- Memorize it! 565-2324. Learn it! 565-2324.
- Don't leave your keyboard without it!
- That's 5-6-5-2-3-2-4.
- Answers.
- Solutions.
- Assistance.
- Hand-holding...well, not quite.
- Yell really loud.
- Call us at (817) 565-2324.
- If you're not having a problem using electronic mail you can send us E-Mail addressed to: helpdesk@unt.edu (Internet address).
- Drop by our office in the Information Science Building (ISB), Room 119. We're open Monday through Friday, 7am-7pm. No appointment is necessary.
- Back up,
- Back up, and
- B-A-C-K-U-P! Also, take better care of your diskettes.
- Procomm Plus 1.1b, An older version of a very popular telecommunications package.
- ZTerm, A simple-to-use telecommunications program for the Macintosh.
- MS-Kermit and Mac Kermit, The personal computer versions of the mainframe/minicomputer telecommunications software. (NOT for the faint of heart!)
- F-Prot, The latest version of virus prevention,, detection, and eradication program for IBM-compatibles.
- Disinfectant or GateKeeper, The latest versions of virus prevention, detection, and eradication programs for Macintosh computers.
- Get real friendly with someone who has a computer and modem.
- Use the Internet access capabilities of the computers in the General Access Labs.
- Get a host system account and access it from a General Access Lab for now.
- Get a LAN (Local Area Network) account from your Department or College (not all offer them - ask). Note: For items 2-4, refer to Section 4.0 for information. By the way, see the answer to 1.5 for instructions on not using the phrases Internet account and E-mail account.
- General Access Lab networks are a special kind of Local Area Net-work; therefore, just about everything that applies to LANs applies to Lab networks. A major difference is that most Labs offer generic accounts that enable any student to use the facilities of virtually any Lab without having a personal account. The primary disadvantage to this arrangement is that you cannot send or receive E-mail since you have no local E-mail address. (See question 4.3.)
- Unlike host system accounts, network accounts are not generally available to students.
- With rare exceptions, network accounts do not have any dial-in capability, therefore you must be on campus in order to connect to a network account.
- Some of the UNT library facilities are on LANs and are therefore not accessible from off-campus. Of particular interest to most people is Willis Library's CD-ROM reference collection. However, the library's on-line card catalog system is available from off-campus.
- 1. Anything that has to do with your network account. Examples are: for getting your password, inability to login, inability to run software from the server, etc.
- Getting a new computer connected to the network.
- Configuring your computer so that it will work properly as a workstation on the network.
- Answering questions or resolving problems with any of the above. The Helpdesk staff are trained to recognize questions and problems that are best resolved by your LAN manager and can direct you to the appropriate person. If you are unsure of whom to call, you can always call us.
- Jove, @jove.acs.unt.edu
- Sol, @sol.acs.unt.edu
- CMS, @vm.acs.unt.edu
- ACSLAB, @acslab.unt.edu
- Demonstrate at least a little effort in learning the terminology. We don't expect anyone to become the techno-geeks that we typically are, but it sure helps when we don't have to search for different ways to refer to things that we are familiar with.
- Please try to be patient with us. We're only human (really, we are!) and we have our bad days, trying moments, and mid-term exams just like everyone else. However, I would be willing to match our service and support attitudes to any other campus office, even on our worst days. We try that hard to be helpful, understanding, and friendly.
- Demonstrate appreciation for our efforts. We lap this kind of stuff up! Even a brief smile and a quick (but sincere) Thanks goes a long way with us.
- Remember your User ID. Remember your password. Protect your password. Know at least the name of the system you have an account on. And please, keep multiple backups of all your really important files. Have fun this year! Work hard, but certainly enjoy your time here, and Happy Computing. . .
What You Really, Really, Really Need to Know About Computing at UNT
By Douglas Bateman, former Computing Center Support Assistant with contributions by Long Nguyen and David Wright, former Computing Center Microcomputer Consultants. Updated by Helpdesk staff (hdesk@unt.edu) for Fall 1996. Edited for publication in Benchmarks.
565-2324
So what is it?
This is the telephone number of the UNT Computing Center Support
Services, also known as the Helpdesk.
