Back by popular demand, here is our end-of-year SSCC News highlighting the most important new services added over the course of the year. We've limited ourselves to new services that you have to know about and actually do something in order to benefit from the service.
Computer Lab Improvements
The 2470 computer lab was completely refurnished in order to provide a suitable space for Sociology's mobile laptop lab. SSCC members interested in using the mobile lab in 2470 or in any other classroom in the Social Science building should contact the Social Science Micro Lab (3218 Social Science, 2-0862) for more information and scheduling.
Wireless access was added to both the 2470 and 4218 computer labs. If you need a nice quiet place to work with your laptop, we highly recommend 2470.
There's a new PC with a DVD writer and scanner in the 4218 computer lab. The student operator on duty is happy to assist you. The operator is also happy to take on small scanning projects - free of charge of course.
Sensitive Data Facility Expansion
We outgrew the space in our Secure Data Facility in 2470 and moved the facility to 2403 and 2404. These rooms provide a secure environment for SSCC researchers to access sensitive data. Each room contains a single stand-alone PC with a removable hard drive for storing restricted data. (We purchased 10 removable drives so each room can accommodate up to five projects.) Installed software includes SAS, SPSS, STATA, and MatLab. Please contact Nancy McDermott if you are interested in using SSCC's Sensitive Data Facility.
New Linux Server
KITE, one of SSCC's two interactive LINUX servers, was replaced with a dual 3.2Ghz Xeon server with 4Gb of RAM making it SSCC's fastest Linux computer. HAL, SSCC's other interactive LINUX server, is a dual 2.4 Ghz Xeon server with 4Gb of RAM.
New Web Tools
We've added several new web tools to make account administration easier:
- a password change page that changes your Windows and Linux (email) passwords at the same time. You can also set security questions which allow you to reset your password if you forget it.
- web pages for e-mail administration including activating SpamAssassin, checking the size of your inbox and email folders, forwarding your SSCC email to a different address, and setting a "vacation" message.
- a web page for requesting new SSCC computer accounts.
Visit our web tools page for a complete list.
Stata 9 and SAS 9
Stata 9 and SAS 9 were released near the beginning of the year. The biggest new feature in Stata is Mata, an included matrix language similar to GAUSS or Matlab, but the most popular has been the new survey analysis tools. There are many other new features; for a more complete list, visit Stata's web site. For a list of new features in SAS, visit SAS's web site.
DoIT's Security Software
DoIT now offers free "Security Starter Software" for office and home computers. The suite includes anti-virus, spyware protection, and firewall software. See the SSCC News article for details.
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