Computer updates ....

SNF Lab Members:

Happy New Year!

During the holiday shutdown, we took the opportunity to upgrade the operating systems of many of the computers that support SNF operation.  While we made every effort to preserve all functionality, if you notice any changes or problems please let us know.  You can send email either to me directly (shott@stanford.edu) or to coral@snf.stanford.edu.

Although Mozilla is still the default browser on the Sunrays we now have Firefox available as well.  Should you wish to test out the Firefox browser, you should be able to do so simply by typing the command "firefox" in a command window.

Should you wish to make firefox your default browser .... that is, the browser that comes up when you click on the globe icon at the left of the bottom task bar .... you can do so by CAREFULLY following the three step operation listed below:

1. Type the command:
cat >> ~/.dtprofile
This will append the next things that you type to the end of the file named .dtprofile in your home directory.  Note: make sure that you type >> and not just >.

2. Type in the following line of text including this capitalization:
export BROWSER=firefox<Enter>
where <Enter> means hitting the "Enter" key (that is,  carriage return).

3. Terminate that append process by typing:
<Ctrl> d
(that is the Ctrl key and the "d" hit simultaneously).

You will need to log out and then log back in to have this change take effect.

Note: if you also want Firefox to open multiple tabs instead of opening multiple windows, you can also type in the following text during step 2 above to use the "tabs" feature:
export BROWSER_PREF="tabs"<Enter>

Let me know if you have any questions or problems,

John