Our mission is to provide support to all faculty, staff, and students at
UNT who have any questions and/or problems of any sort concerning computing
at UNT. We have primary responsibility for supporting general purpose
computing services provided directly by the Computing Center (dialup lines,
PPP, use of Jove and Sol, CMS, etc.). We provide a link to Distributed
Computer Support areas in the various Colleges, Departments, and
Administrative Units. The Distributed Support centers are separately
responsible for on-site support and applications support specific to their
own areas. We are where you call when you don't know who else to call, or
when no one else can help you.
What kind of support?
To give you some idea of the types of support we provide, and to answer
some of the commonly asked questions we hear at the Helpdesk, I'm going to
use a question and answer format. This format is commonly used on the
Internet where it is known as a FAQ, i.e. a list of Frequently Asked
Questions (with Answers).
1.0 General Questions
1.1 Q: How do I get in touch with you?
A: Did you by any chance skip the first paragraph!?!? Seriously,
there are several ways to contact us:
1.2 Q: I have a question about ________________ . (Or, where to look first.)
A: First take a look at the inside cover of each issue of
Benchmarks. There is a LOT of valuable information contained on that
one page, and it is virtually guaranteed to be accurate and up to date. You
might want to actually read some of the articles, too. Benchmarks is
a newsletter published by the Computing Center that is available at several
locations around campus, including our office. Each issue includes an order
form on the back cover for a free subscription.
While thumbing through Benchmarks, you may run across a list of
Short Courses we offer. These are noncredit (and free!) courses that are
conducted every semester and are designed to provide an introduction to, or
an overview of, a variety of computing topics. Each course is typically
offered on several different dates, to make it easier to work into your
schedule, and lasts for about 2-4 hours. The Short Courses are terrific
opportunities to get hands-on, personalized instruction in areas of computing
that aren't taught anywhere else. Highly recommended.
You'll also want to take a look through the handouts that we provide.
During our business hours we keep the most popular handouts in a display
case outside the Computing Center's main entrance. I'd recommend starting
with the ever-popular "Welcome to the UNT Computing Center." If you can't
find what you are looking for, or aren't sure what you should be looking
for, feel free to come in and ask one of us. We've got lots more handouts
inside. At any point in time, feel free to contact us. (See the answer to
question 1.1.)
1.3 Q: What kinds of computers do you have at UNT?
A: The snide answer is every kind. The accurate answer is every
kind. However, in the arena of personal computers, UNT is oriented
predominantly to IBM PC-compatibles. Apple Macintosh and PowerMac computers
are currently rising rapidly in numbers, however. There are also some NeXt
systems, Amigas, and probably others; but their numbers are too few to have
a dramatic impact on campus. We also have some main-frames and super-minis,
but you can read about those in our handouts.
1.4 Q: Where can a student go to use a computer?
A: You might think that you should come to us, the UNT Computing
Center. That sounds logical, but it's wrong. Well, not entirely wrong...we
can give you a pamphlet that shows you where every one of the thirteen
General Access Labs are located, their hours of operation, and some
general usage rules. (See the General Access Lab information on our UNT
Computing Resources page)
1.5 Q: Can I get an Internet account? - or -Where do I go to get an E-mail address?
A: Believe it or not, the answer to the first question is No.
There's no such animal as an Internet account. What you can get (if you
are faculty, staff, or an enrolled student) is an account on a host system
(for example, Jove) that provides you with a connection to the Internet.
This also automatically provides you with an E-mail address. At the present
time, UNT does not directly charge for these accounts. Contrary to popular
belief, you do not have to have a host system account in order to make use
of the Internet. Virtually every machine in all of the General Access Labs
has some capability for accessing Internet facilities. See Section
5.0 for
information about the Internet and Section 4.0 for
information about
General Access Labs.
1.5.1 Q: How do I get on the World Wide Web?
A: As mentioned in 1.5, you can use any of the
machines in the
General Access Labs to get on the Internet (and therefore on the Web). To
get on the Web from your home computer, you'll need a modem and some
software. Read the "How To Get the Software" FAQ for information on what
you'll need and where to get it.
