This is the December 2003 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 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday.
CANCELLED! Faculty Technology Open House on January 13
The Faculty Technology Open House 2004 (FTO2004) scheduled for Tuesday, January 13, 2004, has been cancelled due to water and electrical damage in Wilson Hall. For more information on the Open House contact Nancy Rogers, ITC Training Services, nfr3f@virginia.edu or call 982-2991.
ESRI's suite of ArcGIS software, ArcInfo 8.3 for Windows, may be used off-grounds
in stand-alone mode by University of Virginia faculty, staff, and students by
making use of a hardware key (dongle). ArcInfo continues to be available via
our license manager (licensed managed) for use on- or off-grounds. Additional
information on this licensed managed version is available
at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/esri/#arcinfo
Interested users may obtain a dongle from ITC's Research Computing Support Center (RCSC) at a cost of $40.00. Dongle costs are not refundable and ITC is not responsible for their damage or loss.
In order for us to obtain an annual license file from ESRI, you will need to provide us with the full computer name as identified by Windows, the make and model of the PC, the coputer serial number and the dongle serial number.
You may transfer ownership of a dongle to another eligible individual (i.e., faculty, staff, or student at U.Va.), by giving the dongle to that person. You should then delete your ArcInfo license out of the ITC RCSC software license database. Then the new dongle owner must contact the RCSC with the necessary information and we will obtain a new license file.
Faculty and staff who do not require the added functionality of ArcInfo, may find that their needs met with ArcView which requires no additional hardware. Details, system requirements and related links on ESRI ArcGIS software at U.Va. are available at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/esri/.
Questions or concerns should be directed to Research Computing by phone at 243-8800 or by email to res-consult@Virginia.EDU
ArcGIS Schematics is an effective and innovative solution to automate schematic and geoschematic graphical representations of ESRI ArcGIS geodatabases. ArcGIS Schematics contains many automatic network presentation algorithms. Display optimization mechanisms include offsetting overlaid objects, automatic routing, varied zooming, view cloning and duplication, automatic resizing of views, and more.
The ArcGIS Schematics CD is available for faculty, staff and students at U.Va. from ITC's Research Computing Support Center in 244 Wilson Hall. An installation of ArcGIS Desktop 8.2 or ArcGIS Desktop 8.3 is required to install ArcGIS Schematics. Since U.Va.'s license manager for general ESRI products is hosted on a Unix machine and a Unix machine cannot host the license manager for the Schematics Extension, Research Computing supports installation of Schematics within the Schematics Single Use environment. Please note that this installation works with both the hardware key and the license managed ArcInfo installations.
The ArcGIS Schematics SDK is also provided with ArcGIS Schematics on a separate CD. The SDK is a developer kit for spatial network representation applications. ArcGIS Schematics SDK supports most database management systems. It allows the developer to build geo-schematic and schematic applications.
To learn more about ArcGIS Schematics, please visit http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/esri/schematics.html.
Software and hardware requirements are outlined in the installation instructions at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/esri/install/schematics.html.
The following changes to the research computing software will be effective in all ITC Labs and Classrooms as of the beginning of the Spring semester:
IBM-compatible PCPlease contact the ITC's Research Computing Support Group (res-consult@virginia.edu or 243-8800) if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for other upgrades.Arcview 8.3 will include service patch 3Macintosh Software
Amos 4.01 will be upgraded to Amos 5.0
IDL 5.6 will be upgraded to IDL 6.0
Maple 9 will be upgraded to Maple 9.03
Mathematica 4.2 will be upgraded to Mathematica 5.0
Matlab 6.5.0 will be upgraded to Matlab 6.5.1Maple 9 will be upgraded to Maple 9.03
For a complete listing of software available through ITC Labs and Classrooms, visit http://www.itc.virginia.edu/labs.
In February 2001, ITC obtained a 1,000 licenses of Adobe Acrobat Professional through the generous support of the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Office of Information Technologies. These 1,000 licenses have all been distributed, therefore we have obtained another 500 licenses, for which we have to recover the cost.
