Purpose

This document is intended first of all for the undergraduate students, but has useful information for all those who intend to use the laboratory's software and hardware resources.

Main items presented in a do-it-like-this manner are the following:

• instructions on how to access the operating systems and computing environments available in the laboratory;
• quota of disk space and printing;
• general rules of access and behavior for undergraduate use of the Hawkins Computing Laboratory

1. Operating Systems Installed on Labs' PCs

The operating system installed on PCs is Windows XP Professional. All PCs connected to the network have access to Internet Explorer.

2. Logging in

After the computer starts the Windows login applet will be displayed and after pressing the 'Ctrl', 'Alt' and 'Delete' keys together, you will be prompted to enter your login name and password.

On our system we use the same login name as your "intranet" user name, also know as 'extro' or 'unikey', which should have been printed on your confirmation of enrolment form.

The password used on the Civil Engineering computers is not shared with any other networks within the University.

For each student we have set your initial password to be the smae as your student number.

Example:
Your name: Ima Student
SID number: 200612345
Intranet/extro login name: istu2941 (printed on the confirmation of enrolment form).
At the logon screen enter:

User name: istu2941
Password: 200612345 (whatever your SID is)
then select "OK".
Your password can be changed by pressing the 'CTRL' 'ALT' 'DELETE' keys and selecting the "change password" button.

Name	SID	Unikey Login Name	Username	Password
Ima Student	0128932	istu2941	istu2941	password

If the username and password are correct you will be logged in.

If this is your first login you will be required to change your password .

You should choose a password that you can easily remember, but cannot be easily guessed by someone else.

Ideally a password should be a combination of letters and other symbols (numbers or punctuation). Your favourite aunt's house address might do (something like 32aJohnSt).

If you mistype the login name or password you'll be notified that the user does not exist in the specified context and you should restart the whole process.

3. Changing the Password

The users are invited to change their password during their first session.

To change the password:

CTRL + ALT + DEL » Windows Security Applet » Change Password
and follow instructions.

4. PC Desktop Standards

After being logged in you have access to different applications and Software packages.

5. Home Directory

Click on My Computer to see:

• Drive letters A-E assigned to local disks
• Drive letter Z is your home directory

It is assumed that students will store their data back to their HOME directory (z: drive) before logging out.

The users will have full read/write access to their home directories.

Don't forget to save your data on drive z: before exiting the session, otherwise you may not find it again.

Keep copies of your files backed up on floppy disks, CD ROM or USB memory drives.

At the end of the session logout by using the following procedure:

Start » Shut Down » Log Off <username> This will prevent the next student having access to your home directory and printing account.

6. The Internet and the World Wide Web

The Internet is a worldwide collection of thousands of interconnected computers. The World Wide Web (WWW from now on) is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge. It is the fastest-growing service of the Internet today. It offers an almost unlimited potential for organizations to market their products and services, as well as communicate more easily and effectively with each other.

It has a body of software, and a set of protocols and conventions. The WWW uses hypertext and multimedia techniques to make the Web easy for anyone to roam, browse, and contribute to.

Web pages are written in HyperText Markup Language (HTML), a text-based language. HTML is a way of adding various attributes to plain text files, which are published on the WWW. HTML lets you mix graphics with text, change appearance of text, and create hypertext documents, which interact with the user.

To write pages for the WWW either you learn the HTML language or use one of the existing Web Editors: Microsoft FrontPage, Internet Assistant, HotDog, Macromedia Dreamweaver and others.

To see the Pages published on Web you have to use Web Browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and others.

The difference between an HTML document and a word processing document is that the same HTML document can be read on many different computer platforms, for example PC, Macintosh and UNIX.

What's a URL

A URL is a Universal Resource Locator. Think of it as a networked extension of the standard filename concept: not only you point to a file in a directory, but that file and that directory can exist on any machine on the network, can be served via any of several different methods. URLs can also point to queries, documents stored deep within databases, the results of an Internet utility command.

In essence the URL concept is this: "if it's out there, we can point at it".

URLs are of more types. The most common types are the following:

• File URLs: have the form: file://domain_name/directory(ies)/file
• HTTP URLs: HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol and is the standard format of the WWW documents: http://domain_name/directory/...directory/file.htm(html)
• News URLs: for accessing newsgroups and change information between the subscriber of different newsgroups: newsrc://news_server_domain_name

The domain name for the university news server is: newsrc://news.usyd.edu.au/

E-mail and E-mail Addresses

To communicate with anyone on the Internet you must have an e-mail address of the form: login_name@domain_name

Your email address is on your enrolment form and has the format username@mail.usyd.edu.au

You should be able to view and send email by opening the web browser and entering http://www-mail.usyd.edu.au/ in the address field.

