General Computing Information

The Economics Department supports both an expansive Windows/Novell-based and a Unix-based computer environment.

The Windows/Novell-based network consists of approximately 250 high-end personal computers in faculty, staff, and graduate student offices and experimental/computer labs. The currently deployed desktop operating system is Windows 7. The Windows computers are linked via a Novell network which provides access to a variety of software, data, and large areas of disk space. In addition, there is a large volume of disk space available on individual desktop machines.

The Unix-based network consists of a high-end cluster. The Unix network also provides access to a variety of software, data and large areas of disk space.

The Department's email server runs Novell's GroupWise. Email can be accessed via a GroupWise client or via the web at http://webmail.econ.umd.edu. The email server can also be accessed via IMAP compliant email clients.

For more details of the Economics Department's computing environment, return to Departmental Computers and select the appropriate link.

Network Login/Logoff

Every faculty, staff, and graduate student in the Department is given an account on the Windows/Novell network with a user name and password. Additionally every faculty, staff, and graduate student in the Department is also given an account on the Department's GroupWise email server. Those accounts are typically created automatically for all members of the Department by the Windows/Novell network administrator. Users can request that their email is forwarded to some other email account by contacting the network administrator. To gain access to the Novell network, the user has to login with her/his user name and password. A login screen is automatically presented upon startup of the desktop computer. To log out from the network, go to "Start," click on "Log off," and follow the directions. In the graduate computer labs, a previous user may have forgotten to log out of the network. In this case, go to "Start," click on "Log off," and follow the directions. Upon login to the Novell network, faculty and staff are also automatically logged into GroupWise email server, and can access their email via with the GroupWise email client. However, the GroupWise email server is also accessible without having to log into the Novell network (e.g., from home). For more info, click on the link Email.

Network Disk Space

Upon login to the network the user gains access to several network drives. Some of the drives are read-only and are only used by the network administrator. By default, the user has read-write access to the H-, I-, and T-network disk drives.

The H-drive provides shared network disk space for faculty and staff. Each faculty and staff member has a directory on this drive. Graduate students can store files on the drive under a directory of a faculty member, with the permission of that faculty member.
The I-drive provides "personal" disk space. By default that space is limited to 100 MB for faculty and staff and 60 MB for graduate students. Users can request more space from the network administrator. For graduate students, this request must be supported by a faculty member.
The T-drive provides temporary disk space of 5,000 MB. All files older than 15 days will be removed automatically from this drive.

Faculty members can also request additional disk drives for their research from the network administrator. Such a drive can also be shared with a graduate student.

Printing

All faculty and staff computers are connected to a local printers. The Department also maintains black and white network printers in the main office and graduate computer labs as well as a color network printer in the main office. These printers can be accessed from Windows/Linux/MAC software by selecting the appropriate printer driver. The names of the printer drivers include the room number of the respective network printers. Users can also create PDF files by printing with CutePDF via their list of printers.

For graduate students, printing is monitored. For details, see printers.

Applications Menu

Access to software as well as various data and information sources is provided though two menus. The "Top Applications" provides quick access to some of the most frequently used applications. The "Applications Network Menu" provides access to a large selection of application software and data and information sources. Both menus can be access by clicking on the "Start" button and then selecting the appropriate entry. The following screen shot gives an illustration of the "Network Applications Menu".

DEKS 1

DEKS 2

As seen from the above screen shot from the "Applications Network Menu," the user can access several major submenus.

Each submenu offers access to a variety of software. The Department supports most standard econometrics/statistical and mathematical computing software. For more details, click on the links Econometric and Statistical Software and Mathematical Computing Software.

FTP Server

Some users may wish to grant others the right to send to or retrieve files directly from their network drives. This can be done by the network administrator at the request of the user.

Scanner

To scan documents, users can use the scanner located in the main office. For instructions on how to use the scanner, click on the link Scanner.