The microcomputer lab is located in room 315. There are eight PCs and two X-terminals in the lab.
Each PC is connected via ethernet to one of our departmental file servers, Einstein and Newton. Newton is an NT server running Windows NT 4.0. Einstein runs a special operating system called Novell Netware. Most of the software you run on the microcomputers in our lab actually resides on Newton or Einstein.
One very important thing to note: since these microcomputers are shared by many users, you cannot leave files on their disks. Each time a new user logs in, or the computer is rebooted, the computer's disk is resynchronized with an image which lives on the file server. Everything which doesn't belong on the computer is erased, and anything which has been deleted from the standard configuration is restored. Please be aware that if you leave files on these computers, they will be deleted.
If you'd like to use the microcomputers, you'll need an account. When you re-boot one of these computers, you'll be asked for a user name and a password. There's a "Mac-guest" account for the Macs, but you'll need your own personal account to use the PCs. (Please see me if you need an account.) An advantage of having your own account is that you'll be allocated a region of disk space on Newton, where you can store your personal files. When you log in, your area of Newton's disk will appear as drive "H:". Storing files on Newton lets you access your files from any of the microcomputers, without having to carry diskettes around. Also, the data on Newton's disks, including your files, is written to tape periodically, giving you a backup copy of your work.
Applications available on the micrcomputers include:
Some of the most useful tools on the microcomputers are those that allow you access to the internet. Netscape, telnet and ftp applications are available on both the PCs and the Macintoshes.
Netscape is one of many browsers for the world-wide web. The world-wide web is a large group of computers, distributed throughout the world, which share information with you via the internet. When you start Netscape, you'll see our departmental web page. By clicking on the highlighted items, you can browse around our local documents and find out about our department.
We have three departmental computers running a Unix-like operating system. These are IBM RS6000s, and their operating system is AIX. (There are many unix-like operating systems in existence, all descendants of the AT&T/Bell Labs Unix system.) These are multitasking, multiuser machines which with lots of memory and fast processors. They are used for data analysis and symbolic math, as well as electronic mail and word processing.
Applications installed on these machines include:
These machines are on the internet, and can be reached via telnet. Their internet addresses are "erwin.phys.Virginia.EDU", "landau4.phys.virginia.edu" (also called "physics.Virginia.EDU") and "landau1.phys.virginia.edu". Each of them runs the X window system, and is capable of displaying X applications on a remote console such as an X-terminal, another Unix workstation, or a microcomputer running X server software.
To use these machines, you'll need an account. This will allow you to run applications on the machines, store your files on their disks, send and receive electronic mail, et cetera.