A: As you may have noticed Ctrl-Alt-F1 through -F6 is set up to give you a terminal. In the default setup, doing Ctrl-Alt-F7 gives you the X screen. If you run the command /accounts/share/multix, this will walk through ``terminals'' corresponding to F8 upwards (I think the final limit is F12). If you have an executable file .xinitrc in your home directory, the multix script will execute this. If not, it will try to let you pick a window manager using the script /accounts/share/wm-chooser in an xterm. Note that closing this xterm WILL END YOUR SESSION! (probably) Also note that this may not work on systems running gdm/xdm/kdm or similar -- of the PTSG computers, only lorentz falls into this category as of Nov. 29, 2005. Also, just a matter of courtesy, it is considered polite to use Ctrl-Alt-Fwhatever to return to the original user's X session when you leave the lab.
Q: How many CPU-intensive processes can/should I run on a PTSG computer?
A: Can? many. Should? No more than the number of processors for any amount of time. Running significantly more than this may significantly slow down ALL operations. If you plan to do this, read the renice man page and understand and use it.
Q: How do I report a bug or strange behavior related to PTSG computers? (NOT xgrafix, xpd*, xoopic, oopd1, xes1 or other PIC software)
A: A good question! Please read the documentation thoroughly (including consulting google if applicable). Then please send the PTSG email: ptsg@langmuir.nuc.berkeley.edu