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1.1 root 1: .\" @(#)u1 6.1 (Berkeley) 5/22/86
2: .\"
3: .nr PS 9
4: .if t .nr VS 11
5: .if n .ls 2
6: .if t .2C
7: .nr PI .25i
8: .SH
9: INTRODUCTION
10: .PP
11: From the user's point of view,
12: the
13: .UC UNIX
14: operating system
15: is easy
16: to learn and use,
17: and presents few of the usual impediments
18: to getting the job done.
19: It is hard, however, for the beginner
20: to know where to start,
21: and how to make the best use
22: of the facilities available.
23: The purpose of this introduction
24: is to help new users
25: get used to the main ideas of
26: the
27: .UC UNIX
28: system
29: and start making effective use of it quickly.
30: .PP
31: You should have a couple of other documents with you
32: for easy reference as you read this one.
33: The most important is
34: .ul
35: The
36: .ul
37: .UC UNIX
38: .IT Programmer's
39: .IT Manual \|;
40: it's often easier to tell you to read about something
41: in the manual
42: than to repeat its contents here.
43: The other useful document is
44: .ul
45: A Tutorial Introduction to the
46: .ul
47: .UC UNIX
48: .ul
49: Text Editor,
50: which will tell you how to use the editor
51: to get text \(em
52: programs, data, documents \(em
53: into the computer.
54: .PP
55: A word of warning:
56: the
57: .UC UNIX
58: system
59: has become quite popular,
60: and there are several major variants
61: in widespread use.
62: Of course details also change with time.
63: So although the basic structure of
64: .UC UNIX
65: and how to use it is common to all versions,
66: there will certainly be a few things
67: which are different on your system from
68: what is described here.
69: We have tried to minimize the problem,
70: but be aware of it.
71: In cases of doubt,
72: this paper describes Version 7
73: .UC UNIX .
74: .PP
75: This paper has five sections:
76: .IP "\ \ 1."
77: Getting Started:
78: How to log in,
79: how to type,
80: what to do about mistakes in typing,
81: how to log out.
82: Some of this is dependent on which
83: system
84: you log into
85: (phone numbers, for example)
86: and what terminal you use,
87: so this section must necessarily be supplemented
88: by local information.
89: .IP "\ \ 2."
90: Day-to-day Use:
91: Things you need every day to use
92: the system
93: effectively:
94: generally useful commands;
95: the file system.
96: .IP "\ \ 3."
97: Document Preparation:
98: Preparing manu\%scripts is one of the most common uses
99: for
100: .UC UNIX
101: systems.
102: This section contains advice,
103: but not
104: extensive instructions on any
105: of the formatting tools.
106: .IP "\ \ 4."
107: Writing Programs:
108: .UC UNIX
109: is an excellent system for developing programs.
110: This section talks about some of the tools,
111: but again is not a tutorial in any of the programming languages
112: provided by the system.
113: .IP "\ \ 5."
114: A
115: .UC UNIX
116: Reading List.
117: An annotated bibliography of
118: documents that new users should be aware of.
119: .SH
120: I. GETTING STARTED
121: .SH
122: Logging In
123: .PP
124: You must have a
125: .UC UNIX
126: login name, which you can get from
127: whoever administers your system.
128: You also need to know the phone number,
129: unless your system uses permanently connected terminals.
130: The
131: .UC UNIX
132: system
133: is capable of dealing with a wide variety of terminals:
134: Terminet 300's; Execuport, TI and similar
135: portables;
136: video (CRT) terminals like the HP2640, etc.;
137: high-priced graphics terminals like the Tektronix 4014;
138: plotting terminals like those from GSI and DASI;
139: and even the venerable
140: Teletype in its various forms.
141: But note:
142: .UC UNIX
143: is strongly oriented towards devices with
144: .ul
145: lower case.
146: If your terminal produces only upper case (e.g., model 33 Teletype, some video and portable terminals),
147: life will be so difficult that you should look for another
148: terminal.
149: .PP
150: Be sure to set the switches appropriately on your device.
151: Switches that might need to be adjusted include the speed,
152: upper/lower case mode,
153: full duplex, even parity, and any others
154: that local wisdom advises.
