To apply for an account, you can sit down at any workstation (should be present in all Owlnet labs) and log in as user "apply", and follow the instructions. You can also use Netscape and connect to:
If you encounter any trouble during application process, you should goto the information desk at Mudd 103 ask for assistance.
Send an email to listserv@listserv.rice.edu, in the body of your message, type:
You should get an automated reply message about listserv, it includes information on how to post messages to the listserv, how to unsubscribe, and other listserv commands. Please save this message for future reference.
Login to any Owlnet workstation, type "register rcssc" at the prompt. For the setup to work, you will need to quit the session, and login again. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email to rcssc@rice.edu, or post it to RCSC@listserv.rice.edu.
After you registered rcssc, your font path will be set automatically every time you login. To view Chinese on Netscape, you will need to select the correct fonts: Tradition Chinese (BIG5), Traditional Chinese (EUC-TW), or Simplified Chinese (GB). You can set the fonts by clicking "Options" on the menu bar, and select "Document Encoding".
First, you should start cxterm by typing "cxterm" at your prompt. Then type "hztty" so you can view HZ documents (these documents has lines begin with ~{ and ends in ~}. To read news, start tin; to enter gopher, start gopher.
You can also view any documents with cxterm. There are 4 varieties of cxterm, they are:
cxterm (GB, HZ) cxtermb5 (BIG5) cxtermjis (JIS, Japanese) cxtermks (KSC, Korean)
Your fonts will not be setup correctly when you are on X-Terminals. If your console shows the following message, you are on an X-Terminal:
X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) Major opcode of failed request: 51 (X_SetFontPath) Value in failed request: 0x0 Serial number of failed request: 4 Current serial number in output stream: 6
That means you cannot view Chinese documents normally. Right now there is no prefect solution to this. Chirk allows you to view Chinese documents (no Japanese or Korean). To start chirk, type "chirk the_name_of_document" and a window will appear. Instructions on how to use chirk are shown on the bottom of the popup window.
Chpower is an easy-to-use X-Windows editing program. To start chpower, type "chpower" at your prompt. You will see a box with 4 Chinese words. "New" opens new document, "old" opens an existing document, "in" pops up an input screen, "out" lets you exist chpower. This program has translation features and several additional utilities. You should be able to use it by exploring the menu bars.
A note on choosing font: Font types (Format->Character...) are short handed, the first few alphabetic letters mean:
s song ti fs fangsong ti m ming ti k kai ti h hei ti b5s big5 song ti b5k big5 kai ti b5m big5 ming ti jis japanese ksf korean
The next 2 numerical letters indicates the pixel size of the fonts. It could be either 16 or 24. 24 will show up more nicely if you scale up your characters.
The last 1 letter indicates if the font is simplified or not:
j jian ti (simplified) f fan ti (non-simplified)
Currently, only Chinese characters show up correctly on screen. If you are editing Japanese or Korean, it is recommended that you use cxterm.
You may start cxterm by typing "cxterm" at your prompt. If you need to edit HZ document, "hztty" command must be entered. The function keys F1-F10 are used to select entry method, Shift-Function Key also selections method. F3 allows you change input configuration. Pinyin method is F6, or Shift-F4 for tuned pinyin. Escape key lets you quit inputting Chinese and input ASCII letters. All selections are shown on the bottom of the screen, you can press the numbers to select the word, or use "." to see more selections, and "," back up previous screen of selections. Spacebar automatically selects the "1" word.
There are 4 flavor of cxterm:
cxterm (GB, HZ) cxtermb5 (BIG5) cxtermjis (JIS, Japanese) cxtermks (KSC, Korean)
This is a Chinese equivalent for vi. You must first start cxterm. and then type "cvi" at your prompt. There are 5 alternative to cvi:
celvis chinese vi cvi same as celvis cview file read-only, start at control mode cedit start at edit mode cex chinese ex
This program prints the Chinese files. Since Owlnet default for printer is (null), you will need the following options to print:
The "-t" option might also be useful if you don't want time printed. For more information on using cnprint, type "cnprint -h", or "man cnprint", or read /home/rcssc/doc/cnprint.help.
Gb2ps changes Chinese files to postscript files, which can than be printed using "lpr" or "enscript" command. gb2ps automatically prints a title page for HXWZ, to suppress this, you will need to use the "-t" option. You can do font and page formatting with gb2ps, for more information, please read /home/rcssc/doc/gb2ps.help.
You could also use chpower's print command to print any document. You will need to specify the printing command. The command is found at File->Print....
Chpower has builtin font conversion, which is under "Convert" menu. Other conversion utilities include:
b2g big5 -> gb g2b gb -> big5 hc (same as b2g and g2b) gb2hz gb -> hz hz2gb hz -> gb gb2ps gb -> ps
You will need to use chpower to convert Japanese and Korean files.
