General Enquiries 8592495 Computer Operation 8592496 (Hardware and operational problems) 'Help Desk' 8592480 (Software and general problems) Fax 5597904 Hardware Maintenance 8592774 Dial-up to Data Switch 24-hr service line : 8592595 Night service line : 8597992/ (30-minute session) 8597997
Computer Centre Opening Hours
Normal Schedule
From September 13, 1993 to June 13, 1994
From Monday (8:00 a.m.) to Saturday (9:00 p.m.)
Sunday from 12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m.
Closed on Holidays
IBM 9076 SP1 (HKUSP1)
VAX 6420 (HKUCC)
IBM9375 (HKUVMI)
IBM4361 (HKUVM)
DECsystem 5500s (hkuxa/hkuxb)
SUN SPARCserver 670MP (hkusub)
Service hours
24 hours Daily.
Running unattended on all Sundays and Holidays
Maintenance Schedule
VAX 6510 (HKUCC) January 5, 1994 (Wednesday) 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noonTerminal Room Opening Hours
Microcomputer Laboratories Rm 218, Knowles Building Rm LG-108, KK Leung Bldg. SunOS & Ultrix Workstation Room Rm 113, Run Run Shaw Bldg. Rm 210, Run Run Shaw Bldg. Microcomputer Laboratories Rm 101, 103, 104, Run Run Shaw BuildingNormal Scheduled$a
Monday to Friday: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Saturday: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Closed on Sundays & HolidaysHoliday Schedule for December 1993 to February 1994
Winter Solstice
Computer Centre will be closed on Wednesday, December 22 ,1993 at 5:00 p.m. and opened on Thursday, December 23, 1993 at 8:00 a.m.
Christmas Holiday
Computer Centre will be closed on Friday, December 24 ,1993 at 8:00 p.m. and opened on Thursday, December 28, 1993 at 8:00 a.m.
New Year Holiday
Computer Centre will be closed on Friday, December 31, 1993 at 1:00 p.m. and opened on Sunday, January 2, 1994 at 12:00 noon.
Lunar New Year Holiday
Computer Centre will be closed on Monday, February 9, 1994 at 1:00 p.m. and opened on Sunday, February 13, 1994 at 12:00 noon.
Notes:
Rm 109, Run Run Shaw Building (8592480)
Monday - Friday: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Closed on Sundays & Holidays
We are pleased to announce that our IBM 9076 SP1 system (with a theoretical peak performance of 1 GFLOPS or 1 billions of floating point operations per second) was installed in October. Since then, our staff have been working hard in setting up the system and software, and putting it into service. While we are still working on installing some software packages and tools, we are delighted to inform our users that this high performance computer system is now ready for initial service. As the IBM 9076 SP1 system is over hundred times faster than our VAX 6420 system, the new system should definitely be a great boost to the computing power available for supporting our research users who are working on computation-intensive projects. We also expect that the scalable parallel architecture of the new system will stimulate wider interests in parallel computing at the University. The IBM SP1 system is primarily intended for supporting computational-intensive research projects. Interested users can obtain the application forms for using this system from Computer Centre's General Office, Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building.
The IBM 9076 SP1 system has 8 processors inter-connected via a high- performance switch. Each processor has 64MB of memory. An IBM RS/6000 570 system having 12GB of unformatted disk storage acts as the file server for the IBM 9076 SP1 system. The software that have been installed so far include the AIX operating system, LoadLeveler, the Parallel Environment software, Fortran and C compilers, the Visualisation Tool for parallel program development and SPSS. The IMSL Libraries will also be available quite soon.
The IBM 9076 SP1 system has been assigned the node name "hkusp1" with which the system can be accessed from any PCs or workstations on the Campus Network. To facilitate project development requiring powerful front-end workstation and graphics display (e.g. Visualisation), an IBM RS/6000 360 workstation and four IBM M20 workstations have been set up in Room RR-108 in Computer Centre .
To help our users to familiarise and get a quick start with the IBM 9076 SP1 system, we are launching a series of training courses, which cover the topics of AIX operating system, use of workstation, parallel application development tools and loadleveler. For the course of parallel application development, emphasis will be placed on parallel program development using Fortran.
