FSU Biology - Connecting to MRB (mrb.bio.fsu.edu) from MS Windows via SSH/xwin32

Department of Biological Science

at Florida State University

Connecting to MRB (mrb.bio.fsu.edu) from MS Windows via SSH/xwin32

You will need to have xwin32 and SSH installed and working on your computer.  Please see the following links for information regarding the acquisition and installation of these programs.  These programs are (all ready) installed on the PC's in the Conradi and Unit I computer labs. These instructions will also work for ixtab (ixtab.bio.fsu.edu) and any other unix box that has xorg libraries installed. Simply substitute "ixtab.bio.fsu.edu" or other hostname for "mrb.bio.fsu.edu" in the directions below.

Installing and using SSH

Installing and using x-win32

 

Initial setup

  1. Create a profile in SSH for MRB.  Start SSH and select Profiles->Add Profile from the SSH GUI.   Type in "MRB" in the Profile Name box and click the "Add to Profiles" button.

  2. Select Profiles->Edit Profiles from the SSH GUI.  If MRB is not all ready selected, select it by clicking it once.  The "Connection" tab should be active, if not make it active by clicking it.

  3. Fill in "Host name" with "mrb.bio.fsu.edu".  Fill in "User name" with your MRB user name.

  4. Click the "Tunneling" tab.  Put a check in the "Tunnel X11 connections" box.

  5. Click OK.

 

Connecting

  1. Start X-win32.  A minimized X-Win32 application should now be running in your task bar.

  2. Start SSH and select Profiles->MRB from the SSH menu.  Enter your MRB password when asked.  You should see the MRB welcome message and then get a Unix prompt.

  3. At the Unix prompt type the name of the program you wish to run (ex.s "paup", "njplot"). If the program is a X11 application the GUI should appear on your screen. *

  4. To disconnect, exit any MRB programs, then type "exit" at the Unix prompt or close the SSH window.

* Note: If you get a X11 display error instead of the expected X11 window try typing
     "export DISPLAY=YOUR_IP_ADDRESS:0.0"
in your ssh window. Replace YOUR_IP_ADDRESS with your ip address as reported by http://www.whatismyip.com

 

Transferring Files

  1. Start SSH and select Profiles->MRB from the SSH menu.  Enter your MRB password when asked.  You should see the Wisconsin Package setup screen and then get a Unix prompt.

  2. Choose Window->New File Transfer from the SSH menu.  A SSH Secure File Transfer window appears.

    • Uploading:  Drag the file from your computer to the right side panel of the Secure File Transfer window.  

    • Downloading:  In the right side panel of the Secure File Transfer window right click on the file or folder you wish to download.  Choose Download Dialog from the context menu.