Following an extensive trial in 1995 amongst LITEs (Local IT Experts) and LANADs (Local Area Network Administrators), Eudora has become the recommended and preferred electronic mail system in the University of Melbourne for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Since then, departments of the University have been migrating from Banyan Mail to Eudora. Migration brings many benefits, the most important being: a faster and more reliable service; improved directory services; easy conversion of attachments across operating systems; filtering; and the inclusion of active URLs. Use of eudora mail does not require proprietary gateways to access the internet, which have been a major cause of breakdowns and disruptions to email delivery in the past.
Given the shift in resource requirements, ITS will be phasing out central maintenance and support of Banyan Mail services. On 30th September 1998, the Banyan Mail SMTP gateway will be decommissioned. Documented procedures for moving Banyan Mail users to Eudora will be made available to LITEs & LANADs by June.
For further information please contact Susan Parker (Ph: 9344 6840 or s.parker@its.unimelb.edu.au).
As a member of the Apple University Consortium (AUC), a percentage of all Apple purchasing through University Computer Supplies is rebated from the Apple University Development Fund (AUDF) for Apple related development.
In 1998 $33,000 of the local fund has been used to support the following developers:
 | June Gassin, Horwood Language Centre - the VITAL (Versatile, Integrated, Teaching & Learning) Environment |
| Rob Kemm, Physiology - Disseminating Multimedia Modules |
| Rosemary King, Study Abroad & Student Exchanges - Integrated Electronic Records Management |
| Alan Mayne, History - The Carlton Time Tunnel: Making History on the Web |
| Jon Pearce, Physics - Controlling QuickTime through Java in the "Real-World" Physics Project |
Central funds will be allocated for 1999 developments later in the year. The application form is available from; "ITS MAC PUBLIC ACCESS:University Documents:AUDF". Further details and the selection criteria will be published in the July ITS Newsletter and applications will close on 14 August.
During 1997 Information Technology Services tendered for a replacement Datastore. A Datastore is a system that facilitates central backup and archive of university data. ITS received 9 responses to the tender. Analysing the tenders produced a short list of 4 contenders. After technical discussions with each of the vendors and further analysis, IBM was chosen as the preferred hardware and software supplier. The new system consists of an RS/6000 with SSA disks, 3575 tape library system and the Adstar Distributed Storage Management software (ADSM).
The new Datastore has additional functionality to the existing Datastore. The new system will provide Backup and Archive as well as Hierachical Storage Manager (HSM). The existing Datastore (Voltaire) only provides HSM capability. ADSM supports many client platforms including Macintosh, PC (Windows 3.11, 95, NT) and varieties of Unix. The client code is available on the web. For more details about ADSM see: <http://www.storage.ibm.com/software/adsm/adsmhome.htm>.
The new Datastore has been installed and ITS is currently setting up and testing the Backup and Archive functions of the new Datastore. The client software is being testing on Windows NT, Macintosh and some Unix platforms (Digital Unix, Solaris, AIX and SunOS). ITS is also testing ADSM server configurations and Disaster Recovery. The new Datastore is expected to be available to the University community in the June/July timeframe.
The University of Melbourne has access to a number of different high-performance computing (HPC) platforms. These include Parallel Vector Processors, Distributed Memory Massively Parallel Processors and Very Large Memory machines. These are available to Researchers (both staff and post-graduate students) with large computing requirements via Research Allocation Scheme (RAS) grants. In conjunction with the above, ITS also provides technical computing support to researchers in the University. People who wish to use the HPC facilities should avail themselves of this before making an application for a RAS grant. This support is also available to research users with technical computing problems which may not warrant using the HPC machines.
Support is offered for:
| Algorithm Design |
| Code Optimization |
| Code Debugging |
| Porting code from one machine to another |
| Access to and use of libraries such as IMSL, DXML, etc |
Note: we do not write code (although we may be able to offer advice while you are writing)
In addition to the one-on-one support above, ITS also makes some software available on various machines. This includes SPSS, Visual Numerics, CA Disspla, etc. Other software can be added to this list if it is deemed to be of general use.