Please refer to the Training News for detailed information.
C.M. Mak Tel: 8592491 E-mail: cmmak@hkucc.hku.hk
We are pleased to inform our users that the new "Network Services User Guide for UNIX User" (1994 edition) is now available from our General Office, Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building at nominal cost. Another two user guides, namely the "Network Services User Guide for VMS User" and the "UNIX User Guide", are under printing and will also be available soon.
C.M. Mak Tel: 8592491 E-mail: cmmak@hkucc.hku.hk
In the May/June issue of Computer News, we announced the launch of the Campus Wide Information Service ( CWIS ) which was only available initially to University staff members. However, we have also stated that we would work to extend the service to the student population. Therefore, we are now happy to make a come-back this time and say : CWIS reaches the student PC-laboratories too !
The CWIS is conceived as a platform for distributing information electronically to all users who have access to the Campus Network. From the user's point of view, it appears as another item on the HKUMENU of the file-server which the user is working on. Selection of the CWIS menu entry will on HKUMENU establish a session to the CWIS server where the information resides. No password is required for connection to the CWIS server. Successful connection to the server will bring further menu- pages for accessing the information bases which are supplied and maintained by various information providers.
Information is mainly grouped according to the providers on the menu. For example:
Computer Centre Office of Student Affairs Lecture/Seminar AnnouncementsEach of these has its own submenu. To start with, Computer Centre provides 3 items::
- Computer News - Terminal Room Opening Hours - Computer Centre Library CatalogueUnder the 'Office of Student Affairs' sub-menu, there is :
- Activity of the week ( from DATE/MONTH to DATE/MONTH )The 'Lecture/Seminar Announcements' menu contains scanned circular on announcements of lectures/seminars which are received by Computer Centre and may be of interestS to the student population at large.
We have to point out that the PC-laboratory version of CWIS contains information somewhat different from the version now installed on the departmental PC-servers. However, the commonly interested types of information ( e.g. Lecture/Seminar Announcements ) are available on both servers of PC-laboratories and departments.
The CWIS is able to support both text-based and image-based information ( e.g. 'Lecture/Seminar Announcements' mentioned above ). But regardless of the types of information you might be interested in, reading/viewing the information is easy, as the operation normally involves only a few keystrokes. Help information is provided either as a separate menu-item or incorporated in the browsing-software itself. If you are a new user of the CWIS, you are advised to spend a few minutes in reading the help information and to familiarise with the basic keystrokes, as this may facilitate greatly your navigation in the CWIS information base.
As the success of the CWIS hinges on the amount of information available, student societies, departments and offices, which wish to have an efficient way to disseminate student-oriented information, are encouraged to take advantage of the service by joining CWIS as information providers. Interested parties can contact the undersigned for the details, and user feedback would be much appreciated and deemed important to the refinement of the service.
T.Y. Shen Tel.: 8592482 E-mail: hcxcsty@hkucc.hku.hk
Computer Centre is providing dial-up access to the central computer systems (including HKUCC, HKUXA, HKUXB, HKUSUB, and HKUVM1) through three separate modem pools of the phone numbers: 8592595, 8597997 and 8597992. The first number is for 24-hour service lines whereas the latter two are only for the "night-service". The 8597992 modem pool has been operating at 14.4 Kbps since July this year while the other two modem pools are only supported by 2400 bps modems.
The "night-service" modems are only operated during the time period of 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 a.m. next day on weekdays (they are also available for service during weekends and holidays). At present, the 2400 bps modem pools are connected to the Dataswitch (D.S.) and the 14.4 Kbps pool is connected to the "HKUDIAL30" service. Both the D.S. and HKUDIAL30 services allow users to choose connection to a required central computer. The main difference between the two is that the latter service has a connection time limit of 30 minutes.
The HKUDIAL30 service has been introduced for a few months and is aimed at providing a better and fair chance for users to gain access to the heavily demanded, but limited dial-up facilities. The 30-minute-limit scheme has proved to be a success and will also be applied to the modem pool 8597997 with effect from January 3, 1994. In fact, the two "night- service" modem pools are being merged into one. Starting from 1994, all dial-up modems, including those 24-hour lines, in Computer Centre will be operating at line speeds of up to 14.4 Kbps (please see below). We expect that the new arrangement and facility upgrade will further improve the service availability and satisfaction of our users.
