FINDING INFORMATION

UNIX

• IST - Central Computing Unix (CCU)

• GNOME Desktop help
  Choose Launch --> Help for the GNOME help viewer.
  
  
  
• Online manual pages from the command line
  To see the manual pages for a command whose name you know, type 'man command name', eg. 'man lpr' to see the lpr manual pages.
  
  If you want to find a command on a particular topic, type 'man -k keyword. For example, type 'man -k print' for a list of commands relating to printing.
  
• Post a question to local.unix.help. Somebody on the system will probably know the answer.

BIRCH

• Online help
  Some interactive and X11 programs have online help, which will be available as a menu item. Also, a number of command-type programs will print a short help is -h is given as an option. For example,

  readseq -h
  

  will print a screenful of information listing the options of the program.

  Manual pages
  Many programs, in particular the FASTA programs, have online manual pages. type 'man program name' to read the manual page. For example:

  man randseq
  
  

  prints the manual page for randseq.

• Documentation files
  All documentation for BIRCH is available through the BIRCH Web site. Documentation for most BIRCH programs is found in the $doc hierarchy. 'cd $doc' will put you into the $doc directory, which contains directories for each program package, or single documentation files for some programs. In bioLegato the menus for most programs also have a Help button.

• GETTING HELP
  BE SPECIFIC, GIVE EXAMPLES OR ERROR MESSAGES, READ THE HELP FIRST

  	BIRCH (Molecular Biology) eg. bioLegato	Unix system and applications software
  Questions eg. How do I ...?	Post a question to man.molbio. OR Contact the BIRCH administrator 474-8201, frist@cc.umanitoba.ca	IST Computer Support
  Problems eg. software crashes, bugs, can't print	Contact the BIRCH administrator 474-8201, frist@cc.umanitoba.ca	Send email, including error messages from your screen, to support@cc.umanitoba.ca or call the IST Support Line 474-8600