1.6 Q: How come you don't support _____________ ?
A: Primarily because reality imposes limitations on all of us in
one form or another. (Wow, how philosophical! Stay tuned for the
nitty-gritty, though.) As human beings, we at the Computing Center have
limits on the amount of knowledge we can acquire. (Of course, some of us
have a higher limit than others.) UNT has budgetary limits imposed on it
that limit the number of people that can be employed, the number and types
of computing equipment that can be bought, and even the number and types
of software that can be acquired.
What this means is that we are forced to pick and choose what we will
support and to what extent we will support things. This is all spelled out
in the "Supported Computing Items List," a handout you can get at the
Computing Center that is always outdated because of the extremely dynamic
field of computing. Some items that we have we guarantee we will support:
we always try to get the latest version, answer any and all questions about,
and resolve any problems with them. At the other extreme are things that we
make available as a convenience to a number of people who want them, but we
don't guarantee anything about them. And there are always going to be
certain things that we just can't get, don't want to get, and/or can't
support if you happen to have them. All that we can do is to try our best
to support the vast array of software and hardware that's out there, but
you have to be prepared for a negative response in some cases if you have
questions or problems. The Computing Center is always open to suggestions
and requests, however, so never just arbitrarily give up.
1.7 Q: I've saved everything I've ever written to this diskette that is 3 years old that I carry in the bottom of my book bag. After wiping off the cookie crumbs and removing the lint from it, I put it in the computer but I can't read any of my files. What can I do?
A: Plan a quick trip to Lourdes? We really aren't miracle workers,
you know. Well, sometimes we can perform what seem to be miracles, but none
of us are applying for sainthood just yet. Uhhh, pardon me a moment while I
switch into LECTURE mode. There are 3 ways to prevent this situation from
happening:
The rule of thumb to follow is: "It's not a matter of IF you will lose
data, it's a matter of WHEN." OK, lecture mode off.
Seriously, bring your diskette to us and we'll do what we can. Also
bring a fresh diskette that we can use to save what-ever we can recover.
You might also want to cross your fingers, light a candle, say an
incantation, sacrifice a chicken, or whatever you normally do in times of
extreme duress. It couldn't hurt, and anything might just help. Frankly,
even I get amazed at some of the files we've been able to recover.
Did I mention that it's a good idea to back up your work?
2.0 Applications (Software) Support (Word-processing, Spreadsheet, Database, etc.)
2.1 Q: I'm writing The Mother of All Term Papers and I'm using a word processor from MWPIBTY (MyWordProcessorIsBetterThan Yours), Inc. I need to_____________ and I can't figure out how to do it. Can you help me?
A: Questions like this come up all the time. While we would like
to know everything about every piece of software ever written, this is just
not possible. Because of this, we are forced to limit our guarantee of
support to software and hardware that is on our official Supported Computing
Items List. (See the answer to 1.6) But this applies
only to our guarantee
of support. In reality, we will make every attempt that we possibly can to
help you, no matter how obscure or obtuse the computing topic. This level
of support ranges from Huh? to Oh yeah. I used to use that all the time.
Here's what you do... .
2.2 Q: I do all of my writing on my home computer using _________. Can I bring my files to campus and print them here? How?
A: Currently, the predominant word processor available in the
General Access Labs is WordPerfect, regardless of the platform you are using
(DOS, Microsoft Windows, or Macintosh). Microsoft Word for Windows
(or Macintosh) is fast becoming available in most areas as well.
Fortunately, both will read files produced by many different applications,
or provide conversion utilities that will often do the job. The absolutely
first thing to do is to try it out. Don't assume that if we don't have the
program you use, that you have to go through a lot of hassles. Often it's
as easy as firing up WordPerfect and telling it to load your file. In some
cases, you may have to save your file at home in a format that you have
found the software in the labs can read. Only when that fails should you
take further action. First check with the lab monitor. He or she should
know their lab the best. Failing that, contact us. (See the answer to
1.1.)
2.3 Q: Someone told me that I can get a free copy of _________ from the Computing Center. - or - Someone told me that since I am a student/faculty/staff I can buy _____ from the Computing Center real cheap.
