ITC Research Computing Support Newsletter - December, 2001

This is the December, 2001 newsletter of the ITC Research Computing Support Group. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information presented here please contact the ITC Research Computing Support Group via e-mail to res-consult@virginia.edu, or at the Research Computing Support Center, (RCSC) 244 Wilson Hall, 243-8800. The RCSC is open 9AM-5PM, Monday through Friday.

The Academic Computing Health Sciences (ACHS) News can be found at: http://www.med.virginia.edu/achs/news/

Contents

Research Computing Support Center Winter Break Schedule

The Research Computing Support Center schedule for the Winter Break will be:

The Research Computing Support Center is located in Room 244 Wilson Hall. It can be reached by telephoning 243-8800 or e-mailing res-consult@virginia.edu

Happy Holidays from the Research Computing Support Group

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Your Suggestions Wanted for Spring Brown Bag Series

What topics would you like to see presented in the Spring Brown Bag Series at the Research Computing Support Center? Topics under consideration are

We would appreciate your input and suggestions on these and other topics as we plan our Spring Series. Send your ideas to res-consult@virginia.edu

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Exceed Version 7.1 is Now Available

Exceed version 7.1 is now available for distribution. The distributed version (7.1.0.1) is compatible with Windows XP. New licenses are $35 per installation. Previous Exceed users who purchased their licenses from ITC are entitled to free upgrades. Please visit
https://www.web.virginia.edu/rescomp/ldb/login.asp

and register for a license BEFORE obtaining the CD from Research Computing Support Center in Wilson Hall, room 244.

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ArcView StreetMap is Available for Both 8.x and 3.x Users

For Users of ArcView 8.x Standalone Version - ArcGIS StreetMap USA

ArcGIS StreetMap USA 8.1 provides advanced address matching and street map display for the United States. StreetMap is an extension to ArcView 8.1 software and requires its installation. If you have installed and registered ArcView 8.1, you can install StreetMap by obtaining the StreetMap license code from Research Computing's licensing database at
https://www.web.virginia.edu/rescomp/ldb/login.asp

ArcGIS StreetMap USA 8.1 features include the following:

Platforms: Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 are currently supported by ArcGIS 8.1 extensions.
ArcGIS StreetMap USA provides nationwide address matching and streetmap display for the entire United States. StreetMap layers automatically manage, label, and draw features such as local landmarks, streets, parks, water bodies, and other features. StreetMap can find nearly any address in the USA by interactively matching a single address or by batch matching from a file of addresses.

For ArcView 3.x Users - StreetMap 1.1
StreetMap 1.1 is an extension to ArcView and requires ArcView 3.0a or higher.
The ArcView StreetMap extension provides a single CD-ROM that allows street-level geocoding and display for the entire United States. The CD-ROM includes data for landmarks, all streets, and other features to produce a complete map out of the box. The street data included with this CD can be converted to ESRI shapefiles for use in analysis. ArcView StreetMap extension gives ArcView users the power to work with these new data as well as build custom applications using ArcView software's scripting language, Avenue. The CD-ROM is available from the RCSC, Room 244, Wilson Hall.

ArcView StreetMap System Requirements
The ArcView StreetMap 1.1 extension is supported on these Microsoft Windows platforms:
Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95/98

Since ArcView StreetMap 1.1 provides a CD with all the streets for the USA, you must have a CD-ROM in order to use ArcView StreetMap 1.1. You may opt to copy the data (some or all) from the CD to your local hard drive for faster performance.

StreetMap Database
Included with the ArcView StreetMap extension is the ESRI Data and Maps for StreetMap CD-ROM. This CD includes data for over 31 million road segments across the United States as well as many other landmark features needed to produce quality maps with very little effort. The data include streets, highways, airports, hospitals, parks, rivers, lakes, counties, and states, all with ready-made legends.

In addition to being able to geocode a street address from the compressed U.S. Streets database, the ArcView StreetMap extension can read and display all the data layers directly from the ArcView StreetMap CD-ROM.

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teTeX 1.0 Becomes Default Version

The scientific word processing software teTeX 1.0 (which includes LaTeX2e and TeX) has replaced teTeX 0.4 as the default version available on the Unix platforms (AIX, Solaris, and IRIX) that ITC maintains on December 13, 2001. The newer teTeX distribution is accessed with the following commands:

The older version of teTeX can still be accessed using the commands above with a .old extension. Further information on teTeX 1.0 can be found on the Research Computing Services Web page at,
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/latex.html

Specific questions about the upgrade as well general questions concerning as the use of LaTeX should be directed to res-consult@virginia.edu

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New University Logo Adobe Fonts now available

The Office of University Relations has purchased a limited number of licenses (125 Macintosh, 125 Windows) of the custom Adobe fonts used in the new University logo. The Adobe Caslon, Caslon Expert, and Myriad fonts are ready for download from the ITC Research Computing Support license website. To download either the Macintosh or IBM PC-compatible version of these fonts, go to:
https://www.web.virginia.edu/rescomp/ldb/swdb.asp

login to the registration website using your U.Va. ID (usually your social security number) and last name.
Then click on the "AdobeFonts 1 for Windows" or "AdobeFonts1 for Macintosh" link at the bottom of the page, and then follow the prompts to register and then download the fonts.