The Civil Engineering Web Home Page address is:
http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/

7. Software Packages

The user has access to all Software packages that will be displayed as icons on the desktop and through the program menu of the local computer's operating system.

Start » Programs

The students will be advised by their lecturer about which software packages to use at each stage.

8. Disk Space Quotas

Students have to share the server hard disk to save their data.

Therefore we have implemented a disk quota of 200MB* per user.

When the allocated space is all used a message like:
"Insufficient disk space reading device NETWORK" will be displayed, and the user has to delete some of his/her files in order to continue.

*This amount may change at any time.

9. Printers

Printers are resources shared by all the students in the laboratory. Presently there is one printer in the laboratory, students are expected to use it rationally and to double check (using a printing preview) before starting to print.

Print by clicking on the appropriate print icon from within the applications.

After the print command, please allow a delay of about 30 seconds before the physical printing starts.

Do not attempt to hurry the printing by clicking on the printer icon again before the time delay has elapsed. This will not work.

10. Use of Laboratory and all the IT Devices Included

The Department of Civil Engineering extends the privilege of using its networked computing resources for the following two main purposes:

• assist students to complete the subjects within the degree
• encourage the exchange of information and knowledge

Under no circumstances may students use the resources in a manner that would offend others or cause damage to the interests of others.

Students may not use the facilities for any form of cheating in relation to their studies at this University.

The following activities are among those that will be interpreted as breaching the trust that the Department places in you:

1. attempting to discover the password of another user, whether on this network or any other
2. attempting to read or copy information for which you do not have permission - discarded printouts included
3. deliberately disrupting the normal operation of this network or any other computer system
4. making unauthorized copies of copyrighted software
5. publishing or transmitting material likely to offend others
6. using the computer resources for commercial purposes.
7. attempting to install unauthorised software packages is illegal and will be punished. If you really need to install a certain application DISCUSS the problem first with your lecturer.
8. no games (including web based) are permitted on PCs

Generally the laboratory will allow you to use the computer resources subject to the following constraints:

1. Scheduled classes have exclusive rights to use the laboratories - all students should leave the laboratories prior to the start of each session.
2. If no class is scheduled in the laboratory you may be admitted with the consent of the laboratory supervisor. You may be asked to leave at any time.
3. Anyone not engaged in activities related to the degree course might be asked to leave so that others may make more productive use of the resources.

11. Summary of Main Software Packages

Microsoft Office

Is a collection of applications that work alike and work together as if they were a single program. The applications in Microsoft Office have standardised toolbars and consistent menus, commands and dialog boxes. Once you learn one application, it's easy to learn the others.

The major applications that make up Microsoft Office:

Microsoft Word is a full-featured word processor that includes automatic formatting, easy-to-create tables, and the ability to create and position graphics. It has powerful features like AutoCorrect that automatically fixes typos, wizards that build newsletters and tables.

Microsoft Excel is a comprehensive spreadsheet application that lets you manage, format, chart, and analyze data. TipWizard suggests more efficient ways to accomplish a task, TestWizard arranges imported data into cells and rows, and PivotTable Wizard helps you create sophisticated summary reports.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a complete presentation graphics package that lets you create fully formatted presentations or slides in only minutes. It provides everything you need to produce professional presentations, including text formatting, outlining, drawing and graphing.

Microsoft Access is a relational database management system that lets you store, organise, and easily retrieve information. With it you can make queries and create forms, reports and macros with simple drag-and-drop editing.

Learning by Using MSOffice Online Tools

Each application has on-line tools to help you learn the application.

Microsoft Organization Chart lets you quickly create an organization chart in PowerPoint or any other application. For more information about creating organization charts, open Microsoft Organization Chart and press F1.

Equation Editor lets you add fractions, exponents, integrals, and other mathematical elements to a document. For more information about it, search for Equation Editor in Word on-line Help.

12. Network Operations

Reading your emails from your home computer

Instructions for this are available on the University Intranet help pages. Briefly, you should use the WWW interface or place these entries in a program like Eudora, Outlook or Netscape Messenger:

• POP_SERVER = pop.usyd.edu.au
• SMTP_SERVER = as advised by your ISP, (smtp.usyd.edu.au if you are dialing into the University system).
• USERNAME = your unikey username