Getting There: A Guide to Computing at UCLA Math

Welcome to the UCLA Mathematics Department computer systems. We hope this document will answer some of your questions, and let you make the best use of our resources.

We are staff members of the Math Department and our job is to help you with your computing. The easiest way to reach us is to visit the Mathematics Computer Consulting Office, MS 6121 (Math Sciences). Someone is there to answer questions, open accounts, fix problems, etc., from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm and from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, five days a week. (consulting office hours are reduced in the summer)

Additionally, you can send email to bugs to ask for something, to report a problem, or to get help.

When you’re reporting a problem, please be as detailed as possible. Think of how you would describe the problem if you could only communicate it through an answering machine.

Important things to include are:

When did the problem begin?

If something that used to work no longer works, what actions did you take before the problem arose?

What were the error messages (verbatim), if any? (You can capture error messages by redirecting errors into a file, or by cutting and pasting them into your message using X-windows.)

Please also include a description of the hardware configuration you were using at the time (i.e. which machine were you running on when the problem occurred.)

If any other equipment was involved such as a printer or a modem, what was it?

You can find out most things about our system on your own. The most up-to-date information is on our Website:

Other on-line information is available as well. The handout command will show you information about our department’s computing resources and policies. The man command allows you to look up on-line manual pages, which describe Unix command usage. For example, type man man to see how it’s used. Also, we make handouts, reference cards, and manuals available in the computing labs and the Consulting Office.

There are two main computer networks here: the research (math) network and the undergraduate (PIC) network. Most computers on the research network are available to all faculty, staff, graduate students, and guests. New graduate students’ accounts are created at the beginning of Fall quarter. Others just joining the department must come to the Consulting Office for an account creation form.

The undergraduate network supports the PIC faculty, undergraduate math majors, and students taking math or PIC courses that require computer accounts. If you are taking one of these courses, your instructor will tell you how to get an account.

To find your way around, it helps to know that all of our computers are named according to themes. For example, the departmental research computers are named after famous female mathematicians. Sonia is named after the gifted Russian geometer Sonia Corvin-Krukovski Kovalevski, and julia is named after Julia Robinson, noted for her work on Hilbert’s 10^th problem.

The Faculty Lab in MS 6621 contains two PCs, two Macintoshes, a scanner, and a printer named soniaps. The PCs and Macs are intended for file transfers.

The computational needs of the "pure"’ and "applied" mathematicians of our graduate department are reflected in the types of machines found in their respective labs.

The Graduate Computation Lab (GCL) in room MS 3347 is where our pure graduate students do their computer work. It contains Sun SparcStation-1s & -2s. These computers are named after local streets like sepulveda and gayley. There is also an HP 4Si Mx LaserJet named gclps in this room.

The Applied Computation Lab (ACL) in room MS 6187 has four Sun SparcStation-10s, two SparcStation-20s, six Pentium II PCs running Windows NT 4.0, and an HP 5Si Mx LaserJet named aclps. The Sun workstations are named after famous mathematicians and the PCs are named after California cities. Use of these computers requires approval from the applied math faculty.

Other research computers are similarly restricted. They are used for special research by particular areas of the math department. Use of these machines is subject to the approval of the respective principal investigators. These include three Sun SparcStation-1000s (also known as "Scorpions").

Three computers, redwood, oak, and sycamore (guess what their theme is) are not found in any lab. These are meant to be accessed through terminals -- each graduate student office has a terminal for that purpose.

On the undergraduate side, all public computers are located in the PIC Lab in BH 2817 (Boelter Hall). The PCs run Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and include X-Windows terminal emulation software to connect to the Unix machines. These Unix machines are a set of Sun SparcStation-2 computers whose names come from nearby beaches such as laguna and venice. Accounts on the Unix machines are separate from accounts on the NT machines.

All faculty members are entitled to a terminal in their office. Some have Sun workstations and some have PCs that are connected to the network. In addition, the Faculty lab (MS 6621) contains two PCs and two Macs, intended for file transfer.

Though the number of machines may seem confusing at first, your day-to-day work will usually involve only a few of them. One computer will become your home site when your account is established. Your home site is where your files are actually stored. Of course, you can use other computers as well, the ones in your so-called access group. Your files will look no different than they would from your home site whenever you use one of these machines.

UNIX Generally speaking oak, redwood, and sycamore are the home sites for the graduate students -- redwood for those in the applied group. Sonia houses pure faculty members, joshua the applied faculty members, hermosa the PIC faculty members, and julia the departmental staff. Sycamore is the server for the X-terminals in graduate student offices.

