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Table Of Contents
Holidays Closed on Re-open on
Winter Solstice December 22, 1999 
 (Wednesday) 5:00 p.m.		 December 23, 1999 
 (Thursday) 9:00 a.m
Christmas Holiday December 24, 1999 
 (Saturday) 8:30 a.m.		 December 28, 1999 
 (Tuesday) 9:00 a.m
New Year Holiday December 31, 1999 
 (Friday) 1:00 p.m.		 January 3, 2000
 (Monday) 9:00 a.m
Lunar New Year Holiday February 4, 2000
(Thursday) 8:30 a..m.		 February 8, 2000
(Tuesday) 9:00 a..m.

Achieving Year 2000 (Y2K) Compliance

There are less than 15 days left before the critical roll-over 1999/2000 period. By now you should have everything in place ready to meet any challenges that might occur. We do not expect any serious problems at the University of Hong Kong but other organisations may not be as well prepared as we are and your contingency plans should include dealing with short term failures in supplies of goods and services especially by small and medium companies.

The Hong Kong SAR Government has been very thorough in raising Y2K awareness throughout the community and I am sure Hong Kong will manage much better than many other places. On the other hand this is not a time to be complacent.

Dr N. Ng, Director of Computer Centre, held a briefing session on October 27th to give guidance on the drawing up of contingency plans by departments. Subsequently copies of the guidelines were sent to every department head and Y2K co-ordinator. The deadline for completion of all contingency plans was 30th November.

On 14th November the network and email systems of all institutions were tested to ensure that communications with the University Grant Committee are fully Y2K compliant. There had previously been a full scale integrated test of university administration systems to make sure that the interfaces between them will function properly next year.

In the final stages leading up to the year-end, two top level committees were formed. The first is the University Y2K Contingency Task Force chaired by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Felix Wu and which includes representatives from offices with special university-wide Y2K responsibilities such as the Computer Centre, Registry, Finance Office, Estates Office, Safety Office, Office of Student Affairs, and a student representative. This policy forming group in turn has established the Y2K Emergency Response Team which is convened by Dr P.T. Ho, Deputy Director of the Computer Centre. It will co-ordinate any actions necessary in case of occurrence of any Y2K-related problems.

All Computer Centre staff will be on standby throughout the critical periods and most of them will be on duty in the university on both the 31st December and 1st January. Our first real test will be at 7pm on the 31st when New Zealand reaches the year 2000 and we must check that network communication is functioning. The Computer Centre operations staff will be on full alert in monitoring our systems and networks from 6pm on December 31, 1999 to 5pm on January 1, 2000.

We believe that our University is Y2K ready and Y2K prepared.

D.P. Carthy
Tel: 2859 0535
Email: dpc@cc.hku.hk


 
 
A User-friendly Flexi-IT Approach for Education

- an IT-based project for the young ones by the Computer Centre and the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
Background
In 1997, the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems and the Computer Centre experimented with a new mode of teaching in the schools environment with the appropriate use of IT. This new approach aimed at enhancing teachers' IT training and students' learning. We were very honored to receive funding from the Quality Education Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government in 1998.  A User-friendly Flexi-IT Approach for Education (UFIA) was made possible as a result. 

