Customising Your RMITCS Account

I wrote this in 2002, and it hasn't been updated - there is a lot more information available at the real RMITCS support site.

This is mainly here for historical interest. Some of the tcsh stuff is still useful.

If there is a particular question you want answered, try the rmit.cs.general newsgroups. Thanks to those who gave suggestions and contributed examples.

My X, complete with Final Fantasy background and transparent aterms.

Preamble / Warning / Disclaimer

Modifying your startup scripts can prevent you from logging in. Before you perform any modifications, back up any files you are changing so you have a copy of the original. Also, you should comment out any stuff you don't want (for scripts by adding a hash at the start of the line) rather than deleting it. Don't change or modify anything you don't understand - read the man pages relating to any commands you want to take out or change.

If you do something nasty to your scripts you can probably log into NT or into a vanilla console and change it back. If you do something really bad to your account you will have to go to the helpdesk to get them to fix it.

I'm not going to be held responsible if you stuff something up, but if I'm in a good mood and haven't had any MA260/MA360 tests at 8:30 that day I will probably try to help you fix it. If you are having trouble with something try the man pages (remember that you can search for a keyword using 'man -k [keyword]') or post a message to the relevant newsgroups.

Defaults

Note that this is only current for 2002 and may change. You should make a backup copy of the default .login, .xsession and .cshrc files are in your home directory. Note that the .cshrc file sources "/usr/local/etc/Cshrc.default". X startup files are in "/usr/local/etc/xdm" and "/usr/local/etc/X11"

X windows

Editing your .xsession

All commands in your .xsession file are executed when you login to X. When editing your .xsession file, make sure you have a suitable hash-bang at the top (#!/bin/sh). The .xsession file must be executable, and you must explicitly run your chosen window manager in your .xsession with exec. A stuffed .xsession file will stop you from logging into X.

A .xsession template :

#!/bin/sh

# comment 1

command1
command2

# comment 2

command3
command4

exec /usr/local/bin/X11/fvwm2

How do I change my X windows background?

• Tiled picture : "xv -root -quit picture.jpg"
• Centered picture : "xv -rmode 5 -root -quit picture.jpg"
• Centered picture scaled to fit the screen : "xv -max -rmode 5 -root -quit picture.jpg"

The commands above can be typed in at the command line for the current session; to make this permanent you must create a .xsession and put it there (before the window manager). xv won't work with Portable Network Graphic (.PNG) files, but likes most other common formats. If you want to use a solid colour or a pattern instead of a picture, check out xsetroot. Note that xsetroot can also be used to change your pointer, etc.

From my old .xsession : /usr/local/bin/xv -max -smooth -rmode 5 -root -quit /home/d/dleigh/misc/wallpaper/br3_wallp.jpg

Can I get an accelerated mouse pointer in X?

The xset command can be used to accomplish this - "xset m [num1] [num2]" will multiply the mouse movement by num1 when it is moved by more than num2. Again, this will only work for the current session and must be placed in your .session file if you wish to have it on all the time.

From my .xsession : xset m 10 5 (Accelerates the mouse by 10 when I move it more than 5 pixels)

Shell Startup Scripts

How do I make a command execute each time I log in (or run xterm)?

Put the command in your .login file.

How do I change my default text editor (used in tin, etc)?

Put "setenv EDITOR [editor name]" in your .cshrc file. Using X editors here is not recommended.

From my .cshrc : setenv EDITOR vim

How do I stop my terminal beeping?

Include "set nobeep" at the end of your .cshrc file

Can I change my prompt to make it include some useful stuff, like the current directory, the time or whatever?

You will need to set your prompt by using a command of the form "set prompt = "[prompt]"" where [prompt] will be the text that forms your prompt. Make sure you put the double quotation marks around it.

You can include a number of escape characters (special strings which change the format or will be expanded to something useful), such as:

• %T - The time.
• %B - Turn bold on.
• %b - Turn bold off.
• %m - The machine name (yallara / numbat / goanna / etc).
• %~ - The current working directory.
• %# - A > character.

For example :

• set prompt = "The time is %T and you are logged into %m"
• set prmpot = "Its %Bteh%b best"
• set prompt = "%~%#"

Note that the last one will be similar to the default MSDOS prompt (PROMPT = $P$G)

From my .cshrc : set prompt="%T %B%m%b\:%~%# " - The time, the machine I'm logged into in bold, my current working directory and a > character folowed by a space.

Vim (.vimrc)

Help is available in vim - type :help while in command mode. :help tutor will give you a 30 minute tutorial and :help options.txt will show a list and explanation of the options. My favourite .vimrc entries are below:

• syntax on - Syntax highlighting for HTML, Java, C++ etc.
• set nocomatible - Enables various non-vi behaviour such as use of arrow keys in insert mode.
• set bs=2 - Allows backspacing in insert mode.
• set ai - Enables automatic indenting (turn off before pasting from an X application).
• set ruler - Puts a 'ruler' at the bottom of the screen which shows, amongst other tings, line and column numbers.
• set expandtab - Replaces tabs with an equivalent number of spaces.
• set tabstop=x - Allows you to set the tabstops at each x spaces (e.g. 3,5,8).