Computer Documentation Wiki - linux

acls

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-04-13T07:08:06+00:00

Linux Access Control Lists Permissions and groups Normal file permissions on Linux (and UNIX) consist of 3 categories: the file user (owner), the group the file belongs to, and all others. For each of these categories, the owner can set a combination of read ( r), write(w) and execute (x) permissions. [Additionally, there are a couple of special permissions (setuid, setgid, sticky) which are not covered here]

automount

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-05-21T10:25:27+00:00

Automount Automount is the system that automatically mounts and unmounts network disks when the user requests access. Important disks Starting with Fedora 20 (2014), the most important disks /home, /strw0 and /software, ar no longer hard-mounted, but configured through a special type of automount (through systemd, for those who like to know the details). Most of this is transparent to users. Just don't despair if you don't see

cinnamon

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-01-29T12:34:21+00:00

Cinnamon desktop A desktop with a traditional look, but based on the latest libraries and technologies, including 3d desktop effects, if desired. Cinnamon desktop tweaks In general, Cinnamon looks like ordinary desktops, but it is Gnome 3 at the core. But starting with version 2.0, there are now separate tools for Cinnamon, eg, if you want to modify the

cloud_storage

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-17T12:20:54+00:00

Cloud storage Several cloud storage services can easily be used from your Linux desktop. * Dropbox * OwnCloud * Google Drive * Slightly less easy: OneDrive * NextCloud * SurfDrive

compilers

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-04-12T07:27:07+00:00

Compilers Various compilers are available on the GNU/Linux workstations. The system-wide default is always the GNU Compiler collection (gcc, g++, gfortran). Other compilers, and other versions of the compilers, are available through environment modules (See

compute

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-09-19T14:11:11+00:00

Compute facilities and clusters Sterrewacht Many research groups have their own compute node(s). Most of these are running RedHat Enterprise Linux 9, which is slightly different that the Fedora operating system we have on the desktops, so users should probably recompile and optimize their code for that

datamanagement

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2020-11-24T07:48:39+00:00

Data Management Your data is stored on the STRW/IL data storage media which can be either the local disk of your workstation, the local-to-the-server direct attached disks of a server or on the bulk storage devices. As part of the data management cycle you need to keep track of your data and make sure that at the end of your employment at the Observatory you either copy your data to your new institute or provide the computergroup with a list of pointers to allow them to store your data onto a s…

desktop_applications

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-03-14T14:56:12+00:00

Desktop applications For a consistent look and feel, many desktop environment provide their own basic tools for common desktop tasks. Whereas it is possible to mix them, you may be in for surprises. This table is for Fedora 20-23. When running applications on the RHEL machines (compute nodes and servers), not all of these will be available.

desktop_environments

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-12-16T08:57:29+00:00

Linux desktop environments On a Linux system, several desktop environments can be installed, and a user can choose which environment to use. The default on most Linux systems is Gnome 3. However, this desktop has two drawbacks: it is quite different than other desktops, in use and looks. and it is quite heavy on the graphical hardware, making it less suitable for some of our older pcs. For new acccounts on the Sterrewacht computers, the default has been switched to

disk_quota

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-07T08:59:37+00:00

Disk quota All users have a home disk (refered to as $HOME or ~ from the shell). This is the place where you end up when you log in, and it is also the place where many applications store their settings or local data, for the simple reason that it is the one directory that is know to exist for every user.

dropbox

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2020-07-22T09:15:30+00:00

Dropbox Dropbox is a nice tool to synchronize some documents between computers. It is available on our Linux desktops, but take care of a couple of things: * Dropbox offers 2GB storage. But synchronization implies, that a local copy is made. Default location is in your home directory, but perhaps you don't have 2GB there (or you don't want to waste the limited space that you have in home). So make sure you move your Dropbox folder to another location, preferably on the local disk of your des…

environment_modules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-01-25T13:54:18+00:00

Environment modules Available modules To get a list of available modules, use module avail or add a string to match to shorten the list (eg: module list FFTW. Tip: since modules installed through EasyBuild have the name of the build toolchain appended, looking for a compiler version or toolchain will result in many hits. Appending a / to the name will limit the results to the compiler or toolchain itself (since the compiler itself will be called e.g.

fedora_20_issues_known_problems_and_workarounds

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-12-16T10:47:33+00:00

Fedora 20 issues ---------- The disadvantage of the free Fedora Linux distribution is its short lifecycle. When we adopted this version, we knew we might have to upgrade all computers approximately once a year, which is actually a small price to pay for a free and up-to-date operating system. The advantage of this disadvantage is of course, that our software collection is always very up-to-date.