This web-based learning system strengthens the communication among teachers, students and parents.  Preparation was started in September of 1998. 13 pilot primary schools were recruited to join us in developing the course materials, which were already in use in these schools.  The system went live in September 1999. Other than the 13 pilot schools, over 60 other primary schools who were eager to make use of IT in their teaching also joined the UFIA scheme in November 1999 and shared the work developed in the UFIA project.
Objective
The objective of the project is to introduce a quality learning and teaching environment to the schools in Hong Kong based on the state-of-the-art web technologies (e.g. multimedia and world-wide web). This provides students with a flexible, effective and student-oriented learning environment in order to meet the goal of quality education. UFIA consists of 2 main parts: teachers' IT training and IT-Enabled Education.
Teachers' IT Training
In January 1999, teachers from the pilot schools underwent IT training provided by UFIA. The training was modular, flexible, self-paced and provided timely assessment and feedback. Over 500 teachers were trained in the first 6 months. Teachers could learn at their own pace depending on their capabilities and could take an assessment to help them understand their own knowledge level in terms of IT at anytime when they felt ready. The contents of the training included basic information technology knowledge, the usage of the Internet and multimedia. Besides giving lectures and practical labs to teachers, UFIA also provided a self-learning environment, hot-line service, email and bulletin boards to address teachers' difficulties or questions.
IT-Enabled Education
The main element of web-based learning is the courseware. After discussing with teachers and educators, the UFIA team decided to focus the pilot run between 1998 and 2000 at Primary 3 English, Chinese and Mathematics. The courseware was co-developed by over 150 pilot school teachers and the UFIA team. A lot of fun-filled interactive games were built in the contents to arouse students' interest and stimulate their thinking. In addition, web-based learning allows students to learn outside of their schools. They just need a computer which is hooked up to the Internet and they can review the lessons whenever necessary and at their own pace.

Parents can also benefit from the UFIA system. They can easily access the course contents and monitor their children's progress; hence, they can participate more actively in educating their children.
Test Drive
In order to share our experience in making use of various Information Technologies in the UFIA project, a sample web site has been setup. Anyone interested to try out the fun-filled interactive courseware of the UFIA system is welcome to visit http://ufia.hku.hk:8900/public/sample3. A more detailed description of the UFIA project can be found on its homepage at http://ufia.hku.hk.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact the undersigned.

Fanny Chau
Tel: 2964 5737
Email: hcxccyh@hku.hk


Enhancing Web-based Courses with a Simulated Debate Capability

From time to time, we receive enquiries from course designers who look for the capability in the WebCT courseware to collect students' feedback based on specific teaching contents. Since we find this function to be very useful, especially for social sciences subjects, in stimulating the students' thinking process in learning, the Computer Centre has developed a 'Feedback System' which provides a simulated debate capability to address this need.

What can be done?

This 'Feedback System' can associate discussion questions to teaching materials. Questions can be 'open-ended' which stimulate student discussion on a topic related to the course content, or they can be 'debate-type' which contains 2 choices for students to choose from and elaborate on. In either case, students will obtain sample answers from course designers and responses from the whole class after submitting their own. If it is a debate question, a statistic showing how many people choose choice 1 and choice 2 will also be provided. In this way, students can learn from others' view points. Further discussion is encouraged via the use of the WebCT bulletin board.

How does it work?

1. The course designer defines a question related to the course contents.

2. Students attempt to respond to the question when going through the course contents.

3. The course designer and students read the responses from the entire class of the WebCT course.

Details on using the "Feedback System" can be found from the URL http://www.itservices.hku.hk/webct/feedback.html. For further questions, please contact the undersigned.

C.P. Lau
Tel: 2241 5183
E-mail: cplau@cc.hku.hk


 
 
Video Conferencing Facility in Computer Centre 

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We are pleased to announce that a pilot video-conferencing service is now available to departments in HKU. Just dial the ISDN number of the party that you would like to meet and talk to, and you can experience the use of a high-quality video conferencing session.

This service is now set up at the Computer Centre in the Conference Room RR202. This room is equipped with an ISDN-based video conferencing system. The system is comprised of a complete set of H.320 scalable systems designed for point-to-point ISDN-based video conferencing, with connection speeds up to 384Kbps. It consists of a 29-inch television set, a video camera and a table-top microphone. A wireless keyboard is provided for easy system control.

During the pilot period, the Computer Centre will provide free-of-charge technical assistance in operating the system. And you only have to pay the ISDN connection charge.  ISDN charge for a 384-kbps local call in the Hong Kong SAR is HK$0.54/min and that for a  384-kbps call to U.S.A. is HK$60/min. (Please see the notes given at the end of this article for more information.)  Staff members who are interested in a video conference can book the service at our General Office in Room RR223 (Tel: 285-92491 or Email to nng@cc.hku.hk) .

