CABI Computer Etiquette

When using the CABI workstations please observe the following rules.

1. If you are logged into a Linux computer and are going to leave for an extended period of time, please remember to log off the computer. Sometimes other people need to use a computer but can't because they're all in use, although the people logged in are nowhere to be found. It's very frustrating and is a waste of resources. This will be a more critical issue as CABI grows.
2. Please do not reboot a Linux computer unless you know that it is absolutely necessary, and unless you know how. Sometimes a Linux computer seems to be crashed but can be fixed without rebooting. See the discussion below about rebooting. Feel free to contact the CABI computer administrator (Dave Lewis) whenever a Linux computer seems to be crashed.
3. If a computer has reboot partially and has a message like "Enter root password to continue" please let the CABI computer administrator know. Usually it takes just a few minutes to fix.
4. If a Linux computer gets hung when you log in, please don't log into several other computers and hang them. It probably means that your home directory is full, in which case you can't log into the graphical desktop environment (KDE). In that case, log into a virtual console with control-alt-F1 for example, or log in remotely with ssh or telnet (for example, from a DOS prompt on your PC), or log into the AFS client on a PC, and delete unneeded files. Then use the methods below to log yourself out of KDE and un-hang the computer. (Use control-alt-F7 to get back to the graphical screen.)

Rebooting CABI workstations

When you want to reboot CABI workstations, the main rule of thumb is to avoid it if possible. Sometimes when a Linux computer seems to be crashed, other people can still work on it remotely. It is annoying when someone reboots a computer that you're working on. If you press the reset button, other people who may be logged on remotely will be suddenly logged off and lose their work. Also some system files may get corrupted.

When the computer seems to be crashed, you can do one of the following:

1. Contact the CABI computer administrator (Dave Lewis) and ask him to fix it.
2. Log into the computer via a virtual console. You can open a virtual console by pressing control-alt-F1, control-alt-F2, ... or control-alt-F6; you can get back to the graphical screen with control-alt-F7. If you can get in, it's usually possible to fix the problem (see below).
3. Log into the computer remotely, i.e. first log into another computer and ssh to the computer that seems to be crashed. If you can get in, it's usually possible to fix the problem (see below).
4. If you can't log in remotely or via a virtual console, then it is probably OK to reboot it. Don't just press the reset button - first try pressing control-alt-delete. That sends a signal to the computer to shutdown properly, so it will close system files so they won't become corrupted. If that doesn't work, you can try pressing the reset button. Then when it reboots it will scan the disk partitions for problems. If it stops and asks for the root password, please contact the CABI computer administrator.

Fixing Computer Problems

If you can login, the first thing is to see who is logged into the computer and what processes are running. Then stop any of your running processes which you believe are causing problems. Here are some useful commands:

If this doesn't help solve the problem, feel free to contact the CABI computer administrator.

Note: Occasionally the 'who' command lists someone who is not logged in; use the 'ps' command to confirm whether they have any processes. Also, the 'who' command does not list users connected via samba, ie through Network Neighborhood from a Windows computer.

This page was last updated on 1/29/2008.