Computer Science @ Florida State University

General Information for New Students and Visitors

How to get a CS account

There are three types of CS accounts: those for computer science undergraduates and graduates, and those for people only taking a single class in the department. The process for obtaining an account, however, is the same for all types. Go to any computer with SSH software or just go to the Computer Science Majors Lab in the basement of the LOVE building (room 006); bring your FSU card to sign in.
You will need to start the SSH program and connect to the remote location shell, where you will enter the new account generator.
login: newacct
password: newacct
Follow the instructions to create your account. You will have to accept the usage policy in order to get an account. Make sure you enter your name just as it appears on FSU rosters. Your username will be given to you, so please make note of this. Also note that your password, as all things in a UNIX system, is case sensitive.

See Keeping Your Account Secure for tips on keeping your password secure.
For those of you taking only a single class in the department, please note that your account WILL be terminated at the end of the semester.

Disk Size and Printing Limitations

Account Type Disk Space Print Quota

Class Account 60 MB 100 pgs

Undergrad Account 60 MB 250 pgs

Grad Account 100 MB 500 pgs

How to get a websrv account

The CS department keeps all of its web material on a separate server called websrv. Any CS undergrad or grad student may have an account on websrv. For students with class accounts only, websrv accounts will only be granted if there is course work in that class that requires one.
If you would like a websrv account, you may either:

1. Come to the systems office in MCH 120 and request one, OR
2. Put a request in to the helpdesk.

Computer Science Department Labs and Facilities

The Undergraduate CS majors lab is located in 006 LOV(basement of the Love building).

The CS Grad lab is located in LOV 104A and is restricted to grad students.

See CS labs for hours and more information.

Accessing your account

Your CS account can be accessed from just about anywhere with internet access. Most of the computers on campus have SSH software which will allow you to remotely connect to one of our servers and work within your account from there. You can also purchase the software for use at home, or if you dial into the campus network (and thereby have an FSU IP address) you can download the software for free from Campus Software Licensing.
Your account is also automatically mounted to the computers in the CS and (most) ACNS labs when you logon at the "CS logon" icon located on the desktop background. This means that you will be able to use your files just like at home--as if they were actually located on that computer's hard drive. Any modifications, changes, or deletions made using this interface will automatically be implemented on your unix home directory. Please also note that it is necessary to first logon in this fashion before you will be allowed to print from the machines in the lab.

Server Information

The Computer Science department has the following servers:

Name Architecture Permitted Users

diablo SunOS 5.8 Grads, Faculty

shell SunOS 5.8 Ugrads, Class

program 1-4 SunOS 5.8 all

linprog 1-4 Linux 2.4.9 all

websrv Linux 2.4.7 Faculty

websrv2 Linux 2.4.7 Grads,Ugrads,Class**

quake Linux 2.2.16 all

NOTES:
***Only class accounts needing accounts for class use.
1. You can easily find this information out for yourself by typing the command uname -a when logged on to any of these servers.
2. Programming and compiling are only to be done on the servers program and linprog!!!!
3. There are actually four "programs" (program1, program2, etc.) and four "linprogs" (linprog1, linprog2, etc.). While you can log on to one of the four specifically, we ask that ,unless that is necessary, you please log on to these machines with the simple name "program" or "linprog" so that our loads are balanced properly.
4. See Installed Packages for detailed information of what programs are installed on each server.

Email

With the creation of your account, you also have now an email address, which will be YourUserName@cs.fsu.edu. You can access your mail when logged into your account by typing the name of a mail program at the command prompt (pine, elm, or xmail) to open that particular mail program.
If you would like to forward your mail to another address, you will have to create a file called .forward in your main directory. This can easily be done with the text editor Pico as follows:

username@server> pico .forward (to open the file)

Inside the file simply type the full address(es) each on a single line, as such:

YourUserName@cs.fsu.edu
CutierPie@yahoo.com
CutiePie@aol.com

You do need to include your CS address if you would like the mail to be sent there as well. To close the file and save it, follow the command on the bottom of the screen ( ^X means press CNTRL and x at the same time to exit). Then of course answer yes to saving changes... and you're done!
These pages have much more detailed information on the various email programs: Email Help , Pine , Elm , and
Procmail -- for sorting and mail filtering

Online Manual Pages

There are online manuals at your fingertips for nearly any unix command when you are logged into your account. Say, for instance, you would like to know what the lpq command is used for and what else you can do with it, then you can just type
username@server> man lpq and the manual for lpq should appear.

In addition you can also type
username@sever> man man to get information on the man command itself. In addition to man pages, there are also info pages of the same nature.
If you cannot find what you are looking for in the manual pages, try the info command (it works just like the man command).

Or go here and read them in HTML:Online Manual Pages

Comments and questions should be sent to webmaster@cs.fsu.edu.