ubuntu

Quick start guide

If you want to just dive in, just press the "Windows" (or super) key the Ubuntu "dash" will open up. From there you can access all programs by typing in either the name of the program or function. For example, if you want to open a spreadsheet, just tpye "spreadsheet" and libre office will be shown as an application to use. Click the application to open it.

Recommended Software

- Email: Thunderbird
- Web-browser: Firefox or google-chrome
- Terminal: gnome-terminal
- Remote Desktop: Remmina

Recommended Hardware

We have tested the Ununtu install on the following standard hardware, internal hardware (especially graphics card) is as supplied in a standard machine. We require 64-bit compatible hardware:
- Dell Optiplex 700, 900, 910, 9020
- IBM Lenovo T440s / T410 / T420 with intel graphics cards only
- VMWare virtual machine image v7/8

Linux software

Self service on Linux is not maintained or supported.

For managed desktops within the department, all of the software that is available under self service is also available pre-installed onto the network software areas and available through the module system. Please see here for details.

Adobe Flash end of support on December 31, 2020

Flash is considered an outdated technology that is no longer being developed by Adobe, Flash is therefore no longer supported on any Linux OS.

Logging in to another desktop from a standard departmental desktop

To log in to another desktop from your departmentally administered Linux desktop, log in with your physics user name and password either using 'ssh' or 'remote desktop'.

ssh

You will need to know the name of the other desktop machine and possibly the fully qualified domain name. What this means is, if you are trying to log into a machine called 'tplxdt01' there are several possibilities. Try them in this order.

General share information (1)

Each of the techniques below requires a server and share combination to be selected and, for the methods marked INTERNAL, your computer must either be located inside the physics network or connected over the physics VPN.

Note that all of these methods are useful as a way to copy and view files on the network shares but should not be relied upon for long running processes.

Remote Home Directories

The Linux Home directories provide a way to remotely and securely store files in your /home directory on Linux in a way that makes them instantly available on all other machines in physics. These are backed up nightly.

Remote home directories are the default for new Linux desktops as of 16 Oct 2015 and has been in particle, atmospheric and theoretical physics as of October 2014. Other machines will store files and settings on a local home directory that is not backed-up centrally.