PC Compatibles

What we support

For desktop hardware we are recommending Dell. Laptops Dell or IBM.

For operating systems we support Windows XP. We do not allow dual booting. See our policies.

Software that is supported and will be installed on new PCs is: Microsoft Office, Minitab, DataDesk, VirusScan, Ghostview, WinZip, ssh/ftp/IE, X-Win32, and Acrobat Reader. Some of this software may not be able to be installed on home machines.

Software that will not be installed by default at the present time: SAS, Splus, LaTeX, Exceed. These will either be used off the Unix workstations, PC applications servers, or installed on a case by case basis.

Software available on the network

Various software and system updates are available from the PC server. Simply browse it in the network neighborhood, or connect to \\trad\software. There is a readme.txt file there which explains what is available.

User accounts

Your PC account is separate from your Unix account.

Accounts on the PC server are required to access the file and print shares. Password security is enforced on the server and lockouts will occur after repeated login failures.

Each account has a home directory on the server. On the XP machines this automatically appears as drive U: on login. As disk space is finite on the server, we request that only documents be stored there.

Backups

Users will be responsible for backing up their own individual PCs. However, the PC server is being backed up, so important documents can be copied to your home directory there