Getting and Using Putty

Putty is a telnet/ssh client that can be used to connect to a Unix system. It will allow a text based connection to the ECT Unix systems at California State University, Chico. Putty is a free download from here.

On campus Windows machines the icon looks like

Putty is available on all of the Windows XP / 2000 machines in OCNL 251, OCNL 133 and OCNL 136. It may or may not be set up for a connection to ect-unix.ecst.csuchico.edu. Setting it up on these systems or on your home system is the same process.

Putty comes as a single executable file (putty.exe) that can be placed anywhere on a Windows system. I find it convenient to just put it on the desktop. When you open up Putty, you will get a screen similar to the following:

The "ect-unix' line will not be in the default Putty window. You will need to input ect-unix.ecst.csuchico.edu into the Host Name text box and choose SSH as the Protocol. Your window will look similar to the following:

You can click Save to save the settings for this session. You will be prompted to give the session a name. I chose ect-unix. From now on, all you have to do is double-click on the ect-unix session and it will open a connection to ect-unix.ecst.csuchico.edu.

That connection will look similar to the following: (The first time you start the session, it will notify you that the cryptographic keys do not match. Just say YES that you want to connect and the keys will be set up for you.)

Login using your ECST Unix account login and password. You will now be connected and logged in to tiglon, the application server at the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology and you will get a screen similar to the following:

However, your prompt will probably be just a dollar sigh ($) rather than the name of the host and the path information. I have modified my prompt from the original.

From this screen, which is resizable, you will be able to enter Unix commands and also edit and debug your Java programs.

Keep in mind that you can have multiple Putty windows open (or a Putty window and a WinSCP window) so you can edit and save in one window and you can compile in another. This is what most developers do in order to save the time of exiting and then reloading a file for editing.