ATSC 212
Intro Computer Lab in Earth & Atmos. Sci.


Instructions for Setting Up the "NX Client"

NX Client is a computer program that allows your PC to act like a terminal to talk to a remote unix machine.  It uses a graphical user interface (GUI), so that your access to the remote machine looks somewhat like Windows.

We have already downloaded this software onto the PCs in our computer lab.  Follow the instructions below at step (1) to start using it.

Versions of the NX Client exist for PCs, MacOSX, and Linux machines.  To get a copy running on your personal computer, go to the company web site:   http://www.nomachine.com/    and select the "Download" tab, and then scroll to the "NX Client" section.


  1. An icon for the NX client should be on your desktop.  If not, look for it from the START button, under all programs.
  2. Double click the NX Client to start it running.

  1. The first time that you use the NX Client, it will automatically invoke an "NX Connection Wizard", to make it easy to set-up the connection to the remote computer.   In our class, the remote computer is named "eidolon".  
  1. Click the "next" button.
  2. A "Session" screen will appear.  In this screen:
  3. A "Desktop" screen will appear
  4. A "Configuration" screen will appear
  5. This ends the NX Connection Wizard

  1. At this stage, it should automatically open the normal NX Client login window, at the top of which it says "NOMACHINE".
    1. enter your username and password as assigned for this course.
    2. wait for it to make the connection and build the desktop window on your computer -- it can take a long time.
  2. Do your remote work on the NX client (as will be demonstrated in the unix/linux lecture)
  3. When you are finished, you MUST first log out of "eidolon" using the icon pop-up menu available at the bottom of the NX screen.  Then exit the NX program.  Finally, log out of your PC.
In the future, when you want to use the NX Client to connect to "eidolon", click the "eidolon" icon that is now on your desktop as a short cut.

 Icons to Access the Terminal and Emacs from NX

For those of you who installed NX on your own computer, you should do a few extra steps to enable the icons for the Terminal window and for Emacs to appear in the bottom dock of NX.  This will make it easier for you later in the course when we frequently use the Terminal window and Emacs.

Instructions:
  1. On the grey bar at the bottom of the NX screen (the dock), right click the mouse and a menu will come up with option to 'Add Application to Panel'.  
  2. If you mouse over the option, it will bring up a list of applications/types to select from.  Keep mousing over the various types until you find the application you want to add (the ones listed below) and left click on it.  It will now appear on your dock.   
  3. To change the position of this icon on your dock or remove it from the dock, right click on the application.  The menu that appears will give you the option to remove or move the application.  If you select move, the application can then be shifted by dragging with the mouse.  When you have it where you want it, simply left click. 

Copyright © 2010 by Roland Stull
UBC
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