CCIS Solaris desktop machine Frequently Asked Questions

This document answers some common questions about using CCS Systems-supported Sun workstations running Solaris 2.8, like the SunBlade 100s in the labs (but also Solaris boxen on faculty and grad student desktops). It focusses on `desktop' use, i.e., actually sitting at the console rather than logging in remotely.

Table of Contents

How do I log out (when logged in on the console)?

If you're unfortunate enough to be using the CCS default window manager (twm), move the mouse pointer over the screen background (i.e. so it's not in any window), and press and hold the left mouse button. Move the pointer so it's over `LOG OUT OF X WINDOWS' and release the mouse button. You'll know you're successfully logged out when you see the blue login window reappear.

(If you're using a different window manager or a custom X session, you probably need to quit your window manager. Usually there's a menu choice to do that.)

How come terminal windows keep popping up on top of the window I'm trying to read?

That's a misfeature of our default twm configuration. (Recently created accounts use xfce instead of twm by default.) You can fix it by copying /ccs/etc/dotfiles/twmrc as your ~/.twmrc file and editing out the line that starts `AutoRaise and the few lines (in curly braces) after it. But you're better off switching to a different window manager altogether; see the next question.

How do I change window managers?

You can run the command `wmsh -p' in a shell window. It will pop up a window that lets you choose among five window managers. Your best choices are XFCE (which is currently the default for new accounts) and GNOME. (A description appears when you click on each choice.) After choosing a windowing environment, click `OK' to activate it, and then log out and log back in again to get the new environment.

If you want to run a different window manager (such as one you've built yourself), you can do so by installing a custom .xsession file in your home directory. You can copy /ccs/etc/dotfiles/xsession to your ~/.xsession and edit it as desired. Warning: this requires a knowledge of shell scripting, and might leave you with an unusable environment if you mistype something.

How do I build 64-bit binaries?

The stable version of gcc that we have installed at CCS doesn't support building 64-bit (UltraSPARC-specific) executables. In order to build 64-bit executables at CCS, you need to use Sun's C compiler, which is installed at /arch/com/bin/cc (so you need /arch/com/bin in your path). You need to give cc the flag -xarch=v9; otherwise it (like gcc) will build 32-bit binaries.

How can I play an audio CD?

This is only possible on our SunBlade 100, Ultra 5, and Ultra 10 workstations which have CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) drives. Plug headphones into the jack on the CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) drive itself. Use the command-line cdcd command in a local terminal window to control the CD. For instance, the command cdcd play would start the CD playing. For a list of the cdcd subcommands available, see its manual page by typing man cdcd.

How do I play other audio (besides CDs)?

We mute the audio on our Solaris systems by default, for two reasons: (1) we don't want the Unix lab to sound like a video arcade, and (2) on the SunBlades at least, the internal speaker is hideously buzzy and not something you'd probably want to listen to on a regular basis. However, you can use the sdtaudiocontrol application to enable headphones, or the line-out jack if you have a SunBlade in your office and amplified speakers (or the internal speaker if you really want to).

Obviously, please don't use the speaker on a lab machine.

To un-mute audio (and enable the built-in speaker or external speakers if needed - the headphone jack is always active), here's what you need to do:

That should be it; the settings should stay in effect until you log out.

On our SunBlades, the headphone jack for the onboard audio is the one closest to the DB9 serial port at the left-rear of the machine (the one of the four sub-mini jacks that is furthest in from the edge of the box).

(Unfortunately, on most of our Suns, the audio from the CD is not connected to the soundcard, so you can only listen to CDs through the headphone jack on the CD/DVD drive itself.)

We have the sox, play, and mpg123 commands installed for playing audio. (For instance, you can test that you've un-muted the speaker by typing `play /ccs/lib/sounds/sun-demo/drip.au'.) All have manual pages.

(We also have a beta release of ogg123 in /arch/beta/bin, for playing Ogg Vorbis files. In order to use that, you will want to create a file ~/.libao containing the single line `default_driver=sun' or use `-d sun' on the ogg123 command line.)