The new dial-up facilities available starting from January 3, 1994 will be:
Modem/Terminal settings supported:
Data link : V.32bis (14.4 Kbps) Error correction : V.42
V.32 (9600 bps) Data compression: V.42bis
V.22bis (2400 bps) Parity: None
V.22 (1200 bps) Data Length: 8-bit
Flow control: XON/XOFF
Operation Mode:
Modem Pool Operation Time/Connection Max. Terminal Speed
8592595 24-hour /Dataswitch 9600 baud
8597992/8597997 night-service /HKUDIAL30 19200 baud
For dial-up access to D.S., the user will be prompted to
specify his
required system immediately after a modem session is
established. For
the HKUDIAL30 service, the user has to press the "ENTER" key
a few times
so as to get the system prompt "Username:" when a modem
session is
established. After that, entering "HKUDIAL30" will give him
a menu for
selecting his required system. Computer Centre is providing a tailored MS-Kermit software for dial- up access to Centre's computer system. An updated MS-Kermit Installation diskette is now available from Centre's General Office, Room RR-223 at nominal cost. Users can also borrow from the office the MS-Kermit Installation Package and make their own copies.
Y.W. Cheung Tel: 8592488 E-mail: Cheungyw@hkucc.hku.hk
Since early this year, Computer Centre and the University Libraries have been working jointly and actively in setting up the Libraries' CDROM network servers which have been providing service within the libraries for a few months. After a few compatibility problems between the CDROM servers and the standard network-PC and LAN file-server configurations have been resolved, we are pleased to announce that access to the CDROM databases of the Libraries can be available to Pcs of departments through the Campus Network.
For users who have been using network-Pcs and Novell Netware file-servers which are set up by Computer Centre , they can find the new menu entry "HKU Libraries Information Service" on the HKUMENU. When a user selects this menu entry for the first time, the configuration and system files (CONFIG.SYS, NET.BAT, NETWORK.BAT and AUTOEXEC.BAT) of his PC will be modified and rebooting of the system will occur. Further selection of the menu entry will then enable the user's PC be linked to the Libraries information server, and the user will then find a menu of facilities, including CDROM databases, which are provided by the Libraries.
If a user has modified the above mentioned configuration and system files of his PC, he might not be able to gain access to the Libraries CDROM databases by the described procedure. Under such circumstances, please contact the undersigned for help.
For reasonable performance of CDROM database access, it is recommended that a PC with the minimum configuration of a 386 CPU, 2MB RAM, 20MB free hard-disk space, DOS 5.0, and a VGA monitor should be used.
The CDROM database facility is not yet available to those departments which are connected to 3+Open and LAN-Manager servers. In the mean time, Computer Centre is in the process of migrating users of these servers to Novell Netware servers so that all departments on the Campus Network can enjoy the useful service.
T.Y. Lui Tel: 8592455 E-mail: hcxclty@hkucc.hku.hk
A HP ScanJet IIc colour scanner has recently been set up and attached to the "Multimedia PC station" in Centre's Special Facility Room (RR-107). The specifications of the scanner and the associated software are summarised as follows:
Scanner type Flatbed
Maximum document size 216 x 356 mm (8.5 x 14 inches
Optical resolution 400 dpi
Selectable resolution 12 to 1600 dpi
Scaling 3 to 200% in 1% increments @400dpi
Scanning speed 20 seconds @400dpi;
15 seconds @300dpi;
3 seconds @preview resolutions
Scanning modes 4-bit (16 grayscale levels);
8-bit (256 grayscale levels);
24-bit (256 levels per colour)
Image processing Options Dithering, thresholding, colour correction,
gamma adjustment, mirroring, data inversion,
filtering
Image TypeThe HP ScanJet Iic scanner supports three image types, namely Drawing, Halftone and Photo. The choice of a particular image type in the scanning operation should depend on the characteristics of the pictorial documents being processed so that optimal scanning performance and image quality could be produced. Some suggestions are given below:
The Drawing image type should be used for pictures of solid objects with distinct colours, e.g. cartoon, company logo and other line art. The Halftone image type should be used to simulate shades of gray or colour of the scanned images by varying the density of the dots printed or displayed on a monitor. This image type is generally used for images which has to be printed by the common desktop printers such as laser printers or inkjet printers.
