PhD Resources

Xwin-32 will give you a GUI (graphical user interface) like Windows instead of a command line only interface. When you first launch Xwin, you will most likely receive some messages about allowing it through the firewall and activating the license for it. Check the box(es) to allow anything to do with Xwin and when the activation window pops up:

Select License Server from the drop down menu
Enter xwin-lic.oit.duke.edu for the Hostname
Enter 5053 for the Port

To configure Latte on Xwin

Open Xwin configuration
Click on Wizard on the right side of the window
Type Latte in the field and click on ssh, then Next
In the Host field enter: latte.fuqua.duke.edu and Next
Enter your normal Fuqua credentials
In the Command field, simply click on Linux (the top option in the list) and finish

You should see your new Latte option in the list under “My connections” which you can now single click on, then click Launch. It should now ask for your password connecting you to Latte.

Running Applications on Latte

To run statistical applications on the Unix server “latte”:

Start Xwin 32, Then start the application of your choice:
- To run Matlab, type matlab &
- To run SAS, type sas &
- To run Stata, type xstata

The graphical version of the application will launch on your Windows desktop.

Latte Applications on MacBook

Connecting to PhD Linux server – via XQuartz

Matlab, SAS & stata can be run on a local graphical environment from the PhD Linux server, latte.fuqua.duke.edu (AKA, pippin.fuqua.duke.edu). Additionally, rStudio and SASStudio are available via webUI. To log in to latte, you must have the Duo login system configured for your netID & phone number. See https://oit.duke.edu/service/duo/ if you have not done so.

Starting XQuartz

From the Launchpad, navigate to Other folder and select XQuartz. This should cause a terminal to open on your macbook. If it does not, select the “Terminal ⌘N” option from the XQuartz “Applications” menu. If you exit this terminal, your XWindows session will be ended.

Making the remote connection

In the terminal window opened by XQuartz in the previous step, issue the following commands to enable free X11 access to your macbook, log in to latte (pippin) and verify XWindows connection:

xhost +
- this should output “access control disabled, clients can connect from any host”
ssh -X -Y your-netID@latte.fuqua.duke.edu
You may be prompted by the Duo login system, if not skip this step
1. (your-netID@pippin) Duo two-factor login for your-netID
  Enter a passcode or select one of the following options:
2. Duo Push to XXX-XXX-9023
3. Phone call to XXX-XXX-9023
4. SMS passcodes to XXX-XXX-9023
  Passcode or option (1-3): 1Success. Logging you in...
You may quickly test your connection by running “xclock &”. If everything is OK you will see:

In the terminal window opened by XQuartz in the previous step, issue the following commands to enable free X11 access to your macbook, log in to latte (pippin) and verify XWindows connection:

Starting the latte applications

It is advisable to start up an X terminal from latte to run your applications from, so that there is less risk of exiting the primary shell. In the terminal started above, enter the command “xterm &”, and minimize the original terminal window.

Available X windows applications are:

/usr/local/bin/matlab
/usr/local/bin/xstata
/usr/local/bin/sas

You can also use the command-line version of Stata: /usr/local/bin/stata, which does not require an XWindows display.

Miscellaneous XQuartz settings (⌘,)

Exiting from latte XWindows desktop

Close the initial terminal started by XQuartz.