155: Establish a connection using whatever
156: magic is needed for your terminal;
157: this may involve dialing a telephone call or merely flipping a switch.
158: In either case,
159: .UC UNIX
160: should type
161: .UL login: '' ``
162: at you.
163: If it types garbage, you may be at the wrong speed;
164: check the switches.
165: If that fails,
166: push the ``break'' or ``interrupt'' key a few times, slowly.
167: If that fails to produce a login message, consult a guru.
168: .PP
169: When you get a
170: .UL login:
171: message,
172: type your
173: login name
174: .ul
175: in lower case.
176: Follow it by a
177: .UC RETURN ;
178: the system will not do anything until you type a
179: .UC RETURN .
180: If a password is required,
181: you will be asked for it,
182: and (if possible)
183: printing will be turned off while you type it.
184: Don't forget
185: .UC RETURN .
186: .PP
187: The culmination of your login efforts is a
188: ``prompt character,''
189: a single character that indicates that
190: the system
191: is ready to accept commands from you.
192: The prompt character is usually a
193: dollar sign
194: .UL $
195: or a
196: percent sign
197: .UL % .
198: (You may also get a message of the day just before the
199: prompt character, or a notification that you have mail.)
200: .SH
201: Typing Commands
202: .PP
203: Once you've seen the prompt character, you can type commands,
204: which are
205: requests that
206: the system
207: do something.
208: Try typing
209: .P1
210: date
211: .P2
212: followed by
213: .UC RETURN.
214: You should get back something like
215: .P1
216: Mon Jan 16 14:17:10 EST 1978
217: .P2
218: Don't forget the
219: .UC RETURN
220: after the command,
221: or nothing will happen.
222: If you think you're being ignored,
223: type a
224: .UC RETURN ;
225: something should happen.
226: .UC RETURN
227: won't be mentioned
228: again,
229: but don't forget it \(em
230: it has to be there
231: at the end of each line.
232: .PP
233: Another command you might try is
234: .UL who ,
235: which tells you everyone who is currently logged in:
236: .P1
237: who
238: .P2
239: gives something like
240: .P1
241: .ta .5i 1i
242: mb tty01 Jan 16 09:11
243: ski tty05 Jan 16 09:33
244: gam tty11 Jan 16 13:07
245: .P2
246: The time is when the user logged in;
247: ``ttyxx'' is the system's idea of what terminal
248: the user is on.
249: .PP
250: If you make a mistake typing the command name,
251: and refer to a non-existent command,
252: you will be told.
253: For example, if you type
254: .P1
255: whom
256: .P2
257: you will be told
258: .P1
259: whom: not found
260: .P2
261: Of course, if you inadvertently type the name of some other command,
262: it will run,
263: with more or less mysterious results.
264: .SH
265: Strange Terminal Behavior
266: .PP
267: Sometimes you can get into a state
268: where your terminal acts strangely.
269: For example,
270: each letter may be typed twice,
271: or the
272: .UC RETURN
273: may not cause a line feed
274: or a return to the left margin.
275: You can often fix this by logging out and logging back in.\(dg
276: .FS
277: \(dg In Berkeley Unix, the command "reset<control-j>"
278: will often reset a terminal apparently in a strange state because a fullscreen
279: editor crashed.
280: .FE
281: .FE
282: Or you can read the description of the command
283: .UL stty
284: in section 1 of the manual.
285: To get intelligent treatment of
286: tab characters
287: (which are much used in
288: .UC UNIX )
289: if your terminal doesn't have tabs,
290: type the command
291: .P1
292: stty \-tabs
293: .P2
294: and the system will convert each tab into the right number
295: of blanks for you.
296: If your terminal does have computer-settable tabs,
297: the command
298: .UL tabs
299: will set the stops correctly for you.
300: .SH
301: Mistakes in Typing
302: .PP
303: If you make a typing mistake, and see it before
304: .UC RETURN
305: has been typed,
306: there are two ways to recover.
307: The sharp-character
308: .UL #
309: erases the last character typed;
310: in fact successive uses of
311: .UL #
312: erase characters back to
313: the beginning of the line (but not beyond).