A: I bet you just wish this were true. Actually, it is! But not
to the extent that most people would hope for. For anyone affiliated in
some way with UNT, we do own volume discount or site licenses for some
software which means all you have to do is supply us with the diskettes
for you to get it. We also have some freeware and shareware that we
distribute in the same way. And if you are faculty or staff, there are
provisions for you to obtain licensed copies of even more software...
FOR USE ON UNT-OWNED COMPUTERS. See our software site license Web page for
more details
(http://www-lan.unt.edu/HELPDESK/sitelice.htm).
Free Software for Students/Faculty/Staff, Software, Description
That's it! Not an impressive list but very useful stuff nonetheless.
The UNT Bookstore is the place to go in order to purchase a large
variety of software at (greatly discounted) educational prices. For
faculty and staff I recommend checking with your department's Software
Manager for products that are available to you. I really don't want to
make the students jealous in this article.
3.0 Host Systems Support
3.1 Q: What are host systems and why should I care?
A: Nobody says you should care. But if you would like to have
access to the Internet from a personal computer off campus, then you
definitely want a host system account. (See Section 5.0
concerning the
Internet.) There may also be some applications that you want to use that
are only available on our host systems, e.g. SAS or SPSS on the academic
mainframe. Host systems at UNT are the mainframes and super-minicomputers
on which you can apply for an account and which allow you to access your
account through dial-in modems or from other host systems. Other
departments may manage their own host systems (e.g. Computer Science
manages the machine known as Ponder); you'll have to contact them for
information. The ones that are managed by the Computing Center are shown in
the table below.
3.2 Q: How do I apply for a host system account?
A: Come to our office. There is an electronic request form that
you need to complete for UNIX systems, and a paper form for mainframe
systems that you must complete and turn in to us. For mainframe accounts,
you will need to have someone in the department to which you are affiliated
(your major department if you are an undergraduate) who is a budget account
holder sign off on the application. Check with the administrative assistant
in your office or college. If you have an individual (as opposed to a
class) account on one of our mainframe host systems already, or you have had
one in the not-too-distant past, you will need to complete an Update/Renewal
Request rather than a New Account Request. At the present time, you will
need to return to our office a few days after submitting your account
request to pick up your User ID/Password slip. All requests except for
account renewals generate one. (See the next question.)
3.3 Q: What do I do with my User ID/Password slip? What does all of the information that's on it mean, anyway?
A: Keep this slip in a secure and unforgettable place; you may
need to refer to it at some future date. The most important information on
this slip is your User-ID, a randomly chosen password, and an indication
of the system on which you have an account. When connecting to one of our
host systems, you will be asked to Login, i.e. the system is asking for
your User-ID. Next, you will be asked to enter your password. You must
change your password when you first use your account. In fact, it is a
very good idea to change your password on a regular basis (like every
30-60 days) and please! treat your password as if it were the PIN code
to your checking account. You don't give your friends unrestricted
access to your checking account, do you? For information about selecting
a good password, and the procedures you follow to change it on our
various host systems, come to our office and we will give you a variety
of informative handouts.
3.4 Q: I don't have a computer (or modem). Does this mean I can't get an Internet or E-mail account?
A: For those of you (unfortunate ones?) who don't have the
equipment yet, all is not lost. There are a number of options open to you:
3.5 Q: What programs/ applications can I use on the host systems?
A: Almost all of them, actually. Frankly, if you are used to
using software on a personal computer and have expectations of the host
systems working the same way, you are in for something akin to culture
shock. Host systems typically use operating systems that are far removed
from MS-DOS or Macintosh System Software. There are even some folks
(politely referred to as mainframe or UNIX jocks ) who would argue that
true operating systems don't even exist on personal computers. If you are
not already familiar with the UNIX operating system, used on Jove and Sol,
and/or VM/CMS, used on the academic mainframe, you definitely need to get
your hands on our Introduction to _____ hand-outs (see question 1.2) and
think about registering for one of our Short Courses (also discussed in
the answer to question 1.2). For more information,
contact us. (See
question 1.1).
