FAQ
Last revision January 9, 2012
- How do I get help?
- Who may use the lab?
- The lab door is locked. How do I get in?
- Which computer is the best?
- How do I switch operating systems on the iMacs?
- How do I login to the computer?
- Help! The computer won't accept my SUNet ID.
- Where can I save my own files?
- Do I have to use the same computer every time?
- How do I use the lab printers?
- The computer asked me to restart - can I ignore it?
- How do I use this funny Apple keyboard in Windows?
1. How do I get help?
To request help or report a problem or suggestion, send email to the G.R.I.D. lab managers.
2. Who may use the lab?
The G.R.I.D. lab is for the individual use of students, faculty, and staff in the School of Earth Sciences only. People from other departments are not allowed to use this lab, unless they are sponsored as guests by a faculty member or lab manager in the School of Earth Sciences, who should send the authorization request via email to grid @ sesmail.stanford.edu.
The G.R.I.D. lab can never be reserved for courses - use the Mitchell A65 teaching cluster for that purpose.
3. The lab door is locked. How do I get in?
The G.R.I.D. lab is always open but the door has a combination lock. Use the Door Code link in the Quick Links section to get the door access code (access restricted to SUNet IDs in Earth Sciences).
To get into the lab, you first need access into the Mitchell Earth Sciences Building. This building is always open on weekdays from 8 am to 6 pm, except for holidays and sometimes during quarter breaks. At other times (for example, evenings, weekends, and holidays), the building exterior doors are unlocked during the same hours that the Branner Library is open. You can check their hours at the Branner Library website.
4. Which computer is the best?
The six computers in the GRID lab have similar capabilities, described on the Equipment tab. 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 Amerigo, running Windows 7, or Saxton, running Mac OS X 10.5, if you are working with very large graphics files. Both of these computers have 8 Gigabytes of RAM; the iMacs have only 4 Gigabytes of RAM.
Saxton, Jode, and Mauro all are connected to a scanner. The special Contex wide format map scanner connects only to the special PC named "Choffmann". That PC has no software for general use. Use it only to run the map 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 large 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.
5. How do I switch operating systems?
In addition to a Dell PC (Amerigo) that runs Windows 7 only, and an Apple PowerMac G5 (Saxton) that runs Mac OS X 10.5 only, the G.R.I.D. lab has four Apple iMac computers (Jode, Mauro, Mercator, and Beck) that run both Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows 7. By default, these iMacs start up running Mac OS X.
To switch to Windows 7, 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 7.
If the iMac is already running Windows 7, 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.
6. 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 7, press the Control, Alt, and Del keys together to bring up the login screen (click through the policy screen). Provide your SUNet ID name and password in the User name and Password fields, and click the OK button. 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.
7. 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 can affect both Windows 7 and Mac OS X logins.
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. Both Windows 7 and Mac OS X 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 logins on these computers.
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 domain should be updated with your reset password within five minutes.
The second known problem affects primarily Mac OS X.
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 7. 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 7 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.
8. Where can I save my own files?
You have three options for saving your own files, described in more detail below:
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Save them in the "Documents" folder of your profile in Windows 7, or the "Documents" subfolder 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.
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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.
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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 "Documents" folder in your Windows 7 profile, or to the "Documents" sub folder of your Mac OS X home folder will be automatically 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 or between computers in the lab and see the same files.
Files you store on the "Desktop" under either operating system are also automatically stored in your home share, but in different locations by operating system. Different locations are used to avoid confusing your view of the Desktop with icons and files that only apply to the other operating system. Files stored on the "Desktop" under Windows 7 end up in the "Desktop" subfolder of the "GRIDLab" folder in your home share. Files stored on the "Desktop" under Mac OS X end up in the "MacDesktop" subfolder of the "GRIDLab" folder in your home share. They are visible from any lab computer, but only from the same operating system.
All these folders used for automatic storage on your home share 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 their own external hard drives, USB flash memory devices or recordable CDs or DVDs. An "sftp" client program (see the Supported Software list) is also provided to transfer files to other computers on the network.
9. Do I have to use the same computer every time?
No. The six general use computers in the lab have identical software configurations (except the older Saxton computer is missing some of the latest software, as shown on that web page), and they all can access your saved files, if you are a regular member of the School of Earth Sciences with a home share on the sesfs file server, and you save all your work to the "Documents" folder in your Windows 7 profile or the "Documents" subfolder of the home folder under Mac OS X. Those locations are stored on your home share.
The Choffmann computer has no application software at all - it can only run the map scanner.
If you save your files on the local "scratch" disk partition, or if you are a guest user who does not have a home share on the School file server, then you must login to that same computer again to access those files.
10. How do I use the lab printers?
The printers 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 printers. Use of this printer is not charged. Do not abuse this privilege by printing lots of general materials or a charging system will be implemented.
Due to the high cost of equipment, paper, and toner, the large format printers are controlled by an accounting system which charges one dollar per square foot. After sending your print, you must use the printer release web form to provide a university budget account to be charged and release your job 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 print 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 jobs to print. If you have an affiliation with Earth Sciences, but your SUNet ID is not accepted, contact the G.R.I.D. lab managers.
For more information on using the printers, see:
11. 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 7 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.
12. How do I use this funny Apple keyboard in Windows?
The iMacs use an Apple keyboard designed for Mac OS X. However, there are equivalents for the special keys normally found on a Windows keyboard that you can use when the iMacs are booted into Windows.
The key on the bottom row labeled alt option is equivalent to the Windows key.
Use the F14 key on the top row to dump a screenshot of the entire screen into the copy/paste buffer.
Press the option and F14 keys together to dump a screenshot of the currently active window into the copy/paste buffer.
For other keyboard equivalents, see Apple knowledge base article HT1216.
