The Only Way to get a Unix system to do something is to type commands at it. These commands are just a series of words followed by pressing the enter (or return) key. The first word is the name of the command, the rest are arguments that affect the way the command works. For example the command
cp [options] filename1 filename2
copies the file named filename1 to the file named filename2.

The first thing you have to do to use a Unix machine is to identify yourself. This process, known as "logging in", is Unix's way of knowing that users are authorized to use the system. Unix is case sensitive so you must type your user name and password exacly as assigned. In most cases, your user name will be your last name. If you want a different user name let us know (see Getting Help). At the login prompt you should enter your user name; at the password prompt, you should enter your password. The password will not appear on the screen.