These web pages are under construction. - Last updated by Tom Walter on (08/24/2005)

Computing in the Geography Department
How to get computing help:
  1. send email to geohelp@geo.hunter.cuny.edu for any computer hardware or software problem, printer problem, or lab-related environmental problem (too hot/cold).
  2. send email to geohelp@geo.hunter.cuny.edu to reserve a laptop, data projector or for help setting up/troubleshooting TVs, overhead projectors, etc.
  3. Click here for a template of information you can cut and paste into your email when requesting help. The more information you provide, the greater the chance your problem can be solved.
  4. Email to the geohelp account is read by Nguyen, Amy and Tom and the appropriate person will respond to your request.
Labs: The Geography Department has two computer labs located between the two elevator banks in the main corridor of the 10th floor North Building. The 1090B1 lab contains 14 PCs and the 1090B2 lab contains 24 PCs and there are lecturer PCs at the front of the lab rooms connected to permanently-mounted ceiling data projectors. All PCs are Dell Optiplex SX270s with 1-GB RAM and 19-inch flat panel displays.

The two labs are part of the Department's gigabit network that includes a Sun Microsystems file server with more than 2-TB of disk storage.
Lab Management & Personnel: Computing in the Geography Department is managed separately from the College's ICIT computer facilities. A departmental lab committee creates and manages computing protocol and manages the Department's IT staff. The lab committee can be contacted by sending email to lab@geo.hunter.cuny.edu.

The IT staff includes Tom Walter (tbwalter@geo.hunter.cuny.edu), Director of the computing labs whose responsibilities include the general management of the labs and Unix/Linux/network systems administration. Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen (nguyen04@geo.hunter.cuny.edu) is the Department's Windows systems administrator. Amy Jeu (amyjeu@geo.hunter.cuny.edu) is the Department's College Laboratory Technician (CLT).

Lab Usage: Only students, faculty, staff and researchers associated with Geography Department-related programs are permitted to use the facilities of the SPARS Laboratory. An application for an account is made to the Director of the SPARS Laboratory. To obtain a computer account on the department's network, you must file a User Account Request Form. These forms are usually provided by faculty in classes requiring accounts. Forms may also be downloaded, click here to download a form. The form should be returned to your instructor or put in Tom Walter's mail box in room 1006N.
Computer Labs Rules and Regulations
Computer Accounts: All users in the Department are assigned two accounts, a Windows account that allows you to log onto PCs in the Department running Microsoft Windows operating systems and a Unix/Linux account that allows you to log onto the Department's Unix and Linux computers. Both accounts have the same user name and both accounts have the same initial password. Passwords are managed separately for Windows and Unix/Linux. When you change your Windows password you don't change your Unix/Linux password. When you change your Unix/Linux password, you don't change your Windows password. There are separate password files for Windows and for Unix/Linux.
Passwords: You may use the same password for both your Windows and Unix/Linux accounts. It is important to use passwords that are difficult to crack. Refer to the Password Creation Rules web page for rules/suggestions about creating good passwords.
Logging Onto your Windows and Unix/Linux Accounts For The First Time: Your instructor will tell you the password to use for your initial log on to your Department accounts. The first time you log onto your Windows account you will be required to change your password. That is the log on program will require you to change your password before you can go further. You must follow the Password Creation Rules.

The first time you log onto your Unix/Linux account you must also change your password although the log on program will not prompt you to do so. Follow the instructions in the link Managing Your Account Passwords.
Logging Onto Your Windows Account: If you type in the wrong password three times in a row, your account will be locked for five minutes. There are several reasons why you may be typing in the wrong password. Maybe the Caps Lock key is pushed down and you are typing uppercase letters when you need lowercase. Maybe you're typing in an old password. Or maybe you just forgot the correct password. You can request that your password be reset to the original default password by sending email to geohelp@geo.hunter.cuny.edu. All email to geohelp goes to Tom Walter, Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen and Amy Jeu and the appropriate person will help you. During normal business hours you may also stop by our offices (Room 1003 - ring the doorbell) for help.
Logging Onto Your Unix/Linux Account: All users will have, at least, an account on the Linux computer, earth.geo.hunter.cuny.edu, commonly called earth (IP address: 146.95.2.5). You can log onto this computer from any computer within the Department and also from outside the Department, for example, from home. You need to use a free program called SSH (Secure SHell) to log onto earth. Click here for instructions on how to download this free program, install it and how to use it.

The first time you log onto your Unix/Linux account you must change your password. The log on program won't require you to do this but you must. Click here for instructions about logging onto your Unix/Linux account and how to change your password.

As explained above, both your Windows and Unix/Linux accounts have the same user name and both accounts have the same initial password. Passwords are managed separately for Windows and Unix/Linux. When you change your Windows password you don't change your Unix/Linux password. When you change your Unix/Linux password, you don't change your Windows password. There are separate password files for Windows and for Unix/Linux.
Your Windows PC Environment: All of the PCs in the 1090B-1 and 1090B-2 labs have a standard set of software installed (click here for list). When your PC and Unix/Linux accounts were created you were assigned a home directory (folder) on our Department's file server. This home directory can be found as the U: drive on the PCs. Every time you log on, no matter what PC you log onto, your home directory will be mounted as the U: drive.

Since your home directory is on the Department's Unix file server (called moon) special software is needed to allow the PC Windows XP operating system communicate with moon's Solaris 9 Unix operating system. The software is called Samba. Sometimes Samba has difficulty allowing XP and Solaris to communicate. You may log onto a PC and can't find your U: drive or you have logged on, had access to your U: dive and then lose access. Click here for instructions on manually mounting your U: drive.
Windows & Unix File Structures: You need to know something about how Windows and Unix/Linux store files and something about the names the different operating systems use because we have a Unix file server (moon) that stores all users files. In addition, all files relating to your web pages are stored on moon. There will be times when you'll have to log onto a Unix/Linux computer to deal with problems relating to your files. Click here for a discussion about Windows and Unix file structures.
File & Folder Permissions in Windows: Your home directory (a.k.a. folder) in Windows XP is mounted as your U: drive. This disk space is physically located on the Department's Sun Solaris Unix file server. As explained above, the program Samba, allows Windows XP to communicate with Sun Solaris Unix. It doesn't always work perfectly and so it is preferable to set file/directory permissions using Unix/Linux. See the link below for instructions.
File & Directory Permissions:
               - Using Unix/Linux command line.
               - Using SSH options
Organizing Your Files: It is essential that you organize your files from the very beginning. It is very difficult if not impossible to organize your files later in the semester. One reason is that programs such as ESRI's ArcGIS create many files while you are working on a project. If you don't create separate directories (aka folders) for each project, the files will be intermingled and you won't be able to determine which files belong to which project.
File & Directory Names: In both Unix/Linux and Windows XP, file and directory names are case sensitive. For example, the file name Tom.doc is different than tom.doc which is different than TOM.doc. The maximum file name length is quite long in both Windows XP and Unix/Linux so be descriptive. One difference between Windows and Unix/Linux, you can't use spaces in a Unix/Linux file name or directory but you can use spaces in Windows. Since our department uses both Windows and Unix/Linux we need to standardize and follow the more restrictive Unix/Linux rules. No spaces in file names or directory names.
The Unix/Linux Environment-Commands to Use
Printing:
 
Creating & Managing Web Pages
Removable Storage Media
Remote Access of Your Files (SSH)
Email