MathHand
Computer support @ Dept. of Math, KTH

MathHand is the interface between computer users at the dept of Mathematics and the systems staff at ITA.

Closed / limited hours during Christmas/New Year:

Mathhand will be closed on Friday December 23 and open on Wednesday December 28 and Tuesday January 3 9:00 - 13:00 and resume regular hours on January 9. More...

MathHand news (archive)

TeX Live

Documentation for the new TeX Live distribution (containing updated version of TeX and LaTeX tools) can be found here:

Upcoming changes in the e-mail system on KTH

The IT-Department at KTH will during the summer start the migration of the mailboxes residing on the central mail server (mail1.kth.se=webmail.sys.kth.se) to a new mail server (webmail.kth.se).

webmail.kth.se has been upgraded to a new version and now the support for different operating systems are enhanced. The move will take place during summer or early autumn.

This move is a part of the total upgrade that concerns the KTH central e-mail environment today, and the purpose of this move is to merge the existing two email-solutions operated by the IT-Department, into one.

More information will come via e-mail.

We will gradually update our websites with current information, and also upgrade web links to the webmail interface at KTH:s website.

You will need to change the server name in the settings in your e-mail client from mail1.kth.se to webmail.kth.se WHEN your mailbox is migrated, NOT earlier.

Configure Alpine to print

To be able to print from Alpine you need to comment the line saying 
printer=lpr

The printer MATH_lwktup is up and running again

The network card has been replaced and the printer is working again.

Configuring colours in Alpine and PuTTY

For instructions on how to configure the colours in Pine/Alpine go here
For instructions about how to configure the coulours in PuTTY go here.

Alpine instead of Pine to read mail

We recommend that you use Alpine instead of Pine to read your mail if you prefer to use a mail client in your terminal window since Pine no longer is updated. To set up Alpine to use your IMAP-folders there is an instruction here
To change incoming mail server when you are moved to the new mail server, there is an instruction here

Instruction to how you access mathterm and use Internet Explorer to change or add rules can be found here

For further information: IT-SC info on mail1 migration in Swedish or English.

Problems printing from some applications

There are currently problems printing from some applications on sunraya and sunrayd for some users. Exaples of applications are firefox, mozilla and acrobat reader. One way of going around the problem is to start the application from a terminal by typing 
firefox &
for firefox, 
mozilla &
for mozilla or 
acroread &
for acrobat reader.
If you don't want to use this work-around, contact Mathhand for help with changing your login shell from tcsh to bash.

If your SunRay client stops responding

If your SunRay station stops responding to any input you can quit your session by typing ctrl-alt-backspace twice. This should be used with caution since when you don't log out properly some things may go wrong. For example the settings for the window manager can be corrupt and the session might be alive on the server preventing you from using the sunray.
If it has no effect to use ctrl-alt-backspace, you have to log in on another computer or client and terminate any processes left on the server you try to exit with 
 pkill -u username
where username is your username.
If you have been logged in to another server than the one you left or are using another computer, first type 
ssh shell.sys.kth.se
and then type 
ssh sunray?.ite.kth.se
and replace ? with the letter of the server you were using (a, b, c or d). Then run the pkill command.
If this doesn't work, contact Mathhand, or if it's after 13.00 contact IT-SC.

Contact information

MathHand is open Monday - Friday, 9:00 - 13:00 (reduced hours during the holidays)

You can visit us in room 3548 during these hours.

During the afternoon (13:00 - 16:30) you can also visit the IT Supportcenter at Kårhuset. However, support for issues that are specific for the computing environment at the Mathematics department, is likely to be limited.

Phone number 1: 08 790 9312 (Monday - Friday, 09:00 - 13:00)
Phone number 2: 08 790 7752 (Monday - Friday, 13:00 - 16:30, and only for urgent matters)

The 9312 extension is redirected to our cell phone after a short delay. If we can not answer your call, try again later or send us an email. (Please don't leave a message since we rarely check the voicemail.)

Our e-mail address is mathhand@math.kth.se (for urgent matters after 13:00, see above)

Info on this page

Info on Windows/WIKS

Info on MAC

Please note that all requests for help should be directed to MathHand.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ; help database in Swedish)

Obtain software - Batch servers - accessing MS Windows - remote login - file transfer - e-mail



FAQ

See the help database (in Swedish)..