fedora_21

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-12-17T14:04:14+00:00

Fedora 21 issues ---------- The disadvantage of the free Fedora Linux distribution is its short lifecycle. When we adopted this version, we knew we might have to upgrade all computers approximately once a year, which is actually a small price to pay for a free and up-to-date operating system. The advantage of this disadvantage is of course, that our software collection is always very up-to-date.

fedora_23

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-12-14T12:17:22+00:00

Fedora 23 announcement, news and known issues ---------- The disadvantage of the free Fedora Linux distribution is its short lifecycle. When we adopted this version, we knew we might have to upgrade all computers approximately once a year, which is actually a small price to pay for a free and up-to-date operating system. The advantage of this disadvantage is of course, that our software collection is always very up-to-date.

fedora_25

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-03-17T08:51:04+00:00

Fedora 25 announcement, news and known issues ---------- The disadvantage of the free Fedora Linux distribution is its short lifecycle. When we adopted this version, we knew we might have to upgrade all computers approximately once a year, which is actually a small price to pay for a free and up-to-date operating system. The advantage of this disadvantage is of course, that our software collection is always very up-to-date.

fedora_27

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-01-12T14:35:33+00:00

Fedora 27 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 27 release notes * Common Bugs and Known Issues Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F27, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_29

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-01-12T14:35:33+00:00

Fedora 29 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 29 release notes * Common Bugs and Known Issues Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F29, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_31

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2020-09-08T09:46:23+00:00

Fedora 31 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 31 release notes * Common Bugs and Known Issues Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F31, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_33

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2020-11-06T15:08:29+00:00

Fedora 33 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 33 release notes * Common Bugs and Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F33, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_35

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-01-06T13:21:29+00:00

Fedora 35 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 35 release notes * Common Bugs and Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F35, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_37

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-12-09T12:48:14+00:00

Fedora 37 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 37 release notes * Common Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F37, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_39

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-08-05T14:39:33+00:00

Fedora 39 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 39 release notes * Common Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F39, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_41

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-12-06T09:23:45+00:00

Fedora 41 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 41 release notes * Common Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F41, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_43

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-20T08:34:37+00:00

Fedora 43 announcement, news and known issues ---------- Once a year, we upgrade all the desktop systems to the latest version of Fedora, our Linux desktop operating system. General information * Fedora 43 release notes * Common Known Issues and workarounds Local links: * Linux desktop environments * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips New in F43, or in our Fedora setup:

fedora_compatibility_settings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-12-07T15:38:25+00:00

Fedora compatibility settings ---------- Fedora moves fast, and the latest versions of things are not always compatible with previous versions. It is difficult enough to keep your own programs up to date, but sometimes you need to use a piece of software which doesn't work any more due to the rapid changes in compilers and system libraries. Here are some tips and workarounds.

fedora_tips

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-07T09:00:23+00:00

Fedora tips ---------- Useful tips for Fedora and its applications. Most of these tips apply to Fedora in general, but some are specific to our environment and the software we have installed on our systems. Media players , audio cds and dvds ----------

fedora

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-12-05T16:12:54+00:00

Fadora ---------- * Fedora 39 * Fedora 41 * Fedora compatibility settings * Fedora tips

gnome_gmail

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-06-08T09:14:44+00:00

Gnome Gmail Gnome Gmail is a tool to configure Gmail in your default browser as your mail client, so clicking on a mail link in a webpage or document, will bring you to gmail in stead of opening a standalone mail client. This integration usually works also from the desktop file manager, for sending a file by mail.

gnome

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-20T11:53:42+00:00

Gnome 3 Gnome 3 is a completely different desktop design, which makes the desktop look like a Tablet PC. Some people may like it, but if you don't, “Mate” is available as an alternative, to give you the experience of good old Gnome 2, or “Cinnamon

google_drive

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-08T10:03:08+00:00

Google drive on Linux It's strange, but true: Google doesn't provide an easy tool for Linux to integrate Google Drive. Even stranger considering Google uses Linux a lot for servers, as basis for Android, etc. Luckily, there is a feature built in to the desktop to access Google Drive.

login_environment

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-05-09T14:10:24+00:00

Linux login environment

matplotlib_pgf_backend

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-12-22T10:39:27+00:00

Creating PDF files from Matplotlib using the PGF backend Since matplotlib in Fedora 25 seems to be having some font issues when using latex fonts and creating pdf or ps files, a workaround is needed. Luckily, PDF files can also be created using the PGF backend. See

modify_desktop_session

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-06-28T07:24:54+00:00

Programs that start with each session A lot of programs are started by default in each desktop session. Many of them are unnecessary; some of them are annoying or can even cause problems. And some are useful if you want them, but annoying/slow etc when you don't. Users can disable everything they don't need.

