UNIX is a powerful operating system that can run on a rich variety of computers from the fastest supercomputers to desktop PCs. The evolution of the Internet itself is strongly coupled to the evolution of UNIX. Penn State faculty, staff, and students interact with UNIX every day when they use e-mail, a variety of Web services, Penn State WebMail, Penn State WebAccess, the Penn State Portal, Netnews, and more. Recently, an open source operating system known as Linux has made the world of UNIX more accessible to the University community through its ability to run on desktop PCs, laptops, and other commodity hardware.

ITS UNIX resources include the Linux Labs in 316 Hammond Building and 216 Osmond Building managed by Classroom and Lab Computing (CLC); multiple large Linux clusters available through the High Performance Computing (HPC) group; AIX and Solaris systems available through Applied Information Technologies (AIT); and a Linux graphics cluster used for large format simulations, jointly managed by ITS and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. A Penn State Access Account is needed to use the Linux Lab in 316 Hammond Building and 216 Osmond Building. The UNIX resources managed by AIT also require a Penn State Access Account and a UNIX Cluster account and are remote access-only systems. For a listing of these systems, please refer to the information found at http://aset.its.psu.edu/ait/unix_group/unixcluster.html. The Linux clusters available through the High Performance Computing group, which have been designed for running large-scale jobs, require a Penn State Access Account and an HPC Account. For a listing of systems and resources, please see http://gears.aset.psu.edu/hpc/.

ITS UNIX Cluster accounts may be obtained for research or instructional purposes by faculty, staff, and students. To apply for and obtain a UNIX account, please refer to Online Application Forms Central at http://aset.its.psu.edu/accounts/accountsforms/. For general information about this account, please visit the ITS Accounts Services Office Web site at http://aset.its.psu.edu/accounts/ and click the "UNIX" link listed under the "General Research and Instructional Services" heading. HPC accounts may be obtained by sending an e-mail request to beatnic@aset.psu.edu. Include your Penn State Access Account userid in the body of the e-mail message and any special requests you may have.

A rich variety of licensed and open source, third-party software is available on the ITS UNIX and Linux machines. In addition, ITS supports several site licenses for UNIX and Linux software, which are available to other departments and individuals through the licensed software program. University affiliates with UNIX or Linux machines may purchase commercial software licenses at a greatly reduced cost from the Licensed Software Services (LSS) within Penn State's Computer Store. Packages under the current licensing agreements include, but are not limited, to Matlab, Mathematica, SAS, and TecPlot. For a complete listing and LSS contact information, please visit http://computerstore.psu.edu/lss/lss.htm.

Visit the following Web pages for additional information about UNIX and Linux resources and services:

• Classroom and Lab Computing:
  http://clc.its.psu.edu/labs/


• The Enabling Technologies Group:
  http://aset.its.psu.edu/unix_group/


• High Performance Computing Group:
  http://gears.aset.psu.edu/hpc/


• Visualization Group:
  http://gears.aset.psu.edu/viz/

The following are additional resources on the Web for UNIX users at Penn State.

• Institute for Computational Science:
  http://www.ics.psu.edu/

This page is part of Your Guide to Information Technology @ Penn State.