technology > staff > mboldin > Sun Lab Survival Guide > CDE Tools

Version 1.2
Last modified on 2011/09/07 01:28:27 by mboldin

CDE Tools

Note: This document specifically targets Solaris 9, but also relates to Solaris 10

To utilize CDE effectively, you will need to know how to use its tools:

In CDE it is possible to accomplish common tasks, such as running programs and editing files, without using the UNIX command line, but in order to access the vast majority of UNIX programs, you will need to use the command line.  In CDE you can access the command line using a terminal emulator called dtterm. A terminal emulator makes your UNIX machine think that you are logged in using a text-only terminal.  Usually the terminal emulator runs a shell that you use to interact with UNIX.

If you open the pop-up menu above the Performance Meter, the "This Host" choice provides access to the CDE terminal, dtterm.  This terminal is far more advanced than the traditional xterm and allows for menu-based customization.  The traditional xterm provided the ability to run a shell inside a window, but not much more.

For users familiar with Microsoft Windoze, xterm is similar to a Command Prompt or running cmd.exe.  It provides you with a way of running more than one shell at the same time, but not much more.  Many features such as resetting the terminal or changing fonts were difficult to access in xterm.  The CDE terminal, dtterm, provides all of xterm's functionality along with a simple menu interface to the more advanced features.

Usually dtterm is accessed from the Front Panel by opening the Hosts menu, but it can also be launched from the command line as follows:

$ dtterm &

Strictly speaking the '&' is not required, but it is nice to use, since it puts dtterm in the background and restores the prompt so that other commands can be issued.  You may get an error message similar to the following:

bash: dtterm: command not found

This means the program dtterm could not be located.  In this case you run dtterm using the following syntax:

$ /usr/dt/bin/dtterm &

Here you are telling UNIX to run the program dtterm, which is located in the directory /usr/dt/bin.

Other Applications

If you click on the desktop with the right mouse button, the Workspace Menu appears.  From it, you can select many of the programs available from the CDE Front Panel, as well as many more.

The dtpad text editor can be started with the following command line:

$ /usr/dt/bin/dtpad &

or, if you want to edit a file, say lab4.txt for example, you can add the filename to the command line:

$ /usr/dt/bin/dtpad lab4.txt &

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