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Rothera Computing Facilities - For Staff

Hardware for general use (main building):

  • 8 Windows XP PC's in the recreational building all with DVD/CD writers
  • Colour & Black and White printers
  • 1 HP ScanJet Scanner
  • Memory card reader
  • HP photo printer (requires user’s own photo grade paper)

Hardware for science use (Bonner Lab):

  • Various job specific and general use PCs - contact the base Communications Manager before arriving.
  • Specialist science software is available only via prior arrangement. Bring the software with you to avoid problems. Sigmaplot and Minitab will be available at all times.
  • 1 Hewlett Packard laserjet 5000N connected to the LAN in the computing room.
  • 1 Colour Deskjet printer

Local Area Network (LAN):

  • The LAN is CAT5e with RJ45 type connection only
  • Ports for general use are available in most rooms. There are LAN access ports in every dorm room, except Giants, where there is a wireless network (802.11g). If you will require network access in your bedroom come equipped with both wireless and wired capability.
  • The Satellite link has a total bandwidth of 256kb (about one eighth the speed of your broadband link at home). This has to cope with the traffic for everyone on base, including some telephone calls, work data, remote access, web browsing and email. Many people bring web "toys" south only to find they do not work as well as they might hope. Skype and webcams are strongly discouraged. As a general rule, internet activities involving text work OK, ones involving photos are very slow and ones based on video are un-usable.
  • If providing your own PC/Laptop (both work and personal), network cables are available on Station. The Communications Manager will assist you in connecting your PC/laptop to the LAN providing you have a sufficiently secure machine with the correct hardware and software. If you are unsure, it is better to contact the IT helpdesk at BAS Cambridge prior to departure for more information. (Contact the Helpdesk on +44 (0)1223 221447 or send an email to helpdesk@bas.ac.uk)

Server:

  • The Network Server runs Novell NetWare 6.5
  • The server is fully spared, secure and backed up
  • You will be allocated with an account and 1Gb of NetWare server disk space for your personal/work use.
  • Your account and all files will be deleted upon leaving the base.

Software:

  • The standard operating system for PC's is Windows XP Professional
  • XP Home and Windows Vista are not completely compatible with BAS systems although are perfectly good for personal use if anti virus software is already installed
  • Software packages available from the server to networked PCs include:
    • Microsoft Office Suite 2007 Professional (word, excel, powerpoint, access)
    • CorelDRAW Suite
    • email via IMAP (for BAS staff only, non-BAS staff will have to use a web based email service such as googlemail)
    • Adobe Acrobat (reader and writer)
    • WinZip
    • Minitab
    • SigmaPlot
    • Firefox
  • All BAS PCs run Sophos Anti-Virus.
  • All Laptop users should bring with them all driver and recovery disks related to their equipment, plus an updated version of an anti-virus program.

Consumables:

  • There are NO spare media on base for any use. This includes ZIP disks, writable CD ROM disks or floppy disks. If you wish to make use of these facilities then you must bring your own media.
  • There is a limited supply of A4 & A3 paper for printing purposes.

Backups:

  • The Server is backed up on a daily basis. All files that you place on your N: drive (personal account space) will be backed up.
  • No backups are taken of the PCs local hard drives. You are responsible for backing up any files that you place on the PC local drives.

Email:

  • For BAS staff email is via IMAP (IE using Thunderbird). Full instructions will be given on base.
  • Non-BAS staff will have to use a web based email service such as hotmail or googlemail.
  • You should bring with you the full e-mail addresses of all those people that you wish to contact (both personal and work). Once you are South it may be difficult to 'lookup' email addresses.
  • The maximum size for any email both work related and personal is currently 10Mb, but please try to keep all emails/images much smaller. A standard text only email is about 5Kb.
  • All your email will be deleted once you leave Rothera (BAS staff only).

Security

  • If you are bringing your own laptop to Rothera it must have up to date anti-virus software on it. For personal use, we recommend NOD32 by ESET software (http://www.eset.co.uk/Products/SmartSecurity). Please bring the laptop to the comms manager before plugging in to the network.