Graduate Computer Labs

The Department maintains two Windows based and one Unix based computer labs for its graduate students. The labs are also open for students from other departments that take graduate courses in Economics for the purpose of completing associated course work.

Windows Based Computer Labs

Overview

The Windows based computer labs house 36 high-end Windows 2000 work stations that are connected to the Department's Novell network. The Windows 2000 work stations and Novell network provide access to a variety of software, data and access to disk space on the H-, I-, and T-network disk drives.

• The H-drive provides shared network disk space for faculty and staff. Each faculty and staff member has a directory on that drive. Graduate students can store files on the drive under the directory of a faculty member, with the permission of that faculty member.
• The I-drive provides "personal" disk space. By default that space is limited to 100MB. However, graduate students can request more space from the network administrator, if that request is supported by a faculty member.
• The T-drive provides temporary disk space of 5000MB. All files older than 15 days will be removed automatically from that drive.
• Faculty members can also request from the network administrator a shared drive with graduate students.

The Windows 2000 computers run software that permits remote access to the UNIX work stations.

The graduate computer labs also house two fast network printers. Printing is monitored, and users are requested to use printing sparingly. Currently the Department offers free printing for 1000 pages per semester. All additional pages are priced at 5 to 10 cents per page.

The Windows based computer labs feature locks that can be opened with the users University ID card. In case your ID card does not work, please contact the network administrator or the main office. For security reasons it is important that the doors are locked at all times.

Rules

To keep the environment productive for all users the EGSA and the Department established the following rules:

• Users are under no circumstances permitted to alter the configuration of the computers in the grad lab or install new software or fonts.
• No food or drink.
• The computer rooms are quiet rooms, only work-related talking please.
• In case a computer freezes, press ctrl-alt-del to reboot the computer. If the step does not work, turn the computer off and on. You may have to press and hold the power button up to 5sec to turn it off.
• Please report hardware and software problems by sending an e-mail to support@econ.bsos.umd.edu. Note: The computer consultants cannot handle questions on how to use certain applications.
• After completing your work logoff appropriately.
• Do not turn off computers (unless the computer freezes). Leave the computers running overnight.
• Manuals may not be removed from the computer rooms and should be re-shelved after use.
• Clean up after yourself, which includes recycling bad print jobs in the recycling bin.
• Use the laser printers sparingly; see the information on printing limits below.
• Do not use more than one computer if people are waiting.
• Use slower machines for word processing and e-mail, reserving faster machines for econometric work, when possible.
• The doors to the computer lab should be closed at all times for security reasons.
• The last person to leave in the evening should close the windows, turn off the lights and ensure that the doors are locked.

If you have any comments or suggestions please please contact the network administrator, the PC Committee or the EGSA

Printing Problems

• Do not just turn the printer off and leave. Instead, think about
  • Deleting your bad job from the print queue.  Only you (and the network administrator) can delete your print job. If you do not delete your print job and someone else can not find the network administrator to clean up after you, no one can print. That causes a big, negative productivity shock.
  • Fixing the internal jam
  • Reporting the problem to network administrator via support@econ.bsos.umd.edu
• If all else fails, leaving a note on the printer
• Never put used paper in the printer paper tray. This will cause more problems than it saves trees. Walk down to the Econ office and retrieve new paper.
• If the printer runs out of ink, walk down to the Econ office and ask the secretaries to help you install a new ink cartridge.

Printing Limits

Printing by graduate students will be monitored. To keep printing costs manageable, the Department and the EGSA have established the following printing limits per academic year for graduate students:

Each student can print up to 2000 pages per academic year for free. For printing purposes the academic year will run from August 1- July 31. Students will be charged 5 cents per page for pages 2001-7000, and 10 cents for all additional pages. Graduate students can monitor the number of pages they have printed via the web site http://econ4.econ.umd.edu:88.

Teaching assistants (TA) and research assistants (RA) will be automatically allocated an additional 500 pages per academic year, for free.  If the TA, RA, and lecturing activities require more printing: TAs, RAs and lecturers must keep an accurate page count of their printing activities.  Please include the following information on your printing activities: Number of pages printed, Date/Time, Reason for additional printing.  At the end of the semester, they should report the total number of pages printed (as a TA, RA, or lecturer) to Lizzie Martinez to ensure that those pages do not count towards the free allotment.  The total number of pages printed by TAs or RAs will also be reported to the faculty.

Please help the Department by printing sparingly!

Unix Based Computer Labs

The Unix based computer lab is equipped with several high-end workstations running Linux as an operating system. These work stations are interconnected with other workstations in the Department and the Universities' GLUE Unix network. The Unix network provides access to a variety of software, data and access to large areas of disk space.

To access the Unix based computer lab a user needs a code to unlock the door. Please contact the Unix network administrator or the main office for that code.