If you are already familiar with using host systems, the best thing
to do is to contact us if you can't locate a particular application on
the system on which you have an account, or you want to find out which
system has a particular application so that you can apply for an account
on it. (See the answer to 1.1.)
3.6 Q: I've forgotten my password and can't get into my account.
A: No problem, IF your account is on a system managed by the
Computing Center. Just come into our office, but make certain that you
bring some form of identification with you - anything official (no, your
Sam's card won't cut it) that has your picture on it. Only extremely
rare exceptions are made to the requirement for you to physically appear
in our office with a picture ID to obtain a password, and then only
under very exceptional circumstances. This is dictated by our security
policies (set by the State of Texas) and it is for the protection of
your data, as well as that of other account holders on the same system.
If your account is on a system that is not managed by the Computing
Center, you will have to follow the procedures set by the office or
department which manages that system. However, you can contact us
to find out who you need to see or where you need to go.
3.7 Q: How long can I keep my account? Will it expire when I graduate?
A: All individual accounts on mainframe host computers expire on
August 31 of each academic year. You may submit a renewal request each
August to keep the account active for another year, provided you remain
enrolled. Class accounts expire on the last class day of the semester
in which the class is held. UNIX accounts typically expire one semester
after the last semester that you were last enrolled. There currently
are no provisions for former students or alumni to keep their accounts
after leaving UNT.
4.0 General Access Labs and Local Area Networks Questions and Issues
4.1 Q: Which lab do I go to? - or - I'm looking for a lab that has _____.
A: Take your pick. Each lab is basically its own independent
entity with its own manager, and only one of them actually falls under
the auspices of the Computing Center (the ISB 110 lab). There is a
central management board that is responsible for generating overall lab
policies and procedures, but the types of equipment and software
available varies from lab to lab. You can pick up a pamphlet from us or
at any of the labs that details the location, hours of operation, and
general lab policies. For information about what specifically is
available in each lab, you will need to contact the lab manager or one
of the lab monitors directly. You may also look at their individual lab
web pages from our index.
4.2 Q: Can I get a personal lab or network account?
A: Since the General Access Labs are each managed individually,
you'll need to check with the lab manager or a lab monitor there. (See
the answer to 4.1.) For a Local Area Network(LAN)
account, you will
need to talk to the manager of the network you want an account on. Now
would be a good time to highlight some important differences between
host system accounts and Local Area Network or General Access Lab accounts.
4.3 Q: I want to use E-mail from a General Access Lab. What can I do?
A: If you have a host system account, you can simply log on to
your account from virtually any machine in any of the Labs and send and
receive E-mail from that account. If you do not have, or do not want,
a host system account, your only other choice is a LAN account from your
Department or College or their labs. You MUST have a password protected
account on SOME computing system, somewhere, to have an E-mail address.
4.4 Q: I don't get much help from the Lab Monitor. What can I do?
A: In defense of Lab Monitors, there are certain things that
they are constrained from helping users with. This has been brought about
by instructors wanting to ensure that students are truly doing their own
work. Also, keep in mind that Lab Monitors are usually students just like
you that are working part-time while going to school. Now, if you still
feel that you are not getting the help you should be getting, report the
situation to the Lab Manager. You can find out who this is from either
the Lab Monitor or by contacting us.
4.5 Q: What can my LAN manager help me with? (This is more applicable to faculty and staff than students, since they are more likely to have an account on a LAN.)
A: The absolutely best way to find out what your LAN manager is
supposed to and can do for you is to call him or her and ask. Basically,
a LAN manager is responsible for:
5.0 Internet Questions and Support
5.1 Q: What is the Internet?
A: You may have been reading lately about the Information
Superhighway. Well, that's what the Internet is not! What it is, is a
network of networks.(Clear as mud, right?) Put another way, it is a
collection of many thousands of computers around the world that are
connected in such a way that they can communicate quickly and efficiently
with one another. This inter-communication that takes place among all
the computers connected to the Internet is what moves your E-mail from
point A to point B, transports the latest postings to a variety of
discussion groups, transports and delivers information from a variety
of information services that users can subscribe to, and makes
available vast quantities of information in the form of files that you
can download and documents (even entire books) that you read on-line.
