Home
Computing Services in the College

Introduction

The truth is that attempting to figure out “who” provides “what” in the way of computing services to the College of Engineering is a non-trivial task. It is hoped that this hitchhiker’s “Guide to the College of Engineering Computing Services” will give you the start you need. Good luck and good hunting.

Who To Get Help From

Departmental Computer Support Person (DCSP or DSP)

In general each Department will have a Computer support person. Your DCSP should be your first contact when questions arise. A list of those departments having a DCSP and how to contact your DCSP can be found at the DSPs by department page.

Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) Center

CAE is a College of Engineering organization that provides networking infrastructure, computer classrooms, open access computer labs and instructional computing resources such as user account and software application servers. Information about CAE can be obtained at our about CAE page.

CAE also has a Faculty Support Group (FSG) that provides technical support to your DCSP. The FSG also acts as the first contact for those departments that do not have a departmental computer support person. Information about CAE’s Faculty Support Group and those Departments having a DCSP can be found at the Faculty Support Group page.

College Of Engineering Website

Engineering External Relations office provides the administration of and some development work for the college's website. One of the services provided is that of hosting the College’s course web pages. Information about hosting course web pages can be obtained at the Engineering External Relations website.

Engineering Media Services (EMS) / Audio Visual Group

EMS is a College of Engineering organization that provides a wide range of instructional support from lending laptops, lending LCD projectors, video tapes courses, to technical support of the College’s multimedia capable classrooms. Information on the College’s multi-media classes can be obtained at the EMS website.

Engineering Graphics Lab

The Engineering Graphics Lab, which is part of the Engineering External Relations office, offers three primary areas of service: slide imaging, large format color prints, and color transparencies. Information about the EGL can be obtained at the Engineering Graphics Lab website.

Division of Information Technology (DoIT)

DoIT is a Madison campus organization that provides a broad range of services from dial-in access, providing account and mail servers, managing state-wide software licenses and sales to computer sales and repair. A complete listing of DoIT services can be found at DoIT's website.

 

How to Get Started

The FastStart page gives step by step instructions for getting started. This page lists some of these tasks (and others) in more detail and also links to other pages that have more detail.

You can obtain an e-mail account by following the instructions on the page.

Instructional Services

  • CAE is one of the College’s organizations that focus its effort on the delivery of instructional support services to the faculty and students. CAE performs this mission by providing user accounts and software application servers as well as computer classrooms and open computer access space. In addition CAE is responsible for the College’s networking infrastructure.

  1. A CAE user account is available to any faculty, staff, or student in the College of Engineering. A user account can be created for either the Windows NT/2000 and/or the UNIX environment. With your CAE account, you have access to a broad range of resources and services which include:

    • Networked file space, which is automatically backed up
    • Engineering and productivity software
    • Laser and color printers
    • Access to email and web pages
    • CD burner

    For more information about how to obtain a CAE account go to
    CAE's accounts page.

  2. Software application servers are available once the user logs in to an account server either from one of computer-equipped classrooms or from your office or research lab. (Having the software application server available automatically requires you to authenticate via the Novell client.) A list of available Engineering and productivity software can be found at CAE's software page.

    What is Tethered Software? Tethered software is a mechanism that allows you to locally install and run some of CAE owned and/or CAE licensed managed software. Why would I want to run tethered software?

    If you find that there is an engineering application that is not available, you can request new application software be added by contacting: software@cae.wisc.edu.

  3. CAE maintains a number of multiple-computer teaching classrooms. CAE has both Windows and Unix classrooms in which you can conduct a lecture and/or software training. Information concerning a specific classroom layout and the equipment configuration can be obtained at CAE's lab index page.

    The CAE classrooms are available for your use by reservation. For reservation information see Reserving a Classroom.

  4. CAE’s Open Access Computer Labs - CAE does have computer rooms which are 24-hour accessible and are not generally available for reservation. However any CAE classroom when not reserved is, by definition, a CAE Open Access Computer Lab where anyone with an account can use these computers. Information concerning the CAE lab layout and the equipment configuration can be obtained from CAE's Lab index page.

