About this Manual

This chapter provides information about this manual and other NCD publications.

Intended Audience

This manual is intended for system administrators and network administrators who are responsible for:

• Setting up NCD network computers (also called NCD terminals in this manual) for networked use
  

• Setting up the user's work environment
  

The manual assumes familiarity with the UNIX operating system, the X Window System (X), TCP/IP, and local area networks-Ethernet or Token-Ring.

If you are not familiar with X, NCD recommends the series of books published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. The series includes books for users and for system administrators.

Purpose

In most cases, the ncdinstall program is the most efficient way to prepare a terminal for booting and to make sure that necessary network services and files are available. Besides placing NCDware on the boot host, ncdinstall prepares terminals for booting, enables network services, add terminals to network databases, and makes host-resident files (such as configuration files and fonts) available to terminals.

While the NCDware System Administrator's Guide for UNIX Systems describes the most common terminal configuration tasks, this manual describes how to further customize all aspects of terminal operation. This manual also describes specialized features, such as SNMP, DPS, and PEX.

Contents of this Manual

This manual contains up-to-date reference information about the current release of NCDware. A brief description of each chapter follows.

• Chapter 1, About this Manual, describes the audience, purpose and contents of this manual, other NCD manuals, and conventions used in this manual.
  

• Chapter 2, Booting Defaults, lists the default actions of the terminal as it boots, including discovering network addresses and other information, loading an X server, loading a configuration file, reading font directories, and displaying a login prompt. For each of these actions, alternatives are listed and references are given to the chapters and other manuals where defaults and alternatives are described.
  

• Chapter 3, Booting-Address Discovery, describes methods of discovering or specifying network addresses and other network information needed by the terminal when it boots.
  

• Chapter 4, Booting-X Server Loading, describes the default X server loading sequence and alternatives, loading server modules, booting manually, setting the broadcast address, and setting the Token-Ring speed on HMX terminals.
  

• Chapter 5, Configuring Network Services, summarizes the protocols and other network services normally required by NCD terminals and provides details about configuring address resolution, name services, file access, communication with multi-homed hosts, routing, and setting TCP performance parameters.
  

• Chapter 6, Terminal Configuration Methods, gives an overview of terminal configuration methods, describes configuration parameters and configuration language commands, provides options for creating configuration files, and describes optional filenames and directories for configuration files.
  

• Chapter 7, Bitmap Fonts and the Font Server, describes the conventional method of directly accessing fonts by reading font directories on a host, including font names, font downloading, font directories and files, configuring the font path and other font usage parameters, getting font information, font management utilities, and built-in fonts. The chapter also describes using a font server rather than directly accessing fonts on a host, including the font server configuration file, starting the font server, remote configuration parameters for the font server, and getting information about fonts.
  

• Chapter 9, Using Configuration Menus, describes the controls, menus, and fields in the three configuration utilities accessed through the Console: Change Quick Setup, Change Setup Parameters, and Change User Preferences. The chapter includes a brief description of each field and the name of the corresponding remote configuration parameter.
  

• Chapter 10, Statistics Menus, describes the controls, menus, and fields in the Show Statistics utility. The chapter includes a brief description of each statistical field and the name of the corresponding remote configuration parameter.
  

• Chapter 11, Boot Monitor and NVRAM, describes the functions and commands of the Boot Monitor, how to use the Boot Monitor Setup menus to quickly configure a terminal, how to use the NVRAM nv utility to read and change parameters that are stored in NVRAM, and information about the configuration data stored in NVRAM.
  

• Chapter 8, Login and X Session Management, provides details about XDM (X Display Manager) components and files, how to start XDM manually, and XDM access control.
  

• Chapter 12, Configuring the NCD Terminal Emulator, describes the components of the VT320 terminal emulator, the menus and controls, configuring the emulator with X resources, escape sequences, compose key sequence, and character coding.
  

• Chapter 13, Configuring Display PostScript, describes DPS features, requirements, support files, fonts, configuration parameters, and suggestions for troubleshooting.
  

• Chapter 14, Configuring PEX, describes PEX (PHIGS extension to X, support for 3D graphics applications) and includes information about PEX fonts, requirements, configuration parameters, input devices, and suggestions for troubleshooting.
  

• Chapter 15, Configuring Serial and Parallel Ports, describes the ports on NCD terminals, setting port attributes, and controlling host access to ports.
  

• Chapter 16, Using SNMP for Terminal Management, describes host requirements for using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), configuration parameters for SNMP, reading and writing SNMP variables, and using SNMP to remotely reset sessions and reboot terminals.
  

• Chapter 17, Keyboards and Downloadable Keyboard Definitions, describes NCD keyboards and how to use downloadable keyboard files to use unsupported keyboards.
  

• Chapter 18, X Server Messages, describes X server messages and message logging.
  

This Reference Manual and the following manuals contain up-to-date information about this version of NCDware:

• NCDware System Administrator's Guide for UNIX Systems-procedures for managing NCD terminals
  

• NCDware Release Notes-description of new features added since NCDware 4.1, known problems, and problems fixed
  

• NCDware CD Insert-instructions for using NCD installation scripts to install NCDware on UNIX and WinCenter hosts
  

• NCDware User's Guide-introductory manual providing information to assist users in becoming productive with their NCD terminals.
  

• Remote Configuration Parameter Quick Reference-description of remote configuration parameters (for terminal configuration)
  

• NCDware Publications Roadmap-high-level index of major topics in NCD manuals; points the reader to the documents or chapters in which the topics are addressed
  

• FLEXlm End User Manual-a detailed description of how to use and configure FLEXlm license management software
  

• Using the 3270 Terminal Emulator-how to use and configure NCD's 3270 terminal emulation software
  

• Installing Your PCMCIA Card-how to install and use a PCMCIA card with your terminal
  

In addition, the online man pages have been updated for this release. Man pages are installed along with NCDware.

For documents describing NCD's WinCenter software, see the WinCenter manuals accompanying the WinCenter software. (See the NCDware System Administrator's Guide for UNIX Systems, the index of this manual and the NCDware Publications Roadmap for references to configuring NCDware for use with WinCenter.)

Conventions Used in this Manual

The following typographical conventions are used in this manual.

Text in This Format	Indicates ...
display text	Text displayed on the screen or text in a file, for example, a field in the Setup menus
input text	Text to be typed as shown
variable	Portion of a command line or line in a file where you provide the value; for example, a terminal's IP address
filename	The name of a system file, directory, or pathname
emphasized text	An especially important word or phrase or explanatory text
parameter name	The name of a remote configuration parameter
"true"	A value assigned to a remote configuration parameter

Other conventions used in this manual are:

• When you should press two keys at the same time, they are shown as in this example:
  
  Ctrl-Z Press the Control and z key together
  

• You should press Return after all commands.
  

• Movement through menus in the Console is shown as a series of arrows. For example, Setup -> Change Setup Parameters -> Serial means to display the Setup menu, select the Change Setup Parameters menu item and open the Serial hide box.
  

You can send comments, suggestions, or questions about this manual to the NCD Technical Publications Department at techpubs@ncd.com.