Don't miss this chance to experience a high quality video conferencing session. We encourage you to take advantage of this special offer and help us refine this technology for wider use by the rest of the University. 

For more information, please call 
 
 

George Poon 
Tel: 2241 5302 
Email: skpoon@hkucc.hku.hk.
Note:
  1. Both parties must have compatible video conferencing systems.
  2. Connection speed of video conferencing depends on system used by both parties.
  3. Connection speed from 56kbps to 384kbps are supported.
  4. Connection charge is calculated on minute and channel basis. Each channel supports 64kbps connection. For a business quality local ISDN call at 384kbps, 6 channels are used and the charge is HK$0.54/min. For international ISDN call, charge varies from HK$3/min/channel to HK$20/min/channel. It is subject to change by our ISDN service provider without prior notice. A typical charge of a ISDN call to USA is HK$10/min/channel.


An Online Procedure for Renewing Departmental Accounts

Who uses Departmental Accounts?

Departmental accounts are set up for departmental work, group research, a production application system, visiting scholars or fellows of the department.  They can be used for storing programs or data files shared among a group of users. Application for a departmental account requires the endorsement of the respective department head.  Unlike personal accounts which expire when the individual leaves the University, departmental accounts require annual renewal.  Each departmental account is associated with a staff member (account handler) who is responsible for the renewal or deletion of this account.

Notice for Account Handlers

Once a year in the month of October, a letter will be sent to each departmental account handler asking them to renew or delete the departmental account(s) under their care.  If an account handler has left the university, the department head will be asked to name another handler to look after the departmental accounts.  A second reminder is sent to account handlers who did not respond to the first notice.  When all the responses are in, then a program is run to either renew or delete these departmental accounts.

The Account Renewal Process

In other years before, the renewal of departmental accounts was done with paper forms which were sent back and forth between the Computer Centre and the departments and office clerks had to input the data for either renewing or deleting such accounts.

This year, an electronic form was implemented at a website, and accounts handlers were asked to go to the website themselves and enter the information directly.  The electronic accounts renewal process went very smoothly, and within a month's time, thanks to the cooperation of the account handlers, almost all of the accounts were either renewed or deleted.  The renewable departmental accounts will be extended for another year and those to be deleted will be removed from the system and the occupied disk space will be reclaimed.  The electronic form proved to be a convenient and effort-less way for updating information that would normally take two or more rounds of paper forms and data entry by clerks.
 

Mabel Chau
Tel: 2859 8934
Email: chaumabc@hku.hk


From The Help Desk ...

Given our limited computer resources and the vast number of computer users at the University,  quotas and budgets have to be allocated to each computer account in order to ensure that all users can have an adequate and fair share on the use of our computer resource.  Below is a brief explanation on the various types of computer quotas and budgets allocated by the Computer Centre and how to query the status of these quotas.  For details on quotas and budgets, please refer to the Computer Services Handbook at   http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook/csh/chap6.htm#6.1.5

Quotas

Disk quotas refer to the limit on disk space usage.  Two often confused quotas are the mail quota and the disk quota which are the allocated disk space for your mailbox and all your files respectively.

Mail quota refers to the limit on the disk space used by the INBOX only.  The INBOX resides somewhere on the system disk and is not under your home directory.  The disk quota for the INBOX is  8MB (8,000,000 bytes).  When your mail quota reaches 5MB, you will receive a warning message telling you to clean up your mailbox, but you can still receive new mail until your mail quota reaches 8MB.  When your mail quota reaches 8MB, you will not be able to receive any new mail.  You then have to login your mail server and get into the INBOX to delete unwanted mail.  Type "mailquota" at the system prompt to query the disk usage in your INBOX.

