Logging Into Your Vax Account from Room 145, Social Sciences

NOTE: Procedures for logging into your vax account from one of the campus user rooms (such as LC-3) are explained on pages 88-89 in the VMS Handbook.

1. Make sure your computer is on and your screen shows the Windows desktop. In a box labeled "CAS Applications" you'll see a computer icon called "EWAN." Double-click that icon.

2. A new box will open in which the names of some of the university's computer systems appear. Click "Vax" and then click the "OK" button in the upper right hand corner of the box.

3. The screen will change and you will see the following prompt:

username:

4. At this prompt, enter your username (that is, the ID given to you for your account by Computing Services) and press the enter key.

5. You will now see a prompt for your password as follows:

password:

Type in your password and then press the enter key.

After a few seconds you will see several messages and then a $ sign, which is the Vax system prompt. You are now logged into the Vax system. At this point you can access Pine to send or read email, use the newsreader to read or post messages to the class newsgroup, or upload and download files.

Using Pine to Send and Receive Electronic Mail and to Read and Post to the Newsgroup

This segment of the document contains information on the following procedures:

1. Starting Pine. This procedure is simple. Once you have logged onto your Vax account (as described above in part I) and you see the $ system prompt, you simply type "pine" (without the quotation marks) and hit the enter key. You will then see the main menu in Pine, which is shown on p. 103 of the VMS Handbook.

From this main menu you can do several procedures. The two most common for us will be reading your electronic mail (or email) and sending mail. We will also use Pine to distribute documents (such as drafts of essays) and for reading and posting to the course newsgroup. Again, refer to the VMS Handbook for more detailed instructions about these procedures.

2. Setting the Editor to Emacs in Pine. The first time you get into Pine you will need to make an important adjustment to the default settings in the program. You will need to tell Pine to use Emacs as the default editor program. Emacs is the editor program (similar to a word processing program) that we will be using in most instances in this course.

The first step is to get into Pine, as described above in #1. When you see the main menu, type "S" (without the quotation marks) for "setup." (You won't need to hit the enter key.) The program will prompt you as follows:

Choose a setup task from the menu below:
^G Help P [Printer] C Config
^C Cancel N Newpassword U Update

At this point, type "C".

You will now see a new menu that will fill your screen. Press the space bar or the "down" arrow a number of times to scroll down this menu until you see the following line:

editor = No Value Set (using vi)

Press the down arrow key until that line is highlighted. Now type "A" (for "add value"). A message line will appear at the bottom of your screen as follows:

Enter the value to be added:

Your cursor will already be at the proper location. At this point, simply type in "EMACS" (without the quotation marks) and press the enter key. This will tell the program that you want Emacs to be the default editor program.

Now press "E" for "exit" and you will return to the main menu. You have now set the default editor as Emacs.

3. Setting the Newsreader Server in Pine. During the semester, we will be using an online electronic bulletin board, or "newsgroup," to hold class discussions and to share ideas and drafts with each other. (These are the "Commentaries" referred to in the syllabus.) Pine is one program that can be used to read our newsgroup and to post messages to it. In order for Pine to be used in such a way, however, you need to tell it where to find the course newsgroup. This is called setting the news server.

To set the news server, you will need to follow the same procedure as described above in #2 for setting the default editor to enter the Set-up menu.

The first step is to get into Pine, as described above in section #1. When you see the main menu, type "S" (without the quotation marks) for "setup." (You won't need to hit the enter key.) The program will prompt you as follows:

Choose a setup task from the menu below:
^G Help P [Printer] C Config
^C Cancel N Newpassword U Update

At this point, type "C".

You will now see a new menu that will fill your screen. The fourth line on your screen should appear as follows:

nntp-server =No Value Set

Use the "down" arrow or space bar to scroll down until this line is highlighted. Now press "A" (for "Add Value"). Then type in

cscnews.albany.edu

and press "Enter." (Be sure to type in the information exactly as it appears here. A misspelled word or an inadvertent space will result in errors in your account.)