314: So if you type badly, you can correct as you go:
315: .P1
316: dd#atte##e
317: .P2
318: is the same as
319: .UL date .\(dd
320: .FS
321: \(dd Many installations set the erase character for display terminals to
322: the delete or backspace key. "stty all" tells you what it actually is.
323: .FE
324: .PP
325: The at-sign
326: .UL @
327: erases all of the characters
328: typed so far
329: on the current input line,
330: so if the line is irretrievably fouled up, type an
331: .UL @
332: and start the line over.
333: .PP
334: What if you must enter a sharp or at-sign
335: as part of the text?
336: If you precede either
337: .UL #
338: or
339: .UL @
340: by a backslash
341: .UL \e ,
342: it loses its erase meaning.
343: So to enter a sharp or at-sign in something, type
344: .UL \e#
345: or
346: .UL \e@ .
347: The system will always echo a newline at you after your at-sign,
348: even if preceded by a backslash.
349: Don't worry \(em
350: the at-sign has been recorded.
351: .PP
352: To erase a backslash,
353: you have to type two sharps or two at-signs, as in
354: .UL \e## .
355: The backslash is used extensively in
356: .UC UNIX
357: to indicate that the following character is in some way special.
358: .SH
359: Read-ahead
360: .PP
361: .UC UNIX
362: has full read-ahead,
363: which means that you can type as fast as you want,
364: whenever you want,
365: even when some command is typing at you.
366: If you type during output,
367: your input characters will appear intermixed with the output characters,
368: but they will be stored away
369: and interpreted in the correct order.
370: So you can type several commands one after another without
371: waiting for the first to finish or even begin.
372: .SH
373: Stopping a Program
374: .PP
375: You can stop most programs by
376: typing the character
377: .UC DEL '' ``
378: (perhaps called ``delete'' or ``rubout'' on your terminal).
379: The ``interrupt'' or ``break'' key found on most terminals
380: can also be used.\(dg
381: .FS
382: \(dg In Berkeley Unix, "control-c" is the usual way to stop programs. "stty all"
383: tells you the value of your "intr" key.
384: .FE
385: In a few programs, like the text editor,
386: .UC DEL
387: stops whatever the program is doing but leaves you in that program.
388: Hanging up the phone will stop most programs.\(dd
389: .FS
390: \(dd If you use the c shell, programs running in the background continue
391: running even if you hang up.
392: .FE
393: .SH
394: Logging Out
395: .PP
396: The easiest way to log out is to hang up the phone.
397: You can also type
398: .P1
399: login
400: .P2
401: and let someone else use the terminal you were on.*
402: .FS
403: * "control-d" and "logout" are other alternatives.
404: .FE
405: It is usually not sufficient just to turn off the terminal.
406: Most
407: .UC UNIX
408: systems
409: do not use a time-out mechanism, so you'll be
410: there forever unless you hang up.
411: .SH
412: Mail
413: .PP
414: When you log in, you may sometimes get the message
415: .P1
416: You have mail.
417: .P2
418: .UC UNIX
419: provides a postal system so you can
420: communicate with
421: other users of the system.
422: To read your mail,
423: type the command
424: .P1
425: mail
426: .P2
427: Your mail will be printed,
428: one message at a time,
429: most recent message first.\(dd
430: .FS
431: \(dd The Berkeley mail program lists the headers of some number of unread pieces
432: of mail in the order of their receipt.
433: .FE
434: After each message,
435: .UL mail
436: waits for you to say what to do with it.
437: The two basic responses are
438: .UL d ,
439: which deletes the message,
440: and
441: .UC RETURN ,
442: which does not
443: (so it will still be there the next time you read your mailbox).
444: Other responses are described in the manual.
445: (Earlier versions of
446: .UL mail
447: do not process one message at a time,
448: but are otherwise similar.)
449: .PP
450: How do you send mail to someone else?
451: Suppose it is to go to ``joe'' (assuming ``joe'' is someone's login name).
452: The easiest way is this:
453: .P1
454: mail joe
455: .ft I
456: now type in the text of the letter
457: on as many lines as you like ...
458: After the last line of the letter
459: type the character ``control-d'',
460: that is, hold down ``control'' and type
461: a letter ``d''.
462: .P2
463: And that's it.
