Initial Tablet Information
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Contents |
[edit] Run Mathematica from home
Please see the howto found on the Linux Tablet FAQ.
[edit] A few warnings and pertinent information
- !Important! - Please change your password as described in the Linux Tablet FAQ wiki as soon as humanly possible!
- The default username for Linux is "student" - please don't change this
- The default password for Linux is "password" - this will be used to update the system, change the boot options, etc. You can change the password by going to System > Administration > Users and Groups (enter password) > select Student > Properties > Set password by hand.
- The default password for the keyring is "password" - this cannot be changed (yet).
- The default hostname (name of tablet) is TICCTablet, please change this by (in Linux) going to System > Administration > Network, and switching to the "General" tab, and changing the "hostname" field to a *unique* name of your choice.
- !Important! - Do NOT change the BIOS password - if the tablet does not boot after you use it, you could be fined!
- More helpful information, and a few Howto's, can be found on the Linux Tablet FAQ.
[edit] Linux-specific caveats
- You can use different desktop environments (named GNOME and KDE - they're acronyms - GNOME is default) by logging out, and going into Options > Select Session, selecting your preference, and logging in again.
- The C: drive in Linux is "/" (without the quotes). Yes, seriously, just a forward slash.
- While we don't expect everybody to use the command line in Linux (known as BASH or Bourne Again SHell), spaces are reserved characters in commands, so it is generally good practice to take out any spaces in folder and file names. If you need to insert a space character into a filename for a command, you can use "\ ", which makes it a "literal space". Also, rarely are letters capitalized in Linux commands (generally only in parameters to commands).
- "Root" or "superuser" is the administrator in Linux. When you behave as root (by typing commands prefixed with "sudo", or when you are prompted for the "root" password), you have unrestricted access to everything on the computer. You can erase everything, including Linux itself, when you are "root".
- TICC members will attempt to fix a broken tablet, but for bad cases, we will simply image the tablet again.
- Backup all data, backup often! TICC members are not responsible for backing up any of your data - you are.
[edit] Operating Systems
Your tablet has two operating systems: Ubuntu 7.10 (codenamed "Gutsy Gibbon" or "Gutsy" for short) and Windows XP. You can select between the two operating systems when the tablet boots into GRUB (Grand-Unified Bootloader) and pressing the up/down buttons until Windows is selected. To change the default choice to boot, you will need to use the QGRUBEditor, described on the Linux Tablet FAQ wiki.
[edit] Hard disk space
The hard drive is divided into a few sections:
| Use | Size | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | 14GB | NTFS |
| /boot (for Linux) | 100MB | ext3 |
| swap (for Linux) | 1GB | swap |
| / (root of Linux) | 15GB | ext3 |
| switch | 15GB | FAT32 |
| unmounted | ~10GB | unformatted |
The last part of the drive is unformatted, you can either expand the switch partition, or create an NTFS partition at the end of the drive. To work with partitions, install GParted, available on the Ubuntu side, use Synaptic to install it, and it is located in Desktop > Administration > Partition Editor.
[edit] Installing more software
TICC members are aware that you will want to install your own software. In Windows, you run the risk of getting infected by viruses and other malware, so please be careful. In Linux, most of the programs you will need are available in the repositories. Please refer to the Linux Tablet FAQ for information on installing more software.
On both platforms, you can compile your own programs, but please use the search function in Synaptic or the Add/Remove Programs Manager in Ubuntu first, as shown in the Linux Tablet FAQ.
[edit] Helpful Software
This is a small list of software that are very useful. To install software on Linux, please check the Linux Tablet FAQ.
[edit] Installed Software
This is by no means an exhaustive list:
- KDE Popular graphical desktop environment for Linux
- GNOME Popular graphical desktop environment for Linux
- Jarnal Tablet collaboration software
- GIMP Image manipulation program
- fityk Non-linear curve fitting and data analysis program
[edit] Other Software
This is software that was not installed by default:
(Note: Under Ubuntu most of these can be downloaded and installed with a single command. Just run "sudo apt-get install <program name>".)
- Kile LaTeX document editor for KDE
- gnuplot Command-line data plotting program
- grace Graphical data plotting program
- xfig X11 Drawing Program
- Octave Numerical analysis program similar to MatLab
- Eclipse Graphical software development environment
- Anjuta IDE for C/C++, with hooks into CVS and the Glade Interface Designer
- gcc GNU compiler for C, C++, Fortran, Java, and other popular programming languages
- Inkscape Vector drawing program
- Audacity Audio wave-form recorder/editor
- ImageJ Image processing and analysis program
- tgif Vector graphics editor
- povray Ray tracing program
- ddd Graphical debugger
- LaCheck LaTeX syntax checker
- g95 Fortran compiler
- OpenDX Advanced data visualization program
- openssh-server Remote login capabilities
- Wine Windows compatibility layer
[edit] Useful Links
[edit] Presentation
This the presentation given to students at the beginning of the semester. It is in both a PDF form for easy and consistent viewing, and in a gzip-compressed .odp (OpenOffice.org Impress) file for editing. If you don't already have it, OpenOffice.org is free and open-source software available from OpenOffice.org. Both files are licensed under the GNU FDL.
 Download Initial Information Presentation PDF (Spring 2008)
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| Download Initial Information Presentation ODP (Spring 2008)
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[edit] Contributing
To contribute to this wiki, simply complete the registration (link is on the top-right of every page on this wiki), login, and click the edit tab on the top of every wiki.
If you have questions or comments, you can find help on this wiki, on Google, on UbuntuForums.org, or on the TICC Help Forums.
You can also email us by searching the Mines homepage for TICC members.
