What’s New in the CSC Student Terminal Area? By Joe Lee

To meet the increasing demand of PC laboratories for conducting computer classes and hands-on tutorials, we have swapped Rooms J and K and equipped Room J with more PCs. After this swap, Room K is housed with 30 SUN UltraSparc 5 workstations while Room J has 50 PCs with large 17" XGA monitors. In addition, Room J is redecorated with newly designed furniture, arranging in U-shape layout similar to that of Room E which includes computer desks, printer tables and an instructor desk. These tables and desks are of fascinating colour reflecting the zone in which the room is located.

All instructor desks in the teaching studios have been replaced to incorporate a new 17" monitor for better resolution and video projection. New audio aids such as amplifier and wireless microphone have also been installed to improve the teaching environment.

Two extra powerful Novell servers have been added, making a total of 14, to share loading and hence improve software access time. Most updated versions of Office 2000, Visual Studio, FrontPage and other applications covered in the Microsoft Campus Licence Agreement have been installed on the student LAN servers for teaching and general use. Please refer to page 22 for a detailed list of newly installed software applications.

Apart from all those computer upgrade mentioned above, some renovation was carried out in the CSC Student Terminal Area as well. The wall right outside the University Computer Shop has been refurbished to become a ‘poster board’ for putting up IT advertisements to keep our CityU community updated. At the far end of the corridor, a nicely decorated display board was set up to demonstrate the powerful campus network CTNET-II, which is inscribed with a detailed legend. Also along the corridor are two newly installed water fountains to quench your thirst while working inside the CSC. We hope to provide you with a comfortable environment to work in, and any comment from our colleagues will be very welcomed.