nextcloud

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-17T12:20:29+00:00

NextCloud All Sterrewacht users have access to our own NextCloud server. You can use your Sterrewacht account to login. The Online Accounts tool is supported for some major desktops, such as Gnome, Cinnamon and KDE Plasma. Note: SurfDrive also makes use of the NextCloud software, so part of the description here will work for SurfDrive as well, but see the

nx_client

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-06-04T13:28:20+00:00

NX client NoMachine NX offers (used to offer?) a nicely integrated VNC-like solution for remote access to a virtual desktop. We still have NX version 3.5 installed, but version 4 is no longer free and almost impossible to integrate into the system. So NX is on its way out.

onedrive

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-09T13:23:55+00:00

Accessing Microsoft OneDrive Your university (ULCN) account is a Microsoft account, and it allows access to office tools from Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365), including cloud storage in OneDrive. Here we describe ways to access that cloud storage from your Linux or MacOS computer.

outlook

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-09T12:49:41+00:00

Installing Microsoft Outlook on Linux There is no native MS-Outlook app for Linux, but there is a chrome-based web app that has most of the functionality and acts (almost) like a normal desktop app. To install this on your Linux system, you will need to use a chromium-based browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Brave browser) and go to:

owncloud

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-17T12:18:54+00:00

OwnCloud OwnCloud is a system of setting up a cloud storage environment. The Sterrewacht used to provide its own OwnCloud server, but this has been superceeded by nextcloud. It is also possible to connect to other “clouds”. SurfDrive is an ownCloud implementation for the joint dutch universities, which you can use using tour ULCN credentials.

pdf_tools

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-06-08T10:54:50+00:00

PDF tools Viewers As PDF viewers, we offer Adobe Reader, Evince, Atril document viewer and okular. There is also qpdfview. Although Adobe Reader is the official viewer for the format, it is not always the best, especially since Linux development is almost non-existent at Adobe these days, and the version is falling behind its Windows and Mac

putty

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-09-27T08:36:11+00:00

SSH from Powershell In current versions of Windows, ssh is available from within Powershell. In that case, you do not need a separate ssh client. This will work more or less the same as ssh from Linux and MacOS. Also see: SSH tips and tricks Putty Putty is a graphical frontend for SSH, available for Windows and Linux. On Linux, it doesn't offer much in addition to the command line ssh program.

python

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-06-04T14:48:34+00:00

Python Python has become the programming language of choice in many scientific fields. We try to offer all relevant modules and utilities that are of general use. Interactive All the usual interactive python interpreters are available: python (python2 and python3), ipython (2 and 3) with its QTconsole, notebook and pysh interfaces.

rebooting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-12-08T14:31:27+00:00

Rebooting a Linux system Rebooting is NOT a default action. But it may be necessary at times, eg when updates have been installed, or when something becomes completely stuck. Our setup is such, that a user with physical access to the computer, can reboot it without needing sudo or other special powers. From the login screen, and from most desktop environments, it is possible to select an option to reboot (sometimes labeled

remmina

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-07T14:28:52+00:00

Remmina remote desktop client Remmina is a client for various remote desktop protocols, including Windows Remote Desktop and VNC, including setting up a SSH tunnel to secure the remote connection. See also

sfinx_envcap

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-06-01T14:41:21+00:00

Sfinx Envcap database Location: $OSdir/local/envcap and ~/.envcap The standard Sfinx .cshrc or .bashrc will (among other things) read the system settings, which will set all necessary environment variables from the envcap database. The system copy is stored in

sfinx_modules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-07-02T08:47:45+00:00

Sfinx module files Incomplete modules In some cases, loading the environment module is not sufficient to complete the setup for a package. This is currently true for these modules: * iraf (but: environment setup is usually not needed to use the program, only when building your own tasks or running them from scripts outside the cl)

sfinx_packages

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-07-02T09:23:58+00:00

Sfinx Packages Originally, the Sfinx environment offered a standardized way to initialize various packages. Where usually the install instructions of a piece of software tell you, to add a couple of lines to your .login, .bashrc or something like that, we like to provide a default login environment without package-specific settings, and a set of tools to initialize the packages when needed. Not only does this keep your environment clean, it also avoids some unexpected interactions between the v…

sfinx_scripts

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-02-23T09:39:36+00:00

Sfinx scripts Many scripts are provided, for various uses. Startup scripts for applications For most of the installed software packages, a simple startup script takes care of setting up the environment and loading the package. In most cases, this takes the place of the sometimes very elaborate setups that are given with the package, to be added to the user's environment, possibly clashing with other packages. In other words, in order to run any of these packages, you don't have to follow setu…

