BUL Computer Tips for the PC

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Windows 2000 tips for setting up network neighborhood and printing

Question index:


Q: I have a postscript file generated on a PC. How do I print it to a printer?
A: The PostScript output from Windows has a few problems with <CR> and <LF> line terminations. To print these files to the printer, use the program /usr/coolstuff/bin/lppsif (in Unix) to filter the file before sending it to the printer. I.e. use the command:
    /usr/coolstuff/bin/lppsif file.ps | lpr

Q: How do I print single-sided from a PC?
A: All of the printer features can be controlled through the printer options dialog box. In the case of Rainier, when you select print, a print dialog box will open up. Click on the "Properties" button next to the printer name. There you will see the printer settings. Under the "Paper" tab, select the "More Options..." button. To print single sided, set "None" for the printing on both sides option. Then select OK for each of the dialog boxes to print your document. When you are finished, it is a good idea restore the settings so that you don't get unexpected printing results the next time you print a document.

These settings are also available in the Printer Settings utility. To access them there, select Start..Settings..Printers. In this utility, select the printer you wish to change, and then select Properties from the menu (either the application menu, or the right-click menu.)

Q: I printed, but nothing showed up on the printer. Where did my printout go?
A: First, if you are printing to Rainier, look behind the printer. There is an output bin option which could be set to "side" rather than "upper". If this is the case, refer to "How do I print single-sided from a PC?" for information on changing the printer settings.

If all of your settings are correct, it may be that the resulting file is too large to print. In this case, print to a file, and bring that file over to the Unix machines. Then telnet to OE800 and filter the file using the /usr/coolstuff/bin/lppsif filter, and print it as follows:

    /usr/coolstuff/bin/lppsif file.ps /tmp/filtered.ps
    lpr -Prainier -s /tmp/filtered.ps

Q: How do I print from a PC?
A: Select PC type below to goto appropriate question

Q: How do I print from Windows 3.11 machines?
A: The network printers Rainier and Jax should be set up as LPT1: and LPT2:, respectively. If for some reason the get disconnected, and you need to re-connect them, do so as follows:
  1. Run Control Panel, and open the Printers control panel.
  2. Select the printer you want to use (use QMS-PS 800 for Rainier, and Apple LaserWriter II NTX for Jax)
  3. Click on the "Connect..." button.
  4. Click on the "Network..." button.
  5. In the "Device Name" box, select the port to which you want to connect the printer. (use LPT1: for Rainier, LPT2: for Jax, and LPT3: for special cases)
  6. In the "Path" box, type the printer address, e.g. "\\oe800\rainier" (the form is "\\<server>\<printer>" )
  7. Be sure the "Reconnect at startup" option is selected, then click "OK"
  8. Select OK in the Connect dialog box.
  9. Select Close in the Printers dialog box.
Q: How do I print from Windows95 machines?
A: In Windows95, the printers are given names, rather than LPT ports, so to print to a specific printer, just select that printer by name in the Print Setup dialog box for your application.

To set up a new printer, do the following:

  1. Select Start..Settings..Printers
  2. Double-click on the Add Printer icon
  3. Select Network printer, and give "\\<server>\<printer>" as the network path or queue name (for example, "\\oe800\rainier".)
  4. Select "No" for printing from MSDOS applications. Selecting "Yes" here will allow you to connect a printer to the DOS LPT1:, LPT2: etc. ports, if you so desire.
  5. Select the printer make and model. You will probably need the Windows95 CD-ROM in the drive in order to load the proper drivers. On machines without a CD-ROM drive, access these files through the network from a machine which does have a CD-ROM drive.
  6. Give the printer an appropriate name (the network name is good choice, the make and model of the printer is very bad choice.)
How do I print from a PC to HP LaserJet 5Si and HP DeskJet 1600C printers?
A: You need to use the AdobePS printer driver for these printers. (Note: The AdobePS printer driver will work for any PostScript printer, so it could also be used for the other PostScript printers in the lab.) The AdobePS setup utility should be listed under the Start..Programs..Utilities menu. If it is not currently installed on the computer, it can be installed by running the "setup.exe" program from the adobe subdirectory of the network drive \\oe800\updates.

To add a printer, run the AdobePS setup utility and respond with the following answers:

Q: How do I print from a PC to 3128pub?
A: For some reason, printing Postscript to this printer through the default print server will fail. An alternative print server has been set up by DCO as 3128pub_2. Follow the setup tips in "How do I print from a PC to HP LaserJet 5Si and HP DeskJet 1600C printers?" to set up a print driver using the network printer named \\oe800\3128pub_2.

