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Dear ARE computer user,

As an Agricultural and Resource Economics computer user, you are responsible for reading and understanding the UC Davis Electronic Communications Policy, which governs the use of computers and networks on the UC Davis Campus:

Please browse the IT-Express (UCD Campus Information Technology Express) webpage for up-to-date information regarding general computing questions:

Please review the following information about file-sharing, to ensure that you understand the risks associated with unauthorized sharing of electronic copyrighted material:

Here are some tips and FAQ's that will hopefully answer some of your common questions, and help you get started with your departmental "Primal" computer account:

  1. What is Primal, (and Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee), and how do I log in?
  2. Does Primal filter email for viruses and spam?
  3. I'm new to Unix, is there any documentation available?
  4. How do I change my Primal password?
  5. How do I print from Primal, Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee?
  6. How do I check email in my "primal" account?
  7. Is there an email phonebook or directory on campus??
  8. I'd like to forward email from my campus account to my Primal account.
  9. I have my own laptop that I'd like to bring into the office and connect to the network.
  10. 10. How do I access my shared directory on Mars?
  11. Can I post a personal webpage on the departmental webserver?
  12. Can I create and maintain my own webpage?
  13. Tell me about departmental mailing lists.
  14. Where is the ARE Computer Lab?
  15. How do I contact the ARE Computer Staff???

1. What is Primal, (and Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee), and how do I log in?

Primal, Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee are the main computing systems of the ARE Department. They are Unix Workstations, located in the machine room in Room 3131 SS&H. Primal is the department email (POP) server, and general purpose system for checking mail. Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee are used for general compute tasks. Workstation software is distributed as follows:

Workstation Software
  Primal Deloach Lee Chet Sylvia
Gams 23.6.3     x    
Gams 23.6.5   x   x  
Gauss 10.0.2     x    
Lemke7   x      
Mathematica 7.0.0   x      
Matlab 7.12.0.635 (R2011a)       x x
pine4.64 x        
R-2.12.0       x x
SAS 9.1.3   x      
Shazam 10   x x    
Stata-MP 10.1   x      
svn, version 1.6.11 (r934486)       x  
TeX 3.14159 x        

You can log into Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, or Lee directly from the ARE Computer Lab using SSH client software:

  • From the PC, click on the "Tunnelier" software icon on the desktop. Under Server/Host, enter deloach (the server you want to connect to). Under Authentication/Username: (enter your username). Click Login When prompted for User Authentication, change Method to Password.
  • From the Mac, open a Terminal window (Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and type ssh primal.ucdavis.edu, or open an X11 window (Application/Utilities/X11) and type ssh -Y deloach.ucdavis.edu.

By default, remote ssh & sftp connections will be refused from hosts not within the ARE subnet, unless pre-registered. Please send email to support@primal.ucdavis.edu to register remote hostnames.

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2. Does Primal filter email for viruses and spam?

Primal, our departmental email server, is running Sophos Puremessage software to protect against problem email. This product provides virus, trojan, and malicious spyware protection at the server level for both incoming and outgoing email.

PureMessage quarantines viruses and messages with a Spam probability over 25%, and all messages with suspicious attachments. What this means is that such messages will be diverted to a "quarantine area".

For information on managing the PureMessage quarantine, see:

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3. I'm new to Unix, is there any documentation available?

There is a brief Unix primer that you may find helpful, written by two of our own ARE Grad students, available on the departmental Computer Services web page. Some of the specifics have changed since the documentation was written, so if you have any questions, please send email to support@primal.ucdavis.edu.

In addition to Unix documentation, you'll find brief descriptions and FAQ's of the econometric software that we have to offer.

Manuals for ArcGIS, Stata and SAS software are available for checkout. Please see ARE Computer Services staff to check out manuals for a 24 hour period.

Some quick Unix commands:

Some quick Unix commands
Command Result
ls list files in directory
ls -al list all files, in columnar form
ls -al | more list all files, in columnar form, one page at a time
pwd show working directory
man online manual pages for Unix commands
mkdir make new directory
rm rm a file
cp copy a file
w who is logged on to the system?
cd change directory
exit or logout always be sure to logout when you are finished!

Keep in mind, all Unix commands are case-sensitive!!!!!!!!

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4. How do I change my Primal password?

If you would like to change your password, log into Primal and type: yppasswd

You will be prompted for old password, new password, and the new password again for verification. Be sure to include upper and lowercase characters, and at least one number and special ($^%&*) character mixed into your password. It is mandatory that all passwords be kept secure! When you change your password on Primal, your password on Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee is also updated.

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5. How do I print from Primal, Deloach, Sylvia, Chet, and Lee?

An HP 4350 Printer, known as Lab Printer 1, or "hp", is the default printer for Primal, Deloach, and Lee. The printer is located along the back wall of the ARE Computer Lab.

To print the Postscript file x.ps, use the following command:

  • lpr -Php x.ps

To print a text file (ascii) file, use the following command:

  • lpr -Phptext x.txt

Additional scripts to print text files to the default printer can be invoked as follows:

Print Scripts
Script Result
fancy1up <filename> Portrait
fancy2up <filename> Landscape, 2 pages up
fancy1upD <filename> Portrait, both sides of paper
fancy2upD <filename> Landscape, 2 pages up, both sides of paper
fancyland <filename> Landscape
fancylandD <filename> Landscape, both sides of paper

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6. How do I check email in my "primal" account?