The Photo image type supports more precise grayscale or colour quality for the scanned images than the halftone image type. There are two "photo grayscale" image types - with grayscales of 16 and 256, and two "photo colour" image types - with 256 and Million colours levels.
Image Enhancement Function
The HP ScanJet Iic scanner is provided with the DeskScan II software for processing and enhancement of scanned images. The image enhancement functions of the software are highlighted below:
Automatic Exposure
This is a useful function which initiates the scanning software to make an optimal exposure adjustment for a selected area of a scanned image. This function can simply be invoked by first selecting the area of the scanned image that you want to save, and then clicking the "Automatic Exposure" button for exposure adjustment processing.
Highlight and Shadow
The Highlight and Shadow is a function which can be used to adjust the white and black regions of an image separately and is useful for both colour as well as black and white images. This function is available under the Tools menu and if selected, users can identify the whitest point (the highlight) and the blackest point (the shadow) in the scanned image and then adjust the colours or grays between these two points. More information on using this tool is available from the Quick Help menu.
Emphasis
The Emphasis function can be used to adjust the middle tones of an image separately from the highlight and shadow. This function is available under the Tools menu and if selected, an emphasis curve with 3 control points will be displayed on the screen. The middle tones of an image can be adjusted by moving one or all of the three control points along the emphasis curve. The lowest point controls the darker middle tones, and the highest point controls the lighter middle tones in the image. Moving the control points up lightens the middle tones, while moving the control points down darkens the middle tones. The Emphasis tool must be kept open so that the image emphasis function can be effected. Closing the tool will restore the default emphasis curve. More information on using this tool is available from the Quick Help menu.
Colour Adjustment:
The Color Adjustment function can be used to change the overall cast of a colour image. This function works best with colour halftones or colour photos. Colour Adjustment is available under the Tools menu and if selected, a hexagon and a scroll bar will be displayed on the screen. The user can change the colour hues by clicking any area on the hexagon or to change the colour saturation by clicking the scroll bar. Like the Emphasis tool, the Adjustment tool must be kept open so that its function can be effected. Closing the tool will restore the default colour. More information on using this tool is also available from the Quick Help menu.
T.Y. Lui Tel: 8592455 E-mail: hcxclty@hkucc.hku.hk
We would like to inform our users that the Winconsin Sequence Analysis Package running under GCG Version 7.3 has been updated. The databases currently available include:
GenBank Release 79.0 (10/93) EMBL (Modified) Release 36.0 ( 9/93) PIR-Protein Release 38.0 ( 9/93) PIR-Nucleic Release 36.0 ( 3/90) SWISS-PROT Release 26.0 ( 7/93) Vecbase Release 3.0 ( 8/87) PROSITE Release 10.2 ( 7/93) Restriction Enzyme (REBASE) (10/93)According to the distributor of the software, GCG Version 8.0 will soon be available. The new version will provide some new features such as the BLAST search tool for rapidly searching nucleic and protein sequences. We shall inform our users in due course when the new software is available.
Charles Y. W. Cheung Tel: 8592488 E-mail: cheungyw@hkucc.hku.hk
The IMSL Libraries consist of a large number of very useful FORTRAN subroutines for mathematical and statistical problems. The latest version of the Libraries, i.e. IMSL V2.0, include two products, namely IMSL MATH/LIBRARY Version 2.0 and IMSL STAT/LIBRARY Version 2.0.
These two program libraries are now installed on the VAX/6420 (HKUCC) system in the form of a combined program library: IMSLIB. The IMSL MATH/LIBRARY Version 1.0 will still be kept on HKUCC at its original location until further notice. Users should refer to the IMSL LIBRARY Version 2.0 and Version 1.0 libraries by the equivalent logical names of "IMSLIB" and "IMSL" respectively. However, we would suggest our users who are using the IMSL LIBRARY Version 1.0 to try the new IMSL/LIBRARY by relinking their programs with the object library IMSLIB.
