1. Logging in to sunspot
Choose a window on your AIX console and
log in as follows:
-
o190% telnet sunspot.physci
Your username and password will be given in class, or else see me
in person.
The first thing you will notice is that the backspace key does not
work. Use ctrl-backspace instead, or type:
- sunspot% stty erase ^h
where ^h are the two characters '^' and 'h.'
2. Setting up useable windows for sunspot on your AIX terminal
Next, let's get a decent window set up on your terminal that is
spawned from sunspot. We'll set the window up so you can display
graphs generated by IDL running on sunspot on your monitor. To do this
you will have to invoke several commands. First, in a window logged in
to o190, type:
- o190% xhost +sunspot.physci.psu.edu
From now on, we'll be working in windows logged in to sunspot (with
the exception of netscape, which we will continue to run from o190).
In a window logged in to sunspot, type:
- sunspot% setenv DISPLAY 146.186.98.1xx:0
where you will have to figure out what 'xx'
is from the number written on the base of the pedestal of
your terminal. Or ...
- sunspot% setenv DISPLAY [hostname]:0
where you can get [hostname] from typing
- o190% echo $DISPLAY
in an o190 window. But note that you will have to add the
following suffix before the ':0': .ptpo.psu.edu.
Then to open new windows (where the backspace will work, etc.),
type in the sunspot window:
- sunspot% xterm &
A new window will pop up with the sunspot prompt. You can generate as
many of these windows as you would like, or you can simply make do
with the dtterm's. But you will need to do the other commands in any
case.
3. Accessing your home workspace
Even though you are logged in to sunspot, you will want to copy files
and work in your home directory that you use for your o190
account. Sunspot can see these directories, but you have to give it
permission, as follows. On sunspot, type:
- sunspot% klog [username]
where [username] is your access acount user name. The klog task
will then prompt you for you access account password. Once you have
done this, you can 'cd' to your o190 home directory from
sunspot. If you can't remember what it is, go to (or open) a
window logged in to o190, and type:
- o190% pwd
This will tell you the path of you o190 home directory. Now be
sure to load the needed files there.
4. Running IDL
To run IDL, all you have to do is type
- sunspot% idl
and you will get in to this environment.
BUT WAIT! Before you do this, do two things:
- Be sure to change to the directory in which you will be
working, i.e. the directory where all of the files (programs and data
files) will be stored. This is not absolutely necessary, but it will
make your life a lot easier.
- Get rid of this netscape window! After IDL is up and running a
graph (important), you
can open up a new netscape window (from o190). The reason for this is that
netscape is a color-map hog, and it will prevent IDL from allowing you
to do graphics unless you load in this order. Netscape will look
lousy, but readable.
OK, you have IDL up and running, and a new version of
netscape. Before you get any further with the lab, be sure to load a
software library that will be called by the programs you load later
on. To do this, simply type:
- IDL> astrolib
Now you can proceed with the lab.