • How do I find my computers MAC address?

    In order to connect a laptop to Mathematics computer network, you will need to provide your computer’s MAC address.

    The MAC address look like xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx where x is a hexidecimal character. The method for retrieving a computer’s MAC address varies for different operating systems:

    • Windows.
      • From the Start Menu, choose the “Run…” option.
      • Run the “cmd.exe” program.
      • Once the DOS box has appeared, type “ipconfig /all” into it.
      • The output from the ipconfig command lists the MAC address for each of the network interfaces on your computer. If your computer can connect to a wireless network, you have two MAC addresses. You need to find the non-wireless address.
    • Mac OSX
      • Click on the Apple (BlueApplefromMenu) in the top left corner of your screen.
      • Click the “About this Mac” option.
      • Click the “More Info” button.
      • Click on the top level “Network” link.
      • Select “Ethernet” in the pane at the top of the window.
      • Scroll down to the bottom of the resulting information, until you see the MAC address entry.
      • It will look something like this:
      • OSX.SystemProfiler.Network
    • Linux
      • Run the command: ifconfig -a
    • Solaris
      • Run the command: arp computer_name (or arp `uname -n`)

  • Where can I learn more about how to use UNIX?

    You can learn more about UNIX right at your workstation. Jennifer Myers has compiled a useful directory of UNIX tutorials and information.

    http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/

  • How do I forward my math email to another email address?

    From the command line of one of the Suns, paste this command:
    echo 'user@purdue.edu' > .forward
    Where user@purdue.edu is the email address that you wish to forward your mail mail to.

    Additionally, documentation for new math account holders provides more information: https://www.math.purdue.edu/resources/computing/newaccount/

  • How do I resolve missing font errors when launching Mathematica?

    This information contributed by Edray Goins.

    To use Mathematica via X Windows you must either have a local copy of or a font path directed to the following two directories:

    /pkgs/mathematica/SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF/
    /pkgs/mathematica/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1/

    For example, on a Macintosh running X11 these folders should be copied and placed in the directory:

    /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/

    This way Mathematica will load without any error messages on missing fonts.

  • How do I setup Access Control Lists (ACL's) for files and directories?

    Click Here to visit IU’s Computer Science information page on ACL’s.

  • How do I create PDF files from TEX files?

    Use the following commands:

    % tex file.tex
% dvips -Pweb file.dvi
% /pkgs/usrlocal/bin/distill file.ps

    It also works with “latex file.tex”, etc.

  • How do I create, extract, and view tar files?

    To create a tar file:

    tar cfv [filename.tar] [directory/file to tar]

    To extract files from a tar file:

    tar xfv [filename.tar] [directory to extract to]

    To view the contents of a tar file:

    tar tfv [filename.tar]

  • How do I change my enviroment shell?

    Type the following command on any math server:

    passwd -r ldap -e

    This will prompt you to enter your current password. It will then ask you to enter the path to a “New Shell”.

    Common Shells:
    /bin/bash
    /bin/tcsh
    /bin/sh
    /bin/csh
    /bin/ksh

  • How do I change my login password?

    Type the following command on any math server:
    passwd
    This will prompt you to enter your current password. Then it will ask you to type a new password.

    Alternatively, you can change your password by logging into MathNet.

    If you can’t remember your password, please contact us.