Q: How do I get at files on a PC?
A:Select PC type below to goto appropriate question

Q: How do I get at files on the PCs from the Sun workstations?
A: Run the smbclient program, which is an FTP-like program which uses the Windows protocol to access the files. To get a list of shared directories, run "smbclient -L <machine>". To attach to a specific resource (i.e. a drive) run "smbclient '\\machine\drive' <password>" (where the single quotes (') are required because of the backslash (\) character. For example, to view the resources available on altes, enter:
pabst% smbclient -L altes
Server time is Wed Mar 20 13:12:26 1996
Timezone is UTC-5.0

Server=[ALTES] User=[] Workgroup=[BUL] Domain=[BUL]

        Sharename      Type      Comment
        ---------      ----      -------
        ADMIN$         Disk
        C              Disk      Main drive
        CDROM          Disk      CD-ROM Drive on Altes
        D              Disk      Second drive (applications)
        IPC$           IPC       Remote Inter Process Communication

To connect to one of these drives to transfer files:

pabst% smbclient '\\altes\c'
Server time is Wed Mar 20 13:16:04 1996
Timezone is UTC-5.0
Password: 
smb: \> 

Once connected, you can use the standard FTP commands to transfer files. The password in most cases must be in uppercase letters, and will give you read-only access. Ask a knowledgable person in the lab for the password to these drives.

Refer to the man page for smbclient for more information.

An alternative (and currently experimental) method is to mount the drives through the Linux server. Do do this, change to the directory /n/oe800/s/<machine>/<drive>, where <machine> is the name of the machine to which you want to connect (base name only) and <drive> is the name of the shared drive on that machine. (Use "smbclient -L <machine>" to get a list of valid drives.) For example, "cd /n/oe800/s/kolos/c" will get you to drive C on Stas' computer. Access to these drives is read-only.

Q: How do I get at files on a PC from another PC running Windows95?
A: From the "Network Neighborhood" folder (found on the desktop), select (double-click on) the desired computer, and then on the drive name. If you wish, you can make a shortcut on your desktop that will take you directly to a directory on another computer. Set the windows so that you can see both the icon for directory to which you want to shortcut and the desktop. Then, using the RIGHT mouse button, select the directory and drag it to the desktop. Release the mouse button, and select "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the menu that pops up.

Q: How do I get at files on a PC from another PC running Windows 3.11?
A: Start up File Manager, and select "Connect Network Drive" from the Disk menu. You can specify the drive using the "\\machine\drive" notation, or click on the Browse button to get a list of available machines and drives. Ask a knowledgeable person in the lab for the password to the drives on the lab PCs. The password for drives on OE800 is your Unix password, and will give you file access equivalent to what you get in your Unix account. To attach to these drives you must be logged in to the PC with your Unix user name. Refer to How do I log on to a PC? for details on how to log on to the network on a PC.

You will have the option of saving the password in your password list, so that you do not have to retype it every time you re-attach to that drive. For security reasons, it is recommend that you NOT save the Unix password in the password list.
There also is an option to re-attach on startup. This will allow you to set up some drives which automatically are connected when you log in. For example, you could connect U: to your home directory on the Unix machines (\\oe800\phillipv for user phillipv) and then you could always access your files there through the network drive labelled "u:".

Note: When using the icons in the "Log On" program group to log on to the network, your home directory on the workstations will automatically be mounted (assuming you provide the correct password) on drive U: See How do I log on to a Windows 3.11 PC? for more information on logging on to a Windows 3.11 machine.

Q: How can I transport files between PCs and Macs?
A: Copy the files into the BUL Temp directory on oe800 from either the Mac or the PC. Then, on the other machine, move the files out of the BUL Temp directory into the desired location.

On a PC, you can connect to the BUL Temp directory though Oe800 in the Network Neigborhood.

On a Mac, you can connect to the BUL Temp directory through the Chooser, using AppleShare to the machine "oe800" in the umich-ENG-EECS-BUL zone.

Q: How do I read/write HFS format (Mac) floppies on a PC running Linux?
A: There is a set of HFS tools in /usr/coolstuff/bin. First, you need to select the device to use using "hmount /dev/fd0". Then, use the hcd, hcopy, hdir, hattrib, hdel, hmkdir, hpwd, and hrmdir commands to access the files on the floppy. When you are finished with the floppy, use "humount" to deselect the volume. For more information, refer to the man pages for the various commands.

