Welcome to your IRIS® workstation and the world of visual processing!
Once your IRIS workstation is up and running, you can begin learning about the environment in which you'll be working. IRIS Essentials will help you do just that. Turn to this guide to:
get step-by-step instructions for completing essential tasks, such as printing files, finding files, and running applications
learn techniques and shortcuts that will make you a more efficient IRIS user
This guide also serves as a reference—a place to look when you need to know what a particular command does or on which menu it appears.
If you have not yet set up your workstation, see your Owner's Guide for instructions.
When you log in, a collection of windows and icons appears on your screen by default. The collection of windows and icons is called a desk. The default desk, or working desk, contains:
the toolchests
the console window
the desktop and the icons that appear on it
The stack of toolchests is similar to a phone book. It provides a listing of almost all of the system functions and programs. Move the cursor over a label on a toolchest, then press the left or right mouse button to pop up a menu.
The small box next to the toolchests is the console window. (It looks like a small box because it has been minimized.) Some of the error messages that the system generates appear in this window. Open it to its full size by clicking on it with the left mouse button. You can type IRIX commands in this window. For information on IRIX commands, see Appendix A, “Using IRIX Commands.”
The screen background is called the desktop. It's a place for you to set frequently used icons so you have quick and easy access to them. In this way, the desktop is similar to an actual office desk. For example, on the desk in your office, you might have a telephone, a container of pens and pencils, and a stack of folders or notebooks related to the projects on which you're currently working. Other items that are used less frequently are stashed away in desk drawers.
By default, several icons are placed on the desktop: a folder icon representing your home directory, a dumpster icon, several application icons, and an icon for each peripheral you have installed.
The peripheral icons show the current state of the devices they represent. For example, if you place a music CD into the compact disc player, the icon changes to display a few musical notes. When you double-click the icon, it opens CD Manager, a utility that lets you play and record from a compact disc.
To get started, you need to know a few basic techniques for using the mouse and working with icons.
To select an icon, place the cursor over the icon, then click the left mouse button. Icons turn yellow when they are selected.
To select several icons, press the < Shift> key while selecting the icons or press the left mouse button and drag the mouse. All icons touched by or within the box you create are selected.
To open an icon, place the cursor over the icon, then double-click the left mouse button. When you open an application icon, you run the application; when you open a folder icon, you open a window that shows the contents of that directory.
To drag and drop icons, place the cursor on an icon, then press the left mouse button and move the mouse. Release the mouse button to drop the icon. Application and folder icons turn blue when they are ready to accept an icon. A drop pocket also turns blue when it is ready to accept an icon. This drag-and-drop technique lets you move icons from one directory to another, launch applications with a particular file, and place icons in drop pockets.
In addition, you can use the drag-and-drop technique to send documents to other users. Each user is represented by an icon. Use the Search tool to find user icons, then drag a file icon and drop it onto a user icon. The drag-and-drop action automatically creates and sends an email message to the user; the file you dropped is attached to the email message. You receive an email message telling you if the file was sent successfully.
Note: To send files using the drag-and-drop technique, you must have installed Media Mail, the email application provided with your system. To display a pop-up menu that contains commands from the Selected menu, place the cursor over a window, then press the right mouse button.
Use the Audio Control Panel to adjust the volume. To open the Audio Control Panel, click Audio Control , or choose “Audio Control” from the Desktop toolchest.
You can also open the Audio Control Panel by following the instructions below:
Choose “Control Panels” from the Icon Catalog menu on the Find toolchest.
Double-click the icon labeled apanel. The Audio Control Panel appears.
Your IRIS workstation includes many bundled software tools. Most of these tools have icons that appear on the desktop or on a page in the Icon Catalog. To open the Icon Catalog, choose an item from the Icon Catalog menu on the Find toolchest or click the words Icon Catalog now.
Here are a few examples of the tools and their capabilities:
Create and edit text files using jot and IRIS Showcase.
Using IRIS Showcase, create interactive presentations that include 3D models, audio, video, and 2D graphics.
Touch up images using the Image Vision tools.
Keep track of the time and date using a clock and calendar program.
Listen to compact discs or DAT tapes using CD Manager and DAT Manager.
Create and edit audio files using Sound Editor.
Create and watch movies using Movie Player and Movie Maker.
Access online help and online documentation from the Help toolchest.
Choose “On-line Books” and the IRIS InSight Document Library appears. Once the Library is open, you can type in a word or phrase and quickly find and open the books that contain the information you need. See the IRIS InSight online help for instructions.
Choose “Desktop Help” and a listing of system-level help appears. Additionally, each application provides a Help button or Help menu so that you can get help on a particular application.
Some style conventions make the information in this guide easy to access and understand. This list tells you what they are.
References to other documents are in italics.
References to other chapters and sections within this guide are in “quotation marks.”
Names of buttons are in italics.
Names of keys on the keyboard are in Courier bold font and are surrounded by angled brackets. For example, “press the <Enter> key.”
Names of menu choices are in “quotation marks.”
Numbered sentences are sequential steps you follow to complete a task. Sentences that follow a step and are preceded with a box are substeps; they describe in detail how to accomplish the step. Once you're familiar with the procedure, you probably won't need to refer to the substeps.
Links to other sections are colored blue and links to glossary definitions are underlined.
To learn how to access your workstation—log in, log out, and shut off the power — see Chapter 2, “Accessing Your System.”
To learn how to find, run, and install applications, see Chapter 3, “Using Applications.”
To learn how to work with files and directories, see Chapter 4, “Creating, Editing, and Saving Your Work.”
To learn how to print files and customize printer settings, see Chapter 5, “Printing,”
To learn how to find and organize icons, see Chapter 6, “Managing Icons.”
To learn how to organize windows into desks, see Chapter 7, “Using Desks.”
To learn how to move, resize, and close windows, see Chapter 8, “Managing Windows.”
To learn how to copy files across a network or to tape, and to set and change permission settings, see Chapter 9, “Sharing and Protecting Work.”
For information on setting up and changing your working environment, see Chapter 10, “Customizing the Desktop.”
For information on a particular menu, command, or button, see Chapter 11, “Reference.”
To learn how to manage your IRIS, see the Personal System Administration Guide. It describes how to use the System Manager tools to maintain your IRIS and shell commands to augment the System Manager's capabilities.
To learn how to use utilities such as jot, see the IRIS Utilities Guide.
For information on your workstation, see the Owner's Guide that came with your workstation.