Now press "E" to exit the Set-Up menu and you will return to the Main Menu. You have told Pine that you want it to collect messages from the newsgroup server on the University's mainframe computer. This will enable you to use Pine to read and post messages to our class newsgroup.

4. Reading Your Email or the Course Newsgroup in Pine. Reading the electronic mail you receive is a simple procedure. From the Pine main menu, you have two choices: (1) to review new email messages in your Inbox or (2) to see old messages that you have saved to another folder. Remember that you can return to the main menu at any time from within Pine by pressing "M".

To see new messages in the inbox, simply type "I" (without the quotation marks). This command tells the program to go to the Inbox Index. The screen will change and you will see a list of email messages you've received. The list indicates who sent the message and the date it was sent to you.

If you want to review messages you have saved to a folder, press "L" (instead of "I") from the main menu. You will now see a screen that looks like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Folder-collection ** Default for Saves ** (Local)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Select Here to See Expanded List ]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

News-collection (Remote)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Select Here to See Expanded List ]

This screen is showing you two different locations for the folders you can use within Pine to organize your mail or newsgroup messages. The top one (Local) is for email; the bottom one (Remote) is for newsgroups. Use the Tab button or arrow keys to highlight the top one if you want to see your email folders or to highlight the bottom one to see the newsgroups.

When you highlight the one you want, press enter. You will then see a list of folders or newsgroups, depending upon which one you highlighted. Use the tab or arrow keys to highlight the folder or newsgroup you want to open, then press enter. You will now see an Index of messages for that folder. (The use of folders is discussed in the VMS Handbook on pp. 108-110.)

To read an email message, simply use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want and then hit the enter key. The message will then be displayed. You can use the space bar to scroll to the end of the message. When you are finished reading the message, press "I" to return to the Index.

NOTE: In order to access the course newsgroup, you will need to subscribe to it. You can do so quite easily once you are in Pine. Simply follow the procedures described immediately above for reading your email or the newsgroup. When you highlight the lower list (Remote), you will see a menu at the bottom of your screen. Press "A" (for "add" or "subscribe") and then type in the name of our course newsgroup (or any newsgroup you'd like to subscribe to):

sunya.class.eng303.

5. Saving an Email Message to a Folder in Pine. When you have finished reading your new messages, you can decide whether to save them or delete them. To delete a message, simply highlight the message in the Index and press "D". When you exit Pine, the program will ask you whether you want to expunge the deleted messages from your folder. If you indicate "yes," then the messages will be deleted once you exit the program. To save a message to a folder, simply highlight the message in the Index and press "S" (for "save"). Pine will ask you which folder you wish to save the message to. Type in the name of the folder and press enter. Now your message will be saved in that folder and you can return to it the next time you access Pine. This is an important function to know, because you will sometimes want to save messages from your instructor or from your classmates.

6. Sending an Email Message in Pine. To send an email message from Pine, you must first get to the main menu. Please refer to the instructions of pages 104 to 106 of the VMS Handbook for specific information on how to send a message. Those instructions are brief and describe clearly the commands you need to know to send an email message. Remember to type in the email address of the person you're sending the message exactly as it should appear. A wrong letter or number will mean that the message will not get to the person you're writing to.

The steps for writing and sending an email message are straightforward. First, from the main menu, press "C" (for "Compose"). You will then see a blank screen with four lines at the top. These lines are called the "header." The top line is for the email address of the person to whom you are sending your message. Type in that address, then press "Enter." Now use the down arrow key to go to the subject line. In the subject line, write a brief phrase indicating what your message will be about (e.g. "Question About Assignment"). Again, press "Enter." You can also send copies of your message to other people by entering their email addresses in the line that reads "Copies."

