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This is a brief introduction to some of the more common services available to you now that you have a Redbrick account. For more detailed tutorials on the services mentioned, simply follow the links provided, or visit the [[Helpdesk]] page! | This is a brief introduction to some of the more common services available to you now that you have a Redbrick account. For more detailed tutorials on the services mentioned, simply follow the links provided, or visit the [[Helpdesk]] page! | ||
== What is | == What is Redbrick? == | ||
This article is also found [[Articles_about_RedBrick|here]]. | This article is also found [[Articles_about_RedBrick|here]]. | ||
"What is | "What is Redbrick?" - this is the age-old query which has plagued the DCU Networking Society for years. Redbrick is such a diverse society that a million monkeys working on a million typewriters for a million years might reproduce the works of Shakespeare, but they'll never come up with a concise explanation as to what Redbrick is. | ||
Simply put, | Simply put, Redbrick is a rather big social society with a slant on computers and technology. We host a plethora of techy events designed to entertain and educate anyone and everyone, including cinema trips, pub nights and tutorials and workshops on programming, web design and graphic design. Expect to see the return of the annual RedBrick Freshers' Ball (booze! booze! booze!) and the table quiz; last year, the quiz saw members having prizes practically thrown at them, with Sega Mega Drives, portable hard drives, Lucky Charms cereal and plenty of spot prizes being won. We also raffled off a brand new Eee PC laptop. | ||
At the start of 2009, over twenty Brickies went to Finland - birthplace of the Linux kernel - to mess about in massive technology museums, employ stealth and cunning in a battle to snow each other into our cabins and feast on reindeer and mead in a Viking restaurant (all while being quite drunk). | At the start of 2009, over twenty Brickies went to Finland - birthplace of the Linux kernel - to mess about in massive technology museums, employ stealth and cunning in a battle to snow each other into our cabins and feast on reindeer and mead in a Viking restaurant (all while being quite drunk). | ||
Redbrick isn't just about events though; we are lucky enough to own our own servers on which we host the services used daily by our members: IRC (Internet Relay Chat - our most popular service, as it's great for putting off assignments until the last minute, waffling about whatever's on your mind and meeting new people),webspace (host your own website with massive amounts of storage space), forums/message boards, the photo gallery and your own @redbrick.dcu.ie e-mail address. We also have our own wiki site (wiki.redbrick.dcu.ie), where all members can create/edit/vandalise pages on whatever you feel like. You can access all of these services from any computer connected to the Internet. | |||
Networking societies are to be found all over the country, and | Networking societies are to be found all over the country, and Redbrick - as part of the Intersocs network - is often found mingling with other nerds from Trinity, DIT, NUI Maynooth and University of Limerick, both at Intersocs events and in the IRC channel. | ||
So, if you want to make new friends, talk about anything that's on your mind, or just get twisted because you have nothing better to do with your time, RedBrick has something to offer you. | So, if you want to make new friends, talk about anything that's on your mind, or just get twisted because you have nothing better to do with your time, RedBrick has something to offer you. | ||
== | == Redbrick's servers == | ||
When you connect to | When you connect to Redbrick, you are creating a remote connection to our servers, most likely [[minerva]] (the main login machine). This uses SSH, or Secure Shell, to encrypt data and allow you to use your user account as though you were sitting at the actual machine. [[Connect|Click here to get connected to Redbrick.]] | ||
Our servers all run Unix-like operating systems, the most common being Ubuntu (a distribution of GNU/Linux). There is no graphical interface and everything is done by keyboard. There are plans for a Windows machine to facilitate .NET and other such development, which should be available soon. | Our servers all run Unix-like operating systems, the most common being Ubuntu (a distribution of GNU/Linux). There is no graphical interface and everything is done by keyboard. There are plans for a Windows machine to facilitate .NET and other such development, which should be available soon. | ||
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== Redbrick Software == | == Redbrick Software == | ||
Redbrick has a vast array of software installed on the system that was written by our members. As you gain more experience using your account, you will come across a lot of the programs out there. | |||
One of the most used of these programs is [[rbusers]]. If you type "rbusers" into your terminal, you will see a list of users currently logged on. [[Hey]] is a way for Redbrick users to send instant messages to each other's terminals. Heys are heavily customisable and there are lots of different ways to use it. See the [http://wiki.redbrick.dcu.ie/mw/Hey#Tutorial tutorial] for more information. The list of user written software is endless and you will come across loads of them on your travels. | One of the most used of these programs is [[rbusers]]. If you type "rbusers" into your terminal, you will see a list of users currently logged on. [[Hey]] is a way for Redbrick users to send instant messages to each other's terminals. Heys are heavily customisable and there are lots of different ways to use it. See the [http://wiki.redbrick.dcu.ie/mw/Hey#Tutorial tutorial] for more information. The list of user written software is endless and you will come across loads of them on your travels. | ||
=== Games === | === Games === | ||
Redbrick is host to a variety of games, which are listed [[Games|here]]. | |||
== Unix == | == Unix == | ||
Redbrick's operating system of choice is Unix. As explained earlier, Ubuntu GNU/Linux is the most common, used by our [[minerva|login]], [[morpheus|primary]] and [[deathray|secondary services]] machines. In the Windows point-and-click world, don't let a command line usage put you off; once you get comfortable you'll be amazed how much you can accomplish in a command line Unix environment. A standard user only need a very basic knowledge to gain usage from their Redbrick account. For a starting point and a guide to some of the more common commands, see the [[Unix Intro|introduction to Unix]]. | |||
== Changing your password == | == Changing your password == | ||
When you first join | When you first join Redbrick, your assigned password will probably be some ugly, difficult to remember assortment of characters and numbers. Thankfully you can quite easily change it, and here's how. | ||
When you first log in you'll be greeted with a black screen with your username and the time. All you have to do is type "passwd" like so: | When you first log in you'll be greeted with a black screen with your username and the time. All you have to do is type "passwd" like so: | ||