Q: How do I read Mac CDs on a PC running Linux?
A: Use "cdmount 2" to mount the Mac CD in the CD-ROM drive on /cdrom2. When finished with the CD, use "cdumount 2" to unmount the CD.

Q: How do I read/write DOS format floppies under Unix (Sun or Linux)?
A: There is a set of DOS tools in the standard Linux distribution. The commands are mcd, mcopy, mdir, mattrib, mdel, mmd, and mrd. You do not need any mount/unmount commands to access DOS floppies. For more information, refer to the man pages for the various commands.

Q: How do I read ISO9660 (standard format) CD-ROMS under Linux?
A: Use "cdmount" to mount the CD in the CD-ROM drive on /cdrom. When finished with the CD, use "cdumount" to unmount the CD.

Q: How do I get at my files on the Sun workstations from a PC?
A: Select a transfer type below for more information:

Q: How do I get at my files on the Sun workstations from a PC using FTP?
A: To just copy a couple of files, you will probably want to use FTP. Run the program "ftp <machine>" from a command prompt or from the start menu. This program behaves like ftp on the Suns. Type "help" to get a list of valid commands, and "help <command>" to get help on a specific command. Common commands are:
open <machine>: open a connection
close: close a connection
user: change the username
ascii: switch to ASCII (LF/CR <-> LF translation) mode
binary: switch to Binary (no translation) mode
get: get a file from the Unix machine
put: put a file onto the Unix machine
An alternative, graphical FTP program is called WS-FTP. Look for it in the network program group.

Q: How do I get at my files on the Sun workstations from a PC using Windows95 networking?
A: If you want to use a directory on your Unix account to store all of the files that you use on the PCs, you can connect to the drive labelled with your user name on the computer named OE800. For example, user phillipv would need to connect to "\\oe800\phillipv".

This is the recommended method of storing and using your PC-related files because the files on the PCs are not backed up regularly, and if your files are stored on one computer, they might not always be accessable if someone else is using that computer. The files on your home (Unix) account will always be accessable.

When running Windows 95, you can right click on the "Network Neighborhood" icon on the desktop, and select the "Map Network Drive" option. Using this you can connect your home directory on the workstations to drive U: and select the "Automatic reconnect on startup" option to have this directory automatically reconnect every time you log in, so your home (Unix) directory will always be available as "U:".

You will be prompted for a password for this drive. The password to use is the password you use on your Unix account. There is an option for saving this password in your password list, so that you won't have to type it every time you connect to that directory. For security reasons, it is recommended that you NOT save the password in your password list (i.e. you should type in your password every time you re-connect to this drive.) This connection is done the same way you access drives on other PCs, so refer to How do I get at files on a PC from another PC running Windows95? for more information on how to connect up to a network drive.

Q: How do I get at my files on the Sun workstations from a PC using Windows 3.11 networking?
A: If you want to use a directory on your Unix account to store all of the files that you use on the PCs, you can connect to the drive labelled with your user name on the computer named OE800. For example, user phillipv would need to connect to "\\oe800\phillipv".

When running Windows 3.11, this directory will automatically be connected to drive U: when you log on using the icons in the "Log On" program group. See How do I log on to a Windows 3.11 PC? for more details on logging on to Windows 3.11 computers.

You will be prompted for a password for this drive. The password to use is the password you use on your Unix account. There is an option for saving this password in your password list, so that you won't have to type it every time you connect to that directory. For security reasons, it is recommended that you NOT save the password in your password list (i.e. you should type in your password every time you re-connect to this drive.) This connection is done the same way you access drives on other PCs, so refer to How do I get at files on a PC from another PC running Windows 3.11 for more information on how to connect up to a network drive.

Q: But how do I access files which are not in my Unix home directory?
A: The server program on OE800 will follow symbolic links, so you can set up links in your Unix directories which point to other (NFS mounted) directories. The recommended place for putting these links is in a subdirectory of your home directory, called "links". (You don't want any of these links in your home directory because it slows down the directory listings of that directory significantly.)

To create the links, change to the links directory (cd ~/links) and use the "ln -s <directory_name> <link_name>" command. For example: "ln -s /n/mickeys/z/data/phillipv data1" will create a link named "data1" to the directory /z/data/phillipv on Mickeys.

If you wish to access the NFS directories on some machine in the lab, you can connect to the network drive "\\oe800\machine" where "machine" is replaced by the name of the machine which has the files of interest. For example: "\\oe800\wiedemann\z\phillipv" will access the directory known in Unix as /n/wiedemann/z/phillipv.