Now move the cursor with the arrow keys to the blank screen below the header. And begin writing your message. Remember that when you are writing an email message, you are using Emacs as your editor program. For a discussion of commands in Emacs, see page 64 in the VMS Handbook. Remember that Emacs is an editor program that is a bit different from your word processing programs in a variety of ways.

When you have reached the end of your message, type "Control-X". Pine will ask you if you want to send your message. If you do, press "Y" and the message will be sent. If not, press "N" and the program will take you back to the message. If you want to cancel a message at any time, press Control-C. Once you have sent or canceled your message, Pine will take you back to the main menu.

7. Posting a Message to the Course Newsgroup. You can use Pine to post "Commentaries," or messages, to the course newsgroup. To do so, you follow the same basic procedures for sending an email message, as described above in #6.

First, you must access the newsgroup. To do so, follow the procedures for "Reading Your Email or the Course Newsgroup," as described above in #4. Once you're in the course newsgroup, you can send a message to it.

You can send a message in two ways: (1) give the "C" command (for "Compose"); or (2) give the "R" command (for "Reply), if you want to reply to a specific message. Either command will accomplish the same task. The only difference is that the "R" command will reproduce the message you are replying to in your new message.

Once you give the "C" (Compose) or "R" (Reply) command, Pine will ask you,

Send message to the current newsgroup (sunya.class.eng303)?

Simply type "Y" (for "Yes"). You will then be taken into the editor program, as described above in #6 above. Now you can type your message.

When you're finished, type Control-X, which is the command for "send." Pine will ask you whether you are sure you want to send the message. If you are, type "Y" (for Yes); if not, type "N" (for No) and Pine will return you to your message. You can cancel your message at any time by giving the Control-C command.

NOTE: If you use "R" (for "Reply") to post a m,essage to the newsgroup, Pine will ask you whether you want to "post follow-up message to newsgroup." Be sure to hit the "Y" key (for "Yes"); otherwise, your message will go only to the person to whom you're replying and not to the newsgroup.

Using WS_FTP to Upload and Download Files to Your Vax Account

In this course you will use computers (including Internet technology) to send and receive files (which will usually be drafts of your writing assignments). To do so, you must be able to "upload" a file from your computer to your Vax account and "download" a file from your Vax account to your computer. This section describes how to do these procedures.

First, be sure your computer screen displays the Windows desktop. Find the box labeled "CAS Applications." In that box you'll see an icon labeled WS_FTP. This is a file transfer program that will enable you to upload and download files very easily. Double-click the WS_FTP icon to start the program.

When you start the program, a new box will appear. This box prompts you to tell the program which system you want to connect to. In the box next to "host," type in the following:

alpha1.albany.edu

Use the tab key or the mouse to move to the line labeled "userid" and type in your username. Then click the "OK" button.

Now a new window will appear. You will be asked for your password. Type in your password for your Vax account and press "Enter." If you followed the procedures properly, you will now be connected to your Vax account.

Another new window will appear with two smaller windows side-by-side. The left side represents your computer; the right side represents the mainframe system (which contains your Vax account). Use your mouse to double-click the "A" line on the left side. This command tells the program that you want to open up your disk drive (the "A" drive) on your computer.

After a few seconds in the lower part of the box you will see a list of all the files on your disk. Using the mouse, highlight the file you want to upload. Remember that the file should be a "text" file and should have the ".txt" extension on it. (See below, "Saving A Text File In Microsoft Word To Be Uploaded To Your Vax Account.") Now simply click the lower arrow button that you see between the two windows. This tells the program to send the file from your disk to your Vax account. In a few seconds you will see the name of the file appear in the right-hand box. The file is now in the main directory of your Vax account.

To "download" a file from your Vax account to your disk, just reverse the procedure. Find the file in your Vax account (on the right-hand side window) and highlight it by clicking it once with your mouse. Make sure that you have clicked the "A" drive in the left-hand window. Once you have highlighted the file in your Vax account, simply click the upper arrow between the windows (pointing to the left). You have now told the program to send the file from your Vax account to your disk. In a few seconds you should see the name of the file in the lower left-hand window. You have then completed the procedure.

