This site is being developed as a way to communicate technology information within the department.
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
550 Stadium Mall Drive
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Phone: 765.494.3258
Fax: 765.496.1210
EAS Technology Newsletter - Fall 2008
In this issue:
ITaP makes changes to instructional labs
Office 2007 available in EAS
Call for software requests
Guest account creation
Getting outage notifications
Hypocenter backup policy
Software available for personal purchase
SSN scan project update
Requesting support and getting department IT informationITaP makes changes to instructional labs
Over the summer, ITaP has made changes to instructional labs and to Blackboard Vista. Instructors no longer need to request the creation or population of a course. New Technology In the Classroom (TIC) sites have been added, and new collaboration spaces have been added to the lab in CIVL 3144. Windows Vista OS will not be installed in ITaP-managed labs until Summer 2009. For the full details, please see:
http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/announcements/summer2008.cfm
On August 5, the EAS Technology Support staff made Office 2007 available to all EAS-supported Windows machines. In order to give users control over the process, the package was offered as an advertisement. You may install Office 2007 at your convenience by opening "Run Advertised Programs" and selecting "Microsoft Office - Microsoft Office 2007." Over October Break, any machines still using Office 2003 will be upgraded to Office 2007. If you encounter any problems, please contact eas-itap@purdue.edu.
Please note that Office 2007 has a dramatically changed interface. Training is available at the following links:
http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/materials
http://www.calumet.purdue.edu/ctis/office2007.html
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/FX100485361033.aspx?pid=CL100605171033
Any special software needs for EAS or ITaP Windows computers should be sent to eas-itap@purdue as soon as possible. The ITaP Teaching and Learning Technologies group has updated many of the software packages on Lab machines. Software currently installed on TLT machines (including the 4th floor Windows computers) can be found at http://www.eas.purdue.edu/resources/it/faq/tlt_software.html.
A list of software available on EAS Linux machines is at: http://www.eas.purdue.edu/resources/it/faq/linux_software.html
Thanks to changes made by the Identity and Account Management Office, the EAS Technology Support staff can now create temporary accounts for guests. These accounts can be given access to a variety of EAS and ITaP resources. For more information, see the Guest Account FAQ.
Several different methods exist for receiving outage notifications for EAS and ITaP resources. The ITaP Notification Service enables users to be notified by email in event of a service outage on a specific ITaP service. You have the ability to select the ITaP services on which to receive notifications. Service selection offerings include: RCAC Pete Cluster, ITaP Data Network, VPN, ITaP Labs, etc. You may sign up for service notifications at: http://www.itap.purdue.edu/infrastructure/operations/change/
For EAS resources, there is currently no automated outage notification system. Scheduled outages will be publicized in the EAS newsletter and on the EAS Technology Support website. Unscheduled outages will be announced via a "TECHNOLOGY UPDATE" e-mail, which will also be posted on the EAS Technology Support website, if available.
Over the summer, we have received some questions regarding data handling in EAS. A clarification of the backup policy on hypocenter has been posted to our FAQ section. Please note that hypocenter is the only machine that receives regular backups. Storing data locally (for example, on your C: drive) is strongly discouraged. If you have questions about storing data on hypocenter, please contact eas-itap@purdue.edu. For laptop users who don't always have access to hypocenter, we strongly recommend keeping regular copies of your important files on another computer or an external drive. We would be happy to discuss your backup strategy with you.
Software available for personal purchase
As always, the Boiler CopyMaker in the Purdue Memorial Union has software available for personal purchase at a discounted price. Titles offered include: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite. For more information on available software, call 496-3888 or go to https://www.itap.purdue.edu/shopping/online/software/.
Information on software available for University purchases may be
found at the EAS Technology Supportweb page under "Helpful Links - Software Site Licenses for Purdue".The EAS Technology Support staff are continuing to work on the project to scan all University-owned computers for Social Security Numbers. At this point, most of the actively-used machines have been scanned. This fall, we will work on scanning or sending to surplus the machines that sit unused in offices and labs. As a reminder, any documents containing Social Security Numbers must be placed on a secure server (e.g. hypocenter). State law makes unauthorized disclosure of SSN data a felony offense.
Requesting support and getting department IT information
To request computer support, the preferred method is to send an e-mail to eas-itap@purdue.edu. When you submit your request, please give as much detail as possible (machine name, what you are attempting to do, any error messages you receive, etc.) so that we may quickly assign your task to the appropriate staff member. Please do not e-mail individual staff members to initiate support requests. The EAS Technology Support staff maintains an open door policy, and you are always welcome to come discuss technology issues with us. However, when you have an involved request, we prefer that you send it in e-mail so that it can be properly tracked. This allows us to provide a high level of service to the department.
General IT information can be found on the departmental website at http://www.eas.purdue.edu/resources/it. The answers to frequently asked questions are given, as well as general information about our computing environment. Important technology updates will be posted in the EAS Newsletter (or in a TECHNOLOGY UPDATE e-mail, if necessary) and to the EAS Technology Support website.
