University of Minnesota
School of Statistics

Basic Linux Conversion Hints

These are very basic hints that try to answer most of the questions that I am hearing lately. I apologize for the format, grammar and spelling, but I hope they can be of some use.

Marisa

Reading mail

elm and other non-GUI mail user agents

To read mail with elm 

   ssh stat.umn.edu
   TERM=xterm
   elm

Or if you use pine, or mail, or mutt say that instead of elm.

netscape

To use netscape mail set up the preferences as follows.

For "Identity": your user name

E-mail address: username@stat.umn.edu

For "Mail Servers":

Incoming mail: stat.umn.edu

To insert this name select the only options and "edit" it. For "Server Name" use stat.umn.edu and for "User Name" just your username.

Outgoing mail (SMTP Server): stat.umn.edu

Outgoing mail user name: your user name

Printing

By default, the Linux printer is mpls_plublic2 for all Minneapolis machines (but that may change soon to mpls_public) and cob_public for St. Paul machines. The mail system, stat.umn.edu is located in Minneapolis and therefore uses a Minneapolis printer as its default printer. When you are in St. Paul and wish to print your e-mail you should re-define the printer before calling the mail program. To print a file to a printer other than the default printer use the -P parameter of lpr: 
   lpr -Pprinter_name file_name
To define a printer as the default printer so it is used by mail, netscape and other applications use the command: 
   export PRINTER=printer_name
This definition could be included in your .basrc and/or .profile files . See Configuration files for information on how to edit those files.

Transferring public_html and mail files

Transferring your public_html

To transfer your plublic_html folder you can do the following while in your home directory on a Linux box: 
   scp -r stone:public_html .

Transferring your mail folder

To transfer your e-mail folder or directory you can do the following while in your home directory on a Linux box: (but only if you did not read and filed new mail on Linux already, otherwise see bellow)

(elm users) 

   scp -r stone:Mail .

(pine users) 

   scp -r stone:mail .
(netscape mail users) 
   scp -r stone:nsmail .

If you already filed new mail in Linux...

... doing any of the commands listed above will write over folders that have identical names. Before you issue the command you should rename your new folders. If you have a folder called "notes", for example, in both systems, before the copy you should rename the new one by typing type this while in the Linux system: 

   cd Mail (or mail or nsmail)

   mv notes notes_linux

If you do not need to look at your old mail often...

... you can transfer the old filed mail to a folder with a different name, like for example, using the command: 
   scp -r stone:Mail Old_HP_Mail
and read it by using elm in the selected folder. For example, to see a folder called "old_filed_messages" type: 
   elm -f Old_HP_Mail/old_filed_messages

Transferring all files

To transfer all your files from HP to Linux, you basically have two options

You should not use the first option unless you never use links (symbolic or hard) and don't care about the modification times on the files.

scp

When logged into a Linux box. To copy all files from your HP account into a subdirectory of your Linux account 

   scp -r stone: Old_HP_files
(changing Old_HP_files to whatever you want to call it).

tar

When logged into a Linux box, to copy all files from your HP account into a subdirectory of your Linux account 

   mkdir Old_HP_files
   cd Old_HP_files
   ssh stone tar cf - . | tar xf -
(changing Old_HP_files to whatever you want to call it).

If you did not transfer your mail and html directories earlier, once you moved all your files to a subdirectory in Linux you can, optionally, move your Mail (or mail or nsmail) and public_html directories to your root directory. The command, while on your Linux subdirectory for the public_html directory, for example, is as following: 

   mv Old_HP_files/public_html .

Configuration files

There are some files that control how applications behave (e.g.: elmrc for elm), others that tailor the way your environment is (e.g: .login and .bashrc), and others that are used as reference data by the applications (e.g:bookmarks.html for netscape).

Files that control applications

The best 'hint' for this type of files may be not to copy your old files but to let the new Linux's application create it own and, and then edit it with your special changes. (In the case of elm this file called elmrc is created in the .elm directory when you use the "o" option of elm). Coping your old HP files may give some unpredictable results and make new features unavailable.

Files that control your environment

The same applies for .bashrc, .profile, .Xresources and .login files and any other file whose names begins with a ".". You should not copy files like these from your old HP set. Each change to these files should be reviewed for the new system. There is help on setting up and maintaining those files on Charlie's Linux FAQ in the Local Help session of the Department's home page entry for Computer Info .

Reference files as the bookmarks for netscape

For Netscape's font size and home page you will need to set up your "preferences" again. To keep using your old bookmarks there are two options:

If you want to preserve Netscape's bookmarks file format -- that is with all the commercial entries such as "shopping" and "finances" -- you can open your old bookmarks with Netscape and insert then one by one in the bookmarks file of the new Netscape. (This may take some work but is not a bad idea because it will help to review which bookmarks are still available.) For that make Netscape to read your old bookmarks file by opening it as: 

   netscape hp_files/.netscape/bookmarks.html
If you do not care for Netscape's suggested bookmarks just copy your old bookmarks to your new Netscape's space. 
   cp hp_files/.netscape/bookmarks.html .netscape/bookmarks.html

Connecting to the systems: telnet vs. ssh

You should be using ssh2 protocol to connect from home to stat.umn.edu to read your mail. Software and instructions are available from Seth's distribution page. See for Mac's and for PC's .

Miscellaneous hints

  • Are your windows to small?

    Select font size from the "Settings" menu that is on top of a window. The next windows will be created with the new size. If you like to preserve the settings, do not forget to check the "save the current settings" options when you logout.

  • You can not open a display on muskrat?

    See Question 1.8 Charlie's Linux FAQ.

  • Is "ls" not showing a difference when listing files or directories?

    See Question 1.9 Charlie's Linux FAQ.

    Last updated Jan 18, 2001 marisa@stat.umn.edu.