Once you are finished with uploading or downloading files, simply click the "exit" button in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, and the program will close.

Saving a Text File in Microsoft Word to be Uploaded to Your Vax Account

In order to upload a file that you have created in Microsoft Word (such as a draft of an essay) to your Vax account, you must first save the file as a "text file." This is very easily done in Microsoft Word.

First, make sure the file you want to save as a text file is "open" on your screen in Microsoft Word. The first step is to change the margins. (This makes the file easier to read once you upload it.) Click "File" on the menu bar at the top of your screen. (It should be the very first word in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.) A pull-down menu will appear. Click on the line that reads, "Page Setup."

Now a new box will appear which will enable you to reset the margins. Set the left and right margins to 2.0. Then click the "OK" button. You have now reset the margins, and your text should look "narrower."

Now you need to save the file as a text file. Once again, click "File" on the menu bar in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. Next, click the line that reads, "Save as . . ." A new box will appear. Look first for the line that reads, "Drives:" with a small window below it. The Window will probably have something like this in it: "c: c drive." Click the little "down arrow" at the end of that little window. A list will appear below it. Click the "a: drive" in that window. This command tells the program to save your file on your disk.

Now look to the very bottom of the box. You will see the following line:

Save File as Type:

with a window immediately below the line. Click the "down arrow" button at the end of that window. Now a list of file types will appear. Click the line that reads, "Text Only With Line Breaks." This command tells the program that you want to save the file as a text-file without Microsoft Word formatting, which would be lost when you upload the file.

Now click the "OK" button in the upper right-hand corner of the box. The box will disappear, and the name of the file at the very top of your screen should now have the ".txt" extension on it.

Once you have changed the file to a text file, you are ready to close the file. When you give the "Close" command in the "File" menu, the following message will appear in a box:

This document contains formatting that cannot be saved in text format. Do you want to save changes to [filename].txt?

Be sure to click the "No" button. Once you do, the file will close. If you have followed the procedures properly, your file should now be saved on your disk in text forma. It is now ready to be uploaded to your Vax account.

Transferring A File From Your Vax Account Into Pine

Once you have uploaded a file to you Vax account (as described above "Using WS_FTP to Upload and Download Files to Your Vax Account"), you must transfer it into Pine so that you can send it as an email message to your classmates or to your instructor. This is very easily accomplished from within Pine.

Before you begin, be sure to remember the name of your file, including the extension. You might want to write down the name of the file on a piece of paper. Remember that Pine will automatically add a semi-colon and the number "1" to any file you upload into your Vax main directory. So if you upload a file called "essay1.txt" Pine will automatically change the name to "essay1.txt;1" (without the quotation marks). When you transfer that file into an email message, you must make sure to write the entire name exactly, including the semi-colon and the number.

First, get into Pine (as described above) and from the main menu, give the "C" command (for "compose"). You will see the blank screen for composing an email message. Make sure you enter the email address of the person you are sending the file to. Then move the cursor to the beginning of the message, as if you were going to write a message.

Now hold down the "Control" button and press "R". This command tells Pine that you want to import a file from your main directory into your email message. At the bottom of your screen, Pine will ask you name the name of the file you want to import. Write the same of the file exactly, including the semi-colon and the number and press "Enter."

Now your file will appear on your screen. If you want to make any changes to the file, you can do so now. When you're finished, simply give the "Control-X" command to send the file. You will be asked if you really wan to send it. Press "Y" for "yes" and your file will be sent as email.

NOTE: You can save an email message to your home directory so that you can download it to your disk. To do so, simply get into the index of your email messages amd highlight the message you want to download. Hit "E" (for "Export") and then type in a name for the file. Hit "Enter." Pine has now transferred the file to your home directory, where you can use WS_FTP to download it to your disk.