Do you need these fonts? Probably not. There is no need to get the fonts if you are downloading the University logo or one of the prepared electronic letterhead files for the various units from the UVa logo Web site at:
http://www.virginia.edu/uvalogo/

Those files are all locked-down graphic files that work just fine without the fonts and are considered new art. The people who likely would want to use these fonts are people who are creating things like Web sites, brochures, signs, forms, etc., for which they would like the words on those things to be in the same fonts as the new University signature for the sake of style consistency. *HOWEVER* please be aware that using these fonts means the documents are not portable, meaning you cannot sent an electronic version to someone else and have them print it out with these fonts. This includes using these fonts in webpages, as the fonts used on a webpage have to exist on the computer that views the webpage, not just the one that creates it.

So, for example, in the case of someone creating a fax cover sheet with the University logo, they should just download the logo and use any font they like for the "to, from" etc., without any need to get these special Adobe fonts. Someone creating a departmental brochure for printed distribution who wants to use the same fonts as the new University logo, would need to register a license and download the fonts in order to print the brochure text in these fonts.

If you have questions or concerns about needing or using these Adobe Fonts, please contact the Office of University Relations at 924-7116.

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Macintosh SPSS Users - License Renewal Time!

The license codes for SPSS 10.0 and SPSS 6.x for Macintosh that SPSS provided last year turned out not to be the correct ones becuase they are still requiring annual renewal. We have obtained new license codes that are perpetual and license all modules covered by UVa's site license). You can obtain the codes from our licensing webpage:
https://www.web.virginia.edu/rescomp/ldb/login.asp

Links to the update instructions are available with the codes. If you wish to update your license before it stops running, you must reinstall the software, so if you have misplaced your CD, it is available at the RCSC, Room 244 Wilson Hall. If you wait until the license expires, SPSS will prompt you for the new license code without having to re-install.
We ask that if you are still using SPSS 6, you seriously consider upgrading to the latest version, 10.0. for the Macintosh. SPSS 6 for the Macintosh is over five years old and vast improvements and many new statistical procedures have been added to the latest version, SPSS 10

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Software Changes in ITC Labs and Classrooms

The following changes to the research computing software will become effective in all ITC Labs and Classrooms at the beginning of the Spring semester:
Please contact the Research Computing Support Group (res-consult@virginia.edu) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions for other upgrades.

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Fall Brown Bag Talk Series Comes to a Close

The final event of our Fall 2001 Brown Bag Series was on November 14 as Mike Furlough gave an excellent presentation on ArcGIS, "The ESRI Universe." Notes from his talk as well as from earlier Research Computing Support Center talks are available online at: http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/talks/home.html which is also linked from our Researchers Services page: http://www.itc.virginia.edu/researchers/services.html
Topics available include:

Again, we welcome your suggestions for topics to be presented during our Spring Brown Bag Talk Series.

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Immediate Opening for Statistical Computing Consultant

The ITC Research Computing Support Center is now accepting applications for a statistical computing consultant. The position will start as soon as a suitable candidate is found. It is expected that the student hired will work at least through the remainder of the 2001-2002 academic year, preferably longer. ITC runs a wide variety of statistical software programs across a wide spectrum of computer platforms.

To qualify for the position you must have a broad working knowledge of at least one of the primary statistical software packages supported by us (SPSS, SAS, S-Plus) and have some experience with the other packages. Knowledge of how to use MINITAB, Amos, or LISREL would be advantageous. In addition, you should be experienced using at least two of the computers systems below:
  1. IBM RS/6000 running AIX (e.g. blue.unix, etc).
  2. IBM-PC or compatible microcomputer.
  3. Apple Macintosh
An applicant must be a graduate student with experience in statistical analysis with computer packages. S/he must possess the maturity and social skills needed to work closely with a variety of computer users, ranging from undergraduates to senior faculty and from novice to experienced users and the computer skills to work on a variety of computers and software programs.

The statistical computing consultant is responsible for helping users successfully run their statistical software programs and understand the output generated. The consultant also assists in teaching the statistical software workshops that we offer each semester.

The position offers a research or quantitatively oriented graduate student exposure to a wide variety of statistical analysis and a broad assortment of research projects from many departments in the University and extensive experience using computers for data analysis.

Graduate students interested in applying for the position should fill out an application available at the website: http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/news/studapp.html

Alternatively, you can pick up an application form at the Research Computing Support Center in Wilson 244 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

If you have any questions or concerns about the position you can contact Tim Tolson by telephone at 243-6592 or electronic mail to TTolson@Virginia.EDU

Applications will be accepted until the positions is filled. Apply as soon as possible. We would like the persons to start as soon as possible.

The University of Virginia is an EOE/AA employer.

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Security problems in some versions of Unix require changes for telnet users

There is a security problem with the login program on some versions of Unix. If you administer your own Unix system check the CERT announcement link below to find out if your system is vulnerable and take appropriate steps.

Machines administered by ITC will be patched when possible, or will have telnet access disabled to prevent outsiders from gaining unauthorized access using this security hole. If telnet is disabled by ITC, the user will be directed to the additional information URL below.

For additional information, including access to a list of hosts where telnet has been disabled, and to links for alternate programs to use instead of telent see:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/notelnet.html

The CERT announcement with details of the security vulnerability is also available at:
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2001-34.html

Per that announcement, the following versions of Unix are considered vulnerable:

From Mark Smith, Manager, ITC Desktop Computing Support e-mail: consult@virginia.edu for additional information.

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