Software

Compilers

All open source compilers available with Scientific Linux are supported. These include C, C++, and various versions of FORTRAN.

Mathematics Computation Packages

There are several software packages available to do numerical computation, modeling, graphing and plotting. To use a package with a graphical interface on a remote system, it is necessary to tell the remote system to display it on the local display with the following command issued on the remote system:
%setenv DISPLAY local:0.0

The local system must also be told to allow the remote system to use its display with the following command issued on the local system:
%xhost remote
Package Availability Startup Command
Maple All Systems (UNIX) Text only: %maple
(UNIX) Graphics: %xmaple (Window) desktop icon
Matlab All Systems (UNIX) Text and graphical versions: %matlab
 (Windows) desktop icon






Statistics Computation Packages

There are two software packages available to do statistical analysis. To use a package with a graphical interface on a remote system, it is necessary to tell the remote system to display it on the local display with the following command issued on the remote system:
%setenv DISPLAY local:0.0

The local system must also be told to allow the remote system to use its display with the following command issued on the local system:
%xhost remote



Package Availability Startup Command
SAS lab computers, MS Windows desktop icon
SPSS lab computers, MS Windows desktop icon
R all dept computers, MS Windows desktop icon





Typesetting

The text formatting programs TeX and LaTeX are available on all systems, Linux and Windows. A pdf document is available online that is an introduction to LaTex.

Development environments are supported for Latex on both UNIX (kile) and MS Windows (winedt).

Files produced by LaTeX are in DVI (DeVice Independent) format. These files can be viewed with xdvi which is also available on all systems. These files cannot be sent directly to a printer. They must first be converted to Postscript via the dvips command which will send the output directly to the printer or with the -o option will save to a file. The resulting file can be sent to a printer using the lpr command and/or viewed with ghostview or gs.

Editors

There are four editors available on all Unix systems to create and alter plain text files:
emacs
A man page is available as well as a tutorial within the program. To start, simply enter emacs at the Unix prompt. This editor has a graphical user interface as well as a text-based interface that will run on any text terminal or window. If the DISPLAY environment variable is set then emacs will attempt to run the graphical user interface. To run the text only interface, use the -nw option to emacs:
    %emacs -nw
or unset the DISPLAY variable:
    %unsetenv DISPLAY
The first page presents the basic commands necessary to get started including the tutorial and help commands.
xemacs
This is a graphical user interface version of emacs that provides pull-down menus for command as well as positioning within a document via the mouse. This version will be run automatically if the DISPLAY environment when the emacs command is entered at the Unix prompt. A man page is available as well as a tutorial within the program. The first page presents the basic commands necessary to get started including the tutorial and help commands.
pico
This editor is a text-based interface that will run on any text terminal or window. To start, simply enter pico at the Unix prompt. A list of available commands will appear at the bottom of the screen, including a "Get Help" command.
vi
This editor is a text-based interface that will run on any text terminal or window. To start, simply enter vi at the Unix prompt. To exit, hit the escape key and type ZZ. There is no help available within vi although a man page is available.