sfinx-xdg

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-09-24T09:32:21+00:00

Sfinx-xdg ; configuration utility for XDG basedir standards A lot of programs are using the Freedesktop XDG basedir setup, which puts configuration files in .config, cache in .cache and various data files of the application in .local However, the data and cache parts can become quite big, causing two problems: quota usage on the home disk, and performance loss (since the home disk is remote, and this can cause lots of read and write access). Now the XDG standard provides a mechanism to move …

sfinx

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-09-08T09:54:46+00:00

Sfinx environment at the Sterrewacht and Lorentz Institute To facilitate running a wide variety of software, we provide all users with the Sfinx environment. This is a customized environment setup to facilitate different setups for different machines or different applications. Part of this versatility is implemented through a set of databases:

snapshots

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-05-21T10:34:00+00:00

Overview of Backup system Disk Backup On disk every night a full backup of the home directory structure is stored on /disks/systembackup. This backup runs for a couple of hours for the current size of the home disk (1 TB). The copies can be accessed from the directory tree:

software_categories

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-07T14:27:57+00:00

Linux software categories In this section, we want to give a quick overview of available software, subdivided in categories. We are not going to describe every piece of software in detail, but this overview will get notes added about the local setup, and links to the documentation of the package.

software_menu

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-09-19T13:40:02+00:00

Linux software menu In this section, we want to give a quick overview of what is available on the software menu. We are not going to describe every piece of software in detail, but this overview will get notes added about the local setup, and links to the documentation of the package.

spyder

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-01-29T16:52:50+00:00

Spyder Spyder is a interactive development environment for Python See also Latest status: spyder can no longer be offered as a central install; the makers of the software only support local installs in a venv or conda environment. We have spyder installed as part of the

start

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-12-23T16:18:35+00:00

Linux This page is not meant to be a full manual on Linux, just a list of pointers to utilities and procedures in use at our institutes. A copy of the Linux man pages is also available from our web server (not necessarily complete). See also: Fedora 41 announcement, for news and known issues. And

sudo

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-06-18T07:25:52+00:00

sudo sudo is a tool to execute commands with different permissions and rights. A useful tool on a standalone machine, but in the network, everything is managed centrally by the computer group, so there are no reasons to get elevated privileges through commands like this.

surfdrive

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-02-10T16:37:19+00:00

SurfDrive SurfDrive is a cloud storage service provided by SurfNet, on behalf of the joint dutch universities. It's underlying protocol is that of NextCloud, so you can connect any NextCloud client to synchronize your files to SurfDrive. The connection url will be:

teams

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-09T12:52:00+00:00

Installing MS-Teams on Linux There is no native MS-Teams app for Linux, but there is a chrome-based web app that has most of the fuctionality and acts (almost) like a normal desktop app. To install this on your Linux system, you will need to use a chromium-based browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Brave browser) and go to:

tensorflow

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-11-12T15:32:24+00:00

Python package tensorflow Unfortunately, tensorflow is currently (2nd half of 2018 until 2019) not available for python 3.7 Downgrading the system python version is not an option, since many other packages, desktop components and operating system utilities expect python 3.7

vnc_desktop_issues

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-01-13T08:30:32+00:00

VNC issues We are currently investigating various VNC issues in Fedora: * Gnome 3 has become too heavy for a VNC session. And while Fedora 18's Gnome provided a fallback mode, this doesn't work any more in Fedora 20 and up. The “new” Gnome Classic session type, seems to require the same level of accellerated graphics as the full Gnome desktop, so this doesn't help. Cinnamon 2 seems to suffer from this same problem, but is usually able to go into

vscode

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-01-07T08:36:57+00:00

SSH from within Visual Studio Code The Visual Studio Code integrated development environment (IDE) makes it possible to edit program code locally, and compile and execute it remotely, through a SSH connection. This is a very useful and powerful feature, but not everything is possible, or easy.

x2go

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-08-20T09:49:28+00:00

X2go X2go is a (relatively) easy and completely free client/server solution for remote access to graphical desktops. In its basic form, it provides a GUI around VNC server and viewer, including setting up the SSH tunnel for secure remote access, but it has more possibilities, including:

xpra

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-01-03T14:18:06+00:00

XPRA XPRA is an alternative to remote access tools such as VNC and X2GO. Like these tools, and like the commandline tool screen, XPRA can be used to detach from the remotely running applications, allowing to re-attach later from the same or another XPRA client.