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How do I get help?
To request help or report a problem or suggestion, send email to the
the G.R.I.D. lab managers.
This email will go to both the Lab Manager and the Lab T.A. and one
will get back to you as soon as possible.
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Who can use the lab?
The G.R.I.D. lab is for the use of students and faculty in the
School of Earth Sciences
only.
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The lab door is locked. How do I get in?
The Mitchell Earth Sciences Building is always open on weekdays from
8 am to 6 pm. During evenings and weekends, the exterior doors are
unlocked during the same hours that the Branner Library is open. You
can check their hours at the
Branner Library website.
The G.R.I.D. lab door has a combination lock. Request the code from
the G.R.I.D. lab managers.
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Which computer is the best?
The six computers in the GRID lab have similar capabilities,
described on the
lab features page.
Most people will not find any significant differences among them.
Nevertheless, there are some special or distinguishing features of
the various computers, as listed here.
Use one of the Apple computers, running
Mac OS X,
if you are working with very large graphics files.
Mac OS X can take advantage of all 4 Gigabytes of RAM installed
in these computers.
Windows XP is limited to using only 3 Gigabytes of RAM.
Amerigo, Saxton, Jode, and Mauro all are connected to a
scanner.
The iMacs - Beck, Jode, Mauro, and Mercator - have glossy screens.
Amerigo and Saxton have matte finish screens.
Use Saxton if you need lots of screen space to open many windows - it
has two monitors that function as one logical screen.
The iMacs - Beck, Jode, Mauro, and Mercator - have a built-in webcam
above the screen in the center. You can use the built-in
iChat
program under the
Mac OS X
operating system to do video conferencing with this webcam.
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How do I switch operating systems on the iMacs?
In addition to a Dell PC that runs Windows XP only, and an Apple
PowerMac G5 that runs Mac OS X 10.5 only, the G.R.I.D. lab has
four Apple iMac computers that run both Mac OS X and Windows.
By default, these iMacs start up running Mac OS X.
To switch to Windows XP, you must restart the iMac while
holding down the
Option
key until a screen is displayed showing disk icons for Macintosh
and Windows. Click on the Windows icon and then click the
"up" arrow to start Windows XP.
If the iMac is already running Windows XP, simply restart it
to switch back to Mac OS X.
See this web page
for complete instructions, including screenshots, to switch into the
operating system of your choice.
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How do I login to the computer?
You need a valid full-service SUNet ID and password to login to the
G.R.I.D. lab computers.
All regular students, faculty, and staff have a full-service SUNet ID.
A guest "base service" SUNet ID is not sufficient!
If the computer is running Windows XP,
press the
Control,
Alt,
and
Del
keys together to bring up the login screen (click through the
policy screen).
Select the "stanford.edu (Kerberos Realm)" domain
in the
Log on to:
field, provide your SUNet ID name and password in the
User name:
and
Password:
fields, and click the
OK
button.
Make sure that the stanford.edu domain is selected before trying to login.
See the
detailed login procedure
for screenshots, including the logoff procedure.
If the computer is running Mac OS X,
simply provide your SUNet ID name and password in the
Name:
and
Password:
fields of the login screen and click the
Log in
button.
See the
detailed login procedure
for screenshots, including the logoff procedure.
If you have just started or restarted the computer,
for example, to switch operating systems, wait about 30 seconds
before trying to login.
The computer needs to resynchronize its internal clock with the
campus time servers before a login will work.
Be sure to logoff when you are done with the computer.
Otherwise, the next person can impersonate you and access your files
or cause other mischief.
If you sit down in front of a computer and the screen shows the normal
desktop with icons for programs that you can run, then someone left it
logged in from a previous use. You should logoff that user, then login
under your SUNet ID. You must be logged in under your own SUNet ID
to access
files you have saved on these computers.
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Help! The computer won't accept my SUNet ID.
Only valid full-service SUNet IDs will work for login to the
G.R.I.D. lab computers.
If you have only a "base service" guest SUNet ID, or if you are a
former student with an inactive SUNet ID, you cannot successfully
login to these computers.
Assuming you have a normal full-service SUNet ID,
first make sure you are following the
correct login procedure.
Remember that you
must
use your original SUNet ID username,
not
one of the email aliases you may have created at the StanfordYou web site!
Even if you follow the correct procedure,
there are two known problems with logins that may affect you.
The first known problem affects only Windows XP.
SUNet IDs are defined in the campus kerberos servers.
The information is copied to the Windows Active Directory
after every update to the kerberos servers.
Windows XP logins on the lab computers authenticate to the
copy in the Active Directory.
Sometimes, copying a particular SUNet ID to Active Directory fails.
In that case, the affected SUNet ID will not work for Windows XP
logins on these computers.
Mac OS X logins are not affected because they authenticate directly to
the master campus kerberos servers.
The solution for this first problem is simple: reset your SUNet ID
password. You can even reset it to the same password as before!
The process of resetting is the key action because it forces the
information to be updated in the kerberos servers and then copied again
to the Windows Active Directory.
You can reset your SUNet ID password from this web site (for example,
from a computer where someone else is logged in):
http://stanfordyou.stanford.edu/
After resetting your SUNet ID password, quit the browser that you used
or logoff from the computer (otherwise, someone else at that computer
could change your settings).