How do I access a data CD or floppy disk?

We've written a couple of commands to allow you to do this on Systems-supported Ultra 5s and 10s and SunBlade 100s and 1500s, called usermount and userunmount. (If you're familiar with the umount comamnd and it makes your fingers happier, you can also leave the first n out of userunmount.) You insert the media you want to access, and then type one of 
	usermount /cdrom
	usermount /floppy
	usermount /floppyro
depending on whether you want to mount a CD-ROM, a read-write floppy, or a floppy with the write-protect notch open (i.e., mounting the floppy read-only). Then you will find the contents of the CD or diskette under /cdrom, /floppy, or /floppyro. When you're done, you need to un-mount the medium before you can safely eject it, using one of the commands 
	userunmount /cdrom
	userunmount /floppy
	userunmount /floppyro
There's a manual page for these three commands, so you can type `man usermount' for more information.

(With a floppy, you can also use the mtools commands to access files on the disk without mounting it, but you'll probably find the above commands more convenient.)

How do I access a USB hard drive, memory key, or other storage device?

On our SunBlade 100 and SunBlade 1500 machines, the usermount and userunmount commands now also support USB storage devices, as long as they're FAT or VFAT-formatted. (FAT is the MS-DOS filesystem, and VFAT is the extended version introduced with Windows 95. These are the most common filesystems for USB devices, but you might encounter storage devices using other filesystem formats. Those devices can not be mounted on our Suns.)

The directory names you can specify are /usb1, /usb2, /usb3, or /usb4. Which one you use depends on which USB port you're plugging the device into; you may need to experiment a little to find out which port corresponds with which device on your machine. If you see `mount: No such device or address', it probably means that the directory name you specified does not correspond to the port you have the device plugged in to.

On the SunBlade 1500s, the left USB port on the front panel is /usb4, and the right one (next to the headphone jack) is /usb1. For instance, the command 

	usermount /usb4
would mount a USB storage device plugged into the left front-panel port, and then you could access its contents under that directory. Before unplugging it, you'd need to issue the command 
	userunmount /usb4
Sun recommends you plug storage devices into the front USB ports, which are high-speed USB 2.0 ports. The rear ports are intended for the keyboard and mouse.

We have seen some incompatibilities between Sun's FAT/VFAT filesystem support and the actual filesystems on some USB memory keys. We strongly recommend you make sure you have a backup of the data on your USB device before attempting to access it on a Sun; it is definitely possible for your data to be corrupted. Also, you must issue the appropriate userunmount command before removing your USB storage device or your data is likely to be lost.

Again, see the usermount manual page for more details.

Can I play DVDs on a Sun with a DVD-ROM drive?

Some of our Suns, have DVD-ROM drives. You can use those drives to access data DVD-ROMs in ISO9660 format (the format most CD-ROMs use), using the same commands above (and yes, using /cdrom). Essentially, they work just like CD-ROM drives, only bigger. However, Solaris does not currently include support for playing DVD-Video or DVD-Audio discs. There was a flyer to that effect included with the SunBlades when we got them. It said that Sun was `considering' adding support for playing multimedia DVDs in the future, but since then Solaris 9 has been released and deployed, and it doesn't have DVD-Video support either.

What if I don't like the keyboard?

If you have an Ultra 5 or 10, you're unfortunately out of luck, since those models use proprietary Sun keyboard connectors. If you have a newer Sun with USB connectors on your desk, you should be able to use a normal PC USB keyboard. You'll need to ask CCIS Systems to shut down your machine so you can swap the keyboard. While USB devices can theoretically be hot-plugged, Solaris seems to get really confused if the keyboard type changes in mid-stream.

(Short of that, you can remap which keys generate which characters with the `xmodmap' command. Getting that to work properly involves fairly deep understanding of the xmodmap manual page, and you have to be careful only to do it on a specific keyboard layout; each keyboard is different.)

Last modified 2004.09.20 by jay.