Using the Terminal program on a Macintosh computer

Terminal is a program on a Macintosh computer that establishes a Secure Shell (SSH) connection between your local computer and a remote computer by encrypting your password and other data.

Beginning a Terminal session

Note: You will not see any characters or the cursor moving as you type your password. After you press RETURN and see the % prompt, you are logged in.
 
  1. Choose the Applications folder.
  2. Choose the Utilities folder.
  3. Double-click the Terminal.app icon (which should look similar to the following graphic).

    terminal app icon
 
  1. Type: ssh yourUDelNetID@udel.edu
  2. Press RETURN.
  3. When prompted, type your UNIX (email) password.
  4. Press RETURN.
  5. You may also need to set the terminal type for the Terminal program to work correctly with UD's servers. To do so, follow these steps:
    1. From the Terminal menu, click Preferences.
    2. Click the Settings tab.
    3. Click the Advanced button.
    4. Confirm the terminal type is set to vt100. If it is not, choose vt100 from the pull-down menu.
    5. Close the Settings window.
  6. The first time you establish an SSH connection to a specific computer, you must accept the remote computer's key fingerprint to ensure a secure connection. You will see a window that looks similar to the following:

    terminal window that shows successful login
     
  7. Type yes at the prompt (as illustrated in the above graphic).
  8. Press RETURN.
  9. You can now work on the remote computer by typing UNIX commands and pressing RETURN after each command.
    Note:
    • If you wish to connect to a different server, at the prompt, type:
      ssh  yourUDelNetID@
      and press RETURN.
      Then, type your UNIX password when prompted and press RETURN.
    • To delete a word when you type on the command line, press the CONTROL and W keys simultaneously. This key combination will delete the last word you typed.

Printing from Secure Shell sessions

Because the Terminal program establishes a connection to a remote UNIX server, you can print files and email messages to UD's central printers using standard UNIX commands. If, however, you wish to print email messages or files using a local printer (i.e., one directly connected to your computer), follow these steps:

  1. If you are using Pine to read email, use the Pine E (export) command to save the message to a file.
  2. Exit or suspend the Pine program.
  3. Use the UNIX cat command to display the contents of the file you wish to print on your terminal screen. For example, if the file is named "katmessage", type this command at the UNIX prompt then press RETURN to display the file:
    cat katmessage
  4. If necessary, use the scrollbar to the right of the Terminal window to scroll backwards to the point in your session at which the beginning of the file is displayed.
  5. Highlight the entire display of the file you wish to print.
  6. From the File menu, select Print.
  7. Make any printer selections that are necessary.
  8. Click Print.

Ending your Terminal (SSH) session

To end your Terminal (SSH) session, follow these steps:

  1. At the UNIX % prompt, type exit.
  2. Press RETURN. You are now logged out from the UNIX server
  3. Quit the Terminal program by pressing COMMAND+Q

Details

Article ID: 477
Created
Wed 7/24/19 9:49 AM
Modified
Sun 4/21/24 9:23 PM