Adobe Acrobat Professional Version 6 for Windows and Macintosh computers will be available starting Wednesday, November 19, 2003 at the ITC Research Computing Support Center, 244 Wilson Hall. The Adobe Acrobat Professional Version 6 for Macintosh can be only be installed on Mac OS version 10.2.2 or above.
These licenses will be available for a fee for installation on U.Va.-owned Windows PC and Macintosh computers only. New licenses of Adobe Acrobat Pro, Version 6, will cost $50.00. If you already have a license for Adobe Acrobat, Version 5, that you obtained from ITC, then you can upgrade to Version 6 for $10.00. These costs are substantially below the educational price of Adobe Acrobat Pro, Version 6. Adobe Acrobat can be paid for by check made payable to the University of Virginia or by PTAO.
ITC's public-access computer facilities already have approximately thirty copies of Acrobat available for use by students. In addition, it is available in some of the University Library Digital Centers, as well as at the ITC Research Computing Support Center.
ITC's Research Computing Support Center (RCSC) in Room 244, Wilson Hall will handle the distribution of the software, starting on Wednesday, November 19, 2003. For more information, please contact the RCSC by telephoning 243-8800 or e-mailing to res-consult@virginia.edu
Waterloo Maple has made available a patch for all desktop versions of Maple 9. This patch includes all of the issues addressed in both patch 9.01 and patch 9.02 as well as additional performance and maintenance issues.
You are encouraged to install the 9.03 patch on any desktop Linux, Mac OSX, or Windows Maple 9 installation licensed through Research Computing's licensing database. The patch is available for download through the licensing database at http://web.virginia.edu/rescomp/
New users will be able to download the patch when licensing Maple for any of the desktop platforms. Current Maple 9.01 users may download the patch by selecting Access License Codes & Program Files from within the license database Web site.
In the past, Mathematica has been made available to faculty, staff, and students for installation on U.Va.-owned and personally-owned computers.
Due to licensing restrictions, Mathematica 5.0 will not be available to students to run on their own computers using ITC's network managed Mathematica licenses. Faculty and staff will continue to be able to install and use Mathematica on their personally-owned computers at home.
Please note that current student users of Mathematica 4.2 will be permitted to use Mathematica for the remainder of 2003.
After January 13, 2004, students who want to access Mathematica on their own computers from off-Grounds can either purchase a copy of Mathematica 5.0 for Students ( http://www.wolfram.com/products/student/mathforstudents) to install on their machine, or run Mathematica on an ITC or departmental computer by logging into that computer remotely using either SecureCRT or an Xserver interface (e.g., Exceed or Cygwin). Mathematica 5.0 for Students has the same functionality as the professional version of Mathematica.
If there is sufficient interest, ITC will purchase a pre-set number of Mathematica 5.0 for Students copies for home/personal use at volume price of approximate $70. The regular academic price of Mathematica 5.0 for Students is $140, which is available through Cavalier Computers (924-3475; www.cavcomp.virginia.edu).
We would like to hear from faculty and students interested in this option in order to know if there is sufficient demand to enable us to get this discounted price from Wolfram, Inc. Please contact the ITC Research Computing Support Group by e-mailing res-consult@virginia.edu or calling 243-8800 as soon as possible to let us know if you are interested in allowing students to purchase Mathematica 5.0 for Students at the reduced price of $70.
Further information about the availability of Mathematica through the University's site license can be found at http://www.itc.Virginia.EDU/research/mathematica/.
The index can be accessed by typing "index" at the IDL prompt
IDL> index
A separate window will start; it will remain running in the background
until it is dismissed by the user.
It is possible to run the index widget separately via
/common/rsi/idl_6.0/bin/index
or
/common/rsi/idl_5.6/bin/index
although this command may not work on the current Fedora Linux.
The widget will require a fairly recent version of Adobe Acrobat in order to function; 5.0 or later should work.
For more information, including details about using the index and setting up your .Xdefaults to enable some keyboard shortcuts, see RSI's Web page at http://www.rsinc.com/services/techtip.asp?ttid=3457
In some cases, students will no longer be eligible to access licensed managed software from off-Grounds. Their options will be to either purchase a student version of the software package to install on their machine, or run the software on ITC on-Grounds computing platforms from off-Grounds through either SecureCRT or an Xserver interface (Exceed or cygwin). ITC is investigating volume order price discounts in the student versions. Students interested in this option should the ITC Research Computing Support Group at res-consult@virginia.edu or 243-8800.