Here is a list of programs currently under rcssc:
CXterm safe cxterm, installs proper fonts b2g big5 -> gb cedit cvi, start at edit mode celvis cvi cex chinese ex chirk chinese viewer chpower chinese x-win editor cnprint chinese printing cvi chinese vi (cvi) cview cvi, read-only mode cxterm chinese xterm, gb font cxtermb5 chinese xterm, big5 font cxtermjis chinese xterm, jis font (japanese) cxtermks chinese xterm, ksc font (korean) g2b gb -> big5 gb2hz gb -> hz gb2ps gb -> ps hc b2g, g2b hz2gb hz -> gb hztty enable hz virec restores file for cvi
cvi, celvis, cedit, cview, cex currently are not supported on SGI machines. All other commands are supported on SunOS, Solaris, and SGI.
It is strongly recommended to read man page and documentation of each program. To view man page, type "man programname". Some programs does not have man pages, and have documentation under /home/rcssc/doc/. To get a short help, "program -h" lists a summary of options. If anything still does not work, please email to rcssc@rice.edu, or post to RCSC@listserv.rice.edu.
First of all, you must be on a Workstation, not X-Terminals. As a general rule, all computers in library which is not Mac and there is no camera on top is a X-Terminal. All machines in Ryon 102, Physics Lab, Mechanical Engineering Lab, Abecrombie Lab, and Mudd Unix Tutorial Room are work stations.
Secondly, you should not run the program if you are rlogined or telneting to Owlnet. This usually cause a font problem, and sometimes you could get around the problem by typing the following command when you enter x-windows:
This command sometimes fails. If you only need to read documents, use chirk instead, see II.a.3.
You need to specify the print command using the following option:
On Owlnet, the system printer is set to (null) by default, which causes the problem.
You could preview your file by first converting it to postscript file using the "-w -o outfilename" option. The postscript file will be large though.
A possible cause for this problem is that you rlogined or are telneting to Owlnet. The cxterm methods are called "dictionaries" and the base directory to these dictionaries (usually dict/) must be found on your current machine. If you want to use cxterm, you may copy the directory /home/rcssc/dict/ to your machine, and add it to your path. A environment vairable called HZINPUTDIR must be set to that base directory. On csh or tcsh, type:
setenv HZINPUTDIR /the/directory
On sh, you need to type the following commands:
set HZINPUTDIR=/the/directory export HZINPUTDIR
Note you don't need to copy /jis and /ks directories if you only need to read Chinese files. For more questions on setting up your Chinese environment, please refer to IV.c.
This is the same as the above question. Refer to III.c.
First check if the program is running on Owlnet, also check if you are rlogined or are telneting to Owlnet. If one or both answers to the above two questions are yes, refer to III.a.
Second check if you selected the correct language on Netscape. To select language, follow Options->Document Encoding->select the language. Note you must select gb if you are reading GB files, and also for BIG5 and EUC-TW. You should know what language the file you are reading.
On cxterm, check if you typed "hztty". HZ files usually appear as gibberish if you forget to issue this command. It is a good idea to start hztty whenever you start cxterm, so you can read both gb and hz files. The following command is suggested:
CXterm is the one running when you say "cxterm". CXterm is a safe version of cxterm and automatically selects the fonts. You will want to issue CXterm before you execute cxtermb5, cxtermjis, or cxtermks to set the fonts correctly. It is recommended that you start cxterm iconized at every login, even if you don't use it. That will make sure the fonts are correctly setup.
The main problem with this version of PINE (v3.96) is that it does not understand GB inputs. It is encouraged that you used HZ environment from start (ie, type "hztty" after CXterm started) since it could understand both HZ and GB fonts. If you are in HZ environment, you should be able to edit Chinese email as normal, starting and ending each line with ~{ and ~}.
If you need to use GB, you will need to change the file .pinerc under your home directory. The following lines are affected:
Change the "editor=" line to the following:# Specifies the program invoked by ^_ in the Composer, # or the "enable-alternate-editor-implicitly" feature. editor=
DO NOT CHANGE ANY OTHER LINES unless you know what you are doing. Now when you need to edit a Chinese mail, after you typed in the name and subject line, press "Ctrl-Shift-Dash" in the body of the mail (after the dashed line), which means press "Control", "Shift" and "-" keys at the same time, shorthanded to ^_. Then edit email as a normal file, and press Ctrl-X (press "Control" and "X" key together) to exit out of editor, and SAVE the file if asked. The file saved is a temporary file and will be deleted once the email is sent.editor=pico
Well, this is only a general guide, intended for starters. If you encounter a problem, please email to rcssc@rice.edu, or post it to RCSC@listserv.rice.edu. You problem could be other people's problem too, and if we don't get questions, we assume everyone knows how to use the programs, and the programs are running perfectly. If you just entered Rice University, or you do not feel comfortable with computers, and may be the terminology sounds too unfamiliar, please read Owlnet's page:
You will need to do two things.