To make use of this service or apply for a RAS grant contact Dirk van der Knijff via email at dirk@its.unimelb.edu.au.
More information is available at:
<http://rubens.its.unimelb.edu.au/ormond/uom_hpc.htmlx>
Recent versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access will let you customise the toolbars in order to display the commands you use most frequently, or find most useful.
From View, Toolbars select Customize and click on the Commands tab. (For all applications other than Access, you can also access this from Tools, Customize.)
A dialog like the one below appears:
Select a category, then a command. The Description box gives you a short definition of whichever Command is highlighted.
To add a command to your toolbar, drag the command to the desired location with the mouse, then let go. An icon for that command appears on the toolbar. Re-ordering commands requires that you drag them to the new location.
If you want to remove a command completely, drag it off the toolbar and onto the document area, then let go with the mouse.
Click the Close button to exit.
Changes made to toolbars are saved with the program, not with the document.
The following is a summary of an article originally published last December, written as a followup article to Total Cost of Ownership (November).
The cost of ownership of a Mac, PC or workstation is far greater than the initial purchase price. As an alternative consider using the ITS central timeshare services RUBENS and ARIEL. These powerful servers provide a wide range of functions and commercial and public domain software. They are secure, robust and reliable.
Runs SunOS Unix with all the well-known Unix software and features. It also has a number of useful software packages including Maple, SPSS, IMSL, Nudist, C, web server, S, F77, and Ingres.
Runs OpenVMS, a rich-featured and versatile operating system, providing an english-language style of interface, which is easy and intuitive to use. Software packages include SPSS, SAS, BMDP, Minitab, Ingres, DISSPLA (graphics), Genstat, Glim, IMSL, BLAS, web server, F77, F90, C, C++, Pascal and LaTeX. RUBENS also runs the international standard Posix environment if you are more familiar with Unix. RUBENS offers large disk storage and a variety of tape drives - DLT, 9-track and DAT. All accounts come ready to immediately serve documents to the web.
Both servers perform reliable daily disk backups.
For more information on these servers, contact ITS Tech Support (Ph: 9344 4488).
If you have created a web site using FrontPage 98, you will be aware that FrontPage creates several mysteriously named folders such as "_vti_cnf" or "_vti_log".
If you are transferring your FrontPage web content to a server that does not have FrontPage extensions installed, folders beginning with "_vti_" need not be copied, as they are useful only if the extensions are present.
If you decide to create a FrontPage web in a directory on your disk drive, FrontPage is happy to oblige. Simply type the directory you would like to use.
If the directory exists, FrontPage asks if you would like to convert the directory into a FrontPage web. Assuming you’ve selected the correct directory, click on "Yes" and FrontPage will perform the conversion.
From this point on, FrontPage will treat this directory as a FrontPage web. Choosing the option to delete the FrontPage web will result in the entire directory being deleted, even if it contained files before it was converted.
So, how is it possible to delete the entire hard disk using FrontPage?
If the directory you choose to convert to a FrontPage web just happens to be your root directory (C:\), when you choose to delete the FrontPage web, guess what? All the files that were in that directory before the conversion get deleted too! What do these files represent? Normally, your operating system, applications and data files! That is, everything on your "C:" drive.
It isn’t easy to accidentally delete your hard disk this way. Several dialogue boxes ask for confirmation before continuing. Microsoft, while at pains to point out that FrontPage 98 is pretty much doing as it’s told in this instance, intend to "...work to eliminate any possibility of user confusion in this area" in future issues of the product.
Micro Parts Computer Corporation has been a member of the University’s Panel for the Supply of Small Computer Systems since 1995 and since their introduction, they have installed over 600 systems into the University.
A fact that is often unknown about Microparts is their special warranty service commitment to the University. Microparts formally guarantee to have an engineer on-site next business day and to have provided a twenty-four hour fault resolution to any hardware service call.
