Student Computing Cluster Improvements - Fall 2009

Welcome back! Your Student Computing Clusters have been updated and made ready for another school year.

One of the biggest changes is in the smallest location. We are trying out dual-boot computers in the Spaulding Cluster. All 8 computers in G68 are now iMacs that will boot to either Windows XP or Mac OS X. You will receive a simple screen to select your desired OS when the computer turns on and after each user logs out. Click on what you want, and way you go.

5 of those iMac in Spaulding are brand new computers. Here's a list of the other new machines we have installed, replacing older systems:

McConnell 104 - 29 Dells
Dimond Reference - 10 iMacs and 18 Dells
Dimond Addison - 8 Dells

The new computers have the following specs:

Dell Optiplex 760 - 3.16 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2.0 G RAM, 320 G hard drive, DVD+-RW optical drive, 20" widescreen digital LCD
Apple iMac - 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2.0 G RAM, 320 G hard drive, DVD+-RW optical drive, 20" widescreen digital LCD, integrated iSight camera

On the software-side, all systems have received routine upgrades. This includes:

Adobe Design Premium CS4
ArcGIX 9.3.1
FileMaker Pro 10
Firefox 3.5
Google Earth 5
JMP 8
Matlab R2009a
Maple 13
OpenOffice.org 3.1
SAS 9.2

See our full list of available software for other current versions.

More than just installing updated, the Windows systems have been completely rebuilt with a fresh operating system installation and clean install of all new software. The new setup is faster, cleaner, and hopefully easier to use.

All of these improvements have been funded via the Student Technology Fee and the printing charges.