Goals for this Hour

In this hour, you learn how to

• Log in and log out of the system

• Change passwords with passwd

• Choose a memorable and secure password

• Find out who the computer thinks you are

• Find out who else is on the system

• Find out what everyone is doing on the system

• Check the current date and time

This hour introduces a lot of commands, so it's very important that you have a UNIX system available on which you can work through all examples. Most examples have been taken from a Sun workstation running Solaris, a variant of UNIX System V Release 4, and have been double-checked on a BSD-based system. Any variance between the two is noted, and if you have a UNIX system available, odds are good that it's based on either AT&T System V or Berkeley UNIX.