Connecting to the Systems

Linux Passwords

Your Linux username and passwords is different than your standard Bear_ID.  If you are having trouble logging into our systems you can use the ECS ID Management site to find your username and/or reset your password.

If you need to change your password, you can do so using the passwd command. At the shell prompt, just type:

  passwd

The system will ask you to give your old password, then it will make you enter your new password twice. Once you update your password, the new password will take effect immediately.

What's a shell?

Your shell is the program that gives you a command prompt, waits for you to type commands and does what you type. By default, when you log in to our unix systems, you are using a shell named ksh. Ksh is a fine shell and you can learn more about it by reading its man page.

If you would like to try some other shell programs, you may find one that is more to your liking than the default. Our systems support a number of different shell programs. You can get a list of the supported shells by typing:

  cat /etc/shells

Different people like different kinds of shell programs. Depending on the shell you choose, you can get it to do some nice things for you like:

• Remember commands that you typed before
• Automatically complete filenames based on what you have already typed.
• Let you edit commands you type rather than type them over.
• Manage background and foreground tasks.
• Write big, fancy commands in a built-in scripting language.

You can try out these alternate shells by simply running them from your regular shell program. For example, you can just run bash or tcsh to see how they work. More information about these shells is available from their man pages.

Changing your default shell

When you want to change the shell that you get when you log in, there is a program to do that for you. Just type:

  chsh

This program will ask you for the shell that you want to use. You can pick any shell that's listed in the /etc/shells file.