EECS IT Knowledge Base

FAQs

Accounts

• If I go on co-op or am not enrolled in classes for a semester, will my EECS account expire?

No, EECS accounts are valid until graduation.

Files / Home Area

• What are the limits on disk usage?

Currently the EECS department provides up to 5GB of file storage to users. See Disk Quotas for more information.

• How do I access a USB drive in Linux?

FAT- or FAT32-formatted drives should work as-is in the EECS Gnome environment. Linux does not fully support NTFS- or Mac-formatted USB drives.

• How can I encrypt my files?

Please see our Guide to File Encryption.

Computer Access Issues

• What computers are available for my use?

See Research/Lab Resources for a list of all available systems.

• How do I remotely access the departmental computers?

See the Remote Access help page.

• How do I forward X11 application windows to my computer?

The Remote Access page also contains information on X11 forwarding.

• How do I remotely access files on a linux machine?

See the Remote Access page, under “Accessing Files Remotely.”

Common Error Messages

• How do I get around a “Permission denied” error when accessing a file?

First of all, if you did not create the file(s), contact the owner.
Otherwise, run “chmod u+rw file“, or “chmod u+rwx file” if it is an executable. See File Permissions for more information.

• When I type the name of my program, I get a “command not found” error; why?

In Linux, the current directory is not searched by default for executable programs. Why is it bad to put ‘.’ in my path?

• I get an error about my profile when I start FireFox; help?

If you get an error about your profile already being in use, please see Firefox Known Issues.

 

Web Topics

• Personal web pages – Basic setup of individual user webpages.
• Special WEB.eecs.utk.edu namespaces (top-level directories):
  • /events: A space for hosting event-related pages (e.g., http://web.eecs.utk.edu/events/tmw10/)
    Note: Event announcements can also be submitted to the web team for posting to the main website.
  • /programs: Web pages for departmental programs can be hosted here (e.g., http://web.eecs.utk.edu/programs/etakappanu/)
  • /research: Web pages or websites for research groups can be hosted/linked from here.
• Contact EECS IT Support to have your page linked to one of those name spaces.
• Protecting web pages (.htaccess file) – Setting up HTTP authentication
• Protecting web applications (NetAuth library) – Authenticating users with UT NetID and password

Linux Topics

• Linux quick reference
• Basic Linux commands – eight basic, frequently-used Linux commands
• Compression and archival – compressing and archiving files/directories
• Disk quotas – current quota limits, checking disk usage, reducing disk usage
• Dotfiles – viewing dotfiles, list of common dotfiles, editing dotfiles, frequent tasks and problems, restoring dotfiles
• Passwords – changing your EECS password, choosing a strong password, how often to change your password, general password tips, if you forget your password
• File permissions – changing the access permissions for files
• Access control lists (ACLs) – changing more advanced access permissions for files
• Process-related commands – process listing, signals, termination, foreground/background processes
• Programs – email clients, text editors, compilers
• Searching – commands for searching the file system
• Remote access – connecting to EECS resources from laptops or off-campus locations

Windows Topics

• Windows quick reference
• Using the scanner in the Tesla lab
• Remote access
• Reactive Microsoft Office

Software-Specific Topics

• Altium Designer
• Electrocon CAPE
• MATLAB
• Plexim PLECS
• Synopsys Saber
• Firefox known issues
• COSC 594 Digital Archaeology Virtual Machine

Instructor / TA Topics

• Registering for access to a TA/class account
• Accessing a TA/class account
• Submit scripts
• Class mailing lists
• Submitting a course website

Miscellaneous Topics

• Printing
• Using CUDA on EECS systems
• Microsoft Software Offerings
• Guide to file encryption