Everyone is allowed to login to oak and sycamore and to the workstations in the GCL. Those in the applied group can login to redwood as well. The command sites will show you which Unix machines you can use.

On the PIC side, your home site is determined by what course you’re taking. Just like on the research network, your directory on PIC will be visible from any machine on the undergraduate network.

Windows NT Palomar is the NT home site for departmental staff, math faculty members and graduate students that have NT accounts. These accounts are in the Math domain. Mrburns is the NT home site for PIC faculty, undergraduate math majors, and for students taking math or PIC courses that require computer accounts. These accounts are in the PIC domain. If you have an NT account, your files will be visible from any NT machine in your domain, but they won’t be visible from a Unix account.

Our network connections go far beyond the Mathematics Department. Our department nets are connected to the Physical Sciences Network, which connects to the Campus Backbone Network, which connects to the Internet through the campus service provider, presently MCI. From there, any computer on the Internet can be reached.

You can take advantage of our connectivity in several ways. One can send messages by email (electronic mail -- by far the most popular use of the network). If you have an account on another computer on the Internet, you can access it via the telnet program. You can also transfer files back and forth with the ftp program. Recent versions of Netscape’s popular Web browser are available.

Two different operating systems are in use on our computers. The Unix operating system in use on our X-terminals and Sun workstations is called "Solaris 2.x", Sun’s latest version. Solaris 2 is a variant of AT&T’s System V Unix.

If you have never used Unix, we recommend that you obtain a book about it. The technical books section of the "Bookzone" on the "A" level of Ackerman Union has a large selection. Browse around until you find one that looks suitable for your needs. (We can’t give you specific recommendations because the selection changes too rapidly, and the usefulness of a book depends very much on your own taste.) Spending the time in the bookstore to pick the right book will repay itself greatly in the long run. You should get texts that describe System V (also referred to as SysV).

In addition, we have about 180 PCs in the Department running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. There are also many books available to help you with Windows NT, although you will find that its user interface is very similar to that of Microsoft Windows 95.

There is a facility which can be worthwhile, or amusing, or a waste of time, depending on how you use it. The network "news" is a bulletin board system shared by everyone in the department, and by thousands of people across the world. Use the trn (read news) program to access it. There are innumerable groups (with new ones added weekly) which you may want to explore (depending on the time you want to devote to it).

In general, our Website is the best source of up-to-date information on available services. We also maintain a series of reference cards on various subjects, which explain basic commands and usage. These are available in the Consulting Office, MS 6121.

Some packages are intended to help in writing programs. For example, Slatec and LAPACK are collections of subroutines for numerical analysis. The NCAR Graphics system (known as "ncarg") has routines for plotting curves, surfaces, and similar things.

What you see being used on the Sun workstations in the GCL and ACL labs is the "X-windows system." It makes it easy to control several programs on several hosts at the same time, and also allows you to use the graphics capabilities of the computer. Currently we are running X11R6 distributed by MIT. There are also Windows NT workstations in ACL and the PIC lab that run X-windows terminal emulation software.

You will find books on the X Window System at the technical bookstore. These can help you use all of its capabilities. Be careful when shopping for a book on X, though; some talk about how to use X, but most are meant for programmers intending to write X applications.

Most of our users need to produce high-quality documents, such as papers, theses, books, and monographs.The majority of our users use the TeX family of typesetting packages. These include LaTeX, AMSTeX and AMSLaTeX as well as TeX itself. The output from them can be printed on any of our laser printers. Reference and tutorial books on these packages can be purchased from the technical bookstore.

You can program in C++, C, Fortran, Pascal, Java, Perl, or tcl. We also have we have the g++ and gcc compilers from the Free Software Foundation (the "GNU project") as well as gnuplot.

Before trying to write a program, check to see if there’s a suitable package first. Someone may have done the hard part of the job already.If you don’t know how to program, you can take a PIC class. There are also books for self-study.

Be courteous---we depend a lot on the civility of our users. Just as the library can be disturbed by one person, the computing environment can be made unusable by an act of carelessness. Do look at the handouts on policies and running long jobs. Keep in mind that courtesy is the key to successful sharing.

Do be conscious of security. The computers are no more secure than your office, so don’t keep anything in a file that you wouldn’t keep in your desk. Remember that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. In spite of our best efforts, there are people who, maliciously or otherwise, try to break into the system.

Please note that it is against Math Department Policy for you to share your computer account with someone else. There have been incidents where the owner of an account gave his/her password to person A who gave it to person B who then did something bad.