Free text search:

Of special interest might be:

There is also a short introduction to the file system AFS, and an introductionary course available. In the mathhand room, we also have a short guide to writing in LaTeX available on paper.

Batch servers

There are two batch servers, the old one named borg.math.kth.se and the new, faster one named seven.math.kth.se. If you have a SunRay and run a job that takes more than a few minutes to complete, you should run it on a batch server. If you have a workstation, you can use the batch server if you want to.

To connect to the batch server, run:

telnet borg.math.kth.se
or 
telnet seven.math.kth.se

Or, to be able to open new windows from borg or seven:

rxtelnet borg.math.kth.se
or 
rxtelnet seven.math.kth.se

Accessing MS Windows

If you need to access a Windows system (e.g. because someone sent you a microsoft-specific document) you can access Windows in a window on your unix system, by running these commands:

module add rdesktop
    rdesktop -g 1024x768 -k sv mathterm.ug.kth.se &
If you want easy access to your home directory on Linux/Solaris you can run this command: 
rdesktop -g 1024x768 -k sv -r disk:me=/home/x/y/xyz/ mathterm.ug.kth.se &
Substitute x with the first letter in your username and y with the second letter in your username and xyz with your username. You will find your home directory as me on computer name in My Computer under Other.

(This works both on Solaris and on Linux. Most Windows document can be opened in Open Office directly on unix anyway, but some documents might cause problems. If you want to use an English or American keyboard, change the flag -k sv to -k en-gb or -k en-us)

Note: if this does not work, you may not have a password for the Windows system yet. To fix this, go to this page and enter your KTH.SE username and password. This should be the same that you use on the web mail, and probably also how you login on the computers at the department. (If you want to keep the current password, simply write that in the last three boxes.)

If it still fails after changing the password, please contact MathHand and describe the problem, including any error messages that occur when you try to login.

To add a printer on Mathterm, click on the Start menu button, choose settings and then printers and faxes.
Now click Next and in the Name field type SCI_MATH . Then click Find Now. Now you will see a list of printers that are available in the Math department, choose the one you want to use and click OK. You will get a question whether you want to use it as the default printer. Choose the answer you prefer. Finally click finish and the printer is added to the list of printers you can use.

Programs available on Mathterm is Microsoft office 2007, Adobe Distiller and Adobe Acrobat Standard.
To move files from your unix account, use either SSH Secure File Transfer Client or WinSCP. The server you want to connect to is called sftp.math.kth.se and you log in using your kth account and password.

There is also a Windows machine in the terminal room available to math users. If you have problems logging in, change your password as described above.

The old Windows machine, scanburn, has been removed by decision from Leena Druck and Mathhand. For scanning you can use the scanner/copier in the stairway on floor six. It can be used to scan paper documents and then e-mail them to yourself. To burn CDs you can use the above mentioned Windows computer with the built in burning support in Windows.

Access from the outside

Shell access

You should access shell.math.kth.se (or shell-solaris.math.kth.se if you prefer Solaris rather than Linux). To log in, use either Kerberos telnet (See IT help about telnet) or ssh (see IT help about SSH or go to the web login (only to the linux server for now)).

File transfer

Files may be accessed through the SFTP and SCP server. The server is called sftp.math.kth.se. (See IT help about SFTP and SCP for more information.)

You could also access our AFS file servers directly. This gives a more seamless integration with your desktop. We have a brief guide to how you install and use on Windows.

Mail access

There is a web mail interface. Or you can just log in through shell access and run an email client.

You can also configure your mail client on the remote system to talk directly to our imap server mail1.kth.se. You need a mail client that supports encrypted imap, either SSL or through kerberos. Mail clients that support this includes Netscape / Mozilla, Eudora and MS Outlook.

VPN

You can connect to KTH using VPN aswell. There are instructions on lan about vpn. This information is only in Swedish for now.

USB-sticks on Solaris10

When you insert a usb-stick to you sunray client it will be mounted in /tmp/SUNWut/mnt/$USER where $USER is your user name. To unmount the usb-stick, type umount /tmp/SUNWut/mnt/$USER and you can remove the usb-stick.