Q: How do I do a backup of some files on the PCs to tape?
A: Use either smbclient or smbtar on the Unix machines. Read the man pages for these programs for more information.

An example, which backs up machine "kolos", drive "d", password "PASSWORD" to the tape drive connected to /dev/rst8, follows. This must be run on the machine to which the tape drive is physically connected (i.e. irbid): (Note: ask a knowledgeable person in the lab to find out what the password is for the drive you wish to back up.)

cd /vol/coolstuff/samba/bin
./smbtar -s kolos -x d -p PASSWORD -t /dev/rst8
It is also valid to specify a file name after the -t switch to create a tar file instead of sending the data to a tape.

To back up just selected subdirectories, use the "tar" command from within the smbclient program, or change to the desired directory and use the tar command (from the Unix prompt). See How do I get at files on a PC from the Sun workstations for more information on smbclient and accessing the directories on a PC from a workstation.

Q: How do I log on to a PC?
A:Select PC type below to goto appropriate question

Q: How do I log on to a Windows 3.11 PC?
A: On Windows 3.11 machines, this can be done by typing "setuser <username>" from the command prompt. An icon can be set up to run this "setuser <username>" command (see the "Log on" program group for some examples). This command runs a batch file (c:\util\setuser.bat) which logs the specified user onto the network, and then attaches their Unix home directory to drive U:. You will be prompted for two passwords while logging on. The first password is a password for the Windows machine, and may or may not be the same as your Unix password, and may or may not be the same for each Windows machine. The second password is your Unix password, and is required to connect up to your Unix account.

Q: How do I log on to a Windows95 PC?
A: On Windows95 machines, when the machine starts up, a dialog box will appear asking for a username and password. It is recommended that you use your username from your Unix account (for ease of connecting to the drives on the Unix machines). The password need not be the same as your Unix password. If someone is currently logged on, you will need to log them off of the machine first, and then log on using your username. Refer to How do I log off of a PC? for details on how to log off of the PC. Since you have full access to the files in your Unix account, it is wise to log out from Windows 95 when you are finished using a computer. If you do not do so, you run the risk of someone else placing their files in your Unix account, or even accidentally deleting some of your files.

Q: How do I log off of a PC?
A:Select PC type below to goto appropriate question

Q: How do I log off of a Windows 3.11 PC?
A: On Windows 3.11 machines, this can be done either by logging in as someone else, or by typing "net logoff" from the command prompt. It is recommended that you log off by logging on as "BUL", which is a generic lab logon. This will re-attach the standard drives and printers for other people to use. In the "Log On" program group, there is an icon called "Log Off" which will log you off, and log back on as "BUL".

Q: How do I log off of a Windows95 PC?
A: On Windows95 machines, there are three ways to log off:

  1. Select the Start button, then "Shutdown", and then select "Close all programs and log on as a different user" from the dialog box that pops up. Finally, press the "Yes" button. Do not select either "Shutdown" or "Restart" from this menu unless you plan on turning the machine off!
  2. Select the Start button, select "Programs", and then "Log off". This will log you off immediately without bringing up the dialog box.
  3. You can copy the "Log off" option to your desktop, to get an icon which can be double-clicked to log you off of the computer. To do this, open up the start menu (Right-click on the Start button, and select Open from the menu), open up the "Programs" folder, and then, while holding down the "Control" key, drag the "Log off" icon to the desktop. This will make a copy of the icon on your desktop. Please DO NOT drag this icon to the desktop without holding down the "Control" key as this remove this icon from the start menu.
Q: How do safely turn off or reboot a PC?
A:Select PC type below to go to the appropriate question Q: How do I safely turn off or reboot a PC running Windows 3.11?
A: Exit all of your programs, then exit from Program Manager. When the DOS prompt shows, it is safe to turn the computer off, press reset, or press Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

Q: How do I safely turn off or reboot a PC running Windows 95?
A: From the Start menu, select Shutdown, and then select either the "Shut down" or the "Restart" options from the menu. If you select "Shut down", be sure to wait until the screen says "It is not safe to turn off your computer" before turning the computer off.

Note: If you are finished using the computer, select the "Close all programs and log in as another user" option instead of "Shut down" or "Restart". This will log you out, but keep Windows 95 running so that network traffic (other people mounting the local drives) will still run.

Q: How do I safely turn off or reboot a PC running Linux?
A: If the computer is running XDM (the X-Windows based log-in program), select either "Reboot" or "Shutdown" in the shutdown dialog box that shows on the login screen. This method will wait for 1 minute to give others a (brief) warning that the computer is being shut down.