The Windows Active Directory should be updated with your reset password
within five minutes.
The second known problem affects primarily Mac OS X on the iMacs.
When an iMac is restarted into Mac OS X after running Windows,
the computer must resynchronize its
internal clock with the campus time servers, because Mac OS X
stores the time value differently than Windows XP. This can take
a few seconds after the login window appears.
If you try to login
before this time resynchronization completes, your SUNet ID can
be "locked out" from that computer. In this case, the solution
is to restart Mac OS X again, and wait longer (30 seconds should be
sufficient) after the login window appears before trying to login.
In principle, restarting an iMac to Windows XP and attempting an
immediate login to Windows could also fail if time resynchronization
has not finished, but that seems to happen less often, and usually does
not "lock out" the SUNet ID - just try again after waiting 30
seconds.
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Where can I save my own files?
You have three options for saving your own files, described in more
detail below:
A) Save them in the
"My Documents"
folder on Windows XP, or the
"Documents"
folder inside your home folder under Mac OS X.
These locations are stored in your home share on the School's
network file server.
Files saved there can be used on any computer in the lab, running
either operating system.
B) Save them on the local scratch
disk partition
("D:"
drive or
"Scratch"
volume icon on the desktop).
They can only be used on this particular computer and are not
backed up. They may be erased at any time and will certainly
be erased at least once per year.
C) Save them to another file server on
campus where you have an account,
or to a flash memory drive, or burn them on a CD or DVD.
The lab computers automatically access your home share on the
School's high performance file server,
sesfs.stanford.edu,
to save your project files.
This protects your files against disk failure, allows you to use
any computer in the lab to work on them, and makes it easy to transfer
files to/from your own computer.
When you login to a lab computer, files you save to the
"My Documents" folder (Windows), or
"Documents" folder (Mac OS X)
will be stored in the
"Documents" subfolder of the
"GRIDLab" folder in your home share on
sesfs.stanford.edu.
You can switch back and forth between Windows and Mac OS X computers
and see the same files.
Files you store on the
"Desktop"
under either operating system are stored in the
"Desktop" subfolder of the
"GRIDLab" folder in your home share.
Again, they are visible from either operating system on any lab computer.
All these folders will be created automatically if they do not already
exist.
Your home share on
sesfs.stanford.edu.
has a 10 Gigabyte quota. If you need more space for your academic
work, ask your faculty advisor to request
an increased home share quota
for you.
If you do not have a home share on
sesfs.stanford.edu,
your files will be saved in the normal location on the local hard drive.
They will only be accessible on the computer and operating system where
they were made.
If you are
eligible for a home share on sesfs,
but do not have one, contact the
sesfs system managers.
Each computer also has a local "scratch" disk partition that is at
least 100 Gigabytes in size.
Any user may save files there, but their integrity is not guaranteed.
At least once per year (generally in early fall), the entire hard drives
on the lab computers, including this scratch partition,
will be erased to rebuild the software image and make room for new projects.
Also, files saved to this partition are not private.
Users can mount other network file servers to save or transfer files.
Users can save files to USB flash memory devices or burn
CDs or DVDs.
An "sftp" client program (see the
Supported Software list)
is also provided to transfer files to other computers on the network.
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Do I have to use the same computer every time?
No. All computers in the lab have identical
software configurations, and
all computers can access your saved files,
if
you save all your work to the
"My Documents"
folder under Windows XP or the
"Documents"
subfolder of the home folder under Mac OS X.
Those locations are
stored on the School file server.
If you save your files on the local "scratch" disk partition,
then you must login to that same computer again to access those files.
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How do I use the lab printers?
The printers and plotters in the G.R.I.D. will only accept print jobs from the computers in the lab,
which already have the correct print queues defined.
Workstations in offices and
personal laptops brought into the lab cannot connect to these printers.
The "grid-inkjet" printer in the lab is intended for proofing
posters before sending them to the large format plotters.
Use of this printer is not charged. Do not abuse this privilege
by printing general materials or a charging system will be implemented.
Due to the high cost of equipment, paper, and toner, the large format
plotters are controlled by an accounting system which charges one dollar
per square foot.
After sending your plot, you must use the
plotter release web form
to provide a university budget account to be charged and release your plot for
printing. The release form can only be accessed from
the lab computers - it will not work from other computers. This is
to make sure you are in the lab ready to handle problems such as
a bad plot or paper spewing that requires cancellation.
You must login to the form with your SUNet ID.
Only SUNet IDs for people in the School of Earth Sciences will be
accepted to release plots to print. If you have an affiliation with
Earth Sciences, but your SUNet ID is not accepted, contact the
the G.R.I.D. lab managers.
For more information on using the plotters, see:
Designing and Plotting Posters
Poster Plotting Tips
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The computer asked me to restart - can I ignore it?
The lab computers are setup to automatically download and install new
critical security patches released by Microsoft for Windows XP
or by Apple for Mac OS X.
A dialog box may appear while you are working that asks you to
restart the computer in order to finish installing updates.
You may continue working.
When you are done, completely shutdown (or restart)
the computer instead of just logging off.
The install will finish when the next person starts up the computer.