The IMSL Libraries products are designed to be used separately or in combination. Previous versions of the IMSL Libraries, i.e. IMSL V1.0, include the SFUN/LIBRARY product in addition to the MATH/LIBRARY and STAT/LIBRARY products. In version 2.0, programs of the SFUN/LIBRARY product have been integrated into the MATH/LIBRARY product as the IMSL MATH/LIBRARY Special Functions. On the other hand, the IMSL MATH/LIBRARY and MATH/LIBRARY Special Functions continue to be documented separately.
The following reference materials of the new IMSL Libraries can be borrowed from Centre's General Office, Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building:
User's Manual MATH/LIBRARY MS 07077 User's Manual MATH/LIBRARY Special Functions MS 07079 User's Manual STAT/LIBRARY MS 07078 Quick Reference MATH/LIBRARY MS 07080 Quick Reference MATH/LIBRARY Special Functions MS 07081 Quick Reference STAT/LIBRARY MS 07082For further enquiries or problem reporting, please contact the undersigned.
Charles Y. W. Cheung Tel: 8592488 E-mail: cheungyw@hkucc.hku.hk
The University & Polytechnic Computer Centre Ltd (UPCC) has recently conducted a tender exercise on PC Products. The following PC systems proposed by the Comtech Computer and Electronics Co., the Tricom Microsystems Ltd. and the C & D Computer Systems Ltd. have been selected:
PC systems with 386DX/40MHz CPU, ISA bus;
486SX/25 or 486SX/33 MHz CPU, ISA bus or VL bus;
486DX/33 or 486DX/40 Mhz CPU, ISA bus or VL bus;
486DX2/66 Mhz CPU, ISA bus or VL bus.
Systems with 486DX/50 and Pentium CPUs are still under testing and will
be considered by UPCC in January, 1994.Tender summary and the price list of the selected products can be read in "electronic form" from Centre's Campus Wide Information Service (CWIS) for departments, under the "Computer Centre " section. Also, the tender summary and price list will be kept in our General Office at Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building. Please contact the General Office (Tel: 8592491) if you wish to examine them.
T. Y. Shen Tel: 8592482 E-mail: hcxcsty@hkucc.hku.hk
For effective operation, the Macintosh computers which have recently been set up in Room RR-104 are equipped with hard-disks. Since the facilities were put into service in October, we have encountered frequent system failures due to corruption or deletion of files by users. While many of such incidents might be accidental in nature, it had caused considerable inconvenience to users of the facilities and imposed extra burden on our staff in maintaining the systems.
To improve such annoying situation, the hard-disks of the Macintosh systems in Room RR-104 are now protected by the "At Ease" software. Users of the facilities can no longer save their files on the hard-disks of the Macintosh systems and are reminded that they have to save their files on floppy diskettes.
With the "At Ease" software, we have also created a user-friendly interface, which organises the available software programs in the form of large and easy-to-read buttons, to facilitate users to choose the available software programs conveniently.
T.Y. Lui Tel.: 8592455 E-mail: hcxclty@hkucc.hku.hk
The Mac IIcx system in our Special Facility Room RR-108 has been replaced by a faster and more powerful Mac Centris. Unlike the previous Mac Iicx which was provided as a standalone facility, the Mac Centris is connected to the same Ethernet network of the Mac LC IIIs in the Mac Laboratories in Room RR-104. With the network connection, printing from the Mac in the Special Facility Room can now be sent either to the network laser printer in Room RR-103 or to its local laser printer, i.e. the laser printer connected directly to the Mac Centris. If you require to make use of the local laser printer, the existing scheme of paying HK$10 per 2-hour session should be followed. Otherwise, sessions for using the Mac Centris is free and printing produced on the network printer should be collected at the laser counter located near the entrance of Room RR-104 by presenting a laser-printing coupon for cancellation of the equivalent printing units. Laser-printing coupon with 50 printing units can be purchased from our General Office in Room RR-223 at $20 ($16 if a used coupon is returned).