464: The ``control-d'' sequence, often called ``EOF'' for end-of-file, is used throughout
465: the system
466: to mark the end of input from a terminal,
467: so you might as well get used to it.
468: .PP
469: For practice, send mail to yourself.
470: (This isn't as strange as it might sound \(em
471: mail to oneself is a handy reminder mechanism.)
472: .PP
473: There are other ways to send mail \(em
474: you can send a previously prepared letter,
475: and you can mail to a number of people all at once.
476: For more details see
477: .UL mail (1).
478: (The notation
479: .UL mail (1)
480: means the command
481: .UL mail
482: in section 1
483: of the
484: .ul
485: .UC UNIX
486: .ul
487: .IT Programmer's
488: .IT Manual .)
489: .SH
490: Writing to other users\(dg
491: .FS
492: \(dg Although "write" works on Berkeley
493: .UC UNIX,
494: there is a much nicer way of communicating using display-terminals \(em
495: "talk" splits the screen into two sections, and both of you can type
496: simultaneously (see talk(1)).
497: .FE
498: .PP
499: At some point,
500: out of the blue will come a message
501: like
502: .P1
503: Message from joe tty07...
504: .P2
505: accompanied by a startling beep.
506: It means that Joe wants to talk to you,
507: but unless you take explicit action you won't be able to talk back.
508: To respond,
509: type the command
510: .P1
511: write joe
512: .P2
513: This establishes a two-way communication path.
514: Now whatever Joe types on his terminal will appear on yours
515: and vice versa.
516: The path is slow, rather like talking to the moon.
517: (If you are in the middle of something, you have to
518: get to a state where you can type a command.
519: Normally, whatever program you are running has to terminate or be terminated.
520: If you're editing, you can escape temporarily from the editor \(em
521: read the editor tutorial.)
522: .PP
523: A protocol is needed to keep what you type from getting
524: garbled up with what Joe types.
525: Typically it's like this:
526: .P1
527: .tr --
528: .fi
529: .ft R
530: Joe types
531: .UL write
532: .UL smith
533: and waits.
534: .br
535: Smith types
536: .UL write
537: .UL joe
538: and waits.
539: .br
540: Joe now types his message
541: (as many lines as he likes).
542: When he's ready for a reply, he
543: signals it by typing
544: .UL (o) ,
545: which
546: stands for ``over''.
547: .br
548: Now Smith types a reply, also
549: terminated by
550: .UL (o) .
551: .br
552: This cycle repeats until
553: someone gets tired; he then
554: signals his intent to quit with
555: .UL (oo) ,
556: for ``over
557: and out''.
558: .br
559: To terminate
560: the conversation, each side must
561: type a ``control-d'' character alone
562: on a line. (``Delete'' also works.)
563: When the other person types his ``control-d'',
564: you will get the message
565: .UL EOF
566: on your terminal.
567: .P2
568: .PP
569: If you write to someone who isn't logged in,
570: or who doesn't want to be disturbed,
571: you'll be told.
572: If the target is logged in but doesn't answer
573: after a decent interval,
574: simply type ``control-d''.
575: .SH
576: On-line Manual
577: .PP
578: The
579: .ul
580: .UC UNIX
581: .ul
582: Programmer's Manual
583: is typically kept on-line.
584: If you get stuck on something,
585: and can't find an expert to assist you,
586: you can print on your terminal some manual section that might help.
587: This is also useful for getting the most up-to-date
588: information on a command.
589: To print a manual section, type
590: ``man command-name''.
591: Thus to read up on the
592: .UL who
593: command,
594: type
595: .P1
596: man who
597: .P2
598: and, of course,
599: .P1
600: man man
601: .P2
602: tells all about the
603: .UL man
604: command.
605: .SH
606: Computer Aided Instruction
607: .PP
608: Your
609: .UC UNIX
610: system may have available
611: a program called
612: .UL learn ,
613: which provides computer aided instruction on
614: the file system and basic commands,
615: the editor,
616: document preparation,
617: and even C programming.
618: Try typing the command
619: .P1
620: learn
621: .P2
622: If
623: .UL learn
624: exists on your system,
625: it will tell you what to do from there.
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