Basic stuff: --All the cmi lab comps use linux. Each person has a separate user account. With this one user account and password you can login to any lab computer, and squirrel mail. --It is important to keep your password secret, unless you want embarrassing mails sent to the whole hostel. To change your password, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T -> gnome-terminal), and then run the following command: $ passwd --Another sure-fire way of getting implicated in a hostel-wide spam scandal is to leave a computer that you have logged into unguarded. To prevent this, lock screen when you have to leave the lab for a short bathroom break, and please LOG OUT (Ctrl+Alt+) if you are going for a longer bathroom break. (If not, irritated people without comps may just kill your login, and you will lose unsaved data) (Lock screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+L or select Lock Screen from the menu) --All the comps are networked. This means that any file you save on one computer(inside your home directory) is also available on any other lab computer when you log in. --Your home directory is the folder in which you should keep all your files. You should also change permisssions for this folder to make sure other people cannot change/delete/steal stuff from you (or worse, lock you out of your own home folder). For details on linux permissions look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chmod --Mounting pendrives: $ mount /dev/sd you'll get a list of drives, the pendrive will normally be the last one. For example: arjun@sl15:~$ mount /dev/sd sda sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 sdb sdb1 Choose sdb1: arjun@sl15:~$ mount /dev/sdb1 Now you should get an icon on the left side when you open your home folder or any other folder in your file manager. After usage, you need to "unmount" (safe-remove) the drive before removing it. Do this: $ umount /dev/sdb1 ** Don't try to unmount any drive under sda? because they are the hard disk drives and you won't have sufficient permissions to do that ** --For help on any shell command, type either: $ man or $ --help to get a short help message which will tell you what the command does, how to use it, and what options you can use. (man will give a longer, more technical description, use --help for general stuff, man only when you are looking for something more specific and complicated) --Basic shell commands: -pwd: print working directory -cd: change directory -ls: list files in current directory -cp: copy -mv: move -rm: remove (delete). To remove directories and their contents, use 'rm -r' -mkdir: make directory -touch: create a file