MathType to be Removed from Winstat and Lab PCs

As part of a recent review of our software licensing agreements we concluded that we were not strictly complying with MathType's license agreement and to do so is prohibitively expensive. Thus we need to remove the software from Winstat and the lab PCs and plan to do so at the end of the semester. This program is not widely used, but we apologize to those who are affected.

Departments, agencies, and individuals that need Mathtype can buy their own licenses, at much lower cost than the SSCC, and we can install it on individual desktops as needed. You'll find pricing at Design Science's web site. There are several alternatives if departments or individuals don't want to purchase MathType:

1) Switch to Scientific Word. It's installed on Winstat and the lab PCs. With Scientific Word you can save documents in LaTeX, in MathML, and in Word .rtf with embedded MathType objects.

2) Switch to a free version of MathType called MathType Lite. We cannot install this software on Winstat or the lab PCs, but you can download it on your own PC. It works exactly like Word's Equation Editor but, you have access to the full set of MathType fonts and symbols.

3) Users familiar with writing LaTeX code can switch to a freeware program called MiKTeX that is installed on Linux and the lab PCs.

Note that Word's Equation Editor in Microsoft Office 2007 is better than in previous versions. Microsoft Office 2007 is installed on the lab PCs and will be installed on Winstat this summer.

Reminder about Email Setting Change Required for SSCC Email Users

The SSCC's email server now supports using encrypted connections (SSL) to read mail. In order to improve security, the email server will only accept encrypted connections beginning May 1, 2009.  This will require you to make a simple change to your email program's settings, but once that is done you won't see any changes in how you read mail.

If you use Thunderbird, click Tools, Account Settings, and then Server Settings. Under Security Settings, set "Use secure connection" to SSL. This will automatically change the Port to 993. We have screen shots of the proper settings and a short video showing how to make the change on the web.

If you use Outlook Express, click Tools, Accounts, select your SSCC email account (typically named "imap.ssc.wisc.edu") and click Properties. Then click the Advanced tab and check the box labeled "This server requires a secure connection (SSL)." The port will automatically change to 993. We have screen shots of the proper settings and a short video showing how to make the change on the web.

Please contact our help desk (262-9917, consult@ssc.wisc.edu) if you use any other email program and need assistance changing to SSL for checking mail. Eudora users should contact us for sure. We have successfully tested this change using all the Windows and Mac mail programs that we know our members use but if you encounter any problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Mapping Your Spatial Referenced Data with ArcGIS Workshop

We've only got one training session left this semester but it's a good one: Mapping Your Spatial Referenced Data with ArcGIS, presented by Dave Long from the Applied Population Lab. If you need to know how to bring tabular data into a GIS environment and begin mapping it for descriptive and or analytic purposes, this is a workshop you won't want to miss. Please visit our training web page to register.

Tip: Options for Printing Large-Format Posters

With PAA just around the corner, it's good to know that there are several places on campus for printing large-format posters. Visit DoIT's web site for locations and pricing.