Biology Computing FAQ
Policies
Official UF policies about acceptable use of computers and networks, copyright,
and “fair use” (what you may legally copy, e.g. for use in courses).
Most of this is common sense, but you are responsible for knowing it! If in doubt,
read on (or ask Biology Commputing Support).
UF IT Policies http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/
CLAS-IT Policies http://it.clas.ufl.edu/policies/
Acceptable Use http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/aupolicy.html
Computer and Printer Purchasing http://it.clas.ufl.edu/policies/computer-and-printer-purchasing-policy/
Mobile Computing and Storage Devices Policy http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/mobilecomputingpolicy.html
Copyright FAQ:
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#what
More on Copyright:
http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/admin/Copyright/Internet_Sites_of_Interest.html
Fair Use
UF Policy: http://www.generalcounsel.ufl.edu/faq/Copyright.pdf
Crash Course:
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
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Security
Physical Security
Theft is a reality anywhere, but especially on college campuses. Ensure that
you, and your office/lab mates, close your office and lab doors when you are not
present.
However, you may forget – or your roommates may – and it only takes
a couple of seconds to steal a laptop computer (digital camera, video camera, IPod,
wallet …). In Biology we have lost about two laptops a year over past few
years. Buy a locking cable for your laptop. You can get this online or at a local
office supply store or the UF bookstore on Museum Road for around $35-40.
University Police Department provides a
free service to the UF community by engraving personal computers, personal electronics,
and bicycles with your driver’s license number or UFID. They also provide
a personal property registration service which helps you to recover your property
if it is stolen.
Computer Security
Keeping your computer up to date with security updates, virus scan, and firewall
is your responsibility. UF has a contract with McAfee so antivirus software
is free for faculty and employees, at home as well as in the office. If you get
a virus or spyware, or someone hacks into your computer and it is detected by UF
Security Response team, your computer will lose access to the network and you might
have to pay someone to reinstall your system from scratch before it can be reconnected
to the network (not to mention that your computer and your data (!!) could be trashed).
This is a waste of time for everyone. It is much more efficient to be proactive
and keep your computer up to date. If you have questions or doubts about how to
keep your computer up to date contact us
and we can help.
We all get more spam email than we want. Educate yourself about the scams that people
are running. If you get an email saying that you won the lottery it is a scam. Be
careful clicking links in emails. Some links take you to malicious web pages to
infect your computer, or steal passwords and personal information. Learn how to
protect yourself at http://infosec.ufl.edu/athome/idtheft.shtml.
Your Gatorlink Password is not to be shared. You can be held liable for what others
do with your username and password. Guard it and keep it personal. If you
need to share data with someone else contact
us and we can help you setup a shared folder on the server or make other
recommendations.
For more information on these and more topics, visit:
http://infosec.ufl.edu/athome/
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Getting Access to the Network
There are two ways that individuals access the network.
Wired Connection- Only devices purchased with UF funds and managed by CLAS-IT can have access to the wired network. Submit a service request to for network access. Please read CLAS-IT's Network Connection Policy regarding the use of the UF network.
Wireless Connection- Wireless is installed throughout Bartram and Carr Halls. The University of Florida is home to a new wireless network that improves security and is easier to use. Additionally, the new authentication process makes staying connected to the network a better experience for all Mobile devices. Instructions for configuring your device for the campus network are available at http://getonline.ufl.edu.
All computers attempting to connect to the UF wireless network must meet the minimum security requirements established by the university. For more information visit the FAQ.
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UF Resources
UF VPN- The VPN provides access to UF network from home or the field. It
does require that you have an internet connection. Software can be obtained at no
charge from http://net-services.ufl.edu/provided_services/vpn/
library Access away from campus-
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufproxy.html
UF HPC- Information on utilizing UF’s High
Performance Cluster can be found at http://www.hpc.ufl.edu/
Poster printing- Two locations on campus provide
poster printing services, the Computer Science Lab and the Architecture Lab.
Computer Science instructions can be found at
http://agenetwork.phhp.ufl.edu/training/circa_poster.html or
Architecture Lab
http://labs.circa.ufl.edu/architecture.php
Tips for Printing Large-Format Posters at the Architecture Lab
Go to the Architecture lab early in the morning or on the weekend to print out!
Busiest time is 10 am-2 pm, M-F.
Ask for help from the students working there.
Do NOT allow them to turn your poster into a “jpg” (graphic format)
file before they send it to the printer, as this makes the font blurry.
Printing can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours, depending on how many jobs
are ahead of yours in the queue.
