The Linux server at the Freie Universität

Your ZEDAT account not only provides you with a university email address, but also with access to the Login server, a Linux server that allows you, among other things, to create a web site (like the one that this wiki is running on), and, most importantly, to run a range of Linux software, including the software we use to access our collection of linguistic corpora.

To sign in to your Login account, you need a specific type of software referred to as a terminal emulator. This software allows you to enter text commands that are then executed on your own computer, or, crucially, on a remote server.

On macOS and Linux and on some versions of Windows, terminal emulators are preinstalled, on other versions of Windows and on the mobile operating systems iOS, iPadOS and Android, you can install one fairly easily.

Note that if you cannot find a terminal emulator on your operating system or cannot install one, you can use ZEDAT's browser-based terminal emulator (see description at the bottom of this page). This terminal emulator has some restrictions, however, so it should only be used if all else fails.

On macOS, you should use the preinstalled terminal emulator, which is called Terminal.app. You can find it by going to the Spotlight search and typing terminal. On Linux, you should also use the preinstalled terminal emulator, which is usually called Terminal (for example, on Debian, Ubuntu or Mint), or konsole (on KDE).

To sign in to your Login account, open your terminal emulator. You can now use a program called ssh (for Secure Shell) to connect to the server. Simply type the following (replace USERNAME by your ZEDAT username before the @ sign, which is the part of your ZEDAT email address, and hit the RETURN key:

ssh USERNAME@login.fu-berlin.de

You will then get a prompt to enter your password.

USERNAME@login.fu-berlin.de's password: 

Enter your password (note that the terminal will not show any activity while you type), and hit RETURN again.

The first time you login, you will be asked whether you trust the key of the server. The ZEDAT Linux server is trustworthy, of course, so you can type yes and hit RETURN.

You will see that your command line now starts with the following (again, USERNAME will be your username):

USERNAME@login:~$

This means that you are no longer working on your own computer, but on the Login server – your computer just provides the connection.

To sign out of your Linux account, simply type

exit

and hit the RETURN key.

On Windows, how to connect to the server depends on the version. We will deal with Windows 10 first and then deal with older versions.

On Windows 10, you can open a terminal emulator by right-clicking on the start menu and then on Windows PowerShell. You can now use a program called ssh (for Secure Shell) to connect to the server. Simply type the following (replace USERNAME by your ZEDAT username before the @ sign, which is the part of your ZEDAT email address, and hit the RETURN key:

ssh USERNAME@login.fu-berlin.de

If you get a message that the connection timed out or was closed by the remote server, this means your PowerShell is not configured correctly. In this case, the easiest solution is to follow the steps for older versions of Windows described below.

If you get a prompt to enter your password, this means the connection to the server was successful:

USERNAME@login.fu-berlin.de's password: 

Enter your password (note that the terminal will not show any activity while you type), and hit RETURN again.

The first time you login, you will be asked whether you trust the key of the server. The ZEDAT Linux server is trustworthy, of course, so you can type yes and hit RETURN.

You will see that your command line now starts with the following (again, USERNAME will be your username):

USERNAME@login:~$

This means that you are no longer working on your own computer, but on the Login server – your computer just provides the connection.

To sign out of your Linux account, simply type

exit

and hit the RETURN key.

If you are using Windows 7 or older or if the above method does not work, you can download a free terminal emulator called PuTTY from the ZEDAT website here: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/network/putty/putty-latest/w32/putty.exe.

Open PuTTY. The first time you open it, Windows may ask you if you really want to execute it, as it is from an unverified source. If you downloaded it from the above link, you can safely execute it.

A configuration screen will open. Enter the server name login.fu-berlin.de in the field labeled Host name (or IP address), select the button next to SSH and click Open.

The first time you do this, you will receive a warning that the host key is unknown. Confirm that you want to connect by clicking Yes.

You will get a window with the following prompt:

login as:

Enter your username and hit RETURN. If you get a prompt to enter your password, this means the connection to the server was successful:

USERNAME@login.fu-berlin.de's password: 

Enter your password (note that the terminal will not show any activity while you type), and hit RETURN again. You will see that your command line now starts with the following (again, USERNAME will be your username):

USERNAME@login:~$

This means that you are no longer working on your own computer, but on the Login server – your computer just provides the connection.

To sign out of your Linux account, simply type

exit

and hit the RETURN key. PuTTY will close.

There are various apps that allow you to connect to a Linux server. For Android, try JuiceSSH, for iOS and iPadOS, try Shelly (from the respective app stores). What you are looking for is a terminal application that can run an ssh client (usually OpenSSH).

We will try to provide instructions for these apps soon, but you may be able to figure things out by yourself by looking at the instructions for PuTTY and trying to take analogous steps.

Regardless of your operating system, you can also sign in via your web browser. Go to https://www.zedat.fu-berlin.de/ and click on the link “Shell” in the side panel on the left.

You will get an empty page with the prompt

ZEDAT login:

Enter your user name and hit RETURN. You will then be asked to enter your password. Do so, and hit RETURN again. The prompt will change to

USERNAME@login:~$

(with your username instead of USERNAME), This means that you are now working on the Login server.