College of Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences Instructional & Electronics Support Group (IESG) Information about EECS Instructional Computer Accounts October 29, 1998 ________________________________________ => What's an 'instructional' account? The department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science main- tains its own computers to be used for EECS coursework. There are two types of accounts: named and class accounts. A named account has a login that resembles the user's name; a class account login resembles the course name (such as "ee141-xx"). A UNIX account will work on all Instructional UNIX computers. An NT account will work on all Instructional NT computers. UNIX named accounts are requested by students, using the 'newacct' utility (see below). For many courses, no other account is needed - a student can use the named account to do assignments for vari- ous courses. UNIX class are created at the request of faculty, who distribute account forms to the students in class. class accounts are set up to serve special needs of a course. Class accounts expire at the end of each semester. NT class accounts are set up for a class at the instructor's request. These accounts expire at the end of the semester. Long-term named accounts are not available on the Instructional NT systems. ________________________________________ => Who is qualified to have an instructional account? Undergraduates who are declared as EECS or L&S CS majors, EE and CS graduate students and CS Reentry students are given long-term named accounts on the EECS Instructional UNIX systems. The account remains active as long as the student is in the depart- ment. It is not not expired or turned off at the end of each semester. For some courses, temporary 'class' accounts may also be issued. For an undeclared or non-EECS major, the accounts that are issued depend upon the course(s) taken. If a course uses EECS class accounts, the instructor will distribute the account forms and that may be the only account that is issued. Students should try 'newacct' (see below) to see if they can get named accounts. Undeclared students who are candidates for acceptance in the major may be eligible for named accounts, with the approval of the CS Division office (Barbara Hightower, 339 Soda). Approval would have to be requested again each semester until the student becomes a declared major. ________________________________________ => What computers can I use for EECS coursework? The EECS Instructional systems are UNIX and Windows NT systems. They are located in the southwest corner of the first floor of Cory Hall and on the second and third floors of Soda Hall. For a current description of the facilities, please see bulletin boards near 199 Cory and 271 Soda, or browse our WEB site at http://iesg.eecs.berkeley.edu Although EECS students will have access to a variety of computers, many instructors will specify a particular operating system (HP- UX, Windows NT, Solaris x86, Windows NT, DC UNIX, Silicon Graphics IRIX) that is best for the software usedf by that course. The file /usr/pub/Tbl_of_Classes includes information about the com- puting requirements of specific classes. Note that EECS Instructional UNIX accounts are not valid on non- EECS systems such as Uclink or the campus microcomputer labs. ________________________________________ => How do I obtain my instructional account? Class accounts: account forms are distributed in class by the instructors. Named accounts: Login as newacct (no password) on any Instruc- tional UNIX workstation (199 Cory, 273 Soda, etc). newacct is an on-line procedure for requesting or renewing an EECS Instructional named account. You will be asked for your Student ID number. If you are found to be eligible, you will be asked to choose a login (ie your "computer name"). The account will usually be created by 1PM on the next business day, and you can go to 391 Cory after that to obtain your account form and password. You will have to show a valid UCB student id card at that time. newacct may reject the requests for some users, typically if they do not have a Student ID Number or if they are not pre-enrolled in any EECS course. In that case, newacct will inform the student to complete an EECS Instructional Account Request Form, available outside of 386 Cory. ________________________________________ => When will my account expire? Students who are in an EECS major keep the account for one addi- tional semester after they graduate or leave campus. December graduates expire the following May; May graduates expire the fol- lowing December. Login as newacct to check our records for the status of your account. For students who are not EECS majors, class accounts and named accounts expire at the end of the current semester. However, their named accounts are preserved and will be restored if the student becomes eligible in the following semester. ________________________________________ => Where do I go for help about an instructional account? If you have trouble with your account, contact a member of the EECS Instructional group by sending email to "root@cory.eecs" (NOT root@eecs or root@cs) or visiting 333 Soda or 384/386 Cory Hall. Tutorial help and guidance about UNIX, the workstations and printers is also available from the student volunteers in the XCF (311 Soda) and CSUA (343 Soda). The Instructional WWW site contains information about our pro- cedures, classes, computing and electronics labs, and help in locating and using the available software. The URL is http://iesg.eecs.berkeley.edu ________________________________________ Instructional & Electronics Support Group (IESG) 384/386 Cory Hall, 333 Soda Hall root@cory.eecs.berkeley.edu (computing labs) labfix@eecs.berkeley.edu (electronics labs and AV)