Introduction

This chapter provides an introduction to the manual itself as well as to UNIX and its implementations at Fermilab. In particular, it covers:

the purpose and intended audience of UNIX at Fermilab
where to send comments and questions about the manual
where to obtain additional copies of the manual
the typeface conventions and symbols used throughout the manual
a summary of the contents of all the chapters and appendices in the manual
a very brief history of the UNIX operating system and a discussion of its advantages
an introduction to the Fermi UNIX Environment, which is installed on most UNIX systems at Fermilab
a listing of the supported UNIX operating systems
an introduction to FNALU, the central Fermilab UNIX cluster
information on locating on-line Fermilab documents
a listing of UNIX references