You may copy (file transfer) rcssc's program to your own computer, as long as you don't use it for commercial purpose. You may also download softwares from internet. Some places to look are:
You many get files end if .tar.gz, or .tar.Z, or .tgz. These files are tar files and/or gzipped files. You will need to issue the following commands to unpack the program:
gunzip filename tar -xvf gunziped_filename
Most programs are large and requires lots of space. Some packages come with binary file which you can immediately execute, but most require you to make it. You will need to edit Immakefile or Makefile if neccesary. As a general rule, ALWAYS read README, README.1st, and INSTALL. Follow instructions in those files. Compiling requires lots of space and take some time. This is not recommended unless you know exactly what you are doing. If you want to tryout certain programs, email to rcssc@rice.edu, or post to RCSC@listserv.rice.edu. Someone will evaluate the program and add to rcssc's program list if possible. Also you may want to ask around, especially some Chinese computer friends of yours, because probably they already tried it and can let you link/copy/run their program, or give you a good idea what to expect.
You may need to install some fonts, maybe even some fancy fonts not on Owlnet.
If you copied fonts from rcssc, it is strongly recommended that you put it under your xfonts/ directory. Several kinds of files are recognized as font files, like .bdf and .pcf files. When you've done copying, you must run the following command to make the xfonts/ directory looks like a font directory to the system:
mkfontdir /your/font/directory (or "mkfontdir ." if in it)
A file called "fonts.dir" will be created. DO NOT edit this file. In this file, the first line says how many fonts there are in the directory, and all other lines are the names of fonts. Note these names maybe long, you will need to create a fonts.alias file with the following format for each line:
short_name font_name_in_fonts.dir
Certain programs only recognize certain aliases, you will need to consult the program's README or INSTALL file. It is a good idea to copy rcssc's fonts.alias file.
Chpower and cnprint both require HBF files, they will not appear in fonts.dir or fonts.alias. Cnprint also requires a "cnprint.cmd" in the font directory. See documentation on cnprint.
Every time you enter x-windows. the following command is required for the system to load your fonts:
xset +fp /you/font/directory
You should study the following files:
/home/rcssc/Xsetup.all /home/rcssc/xfonts/0.README /home/rcssc/xfonts/README /home/rcssc/xfonts/HBF.txt
If you want to obtain more fonts, some places to start are:
The files might be gzipped and/or tarred, follow the procedures listed in IV.a.1. Some font files are only available in HBF format, but you can change it to bdf or pcf by using the program hbftopcf. The program can be found at:
There is a command "bdftopcf" which translates bdf files to pcf files.
If you have additional fonts on Owlnet, please let us know so we can link to it and everyone can use it. Font files take a lot of space and it is a good idea to ask around to see if the font is already available. "xlsfonts" command will give a list of current fonts on the system.
The procedure are different from Unix and are much easier. Look at:
and download the files you want. PC programs are generally zipped and you will need to pkunzip it. pkunzip.exe can be found at:
Mac files may end in .hqx, .sit, or .bin. These are packed for macintosh and most machines unpack it for you automatically. If not, you can get the program from Mudd's Software Distribution Center.
When unpacked, the binary programs should be ready to run. Some programs may need some additional font files, please follow directions in README.1st, README, or INSTALL files.
The following is a list of programs that are most popular.
You may drop rcssc by typing "drop rcssc" at your prompt. Study /home/rcssc/Xsetup.all and modify it to suit your needs. /home/rcssc/dict/CXterm.ad can be appended to your .Xresources file and modified. If you only need to modify a few lines in CXterm, you can add it to your .Xresources file, your additions will take precedence. You may also link to rcssc, please do not use hard links, use "ln -s" command instead. Cnprint needs cnprint.cmd to work, it is located at /home/rcssc/xfonts/cnprint.cmd. You need to take a look at /home/rcssc/setup/environment to setup the correct environment variables.
Refer to II.e.
Practice and Play. There are also several files out on internet, start looking at http://www.ifcss.org/ftp-pub/software/data/, and ftp://ftp.ifcss.org/pub/act/archive/input/.
See IV.a.1.
See IV.a.2.
Check http://www.ifcss.org/ftp-pub/software/ for updates on software each year. Read news:rice.owlnews.general to get information on Owlnet updates, especially hardware. Right now Solaris is running SunOS version programs, if an update make it impossible, or libraries get too old, new compilation is needed (ie, more disk quota).
Read /home/rcssc/setup/README for setup information.
Remember every change in setup/, dict/, xfonts/, c-bin/, bin/, and man/ affect everyone enrolled in rcssc.