Changing environment variables (env, csh, bash)

Fri, 25 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I just install BackupPC. The perl install script complains that my environment variable LANG is set to en_US.UTF-8 and that it should be en_US. This setting is specificed in RedHat 9 Linux in the file /etc/sysconfig/i18n. To check what is the current value of the LANG variable type echo $LANG. To change or set the variable to en_US type LANG=en_US To show all environment variables, just enterenvat the command line.If you want to set an environment variable, you need to know what shell you are using. Many instructions still assume that you are using csh, but I guess it’s maybe only 1% of Linux users that use it. E.g. in the bash shell use the following command to set the environment variable DESTDIR to /usr/localexport DESTDIR=/usr/localwhile in csh typeDESTDIR = /usr/local

Glass versus plastic

Sun, 23 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

More or less, all laboratories in life science have been moving or are moving from glass pipettes to plastic pipettes. I am not talking about the small-volume pipette tips (10-1000µl), which have been always made from polypropylene, but the so-called serological pipettes. Traditionally glass pipettes have been used, but most of the labs have been moving to the disposable type. Our lab is using the disposable type with volumes of mostly 5, 10 and 25 ml for cell culture (and occasionally 2 and 50 ml). These are made from polystyrene and I have seen the old glass pipettes being thrown away. I rescued one big batch of such totally functional glass pipettes from the waste assuming that sooner or later, we might decide to go back to glass pipettes for environmental reasons. But the glass pipettes need to be washed and sterilized, which also uses chemicals, water and energy. Maybe plastic is environmentally the better choice? I guess nobody really knows…

Environment on Michael’s Domain

Changing environment variables (env, csh, bash)

Glass versus plastic