  5. During “normal” business hours, CAE provides student consultants who are available to assist other students, the faculty, or staff with their questions. Often these consultants can answer your operational questions, but at times the consultant may forward your question to others for the appropriate answer. The CAE consultants are located in Rm. 172 of 1410 Engineering Drive (the main CAE facility). The consultant’s telephone number is: 262-5349 or you can email them at: helpdesk@cae.wisc.edu.

  • College’s Instructional Technology (Multi-media) Classrooms

    Each of College’s multi-media classrooms has a podium. The podium contains a computer with network access to your CAE user account and software application server, a separate network connection where a laptop can be plugged in to, and a remote control touch-screen that allows either device to be projected with a LCD projector. These podiums may have a VCR and some rooms are equipped with wireless microphones. More information about a specific College IT classroom and its configuration can be obtained at the Engineering Media Services website.

  • Hosting Course / Instructional Web Pages

    1. The College offers a website where instructors can create a course homepage for any engineering class. The mechanism for doing so, called eCOW, is entirely web based so additional software is not needed. Further information may be obtained at the College of Engineering's eCOW webpage.

    2. To set up an account on the eCOW server, see the College of Engineering's eCOW account page.

Computer Support for Research

  • CAE provides a Condor service. Condor is a sophisticated software system that runs on a group of workstations to harness idle CPU cycles by running batch jobs. A Condor pool consists of any number of machines of possibly different architectures and operating systems that are connected by a network. For a more technical overview of Condor, see Overview of the Condor High Throughput Computing System at CAE's Condor page.
  • If your department has a department computer support person, that individual should be your contact for questions concerning your research computers.
  • CAE can provide some limited advice, but the current CAE mission does not provide for direct support of a research machine. For the most part you are on your own (with the assistance of your DCSP).

Computer and Printer Purchases

  • Each vendor maintains a website where purchasing information can be obtained. Now having said that, you still need to check – some software applications have specific hardware requirements and/or performance implications with certain configurations.
  • Often your best source for information about computer purchases can be obtained from your Departmental Computer Support Person.
  • CAE’s Faculty Support Group is willing to discuss your specific system requirements and computer configuration.
  • DoIT maintains a “showroom” where users can obtain information on either computers or printers before purchasing. The DoIT showroom is located at 1210 W. Dayton Street. One limitation of the DoIT showroom is that the showroom features only a small number of vendors and models. However, the DoIT showroom is a good place to visit and obtain information in a “non-sales environment”.
  • As a note - in late May or June, CAE usually has a very limited number of “used” computers available for purchase by departments and researchers. These used computers come from the CAE Open Access labs or CAE classrooms and are sold “as is” with no warranty implied or intended.

Computer Hardware Maintenance

  • In most cases the vendor provides your computer support under their warranty contract that was set up when the item was purchased.
  • DoIT does maintain an “installation and repair service”. More information can be obtained at DoIT's website.
  • DoIT also has a “Tech Store” where computer add-ons or replacement parts can be purchased. More information can be obtained at DoIT's Tech Store webpage.
  • CAE has no provisions to provide hardware maintenance for your office or lab equipment.

DSL or Cable Modem Services

  • You will need to contact the specific provider directly be that TDS (or others) for DSL service or Charter Communications for Cable Modem service. In the past DoIT had acted as an agent between these providers and the University community but DoIT is removing itself from this service. You can obtain more information from DoIT's website.
  • Computer security on a DSL or Cable Modem service is always a concern. The CAE’s Faculty Support Group has done an evaluation of the existing computer firewalls. You can obtain a summary of the FSG’s evaluation at CAE's firewall page.
  • Once you have your DSL or Cable Modem service is installed and you want to connect to one of the College’s servers, contact the FSG at 2-6736 to obtain the information to allow your home computer access through the College’s firewall.

Back to top