In addition to the Mac Centris system mentioned above, other Special Facilities in Computer Centre include:
C. M. Mak Tel: 8592491 E-mail: cmmak@hkucc.hku.hk
In view of the difficulty encountered by our staff users in competing with the large population of student users in getting access to the Macintosh facilities in Computer Centre , an additional Mac Iicx which is designated as a staff-priority workstation is now installed in Room RR-104 along side with the other 14 Mac LC IIIs. Sessions of this Mac Iicx can only be reserved by staff members of the University. When no staff is using the system, students are free to use it. However, they should give way to staff users when they are so demanded.
The staff priority Mac IIcx system, which bears a "Staff-Priority System" label, is located under the projection screen in Room RR-104. Like other Mac LC IIIs in the room, the Mac IIcx is connected to the campus Ethernet network and shares the same software and laser printing facilities.
C. M. Mak Tel: 8592491 E-mail: cmmak@hkucc.hku.hk
We are pleased to announce that with the initial release of our IBM Scalable POWERparallel system, a number of new courses have been organised to take place in January, 1994 to help the prospective users to get started in using this powerful scalable-parallel computer.
A session of the Campus Network User Training Workshop is also scheduled to be held in January, 1994 for users who are keen to learn more about the latest Network Services provided.
Course 20/93 - Campus Network User Training Workshop
This is a 3-hour seminar in 2 sessions (1.5 hours each) which covers all the services provided on the University campus network, especially those related to the departmental LAN's (e.g. HKUMENU, network printing, file sharing, access to CDROM databases of the Libraries, CWIS etc.) and the host computer systems (e.g. E-mail, DRA Library System, SENDFAX, Use3net bulletin board system, access to Internet, etc.). There will be hands-on practice for some of the facilities discussed in the form of a workshop.
Course 21/93 - Introduction to IBM 9076 SP1 system
This is an 1-hr new course for prospective users of the IBM 9076 SP1 system. The course provides an overview of the IBM 9076 SP1 system, its architecture and configuration.
Course 22/93 - Introduction to AIX operating system
This is a 2-hr new course intended for those IBM 9076 SP1 users who have little previous Unix experience. AIX is an IBM version of Unix. The course covers the AIX file system, file manipulation commands and use of the vi editor.
Course 23/93 - Introduction to parallel application development
This is a 2-hr new course for users of the IBM 9076 SP1 system. It provides an overview of the various tools available on the IBM 9076 SP1 system and their use for developing parallel programs in Fortran.
Course 24/93 - UNIX workstation orientation
This is an 1-hr new course for Unix users. It provides an overview on how to use the various menu option found on a workstation (particularly for working with the IBM 9076 SP1 system).
Course 25/93 - Introduction to IBM LoadLeveler
This is an 1-hr new course for users of the IBM 9076 SP1 system. LoadLeveler is a job scheduler of the IBM 9076 SP1 system. This course provides an overview of the LoadLeveler and how to create, modify, submit and monitor a parallel batch job.
Registration:
Please complete and return the attached Registration Form to Computer Centre . Successful applicants will be notified by telephone. For any enquiries, please contact Miss Heti Cheng (tel.: 8592491)
Course Title Date/Venue Remarks
No.
20/93 Campus Network 22 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
User Training 20 Jan, 1994 Max. 20 persons.
Workshop 2:00 - 3:30 pm Staff Only.
Conducted in English.
21/93 Introduction to 18 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
IBM 9076 SP1 system 3:30 - 4:30 pm, Max. 20 persons.
Old Library Bldg. Staff / Postgraduates
Conducted in English.
22/93 Introduction to 19 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
AIX operating 3 - 5 pm, Max. 20 persons
system Old Library Bldg. Staff / Postgraduates
Conducted in English.
23/93 Introduction to 25 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
parallel 3 - 5 pm, Max. 20 persons
application Old Library Bldg. Staff / Postgraduates
development Conducted in English.
24/93 Network Services 24 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
Seminar 3:30 - 4:30 pm, Max. 20 persons
Old Library Bldg. Staff / Postgraduates
Conducted in English.
25/93 Introduction to 28 Jan, 1994 Registration required.
LondLeveler 3:30 - 4:30 pm, Max. 20 persons
Old Library Bldg. Conducted in English.