MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF OCEAN ENGINEERING
OCEAN ACOUSTICS GROUP
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 5-204, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
Computer FAQ
Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the computers used the
Ocean Acoustics Group.
Where are the computers?
Student computers are located in 5-435.
Where are the printers?
Each lab (LAMSS and LURS) has a printer students can use and there is a color printer in 5-435b.
How do I print on transparencies?
Please contact Geoff Fox or ocean-admin at techsquare.com if you have need of printed transparencies
How do I read and print Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files?
Use the acroread command: acroread file.pdf If acroread is not present(which due to security concerns with its linux implementation, it might not be), try evince, okular or xpdf
How do I change my password?
Use the "yppasswd" command.
How often are backups performed?
Backups are automatically performed 5 days a week, from Monday through Friday via MIT's TSM service.
NOTE: only data in home directories is backed up...scratch space on individual machines are NOT backed up
Where can I run MATLAB?
MATLAB is available on most of the computers.
Two methods are available: running the MIT Project Athena licensed version, and the other
is the running the locally licensed version. While the Athena version has more toolboxes
than the local version, the Athena version requires you to renew your Kerberos tickets
at regular intervals. If you are running a long MATLAB batch job (which is discouraged),
using the local version would be recommended.
Why can't I use telnet or ftp?
Short Answer: Use ssh instead.
Long Answer:
Telnet and FTP allow transmission of usernames and passwords "in the clear"
across a computer network.
In the Fall of 1997 an intruder installed a packet sniffer on the Building 5 subnet.
He was able to collect passwords of students in the group, gaining access
to several machines. He then used these machines to attack other computers around
the world. Recovery involved re-loading the operating system of all computers in
the group, a process which took nearly 1 week. To avoid repetition of such an
incident in the future, Profs. Schmidt and Baggeroer dictated that telnet and ftp
would not be used on any group machine in the future.
I use Microsoft Windows at home. How do I get SSH for Windows?
MIT has a site-license for SecureCRT
a Windows version of SSH. You can download a copy from the
MIT distribution site.
The license information (which you will need to enter on the first run) is located
here. Remember
that the SSH servers on sonar, etc. run SSH version 2.
How do I transfer files using SecureCRT?
SecureFX
I need to draw a diagram. What is a good drawing program under X-windows?
xfig is a MacDraw-like program which allows you to generate high quality vector
based figures. You can also incorporate (and annotate) encapsulated PostScript, JPEG, and GIF
files. The result can be re-exported in EPS (or JPEG, GIF, etc.) format for inclusion into LaTeX.
I really need to view a Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint document which someone sent me via e-mail. How
do I do this?
LibreOffice or OpenOffice should be available on most workstations
Last updated: 09/28/20 Comments/Questions: webmaster