If the computer has a text-based screen showing, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to initiate a shutdown.

In either case, wait until the display reads "System halted" before turning off or resetting the computer.

Q: How do I change my password?
A: Select PC type below to go to the appropriate question

Q: How do I change my password in Windows 3.11?
A: In the "Main" program group, open up "Control Panel", and then open the "Network" control panel. There you will see a button for changing your password.

Q: How do I change my password in Windows 95?
A: The Windows95 machines use the Unix password list for logging on to the network, so you need only change your password on one of the Unix machines, and wait 24 to 48 hours for the changes to propagate. Note: when you log on to Windows95, that password you type is validated against the Unix password list. If your password has uppercase letters, you may have trouble logging on to Windows 95. If this is the case, change your password on one of the Unix machines, wait for the passwords to propagate (between 24 and 48 hours), and try again.

If you get two separate dialogs for passwords, then the local machine knows a different password from the Unix machines. After logging in, remove the file c:\windows\userid.pwl (replace "userid" with your user ID), log out, and log back in. (If you have forgotten your Windows password, you can always hit <ESC> at the login prompt to get into Windows without connecting to the network, then delete the c:\windows\userid.pwl file and log out.)

When you log back in, Windows95 will prompt you for a new password. It is recommended to set this password to a blank entry, as it is a meaningless password. Q: How do I change my password in Linux
A: In Linux, the password is changed using the "passwd" command just as you would on the Sun workstations. However, the passwords on the Linux machines are periodically updated from the passwd file on the Sun workstations, so you need only change your password on a Sun, and wait for this change to propagate to the PCs.

Q: How do I view PostScript or PDF files ...

Q: How do I view PostScript or PDF files in Windows 95?
A: Use either the Acrobat Reader program or Ghostview for PDF files, and Ghostview for PostScript files.

Q: How do I view PostScript or PDF files in Linux?
A: To view PostScript files, run "ghostview filename.ps". To view PDF files, run "ghostview_pdf filename.pdf".

Q: How do I print PDF files?
A: The Ghostscript program installed on the Linux machines can convert PDF files to PostScript, and the resulting file can be printed to any PostScript printer. There is a script, "/usr/bin/lprpdf" which will do this, and send the resulting file to the printer (either the default printer (rainier) or you may use the -P switch to specify a printer.) The command syntax is: "lprpdf [-Pprinter] filename.pdf".

Q. How do I get Netscape to ...

Q. How do I get Netscape to display Postscript and PDF files, even if they are gzipped?
A: In Windows, there is a script which will check if the file is gzipped, and if so it will be uncompressed before sending it to Ghostview. Non-gzipped files will be sent straight to Ghostview. To set up this script, use the Options..General Preferences..Helpers dialog box, and set the action for both application/postscript and application/pdf to "Launch the application: gzipview.bat". You will still see a warning message about gzip encoding not being supported, but the viewer command will work properly.

In Linux, things are a little more simple, because the Linux version of Netscape will automatically uncompress files transmitted with the gzip encoding type. Edit your ~/.netscape/preferences file to set the global mailcap and mime.types files to /etc/mailcap and /etc/mime.types, respectively. Check your Options..General Preferences..Helpers dialog box to make sure that the application/postscript and application/pdf types are associated with "ghostview" and "ghostview_pdf", respectively.

Q. How do I get Netscape to use the same bookmarks file for both Windows and Unix?
A: In Netscape under Windows, open the Window..Bookmarks window, and then select File..Open from that window's menu. For the file, enter the location of your Unix bookmarks.html file. For example: "\\oe800\phillipv\.netscape\bookmarks.html". Then close the bookmarks window.

Q. How do I get Netscape to use the lab mail aliases?
A: First, copy the file /usr/coolstuff/mail_aliases.html to your computer (e.g. to c:\temp), and then open the Window..Address Book window. Select File..Import from that window's menu. For the file, enter the location where you saved the mail_aliases.html file. All of the lab aliases should then be added to your Netscape address book.

Note: Netscape does not handle re-importing of these aliases very well, so only import the address book once. If you need to update your aliases, you will need to remove all of the old aliases before re-importing the lab alias file.

Q. How do I get equations in Powerpoint under Windows to translate properly into Powerpoint on the Mac?
A: After you are sure the equation is correct, select the equation, and then select Draw..Ungroup from the Powerpoint menu.

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