Computational Physics Summer School

Help

[ Getting started ] [ Lab access ] [ Using NETSCAPE ]
[ Lab documentation ] [ Editing ] [ Printing ]
[ Using MATLAB ] [ Using MATHEMATICA ] [ Using MAPLE ]
[ Using Langanke's programs ]
[ Frequently Asked Questions ] [ People who can help ]

Getting started

Basic information is given on the handout sheet "LABORATORIES". The main source for further information is the school web pages (such as this), accessed with NETSCAPE 2.0.

Choose a machine you are comfortable with. If you have no preference use the Macintoshes, as we provide the most support for them. The ITS user area in the basement of the Huxley bldg. is closest to the lecture venue. It has 9 each of Macs and PCs (The PCs only have Netscape and Maple).

About 60 other machines are at various places on the North side of campus. The most powerful machines generally available are the 20 Power Macintoshes in Rm. G020 of the Copland Bldg., see School Map. Silicon graphics Workstations are available on a restricted basis.

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Laboratory Access

Access to all laboratories is by key card (except for the ITS user area during office hours). Swipe the card through the reader near the door. When the enter light flashes push the door open. If the "denied" light flashes try again. It may take a few tries to find the correct swiping motion: be patient.

To exit the lab the key card must again be swiped through the reader near the door.

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Using NETSCAPE

NETSCAPE documentation is available via the "Handbook" button. The "Back" button will take you back to the last page you viewed. This is especially useful after using this help page: clicking "Back" will take you back to the page you sought help from. Clicking on blue and/or underlined items takes you to a new link.

The school web documentation is designed for viewing with Netscape 2. This allows the use of_subscripts and ^superscripts. If this "A₁²" looks the same as this "A12" then you are using Netscape 1 and some of the maths will look confusing. N.B. Netscape 2 is not available int eh Huxley building ITS user area.

Netscape Mail. If you encounter errors when using the Netscape mailto you may need to configure the "Mail & News" preferences, from the "Options" menu. Set "Identity" to your home institution email address etc. Set the "Outgoing Mail" section of the "servers" page to "smtphost".

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Documentation

You should have a paper handout entitled "Laboratories". This provides basic getting started information. More detailed documentation is provided via the web.

The full documentation for the Matlab based "Introduction to computational physics" lab is web based. Detailed documentation for the Maple and Mathematica based labs is paper based.

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Editing

Macintosh

MATLAB has a built in editor. Otherwise use whatever you can find, e.g. "simpletext" and save as text.

PC

Unix

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Printing

Macintosh

The most common difficulty is caused by selecting the wrong paper in "Page Setup...". The default is "US Letter" which the printer often interprets as manual feed. Make sure you select "A4" in "Page Setup..." before printing. If the error has aleady occurred cancel the print job and try again.

The printer is selected using the "Chooser" from the "Apple" menu in the top left corner. The printer in the lab should already be selected. Click on the "LaserWriter 8" icon to check the printer. The correct printers for each lab are:

Huxley bldg., ITS user area: LC630s: AppleTalk Zone "ITS Training": PostScript Printer "Level 1 Printer".
Copland bldg., Rm G020, Power Macs: AppleTalk Zone "Copland": PostScript Printer: "CoplandG20".
Faculties Teaching Centre, Rm FTC110, LC630s: AppleTalk Zone "Life Sciences Lab": PostScript Printer "FTC110".

If the correct printer is not selected click the above options to do so.

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Using MATLAB

MATLAB has a built in help facility: >> help plot
gives help on the plot command. If the relevant command is not known try >> lookfor plot
which returns all commands having the string "plot" in their first comment line.

Finding files (Macintosh). If you cannot find some m-files on your machine they may be copied from the "didyma" server as follows:

Select the "Chooser" from the Apple menu in the top left corner.
Select "AppleShare" from the top left box.
Select "FCU Servers" from the lower left list.
Double click on "Didyma" from the right list.
Logon as "Guest".
Look in the "school" folder of the "MATLAB" folder of the "Summer School" folder.
Drag onto your local MATLAB folder to copy.

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Using MATHEMATICA

On all non-Unix machines MATHEMATICA is invoked by double clicking on the mathematica icon.

MATHEMATICA has a built in help facility: select the "Getting Started..." option in the Help Menu. Selecting "Open Function Browser..." from the Help Menu opens a heirarchical index of all the MATHEMATICA commands. A brief introduction to each is given.

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Using MAPLE

On all non-Unix machines MAPLE is invoked by double clicking on the maple icon.

On a Macintosh a good way to introduce yourself to MAPLE is with a Quick Tour. Double clicking on the "Quick Tour Read Me" icon gives brief instructions. Alternatively launch either the "Quick Tour" (for mathematicians) or "QTour Eng Sci" (for scientists) by double clicking the icons.

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Langanke

Using Langanke's Koonin & Meredith programs

Connect to the UNIX systems "rsphy4" or "rsphy8" using Telnet (Telnet instructions). Read the "README" file using the UNIX "more" command: "more README". Also look at the Koonin & Meredith examples documentation.

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People who can Help

Craig Savage.....

Henry Gardner.....

Stuart Hudson.

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Laboratories

[ Summer School home page ] [ Lecture timetable ] [ School Map ]
[ FAQ ] [ Email the organisers ]

Last Update 4 January 1996