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A GT account is a UNIX account issued to you by OIT (Office of Information Technology) when you enroll in Georgia Tech. It is a unique series of numbers and letters in the form 'gtXXXXL' or 'gtLXXXL' or 'firstInitialLastNameX' where 'X' is a number and 'L' is a letter and all letters are lowercase. In future labs, and around campus, this may also be referred to as a "Prism account", or a "Acme account". If you are a new student, the prism ID has changed format to be first name initial, last name and then a number.
You will need your GT account to access the 'acme' machines. These machines are where you will log on in order to do many computing tasks on campus. Note that you cannot actually go and sit in front of acme to log in.
Before you can use your GT account, you need to get it activated. To do this, you have to go to OIT (located in the Resource Center on the ground floor of the library) and show them your student ID. Once your account has been activated, you will be given a temporary password that you can use to log in to the acme machines.
NOTE: Bring your student ID with you or your account cannot be activated.
Windows is a graphical operating system mainly used to manage files and run applications. The best way to learn Windows is to play with it. Below is a screen shot of a typical Windows session.
(click on any of the words to go to a description of it)
Icons are graphical representations (little pictures) of files, directories, and shortcuts. They are usually associated with some action (such as running the program they represent) that is performed by double-clicking on them.
Double-clicking is a way of performing an action by clicking the left mouse button twice in rapid succession. For instance, double-clicking on the 'My Computer' icon (picture of the computer in the upper left hand corner) will open up a window containing a listing of your computer's hard-drives. Double-clicking on the icon labeled 'C:' will bring up a listing of directories on your computer. Double-clicking on a directory will bring up a listing of the files located in that directory.
In general, the right mouse button is used to bring up a menu of options that you can perform on an item. Try right-clicking on the 'My Computer' icon and see what options are available. To execute one of these options, left-click on it while it is highlighted.
The task bar is the bar located at the bottom of your screen. It holds the Start menu and a list of programs that are currently running. These programs will be represented as rectangles with the name of the program inside. By clicking on one of these rectangles, you can give focus to (bring to the front) the application it represents. Note that if the application has been minimized, it will be restored to its size before it was minimized.
The Start menu is a way of accessing programs stored on your computer. It is located inside the task bar at the bottom left hand corner of your screen. REMOVEDft-clicking on it once brings up a list of menus which can be explored by moving the mouse pointer over the menu you want to expand. Usually at the lowest menu level (when there are no REMOVED menus to expand), there is an icon, or icons which can be run by left-clicking them once. For instance, to play a game of "Minesweeper" you may go to Start, then Accessories, then Games until you can click on the Minesweeper icon.
All Windows menu bars have three common elements, the "minimize", "maximize", and "close" buttons. These buttons are located in the upper right hand corner of a window. By left-clicking on one of these buttons you can apply an action to the window on which the menu is attached.
This is the first of the three buttons. It looks like an underscore "_". Clicking on this button will hide the window in the task bar that is located at the bottom of the screen. Note that the program has not been closed; it is still running. To restore the window to its original size, click on its rectangle in the taskbar.
This is the second of the three buttons. It looks like a box "[]". Clicking on this button will make the window expand to fill the size of your screen. Note that the box will turn into two overlapping boxes. Clicking on this button while a window is already expanded will restore the window to its original size.
This is the third of the three buttons. It looks like An "X". Clicking on this button will close the window and any program that was running inside.
The Macintosh is another graphical operating system used to manage files and run applications. As with Windows, the best way to become familiar with the Macintosh environment is to play with it. Below are the basic concepts needed to run a program on a Macintosh computer.
Icons
Icons are graphical representations (little pictures) of files and directories. They are usually associated with some action (such as running the program they represent) that is performed by double-clicking on them.
Double-Clicking
Double-clicking is a way of performing an action by clicking the mouse button twice in rapid succession. For instance, double-clicking on the hard-drive icon will open up a window containing a listing of your computer's directories, files, and programs. Double-clicking on a directory will bring up another listing of the files and programs. Double-clicking on a file or program will execute that program.
Closing a Program
To close a currently running program, click once on the open box in the upper left hand corner of the application.
A graphical web browser is used to
navigate the World Wide Web. It is primarily used to view web pages, though
it can be used to transfer files.
There are several popular web browsers including Netscape, Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla, etc.. They all have very similar interfaces, so knowing how to run one
will greatly help you to run any others. We will use Netscape as an example.
To run any web browser, double-click the appropriate icon on your desktop. If the Netscape icon does not exist, do the following:
1. Click the 'Start' button.
2. Click 'Run'.
3. At the prompt type: netscape
4. Press the 'Enter' key on your keyboard.
Below is a screen shot of a typical session of Netscape.
(click on any of the words to go to a description of it)
This is where you type in the address of the page you want to view.
There are five main navigational buttons used to maneuver the world-wide-web. These are:
This is the first of the navigational buttons. It looks like a back arrow. This button is used to return to the previously viewed web page.
This is the second of the navigational buttons. It looks like a forward arrow. This button is used to return to the page before the back button was pressed.
This is the third of the navigational buttons. It looks like a circular arrow. This button is used to reload to the current web page. Normally, when this button is pressed, a cached (previously saved) version of the page is loaded. If you want to load a fresh page then you can press Reload or Refresh.
This is the fourth of the navigational buttons. REMOVEDrprisingly enough, it looks like a home. This button is used to return to your "home" page. This is the page that is loaded when Netscape originally starts.
This is the last of the navigational buttons. It looks like a stop sign. This button is used to halt the loading of a web page. It can also be used to stop animated graphics from moving.
These are used to view your current web page. By moving the side scroll bar up and down you can move the current web page up and down. By moving the bottom scroll bar left and right you can move the current web page left and right. Note that the scroll bars will only appear if the web page goes beyond the size of your Netscape window.
This indicates the progress of downloading a web page. It also indicates the progress of uploading and downloading a file.
To view web pages do the following:
Type the address of the page you want to view in the URL text box.
For example if you wanted to view the College of Computing home page you would type:
and then press 'enter'.
To save a file using any standard web browser, do the following:
- Click on the file you wish to save with the RIGHT mouse button (that's the "other" one).
A menu will appear consisting of several options. Click on "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" to save the clicked file. Note: Remember where the file is to be saved and what the file is called!
- Click 'Save'.