The department maintains a web-based interface to email. For complete instructions:

If you have your own system, you can use your own email client software (Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail...) to check mail. When configuring your client software, the incoming server should be set to primal.ucdavis.edu, using a secure SSL connection (port 995 for POP and port 993 for IMAP). The outgoing mail server would be set to the SMTP server provided by your Internet Service Provider, or you can set it to the campus SMTP server, smtp.ucdavis.edu, and authenticate with your UCD Campus Passphrase. Detailed instructions for setting up the outgoing server to smtp.ucdavis.edu can be found at:

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7. Is there an email phonebook or directory on campus??

For departmental (Primal) addresses, log on to Primal and type ph <cr> to start the program.

Then type ph NAME (name is the first or last name of the person)

To look up campus (UCD Login) accounts, check the UCD whois directory:

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8. I'd like to forward email from my campus account to my Primal account.

To have your email forwarded (redirected) from your main campus account to your primal account, use the Computing Account Services web interface

The redirection process is simple, and takes effect overnight.

[ Back to FAQs ]

9. I have my own laptop that I'd like to bring into the office and connect to the network.

It's possible -- but the laptop must first be scanned for viruses. You must have anti-virus software installed, with the most current updates. Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is available through

Send a request to support@primal.ucdavis.edu to schedule an appointment to drop your system by to be scanned and configured for Internet access.

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10. How do I access my shared directory on Mars?

On all the Macs in the computer lab, your shared directory on Mars becomes your home directory. On all the Windows PCs your shared directory will show up as the U: drive.

If you want to connect from another location, these are the steps:

On a Mac:

  • In the Finder, click the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server..."
  • Type afp://mars.ucdavis.edu/GHome/<your.lab.user.name> in the Server Address box. Click the + button to add it to the Favorite Servers list.
  • Click on the Connect button. By default it will fill in the user name box with your Mac account name. Change the name to be your user name for the lab and the password to the password you use to connect to the computers in the lab.
  • Click Connect again.

On Windows:

  • Click the Windows Start button, drag over to Computer on the right side of the menu, right-click it and choose "Map network drive..."
  • In the dialogue that opens you may change the drive letter (or not) in the first drop-down list, then type \\mars.ucdavis.edu\GHome\<your.lab.user.name> into the Folder box, placing your user account name after the fourth \. For example, for Joe Smith with username jtsmith it would look like \\mars.ucdavis.edu\GHome\jtsmith
  • Be sure to uncheck the checkbox labeled "Reconnect at logon" and click the Finish button.
  • You will be prompted for your user name and password. You should enter the user name and password you use to log into the computers in the lab. You should only need to do the typing step 2. the first time. Once you successfully map the drive, that path is saved in the Folder drop-down list.

Please note if you are outside of our department when you want to connect you will first have to start a VPN connection. Contact support@primal.ucdavis.edu to have one set up on your personal computer.

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11. Can I post a personal webpage on the departmental webserver?

Student web pages are available for both MS & Ph.D ARE students. Students wanting a webpage should send an email request to support@primal.ucdavis.edu to get things started. Items to appear on the web page are office location, ph, fax, email, education, expected year of completion, dissertation topic, dissertation committee, resume, and working or published papers. To get an idea of what the web pages look like, please visit our grad students listing and click on one of the names.

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12. Can I create and maintain my own webpage?

If you would like to create and maintain your own personal web page, you may create and save your pages in your shared directory on Mars. Your home page needs to be named index.html and it needs to be in the Sites folder of your Mac home directory, or in U:\Sites if you use Windows.

The URL for your page will be http://www.are.ucdavis.edu/~<username>/ with the brackets and username replaced by your actual login user name. If you want this page to be linked to from your name on our grad students page, please send a request to support@primal.ucdavis.edu.

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13. Tell me about departmental mailing lists.

Mailman software automates mailing lists to ARE Department faculty, staff, grads, lecturers and associates. Grad students are automatically subscribed to grads@primal.ucdavis.edu and grads-chat@primal.ucdavis.edu mailing lists with your new account on Primal. The Grads list will be used to electronically distribute items of interest to all graduate students through email. Grads-chat should be used to share informal information between ARE grads.

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14. Where is the ARE Computer Lab?

The ARE Computer is located in Room 3131 Soc Sci & Humn Building. The ARE Computer Lab remains locked at all times for security purposes. Key cards are necessary for access. The telephone number in the lab is 752-5349.

  • There is a NO FOOD OR DRINK Policy in the ARE Computer Lab
  • Appropriate dress (shoes, shirt, etc.) is required in the ARE Computer Lab at all times

We ask that you pick up after yourself and return all manuals to the bookshelf before leaving. Please do not use recycled paper in the printers; new paper only.

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15. How do I contact the ARE Computer Staff???

Please email all general questions and/or requests to support@primal.ucdavis.edu. It is the fastest way to get assistance, as we all get a copy of the message. The person best suited to the job will get back to you, or we will work together as a team to help you solve your problem.

ARE Computer Staff
Name Title Room Phone #
Edgington, Kathy Programmer/Analyst 3128 SS&H 752-1546
Goettsch, Jeff Programmer 3125 SS&H 752-2219
Packer, Jefferson Student Assistant 3127 SS&H
Warren, Laurie Manager, Computer Services Supervisor 3130 SS&H 752-5357

[ Back to FAQs ]