Be aware that some colors don’t print out as you would expect based on how
they look on the monitor. If you choose a blue color that is close to the purples
on the color scheme in power point, for example, it prints purple on the plotter
(the large-format printer). Pick colors closer to the left on the blues.
Make sure you know your gatorlink ID and password, or you won’t be able to
print!
COSTS about $3, this will be charged directly to you.
Hint- Take a cardboard tube (old wrapping paper tubes are the perfect size
for this) with you in which to store your poster. This protects it until you have
a chance to laminate it, if you will be laminating. It may not be worth laminating
($40-100+, at Kinko’s, BMS, Target Copy, or the Department of Occupational
Therapy).
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Biology Resources
Authenticating with Gatorlink
When challenged for a username and password for any Biology computer resource you
will log in with your Gatorlink username and password. With the exception of logging
into computers, when you are asked for a username and password, enter it as ufad\yourusername
and enter your password in the password field.
If the above procedure does not work there is a troubleshooting page at
this link
Grad Lab
The Biology department provides 2 computers for graduate student use. These computers
are in the McEdward Lab which is in Carr 611 and can be accessed using a code. If
you need access contact Pete in the Stockroom (Bartram B10). These computers have
the following additional software installed: MS Office 2010, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard, Adobe Acrobat Professional, ArcGIS, Gimp, Google Earth, ImageJ, JMP, Kompozer (simple HTML editor),
Matlab, Mathematica, Praat, PuTTY, R, RStudio, SPSS, SAS, R, Sigma Plot, and Photoshop. There are also scanners and printers
available in this lab.
Printers
Printers are managed by CLAS-IT.
CLAS-IT provides printer hosting on the network via a Windows print server. This service includes printer troubleshooting, setup and configuration. Permissions to each printer are granted by CLAS IT at the direction of the individual department managers, and set with AD security groups
CLAS IT is responsible for supporting the server infrastructure, granting printer access and permissions, and making backups and recovering from server problems.
For active directory-joined Windows workstations, printers are applied by group policy and should already be available. Mac and Linux users can manually add network printers if they have permission to print to them. Permissions for printers are determined by each department.
File Space
All network files storage is managed by CLAS-IT.
CLAS IT offers secure hosting to faculty, staff, and department. Departments have access to shared departmental drives (shares) that can be used for sharing documents with multiple users. Each CLAS Employee has access to a drive for storing individual user data (home drive). All files in these network drives are regularly backed up and can be accessed remotely from other computers.
What to Store on Shared Drives
Shared file storage is intended for academic use. If you have temporary files that do not need to be backed up or large files that only need to be stored on the local computer, avoid saving to your shared drive or the Documents folder. For example, save temporary files to a folder on the Desktop. For network drive policies, see the Account Policy.
Connecting to Shared Drives
Mac and Linux users must manually map their drives in order to access network drive files. The same is true if connecting from off-campus or using campus wireless, On CLAS-managed computers, departmental shares and home drives are available on your machine when you log in. See Help and How-to – Remote Access to Files
Personal web space
Personal web space is managed by CLAS-IT.
CLAS IT provides hosting for CLAS department and center web sites as well as for faculty and staff sites. CLAS IT maintains web servers and manages access to CLAS web sites.
Department Web space (W:) – Department web space is available for users who are department webmasters.
Personal Web space (I:) – This web space is available to faculty and staff by request. Access is limited to the account user. On CLAS-managed workstations, saving files to the I: drive makes them public on the web.
**Note: Since not everyone creates a personal website these folders are
created on demand. Department contacts and office managers can request personal web space, change permissions, and designate a department webmaster using the Account Update form.
WordPress Sites
Departments and staff in the college can request a WordPress site hosted by CLAS IT. WordPress is software that allows anyone to easily create web sites and edit pages using a web browser.
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Class Websites
There are two ways that most instructors manage course websites. First is through
the use of e-learning. You can get more information on e-learning at this site
https://lss.at.ufl.edu/.
The second way that instructors manage course websites is through locally hosted
websites. The following instructions give information needed to access this
space.
The space is organized by course number then term and then by instructors last
name. Each semester the directories are setup for all courses for that term and
the primary instructor is given access to the space. If a TA also needs access
to modify the page and upload files for students then an email should be sent to biocomp@biology.ufl.edu with the course number and TA's Gatorlink account name.
When you create a webpage use the name index.html as your home page.
Accessing the space.
Windows users- click start and then run and paste
\\bio-server01.ad.ufl.edu\courses into the blank and choose ok. This will bring
up a window that will let you browse to course name, then term, and last to the
instructors last name.