It’s this commitment to service which has enabled Microparts to build an impressive list of other Tertiary Education clients including Monash , Latrobe, Deakin and Swinburne Universities, plus Northern Melbourne, Barton and Holmesglen TAFE colleges.
The University’s Bailieu Library is a major user of Microparts’ Paragon Systems, having repeatedly purchased their hardware. They are happy in the knowledge that a useful on-site warranty and a co-operative business relationship protect their systems.
Further information of the range of Microparts systems can be obtained from the UCS Build and Ship facility located at: <http://www.its.unimelb.edu.au/ucs/pricelist/online/>
In both packages values of date variables are stored as number of days since midnight, 14th October 1582, the day the Gregorian Calendar started. Let’s say that db is a variable that contains ‘date of birth’.
An aproximate formula for computing age follows.
COMPUTE age = TRUNC ( ( $jdate - yrmoda(xdate.year(db) , xdate.month(db) , xdate.mday(db) ) ) / 365.25 )
where: $jdate is the system variable which returns the number of days between
15.10.1582 and today, using the Gregorian Calendar;
xdate.year, xdate.month , xdate.mday are functions which extract
year, month, day from db;
yrmoda is the function which calculates number of days between 15.10.1582 and
"unpacked" db;
and trunc is the function which extracts years - integer part of the result.
age = INT ( (today( ) - db) / 365.25 )
where: today() is the function which returns the number of days between
15.10.1582;
and today and INT is the function which extracts years - integer part of the
result.
Have you installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) and wished you hadn’t because now the appearance of your desktop has completely changed? Here are a few tips on how to win back control over your Win95/NT desktop.
IE4 installs the Shell Integration Module that changes the Win95/NT interface.
| Open Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs |
| Highlight "Microsoft Internet Explorer - Shell Integration Mode" |
| Click the "Add/Remove button |
Rather than removing the shell, Windows gives you the option to turn it on or off. This disables all the interface enhancements.
| Right-click an empty area of the desktop |
| Deselect Active Desktop |
| Right-click any unwanted toolbars on the Taskbar and select close |
| From Explorer’s View menu, select Options |
| Choose the View tab |
| Pick the option that reads "Display standard Windows appearance". |
System folders such as Control Panels also have a Web View that you can turn off from the View menu’s Web View option.
Last month University Computer Supplies arranged a presentation on ‘Norton Your Eyes Only’.
Held in Theatre B of Old Arts the presentation focused on software security and how to secure your files from prying eyes using ‘Norton Your Eyes Only’.
The seminar was the first in a bi-monthly series being facilitated by UCS. Notification of these seminars is sent to all Heads of Departments and LITEs.
Further information about the product ‘Norton Your Eyes Only’ is available from UCS or visit the Website at:
<http://www.its.unimelb.edu.au/ucs/pricelist/software>
Recent versions of Microsoft Word allow you to create mathematical equations and insert them into your document with ease. These equations can be formatted in a variety of ways, and as they generate a caption, this may be included in your table of contents.
To create an equation, position your cursor where you wish it to be inserted and from the Insert menu select Object.
A dialog box appears. Click on Microsoft Equation 3.0. Ensure the Float Over Text box is NOT checked. Click OK.
Word starts up the equation editor: menus change; a floating Equation toolbar appears; an equation area is displayed; and a caption area for the equation is created.
The cursor is positioned inside the equation area. Type your equation using the keyboard, items from the toolbar and the Style and Size menus.
Hover over any button in the Equation toolbar to see a description of each button. Clicking any button in the toolbar displays a selection of options available.
When finished, click outside the equation area to return to Word.
Click after the caption opening and type an entry (or delete it altogether if not required).
You may choose to add the caption to a Table of Contents by using the command under Insert, Indexes and Tables, Table of Figures. Under options ask it to generate using the caption style.
To re-edit an equation, double click it.
