University of Minnesota

Institute of Technology

Minutes of ITICC Meeting

October 13, 2001

3:40 p.m., 170 Physics

Present: Graham Allen (Phys), Gary Balas (Aero), Randal Barnes (CivE), John Baxter (Math), Bryan Carlson (ADCS), Tom Chase (ME), Eric Ganz (Phys), John Hall (Math), Andrew Hamann (ITSB), John Hickey (CScsiE), Peter Hudleston (IT Stud Aff), Satish Kumar (CEMS), Jerry Larson (ADCS), Larry LeMay (ADCS), Dan MacEwan (Chem), Jim MacDonald (CSE&ITLabs ), Robin Panda (EE), Jeremy Pape (ME), Karen Swanberg (Geol), Dale Swanson (EE), Doug Victoria (CCE)

1) Status reports from CSci and ADCS

Larson noted that all the labs (including Lind 24, which had not been open for general use at the start of the semester) are now running on a full schedule of hours, there having been some problems initially with adjusting the shifts of the lab consultants. He also noted that we will be running extended hours in ME 308 for the last 3-4 weeks of the semester, as we had in the past.

Pape reported problems using the SGI’s in ME 308. Includes frequent crashing when running g++, and problems running ProE. He asked if the software runs in the labs on both SGI and Suns. MacDonald said yes, but there may be problems because industry is withdrawing support for SGIs. ProE is now mainly being supported for Windows. It seems it is the newest version of ProE that has problems on SGI. As for g++, it is recommended that students use the SGI C++ compiler. Macdonald reminded the committee that the remaining 21 SGIs in ME 398 are scheduled to be replaced next June. The question was asked if there is any software that runs on the SGIs but not the Suns, which could present a problem when all the SGIs are gone? Linkages is one (the only?) such package.

2) Presentation of Proposal for Lab Improvements for Fall 2001

MacDonald distributed the preliminary list of proposed improvements to the public labs for this fall. These include:

· Two HPLaser Jet printers, one 5000 model for ME 308 and one 4100 for CE 230.

· A new back up system is needed for the Windows NT side. The proposal is to move the current Unix back-up system to Windows NT and replace the Unix system. We will move away from DLT technology.

· Money needs to be set aside for maintenance and support of the Suns purchased last spring, Macdonald inadvertently omitted this from the (approved) spring proposals.

· Two network switches are needed for CE 230, where we have run out of network ports with the expansion of seats. The retired Cisco 2924 switches will be used as spares.

· We need to purchase a number of licenses of Adobe Acrobat (30) and Adobe PhotoShop (10), which are handled by a key server. These number may need to be adjusted.

· One more Windows machine is needed to fill a created seat in EECS 3-170. [Details of all this can be found at the IT lab web site.]

The question of whether or not we should include MS Project software was raised. This has been requested by faculty in ME, but is expensive (and is not part of any site license agreement). The IT Tech committee had understood that only a handful of students would be using this, but Chase said that many/all ME students doing senior design need to use Project in order to produce Gantt charts. Pape said that students are often asked by companies if they are familiar with Project – it is an industry standard. There is a problem with buying just a handful of licenses because Microsoft does not allow use of a key server with Project, so it would be tied to specific machines, which goes against the policy of IT labs. There was discussion about whether or not Visio had the capability of producing Gantt charts, with opposing views presented. It was agreed that the software was important enough that we should include it. It was further agreed that we should explore the possibility of getting a gift of the software through an agreement with Microsoft Research.

The ITIC Tech Committee will refine the list and bring it for formal vote at the ITICC meeting of November 11.

3) Other Business

Swanberg asked Macdonald if he could give details about the new software contract (under the MSDN Academic Alliance Program ) with Microsoft. Macdonald said this is now in effect. It costs $700 for initial buy in (and this was paid for us by Microsoft Research). Software covered by the contract is available to any department in IT, both to faculty and students. It is not available to other departments or colleges, and cannot be used by departmental offices. It includes all development toolkits and operating systems. It can be run on any number of machines. It can be distributed using but CDs, but these must be returned. The software is however only for teaching and research. Microsoft Office is not covered. Bryan Carlson will work out details of distribution. If we use a distribution server, there will need to be a mechanism to check the user is in IT.

Macdonald noted that we can now use Win2K Server instead of Win2K Pro. Win2K Server is not part of the University's Campus Agreement with MS, but now that we are in the MSDN Academic Alliance, we can run Win2K Server everywhere. Win2K Pro (and all other versions of Win2K) does not support the Terminal-Server service. Win2K Server, by contrast, allows an administrator to do a remote login to any computer running the Terminal-Server service.

Hudleston mentioned that the expanded ADCS computer lab (about 100 seats) will be coming into operation in the renovated Walter Library next year. When this happens, IT will take over Lind 26, the ADCS operation which in a sense is being combined with the old Walter lab to produce one large facility. ADCS is seeking college support for installing computers in the new Walter lab, for which no funds have been budgeted with the remodeling of Walter (and even if they had been budgeted they likely would have been lost due to cost overruns). Hudleston said he sympathetic to this, because the resources available to ADCS have been shrinking, and the bulk of the funds for instructional computing is in the colleges, coming from the technology fees. Most importantly, the ADCS labs do benefit IT students, as well as those of other colleges. It is likely that CLA will participate in this, and Hudleston feels IT should consider it also. At peak hours currently, there are no seats on Windows machines in the IT labs, and we do not have the option of increasing the number of labs, with such pressure on space. In one sense, buying into the Walter facility could be considered a way to increase the number of seats available for IT students. In addition, the new lab will be open on a 24-hour schedule, and this will provide additional access to our students. The form of support we might be asked to provide is yet to be determined, but it likely would include purchase of a certain number of machines. It would likely include work stations, which currently are not accessible on a 24-hour basis. We would need to work out an arrangement that would allow our students use of IT lab software in Walter. MacDonald said that in the near future the IT lab domain will be accessible from any machine on campus, so that students would be able to log into their IT accounts from the new lab. The big issue would be to work out arrangement for use of software, which is currently installed on all IT machines.

Hudleston said we can expect ADCS to come to ITICC with a proposal, which we can then discuss. He wanted to give the committee a heads up for this likelihood.

IT students use Lind 26 and in the past also used the old Walter lab. They can be expected to use the new Walter facility in some numbers.

MacEwan recommended that if ITICC consider support for the Walter lab, it should do so for the new lab in the renovated Coffman Union at the same time. This lab will be coming on line later.