FF505 - Computational Science - MATLAB Section

This short note aims at introducing you to the computer system of the terminal room at IMADA, where the matlab sessions will take place.

The computers at IMADA run a version of the Linux operating system called "Ubuntu" with "Unity" as the default desktop manager. It is operated similarly to other Linux distributions, to Mac OS X, and in many ways also to Windows. You find an introduction to the Linux system in the short tutorial linked after this one from the page that brought you here.

To set up your account for use in the IMADA terminal room, this is what you have to do.

1. Your IMADA account is not the same as your SDU account. If you do not have an IMADA account yet then follow the link "Account" in the previous page. If you cannot find any account for you, then contact Marco as soon as possible.

   Log in a computer of the Terminal room with your new IMADA account.

2. Change your password in the IMADA account. To do this, go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal: This starts a terminal prompt, where you can interact with Linux. Write yppasswd and follow the instructions to select a new password. Your password should have at least 8 characters and include lower-case letters, upper-case letters, and digits (XKCD comics). The change can take up to 5-10 minutes to be registered, although most commonly it takes immediate effect.
3. Create a folder in your home directory called FF505:

   mkdir ~/FF505
   

   You can change into the folder by using cd FF505 from your home directory. If you are unsure whether you are in your home directory, just type pwd to find out where you are and cd to change to your home directory. It might be useful to create some subfolders for individual weeks, projects etc.

4. Never forget to log out using the menu on the top right! Your data will remain saved in your IMADA home directory and will be there when you log in again. Do not switch off the computer!

All machines have Matlab R2014a installed. In a Linux/UNIX system, you start an application by opening a terminal and typing matlab &. In Unity you can also press ALD and the space bar together to get a search dialogue where to type "matlab".

You are now reccommended to go throguh the other tutorial about Matlab.

If you are done with that and you want to learn more about Linux, you can use this tutorial:

• Tutorial One
• Tutorial Two
• Tutorial Four
• Tutorial Five

Play around with the things you learn from the tutorial. To create a new empty file use the command 'touch <filnavn>'. A very important thing is to understand the permission system about your files and directories (see Tutorial 5). You can test whether you set the correct permissions by trying to access the files of each others. Your files are placed in the directory: /home/<brugernavn>/.

Bonustip: one can use chmod go-rwx <mappenavn> to set a directory and all its content to be accessible only by its owner.

It is your own respnsability that others cannot read your data. By default your data are established as readable by everyone. Therefore, check and change the permissions to your files.