The ECN No Name Newsletter is no longer being published. This is an archived issue.
[previous article] [next article]I would like to welcome all the old UNIX users and the new UNIX users that have arrived this Fall. I would recommend that you attend some of the UNIX short courses that are being offered for ECN system users (see page 8), because once you have heard a topic discussed, it makes more sense when you read the manual. In Csite, UNIX lectures will feature various topics concerning use of the computer, and these sessions will be given every Tuesday, 10:30 AM, in CE 113. If you are interested in what the lecture topic is, a schedule can be seen by typing:
"help ecnnews/ShortCourses"
With the addition of the ATOMS Sun server, and the new annex software, terminals that were formerly connected to the CA machine, now are connected to the Ethernet via annex boxes. The CA machine and ATOMS act as "gateways" on the Ethernet. This means that if the CA machine is shut down for a PM (Preventive Maintenance), for example, the terminals can still rlogin to CB, or another ECN machine connecting through the Sun server gateway to ECN.
At Csite, most of the Sun workstations are in public areas, which enables many users to have a chance to utilize their capabilities. A second Sun server, named GOLDENGATE, arrived in August. During the summer, graduate students and staff have spent many hours learning about the Suns.
An example of the applications completed this summer is the work done by Prof. Garrett Jeong and Jeff Boucher. They developed a Sun application using SunCGI graphics that will allow "... graduate students to simulate the experimental determination of the natural frequency and damping of an unknown simple oscillator. The student may vary the excitation frequency of the oscillator and graphically determine and select the steady-state amplitude. All three buttons on the mouse are used in the point selection process: the left button selects the steady-state amplitude and frequency, the middle button discards the frequency, and the right button extends the time history to attain steady state. The steady-state amplitudes are then plotted against the excitation frequencies. The graph may then be dumped to a laser printer and used to identify the natural frequency and damping of the unknown system."
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