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Questions and Answers from the UCO

A more complete collection of Frequently Asked Questions can be found on our Web page at URL:

http://consult.cern.ch/uco/direct/#FAQs.


General (Miguel Marquina CN/DCI)

Question

How do I post into a CERN newsgroup?

Answer

The easiest is to use a Web browser (see Choice of News Readers). We recommend the usage of Netscape: Select the ``Netscape News'' under the ``Window'' menu and select the newsgroup you want to post to on the left side; then click ``To: News'' and supply the Newsgroup name and the text.


CERNSP (Tony Cass CN/DCI)

Question

Since the update of cernsp to AIX 4 my ``bin'' directory has disappeared. Why ?

Answer

If you look carefully, you will see that your bin directory is actually a link to another directory, .@sys/bin:
[cernsp] ~ > ls -l bin
lrwxr-xr-x 1 cremel system  ... bin -> @sys/bin

The @sys is interpreted by afs and allows the same directory name, bin, to refer to directories that have to be different on different architectures. The @sys name used for AIX in now rs_aix41 rather than rs_aix32 and this change can affect users in different ways:

N.B. Any users who need to use both AIX 3.2 and AIX 4.1 systems should note that whilst programs compiled under AIX 3.2 will work under AIX 4.1, any programs compiled under AIX 4.1 will not work under AIX 3.2.

See also The `uco -home' Command.

Question

The Xterm font is now larger than before and I don't like it: how can it be changed?

Answer

The default font for an Xterm if you log in with XDM is now the same on cernsp as for the hpplus and other Work Group Server clusters. This font was chosen to be the easiest to read on most terminals and also because it is available across many platforms. We recognise it can be a little large for some terminals and some work has been done to see if a better font can be chosen. Any change in font, however, will be coordinated with a new release of the HEPiX X11 environment.

If you do not like this font, then most users who have the default X environment can set a new default by changing the $HOME/.hepix/xclients file.

You need to add a line to this file like:

XTerm*Font: Erg14

where "Erg14" is the font you like.

N.B. "Rom14" is a similar, serifed, medium size font available for AIX systems; "fixed" is a small font, often seen as the default. Please note that if you use systems other than cernsp that you must choose a font that works on both systems!

If you do not already have an xclients file you can use the following lines to change the font:

echo "XTerm*Font: Erg14" | xrdb -merge

See also Changing X Fonts.

Question

I get the message

`Could not load library libtermcap.a[shr.o]'

when I start my program. What does this mean?

Answer

The `termcap' library allows an application to have a standard interface to a terminal to move the cursor, interpret function keys and so on. This library is no longer supported in the standard AIX 4 at CERN as the `curses' library is recommended for this functionality instead. If you have an application that generates this error it must be linked with the `curses' library instead. If you see this error for any application in /usr/local/bin (or any other asis directory), please report the problem to the UCO.


NICE 95 (Jason Oh CN/DCI)

From May 1st, NICE95, the Windows 95 environment at CERN, became the recommended PC environment. Many users will be encouraged to migrate NICE95. Below is a selection of questions that have been asked at the UCO or have arisen from the NICE95 beta testers working group. More questions (with answers) regarding NICE95 can be obtained via URL: http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/cndoc/UCO/internal/CatOrg.html#n95

Question

Where can I find documentation on NICE95?

Answer

Question

I have forgotten my (Novell/NDS) password on my PC, who can help me?

Answer

Please contact the UCO by e-mail to uco@mail.cern.ch.

Question

How do I change my Network (Novell) password from NICE95 (Windows 95)?

Answer

From the NICE95 task bar:
1.
Select start,
2.
then settings,
3.
next Control Panel,
4.
click on Passwords,
5.
select change other passwords and select NDS password; you may also wish to change your screen saver password to the same time.

Please note: it is recommended that you leave the windows password blank.

Question

What can I do if I forget the local `Windows Password' for NICE95?

Answer

If the user becomes stuck after the NDS login because he cannot remember his old `Windows Password' he should:

1.
Press `Cancel' at the `Windows Logon' dialogue box. The user will then use the `Common profile' instead of his private settings.

2.
Run ``More Applications\System\ Recover local password'' from the start menu and select his login name. At the next logon, he will be able to reset his password.

NOTE: The best way to avoid this problem is to leave the `Windows Password' blank.

Question

I have forgotten my password for Microsoft mail (PC-mail) what can I do?

Answer

Go to the UCO (Building 513) or send an e-mail to uco@mail.cern.ch and ask for your Novell password to be reset. Resetting the Novell password also resets the Microsoft mail password. However, whereas the Novell password is pre-expired and you are forced to change it the MS mail password is not. So it must be changed manually (we suggest to the same as your Novell password, to make it easier to remember)

Question

I would like to try out Windows 95, to hopefully gain on my PC performance. Is this possible using DIANE?

Answer

This is not possible through DIANE but it is possible to create an installation disk from a NICE95 machine. Currently the location is (though it is likely to change in the near future)

From Windows 95 start menu-More Applications - System -PC Administration - Create NICE95 installation Disk.

It is advisable to use a new floppy to create a NICE95 installation disk.

As a precaution please backup your data files (but not any system files since inadvertently restoring system files my corrupt the operating system).

Question

I have used the Windows 3.1 backup program `MWBACKUP' provided by Microsoft with the last versions of DOS. But I cannot recuperate files with the backup program provided by Microsoft for Windows 95. What should I do?

Answer

MWBACKUP can be made to run under Windows 95 and recuperate their files as follows:

From the directory z:\dos\v6.22

Question

How can I determine how much space I have left on my C drive (hard disk) from NICE95?

Answer

From the My Computer shortcut on the desktop right click on the Local disk (C:) icon and select properties.



Michel Goossens
CN Division
Tel. 3363
Thu May 30 20:08:07 METDST 1996