Notation: Symbols which appear in bold are either computer prompts or computer responses. Spacing and case must be exact. To send a command to the computer press the ENTER key, this action is denoted by the symbol, <r>.
The UNIX operating system is case sensitive;
hence, the file named MEMO is not the same as the file named memo. Be
careful!
Things to do on your first visit only
The first two lines below are to be typed into the computer exactly as they appear. These commands allow you to read and execute the files in these directories. After each line is entered, the names of the files in that directory will appear on the screen. Wait for the % prompt before typing the next line.
1. % /home/sfs2/ipshstat/programs/linkit <r>
2. % /home/sfs2/ipshstat/dchowell/linkit <r>
NOTE: I use the extensions .lis, .sps
and .dat. They help identify the content of the file.
Some useful commands
3. % ls <r>
This command causes SOLIX to list all the files in your current directory. If this is your first time on the SOLIX, there should be only a few files. The directories programs and dchowell will be listed.
4. % cat programs/puzzle.dat <r>
27 31 37 15 31 08 39 33 24 26 23 43 25 47
22 26 42 20 41 07 33 21 33 61 50 27 52 38 32 35 46 54 22 45 63 17 13 21
48 26 40 51 24 53 34
File editing
What happens when you edit files in one of my directories? Let's try it.
5. % pico programs/puzzle.dat <r>
"pico" is the name of the editor I use on SOLIX. There are several editors, but this one is relatively easy to use.
Now arrange these numbers in 5 columns. Use the return key, the backspace key, the space bar and the arrows.
The commands in the box below will appear at the bottom of the screen. The symbol ^ before a letter indicates that you should press the Ctrl Key and hold it while pressing the letter. As you become more comfortable with the PICO Editor, you will want to try these commands.
6. Exit the editing session.
Ctrl/X (Hold down the ctrl key and press the letter x at the same time.)
After you enter Ctrl/X, the following question will appear at the bottom of the screen.
Save modified buffer (ANSWERING "No" WILL DESTROY CHANGES) ?
If you answer No or simply press enter, all the work you have done during that session will be lost.
If you answer Yes, the following message will appear at the bottom of the screen.
File Name to write : programs/puzzle.dat
If you want to keep the same name , simply press enter. The new version of the file will be saved under the original name.
What happened when you tried to save the file?
Now let's copy the file to your directory and edit it.
7. % cp programs/puzzle.dat puzzle.dat <r>
8. % pico puzzle.dat <r>
* There are three ways to exit a file. Try each one now.
After you enter CTRL/X, the following question will appear at the bottom of the screen.
Save modified buffer (ANSWERING "No" WILL DESTROY CHANGES) ?
If you answer No or simply press enter, all the work you have done during that session will be lost.
If you answer Yes, the following message will appear at the bottom of the screen.
File Name to write : puzzle.dat
If you want to keep the same name , simply press enter. The new version of the file will be saved under the original name.
If you want to give the file another name,
type in the new name and then press enter. The original file, puznew.dat,
will remain the same and a new file will be added under the name, puznew.dat.
Creating and Running SPSS programs
9. % pico puzzle.sps <r>
On the blank screen type the following lines exactly as they appear below, then save the file.
set width = 80.
data list free file = 'programs/puzzle.dat'/number.
list.
frequencies number/statistics=all/percentile
80/histogram.
Now exit and save this program.
10. Run the program, puzzle.sps.
% spss -m puzzle.sps > puzzle.lis <r>
Now wait for the SOLIX prompt % to reappear. Before it appears there will be a line:
End of job: x command lines x errors x warnings x CPU seconds
Warnings or error messages generated by SPSS will appear on the screen before this end of job line. Each x above will be a number.
11. Let's see what the computer did.
12. % ls puzzle* <r> This command tells the SOLIX to list all the files in your directory whose name begins with "puzzle".
You should find a new file puzzle.lis. The file puzzle.lis contains the SPSS response to each of your commands. If you have made errors, this file will tell you what they are.
13. % pg puzzle.lis <r> This command tells the SOLIX to display the contents of the file PUZZLE.LIS on the screen - one screen-full at a time.
Press the space-bar when you are ready to read the next screen-full. If there are no errors, go to step 15. If you made errors, edit puzzle.sps and correct each error. Run the new version of puzzle.sps.
If there are a number of errors to correct, you may want to have a hard copy of the file puzzle.lis. See step 17 for printing instructions.
14. Follow the steps above each time you wish
to write a new SPSS program. There are a number of sample SPSS program
files in my programs directory. You can adapt these for your use. First
copy the file from my directory to yours. Next, edit your copy of the file
to make it your own. You may want to change the names of the variables
and the name of the file where the data is stored.
Printing files
15. To print to the printer attached to the PC you are using, follow the directions below.
% menu <r>
16 . % logout <r> This will cause you to exit Solix.