And it is much more.
5.2 Q: How do I learn to use the Internet?
A: You can't really hurt anything by just jumping in and learning
by trial and error, but you will probably miss out on a lot of things that
way. If you have a friend who is conversant in Internet-ese, have them
give you some instruction. Get one of the tons of books about the Internet
published in the past year. Which one is best? Whichever one works the
best for you; it's your call on this one... the more recent, the better
(these books are technically obsolete before they are printed). In
addition, see the answer to question 1.1 for sources of
information and
help.
5.3 Q: What can I get to on the Internet? - or - What can I do on the Internet?
A: Just about anything you want. My favorite expression is If
you have an interest in some particular field or area, there is most
likely information about it on the Internet; the trick is finding it. The
first thing you'll want to do is learn how to use the Internet. (See the
previous question.) There is just so much available that it is impossible
to list everything, a task made even harder by the dynamic nature of the
Internet. Have fun exploring! One caveat though. While the Internet may
seem like a hodgepodge of cultures, ideals, morals, etc., there are
actually rules that govern its use, albeit rules that are primarily
enforced by the users themselves. These rules take the form of Internet
etiquette, or Netiquette, and are largely learned through mistakes.
Believe me, Internet users are not shy about letting novices know when
they have breached one of the rules of Netiquette! Some of these
rules can be found posted to certain news-groups such as news.answers
and news.announce.newusers. (This is where the books on the Internet
can be very handy.)
5.4 Q: How do I get to the Internet from my computer at home?
A: The answer depends on what you intend to do and what you want
to see when you connect to the Internet. For those of us that are happy with a text-only
(or Terminal Mode) connection, all you need is Procomm Plus or ZTerm, which you can
get from us at the Computing Center (as mentioned in 2.3). If you're the upstart type,
requiring graphics, sound and the like, you'll want to use Netscape or Internet Explorer.
You can get these as part of the UNT PPP software package, which you can learn more
about from the "How To Get the Software" page
(http://www-lan.unt.edu/HELPDESK/faq/dlswfaq.htm).
5.5 Q: I have a ____ account. What is my Internet (or E-mail) address?
A: Start with your User-ID and add the following to it: If your
account is on one of these systems, add this:
For example, if my user ID is ZZ99 (which it isn't), and I have a
Jove account, I would tell everyone to send me E-mail addressed to:
zz99@jove.acs.unt.edu (notice the lower case . UNIX is case sensitive!!!).
5.6 Q: I have a boyfriend/girlfriend/just-a-friend/significant-other that's going to school somewhere else. Can you help me find his/her/its E-mail address?
A: Congratulations! You have just asked the one question that is
both the easiest and hardest question to answer. The easy answer is Telephone him/her/it
and ask them for the address. The hard answer is, Good luck! There are several
approaches that can be taken, too numerous to go into here, primarily because you may
need to try every one of them before you find the address, and none of them is guaranteed
to be successful anyway. The best thing to do is bring this problem to us in person. We
won't necessarily do the work for you, but we will certainly show you how to go about it.
5.7 Q: I have friends who use some E-mail program on a Brainiac-5 at their school. Will they get E-mail I send them or do I need to use the same program and type of machine?
A: Thankfully, yes they will get your E-mail, and no you don't have
to be using the same software or type of machine. A set of standard languages was
developed some years ago that allows computers on the Internet to communicate with one
another. At each end of a connection, the local computer is responsible for translating
from the language it understands to one of the standard languages and vice versa. The real
term for these languages is protocols. Your local system chooses to translate its protocol
to the appropriate Internet protocol depending on what functions are being used. For
example, E-mail uses one protocol, news uses another, ftp still another, etc. Bottom Line:
As long as you are using the Internet, mail is mail the world around.
And finally, the most important question of all!
Q: What can I do to make your job of supporting me easier?
A: Uhhhh, money can do wonders for support. Seriously, there are
some things that you can do that may seem rather insignificant to you, but could go a
long, long way towards making our jobs easier and us happier (and a happy consultant is
a helpful consultant!):
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