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Lab FAQ Index
Room A207, on the second floor of the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Building. The School's Undergraduate Computer Lab has 48 Dalcon Pentium 4 computers (Pentium 4 3.4 GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, DVD/CD burner), and 3 networked HP LaserJet black and white printers. There are also three high resolution scanners for public use in the lab. Students enrolled in any units offered by the School of Civil and Resource Engineering are entitled to an account for accessing the School's computer lab facilities. 4. How to get an account for accessing the PCs in the lab? New accounts are created based on the enrolment record two weeks before the start of the each semester. 5. What if I can't log in using my UWA assigned username? If you can not log in using your UWA assigned users name you will need to fill in the ‘Computer Lab Account Application Form’ and leave it in the brochure holder labelled "IT Support Inbox" on the wall next to the print station in the lab, along with a copy of your ‘Proof of Enrolment’ showing that you are enrolled in current Civil and Resource Engineering units. Your account will be created and details emailed to you. Contact IT Support if in doubt. 6. How do I log into the PCs in the lab? Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete (three keys should be pressed at the same time) to bring up the login window. Make sure the “Login Domain” field shows “LAB”. Type in your username and password before you hit “enter” or click on the “OK” button. If this is your first time logging on, you will be prompted to change your password. There is a policy in force allowing only passwords of at least 6 characters to be set. Note that by logging on and changing your password, you have agreed to abide by the School’s regulations on appropriate computer usage. Click here to read the relevant documentation. 7. What if I log into a PC and leave it unattended for more than 30 minutes? An automatic script will log you out if the PC is left idle for 30 minutes. The script will start a 60 seconds counter during which period the logout process can be cancelled by pressing any key on the keyboard or moving the mouse. Obviously you have to be in front of the PC to cancel the logout process. Please note that the logout process will close all open applications forcibly which means all your unsaved work will be lost. The lab computers have also been configured to shutdown at 6pm, 9pm and midnight every night to svae power and computer life. Again a 30 minute notification is given on the screen, allowing you to cancel the shutdown if you wish to continue working. 8. What’s the School's policy on printing in lab A207? To reduce cost and generation of waste paper, the School has decided to adopt a ‘Pay as you go’ printing policy. For details go here. 9. What’s the School's policy on internet usage? Again, internet usage is another ‘Pay as you go’ system. For details go here. 10. How do I subscribe to Civil and Resource Engineering undergraduate mailing lists? Mailing lists have been automatically generated according to enrolment details. These lists will be the primary means for academic/student communications, so if you find you are not on a list you believe you should be on, contact IT Support. 11. How do I connect a personal laptop to the lab network and access the network resources (i.e. printers, internet, shared folders, etc)? A number of network ports (labelled "Laptop Data Ports") and power points are made available in the computer lab for students to connect their personal laptops to the lab network and to access the network resources (i.e. printers, internet, shared folders, etc). A DHCP (stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server has been set up to automatically assign IP addresses and all other necessary network settings to peronal laptops that are connected to these ports. All you need to do it set your machines TCP/IP settings to automatically assign your IP and DNS information. Then set your web-browser to use the uwa proxy: proxy.uwa.edu.au at port: 8888. Detailed procedures on how to access the shared drives on lab servers and printers can be found on the Connecting Perosnal Laptops page. Contact IT Support if in doubt. 12. How to get help if something is not working properly in the lab? 13. When I print from PowerPoint, I get charged for more pages than get printed? The print server will charge according to the number of pages that have been sent to the printer. If you have selected to print multiple pages per sheet of paper in the printer setup, you will be charged for those multiple pages rather than being charged for the number of sheets that finally get printed. You may assemble multiple slides per page, and you will still only get charged for the number of pages sent to the printer. Recommended settings for PowerPoint printing:
With these settings you will be charge ONLY for the number of pages printed. Note that the cost for duplex (double sided) printing is identical to the cost of printing 2 separate sheets of paper. This is because the major costs in printing are associated with the toner. The sheet of paper is only about 1 cent. 14. Can I print multiple pages per sheet of paper from Word and Acrobat without being charged for the full number of pages? Unfortunately at this stage you cannot. This is a failure of the software to recognise the fact that the pages are being assembled by the printer onto fewer sheets of paper. 15. Where can I get student copies of software, such as SpaceGass and Multiframe, for use on my home PCs? Some applications have licenses which allow us to distribute versions of the software to students. These have been placed on a shared folder called ‘Software’, which is mapped as S: drive on the lab computers. 16. How do I burn data to a CD? CD’s can be burned using the AHEAD NERO CD burning program. Most common DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R and CD-RW discs are supporterd. To burn data to a CD:
Note that a few CD writing standards exist, including ISO and UDP. These have different properties, such as whether or not they allow filenames over a certain length etc. For further details on these consult the help pages in the Ahead Nero program. 17. I can’t read my CD on some computers? CD-RW’s can only be read using multi-read CD drives. Usually this means they can be read by all CD-RW drives, but only certain CD-ROM drives, usually newer models. Check to see whether your CD is one of these. If it is, try reading it on another CD-ROM drive or alternatively you can try using a CD-R instead. CD-R’s are, in general, read by all CD drives.
Abaqus is installed on all the lab computers Unfortunately we have limited licences for this product. Priority of use for these computers is therefore given to Abaqus users. 19. Where can I reference the Abaqus documentation? Abaqus documentation is available online at: http://abaqus.civil.uwa.edu.au:2080/v6.5/ 20. I want to do some webpage design. Where can I access a web design program? Microsoft FrontPage for webpage design has been installed on the computers with scanners attached to them (A207-16, 32 and 33). 21. How can I convert my document into a PDF format? Adobe PDF writer (Acrobat 5) is installed on A207-16, 32 and 33. These three computers each have a scanner attached them. Simply open your document on these computers with Word and select the write PDF icon at the top left hand corner of the icon menu. 22. The toner has run out during my print job. What should I do? Contact IT Support immediately if the toner has run out during your print job. We will be happy to reprint your job. Unfortunately, there is no way for the printer to know when it is nearing the end of its toner, and neither can we. Please bear with the slight inconvenience caused. Also note that we have no facility for refunding money to your transaction cards. We can only reprint you work for you. |