Mac users- go to Finder and choose Go and Connect to Server. In the blank, paste
smb://bio-server01.ad.ufl.edu/courses. When challenged for a username enter your
Gatorlink username and password. Use UFAD as the domain. This will bring up a
window that will let you browse to course name, then term, and last to the
instructors last name.
What is my url for the course page? When you have uploaded an index page to your
class space the url will be as follows:
http://www.biology.ufl.edu/courses/(coursenumber)/(term)/(instructor last name)
So if John Smith is teaching pcb4063 in Spring 2010 the url for his course would
be
http://www.biology.ufl.edu/courses/pcb4063/2010spring/smith
The Password folder. Each course directory contains a folder named password. Any
files placed in this directory will require a username and password to access
the files. By default anyone with a gatorlink username and password can access
the files. These files can be limited to the class only by request.
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Email
Web Mail- can
be accessed at http://www.mail.ufl.edu/
Web mail for non Exchange users can be accessed at https://webmail.ufl.edu/
Addresses and Forwarding
The Provost no longer allows forwarding for users of the Exchange email system.
UF email policy does not allow email to be forwarded to personal accounts like Gmail
or Hotmail. You should use your UF email account for all university correspondence.
How to setup an email client
Exchange Email http://www.mail.ufl.edu/connecting.shtml
UF Email http://help.gatorlink.ufl.edu/email.html
Sending and Receiving Fax via Email (eFax)
Exchange users (faculty and staff) may now send faxes via email. This service reduces the need for fax machines and printing costs. Supported document formats are PDF, HTML, JPG, GIF, RTF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Outbound international faxes are blocked.
In order to begin receiving faxes via email, your department must have a fax email account associated with a fax number. An existing fax number can be ported over to this service. See Requesting a Fax Email Account for details.
How to eFax.
Biology Email Lists
faculty@biology.ufl.edu: tenure-track,
emeritus, courtesy, FLMNH faculty, and scientist.
grads@biology.ufl.edu: graduate students
postdocs@biology.ufl.edu: postdocs and visiting scholars
staff@biology.ufl.edu: departmental
staff
biology@clas.ufl.edu: all members
of the department
acad@biology.ufl.edu: all faculty,
graduate students, postdocs, and visitors
gradfaculty@biology.ufl.edu: graduate advisors
Other Lists
biopcardholders-l@lists.ufl.edu:
email to all pcard holders in the department
biocardmgrs-l@lists.ufl.edu: email
all fiscal pcard managers. This is where you email order receipts and packing
slips.
biocomp@biology.ufl.edu: computer
support requests
biotravel-l@lists.ufl.edu: Travel requests
grantmgrs@biology.ufl.edu: grant managers (Hal Daniels and Rumei Li)
To send to any of the UFL lists just send an email to the appropriate address above.
You must use your official UF email to send to these lists.
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Software
Special Pricing and Site Licenses
A full list of software for which UF has some kind of site license is at
http://www.software.ufl.edu. If you need to order something from this list
contact us.
Virus Scan can be obtained for free at
http://www.software.ufl.edu/mcafee/.
MS Office and MS Windows Operating Systems
Office and Windows are available to all employees of UF. If you receive a paycheck
from UF you are considered an employee. All employees are entitled to a work at
home copy of Windows and Office. To obtain your copy take
your GatorOne card and a paystub to the bookstore. The bookstore will charge a small
fee for the media.
The grad machines in the McEdward lab have the following software installed: MS Office 2010, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard, Adobe Acrobat Professional, ArcGIS, Gimp, Google Earth, ImageJ, JMP, Kompozer (simple HTML editor),
Matlab, Mathematica, Praat, PuTTY, R, RStudio, SPSS, SAS, R, Sigma Plot, and Photoshop.
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Research and bibliographic tools: web-based and other
Bibliographic software
UF does not have a site license for End Note. It can be purchased from the UF bookstore
for around $100. Free online training can be found at http://www.endnote.com/training/.
Zotero is a free alternative. More information can be found at
http://www.zotero.org/
ISI web of science (available on campus, or via VPN) A tutorial on WOS can be found
at http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/tutorials/wos7/
Google scholar tutorial can be found at
http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html main page
http://scholar.google.com/
UF library e-journals http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/journals.html
For information on DOI (A DOI name - a digital identifier for any object of intellectual
property) visit http://www.doi.org/index.html.
To resolve a DOI name visit http://dx.doi.org/.
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