Introduction to Computing in the Vanderbilt Mathematics Department

Version of 20 Aug 2007 -- by Eric Schechter (eric.schechter@vanderbilt.edu), Associate Professor and computer "liaison" for the department

We have several different kinds of accounts available; you may want some, all, or none of these; they are described later in this memo. In addition, some computing services are available without an account.

GENERAL TIPS, for using computers with or without an account.

1. Familiarize yourself with the web page at http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/links/. It is designed specifically for use by people in our department; it contains links to a wide variety of information about things that may be useful to you.
2. Web pages, including a required web page, are discussed at the end of this memo.
3. One of the most frequent questions I get is from people who are having difficulty with telnet or ftp. On most computer server systems nowadays, old-fashioned telnet and ftp won't work; you have to now use Secure Shell versions of telnet and ftp. For more information about such programs, see http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/wincd/list_internet.htm#intro_ssh
4. Faculty and visitor offices are equipped with ethernet ports, one per person. (That's the socket in the wall that looks like a telephone plug, but wider.) The ports are configured for DHCP, which means you don't need a password or anything like that to get onto the internet. Where you go on the internet, however, may depend on what accounts you have. Sorry, no ports presently in graduate student offices. But we do have wireless internet throughout most of the building; check http://its.vanderbilt.edu/wireless/ for more information. Should Vanderbilt be supplying you with a computer? Yes if it's mentioned in your contract letter; probably not otherwise. In recent years, full faculty members have been eligible for a subsidy to a computer purchase every fourth year, but the terms of this offer vary from year to year; watch for a memo about it sometime in the fall.

Computing services without an account. These services may suffice for needs of our short-term visitors; many of them would be better off not bothering with any accounts at all. These services may also suffice temporarily for people who will be staying with us longer, but who have delays in setting up their accounts.

Several Windows computers can be found in rooms 1427, 1227, and 1232. You can use those computers without logging in. Beware, however, that personal files will be deleted if left on those files. (By "personal" I don't mean just love letters or something like that. I mean all files that belong to you, including your mathematical papers.) Most of those Windows computers will delete all personal files upon rebooting, and moreover they are set to automatically reboot every night. Save your personal files by copying them onto a floppy disk, RW-CD, USB travel drive, or zip disk, or by FTP-ing them to an account elsewhere.

We try to keep the Windows computers stocked with most of the basic software that a mathematician would need -- Mathematica, Word, Miktex, TexnicCenter, a couple of web browsers, and some secure shell ftp and telnet programs, among other things. Once every year or two, we update the software on those computers. Let me know if you have any particular requests for that software. We also try to replace the older computers with newer ones when we can.

Among other purposes, you can use these Windows computers as terminals, e.g., to access accounts you may have here at Vanderbilt or at your previous institution. If the email at your previous institution is web-based, you can probably log into it through any web browser. On the other hand, if it is based on a Unix or Linux shell, you can probably access it by the following method: Use Putty, or any other secure shell telnet program, to log into your remote account. At the command prompt, type the command "pine"; that will start up a text-based, menu-driven email program that can be found on nearly all Unix/Linux servers.

Accounts on VUnet. This is the kind of account used by most people at Vanderbilt. (Unfortunately not available to short-term visitors.) It gives you email, several kinds of web pages, and a wide variety of other services. It is administered, not by me, but by I.T.S. (Information Technology Services). You can read about these accounts and get yours authorized at http://its.vanderbilt.edu/support/start.php (not through me!!!). There may be some delay if the Vanderbilt computer system doesn't know your name or your social security number. Such problems probably can be addressed by Carmen Adkisson, our department's top Administrative Assistant.

Web pages on the Math Web Server. This is a server with host name "www.math.vanderbilt.edu". Anyone associated with the Math Department can get an account on this server by contacting john.mccammon@vanderbilt.edu. On this server, you can post and update a web page using secure shell ftp. You'd have to design your own web page, so some knowledge of web pages is required. However, accounts on this server are entirely optional; there are several other places (discussed below) where you can also post web pages.

Medium-power mathematical computing on Atlas. Many people in our department do not need an account on Atlas, and will not find one useful. Atlas no longer handles email or web pages. Atlas is a Linux-based server, equipped with tex, emacs, vi, xfig, ssh, and other basic programs common to Linux servers, as well as Mathematica. You can use it to write and run programs, to do computational experiments, if that is helpful to your research. (For instance, Atlas is useful to people in graph theory or numerical analysis.) The server's host name is "atlas.math.Vanderbilt.edu".

Accounts on Atlas are obtained from me. Send an email to eric.schechter@vanderbilt.edu, or see me in person, or put a letter in my mailbox in room 1326. Give your name, phone number, rank/title, office room number, and what you would like your username to be. Short-term visitors should also mention who they are working with.

As far as I have been told, our department's other two servers - Artemis and Apollo -- are currently not working. The story behind that is long and complicated; let me just summarize it by saying that research grants are generous about purchase but not maintenance.

Intensive mathematical computing on A.C.C.R.E. -- Advanced Computing Center for Research and Education. (Formerly known as "Vampire," which stood for Vanderbilt something-or-other, so this is what people are probably talking about if anyone mentions vampires to you.) This is a parallel-processing system available for use for high-speed intensive calculations, if that's what your research requires. You can read more about it at http://www.accre.vanderbilt.edu/. The math department has an account on ACCRE, which is paid for using some research grant money. If you want to get involved in this, contact mark.ellingham@vanderbilt.edu or doug.hardin@vanderbilt.edu.

More about web pages. Several kinds of web pages are available to you.

One of them is actually required for all faculty, long-term visitors, and graduate students. That one is your Sitemason page. Go to https://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/login/ and sign up for an account, using your VUnet ID (described earlier in this document). It may take a day or two for your Sitemason account to be authorized. After that, you will post on it basic information - your title, office room number, phone number, and so on. Sitemason is menu-driven, so you don't need to know much about web pages to set it up.

You can also post web pages of any sort you like, either on the www.math server (described earlier in this document), or in your VUnet account (see http://its.vanderbilt.edu/vuspace/ and http://its.vanderbilt.edu/vuspace/webusage.php.). These web pages are optional but are not menu-driven; you have to use secure ftp to set them up. And you'll either have to know some HTML code, or use a WYSIWYG web page editor, such as Nvu.

And if you're teaching any courses, your students probably would like you to set up a web page for each course section on Blackboard (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/oak/ -- login using your VUnet account). This is menu driven (no knowledge of HTML needed), and it has several advantages; among them: (i) Your students already know where to find this page - if they log into their own Oak accounts, they'll be taken to the web page of each course they're signed up for. (ii) The online gradebook in Oak can be used, so that each student will know how well he or she is doing at all times through out the semester, and you won't be constantly pestered with questions about "how well do I need to do on the test to get a grade of B," etc.