Students' Guide
What we ask of you
Unfortunately, the Faculty's digital resources are not infinite - we have a small number of specialized machines rather than many general machines. Just like a 'community centre,' you must share resources. For example - do not leave a large number of unused files on shared spaces on the server, clean up coffee cups and trash in the labs, use your laptop for word processing and leave the lab computers for more advanced work, etc. Please consult this website first for information and let us know if it was not extensive enough. Let us know ASAP if a machine is not working. If you can, help your neighbour - if you are a 'pro' using the lab software, please share your knowledge when possible.
Your account
Activating your computer account is your 'passport' to most of the digital services at the Faculty. All account information comes from the ROSI system. Your Daniels computer account login name will be the same as your UTORid. You will be eligible to receive an account once you have been 'invited' by the University or fully registered. When you have this status you will receive an email from us sent to your U of T email account with the details on how to fully activate your computer account.
Communication between you and us is increasingly essential and not just a 'nicety.' For example, we send notices of all known network outages, course directory deletions and maintenance announcements via email. In addition to this any new services or changes to the website are sent to you by email. Your instructors will likely give you course announcements, course outlines and updates on deadlines by email. Our registrar is now using email to communicate with you for any administrative tasks. Email is as much an institution as regular mail or 'snail mail' as it is affectionately known. Therefore we have made it a requirement that you have a U of T email account to activate your computer account.
The University of Toronto provides email services for students. U of T email offers many options. This email service offers up to 100 megabytes of mail storage, a web mail interface at https://my.utoronto.ca/, it allows up to 2 megabytes of attachments, and there is spam filtering available. See more information at: http://www.utoronto.ca/ic/utordist/general/utormail.html
IMPORTANT!!!
The Faculty does not recommend setting your U of T e-mail to be forwarded to third party providers such as Gmail, Yahoo or others.
Follow the link below to read Policy on Official Correspondents with Students:
http://www.utoronto.ca/govcncl/pap/policies/studentemail.html
To make sure that your mailbox stays under quota, visit this link to manage your account:
http://www.utoronto.ca/cleanup/
Buying your own laptop
All students must purchase a laptop. Only use our computers for tasks you cannot perform on your own laptop. Buy the best computer you can afford for the job, but do not forget about servicing. Laptops are preferable because they allow you the greatest flexibility. Most of the recommendations we make assume you will want to use more advanced software for rendering and 3D modeling. We have a few contacts through the University for discounts:
In general, the lighter the weight of a laptop and the more compact it is, the more expensive it is. You must balance the weight of the computer with the features you need - for example a bigger screen. There are three key points when buying a computer for advanced work:
- For advanced 3D work, the graphics card is very important and cannot generally be changed after you have bought the unit. It should be a separate card with dedicated video memory 256 Mb + Look for reviews of graphics card recommended for CAD or modeling - often cards are spec'ed for "gaming" which has different requirements.
- For advanced graphics work, a generous amount of memory is important. Windows 7 (64 bit) is recommended with a minimum of 4 GB of memory. Configurations that have one free memory slot are preferable if you cannot afford the full amount of memory right away. You can then add a second memory module later.
- A good warranty that covers the likely life of the laptop of three years is recommended.
The vast majority of students purchase PC laptops rather than Mac PowerBooks. One reason is that AutoCAD is presently not supported natively on the Mac platform.
It is recommended that you purchase a Intel Core i5 or Core i7 Processor system. The 3-year extended warranty, with a quick turnaround time for repairs or replacement is recommended - ask yourself how long you can go without your computer if it fails.
Please shop around to find a product that works for you - often vendor like Dell and Best Buy have promotions at the start of the academic year or near the Holiday season.
Your network connection
As much as we would like you to have the same network experience on your own personal computer as you would have if you were logging on to one of the lab computers, they are very different.
Our lab machines have a very fast wired intranet, which means that you can have multiple files open and in-use over the network. This reliable fast connection 'feels' and acts similar to working off of the local hard drives. Despite this, working off of the local hard drive will always be the fastest and most stable means of doing any intense digital work. The wireless network is not as fast as the wired network. For your own computer, when working off of the wireless network always copy files you want to work on from the Faculty file server to your local hard drive (your C Drive). When you are finished your work you can copy your files back to the Faculty’s file server. Give the file a slightly different name like filenamev2 (for version 2) etc. This way you will have a backup of the file that is on your laptop and it will be 'centrally' available on the Faculty's file server.
Your 'home' directory is your domain
To make the file system seem familiar to you we created a directory called 'home.' This is a 'network drive' the will show in 'my computer' if you are logged onto one of the lab computers. This is space on the network file server that appears like a virtual local hard drive. This area is only accessible by you and is limited to 4.4 GB which is the size of a DVD for easy archiving. This limit is monitored by 'quota' software. If you hit this limit you will receive a 'disk full' error. See more about your Home directory.
Remote Access
If you have a fast connection (DSL) via a service provider from home (Rogers, Bell, etc) you can make a connection back to your network using FTP for things like puting and getting files from your home folder or course directory. If you would like to use Faculty provided software you will also need to configure VPN. VPN uses the internet connection to then allow you to establish a secure connection between your home and our network here at the Faculty which is a requriement for running Faculty provided software.