The following is a list network license managed software whose use off-Grounds will require authentication after January 14.
For those users who are eligible and want to install the software on their own machines running Mac OSX or Linux, the staff of the Research Computing Support Center will work with them to implement a mechanism for them to do authentication from those platforms.
Documentation for running the licensed managed software from off-grounds and additional details will be available in early January, 2004.
If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please contact us at res-consult@virginia.edu or 243-8800
On Monday, February 16, 2004, ITC will discontinue the tape reading services which allowed faculty, staff, and students at U.Va. to transfer data from 8mm cartridges, 9-track reel tapes, and IBM 3480 cartridges to UNIX-based accounts for academic and research purposes. Due to security restrictions, ITC will continue to process in-house data that contains Protected Healthcare Information.
The aging of ITC's tape-reading equipment, the retirement of the reel tape hardware, and a decline in the number of requests for this service are some of the reasons contributing to this decision. A survey of peer institutions, including Virginia Tech, UNC, the Cornell Theory Center, and the University of Delaware, indicates that tape-reading services have been, or are in the process of being, phased out.
In order to process any tape-reading requests prior to the discontinuation of the service on February 16, 2004, ITC will accept up to two (2) tapes per user written in this calendar year in formats we support through December 12, 2003. ITC suggests that researchers requesting data after this date explore the availability of alternate distribution media (like CDs or DVDs) from their data providers. It is also recommended that monies to use commercial tape reading and conversion services be included in future grant proposals.
Users with data on magnetic tape may consider these alternatives:
Full details of the HSM and how to get space on the HSM are available
at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/hsm.html
For details about this service, please see the Web page at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/unixsys/storage.html
The Research Computing Support Center's schedule for the Winter Break will be:
The Research Computing Support Center can teach introductory workshops on SAS, SPSS, and S-PLUS statistical packages, as well as any of the other research software supported by ITC.
Workshops for these three statistical packages will be scheduled for the spring. We are also available to teach these workshops, or some components of them, outside of this normal schedule if there are several people in your department with specific needs.
For example, if you are an instructor, we could tailor an introductory workshop to your class's needs. Please e-mail res-consult@virginia.edu or call the Research Computing Support Center at 243-8800.
The workshop notes and example files are available on the Web, from their respective Web pages:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/sas/training/
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/spss/training/
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/splus/training/
Maplesoft is offering complimentary, live, interactive online training sessions. Learn new techniques to increase your effectiveness with Maple, hear about new technologies from Maplesoft, or gain more insight into specific product features.
The online training sessions provide an interactive and hands' on forum where you can observe and interact with a Maplesoft instructor, as well as other participants via full audio and instant chat. All that is required to participate are a Web browser, an Internet connection, and a telephone.
Upcoming seminar topics include: Maple in Research, Maple in High School Education, Creating Question Banks in Maple T.A., and an Overview of Maple's Microsoft Excel 2000 Add-in.
To view the complete seminar schedule and register, please visit https://maplesoft.webex.com.
Upon registration you will receive an e-mail invitation to the seminar that provides the URL and the toll-free teleconference telephone number. When it is time for the seminar, click on that URL and dial the teleconference number.
For questions on any of the seminars or how to register, please contact applications@maplesoft.com.
In order to ensure a quick response to a number of issues that have emerged with computers connected to the U.Va. network, the University is asking you to register your computer.
Registration is a simple process that can be completed in a few minutes. When you open a Web browser, please go to https://web.virginia.edu/microsys/register/ and follow the instructions.
Please register the computer(s) you normally use at your desk on Grounds. If you are registering a laptop computer, please connect to the Ethernet using a cable and disable your wireless card during the process by either pulling it out or turning it off.
You will need an account on Blue Unix, Home Directory, CMS, or HSC Exchange to register your system. (If you do not have a login and password on one of these services, there is no need to register your computer at this time.)
If you have any questions, please call the ITC Help Desk at 4-3731.
Happy
Holidays from the Research Computing Support Group! 