Disk quota refers to the limit on the disk space used by all user files in your account.  Files on your disk include all system configuration files, your program files, webpages and all saved mail in various mail folders. The disk quota for all user files is 11MB for staff and 6MB for students.  When your disk quota is exceeded, you will get a warning message saying that your disk quota is exceeded.  You then have to login your mail server and look in all the mail folders for previously saved mail and delete any unwanted mail.  Then delete any large files (e.g. image files) in your home directory or sub-directories.  Type "rm filename" to remove a file called filename.  Type "showquota" at the system prompt to query the disk usage in your home and sub-directories.

Budgets

Budgets usually refer to allocations with dollar values.  Two often confused budgets are the PPP budget and the Computer budget.  Although the budgets and charges are given in $ figures, real charges are in general not levied on University users or their departments.

The PPP budget is used for connecting to the HKU network from home via telephone modems.  Each PPP account is allocated $1800 on September 1 of each year.  The charge is $4 per 60 minutes that you are connected to the network.  Warning messages are sent out to HKU members at 50 and 90 (% ) of usage of the PPP budget to remind users to gauge the use of their PPP account.   PPP users are urged to safeguard their passwords against mis-use and to always check their account balance at
    http://intranet.hku.hk:8030/cas/app/ppp.ver_user

The Computer budget is for the use of the host computer systems.  The Computer budget is allocated to each host computer user on September 1 of each year and it is $5000 for staff and $2000 for students.  The charging of each job is based on the connection time, CPU usage and disk storage space used and is deducted from the budget. To query the balance of your computer budget, type "budget username" where username is your account name.

What happens when I exceed my quota and budget?

When quotas and budgets are exceeded,  you can apply for additional computer resources by completing the appropriate form at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/services/forms.htm with endorsement from your supervisor or department head.  However, you are urged to keep within the limits of your allocated computer quotas and budgets.
 

Mabel Chau
Tel: 2859 8934
Email: chaumabc@hku.hk

More Wireless LAN Access Points Installed

As reported in the last issue of the News (No. 81), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) service was launched in October.  To increase the areas of signal coverage, we have recently completed the installation of additional WLAN access points at the following sites, where exhibitions or other events requiring Campus Network/Internet connection are often held:

- The Run Run Shaw covered podium
- The Haking Wong covered podium
- K. K. Leung G/F concourse
 

How to use

Parties who are interested in making use of the Wireless LAN facilities may refer to the User Guide for HKU Wireless Local Area Network.  Below is an extract of the procedure:

  1. For each PC to be connected to the WLAN, a Wireless Network Interface Card (wireless NIC) is required. There are 2 kinds of wireless NICs, one for desktop PCs (called ISA CardLINK), another for notebook PCs (called PC CardLINK).  Departments or student union societies can loan the wireless NIC for notebook PCs from the Computer Centre General Office (Rm 223, Run Run Shaw Bldg.).
  2. Install the wireless NIC in the PC.
  3. Install the wireless NIC driver in the PC.
  4. Reboot the PC, then follow the procedure for signing on the ACEnet (see http://www.hku.hk/local/cc/acenet/own-conn.htm#login-acenet ) to access the Campus Network/Internet.
Please contact the undersigned for query about the Wireless LAN service.
 

T. Y. Shen
Tel: 2241 5229
E-mail: sty@cc.hku.hk

Networking the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building

Readers may be interested to know about the status of networking in the Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, now approaching the end of its construction.

Altogether 611 network points (386 for staff, 225 for ACEnet) have been planned for installation in the building.  These network points, each of which can support data transfer speeds of up to 100Mbps, will connect to the Campus Network via a building ATM switch, which joins the building to the existing Campus ATM backbone by means of 155Mbps fibre links.  Cable laying and termination for all network points, as well as for the optical fibre between the building and the Computer Centre, were accomplished in November.  Installation, configuration and testing of the network equipments are well under way at the time of writing.  It is expected that the entire building network infrastructure will be in place and ready for functional service before the end of this year.
 

T. Y. Shen
Tel: 2241 5229
E-mail: sty@cc.hku.hk


Retirement of the HKUDIAL (28592595) Modem Pool

The HKUDIAL modem pool will be retired effective from 1st February, 2000.

The HKUDIAL modem pool (tel: 28592595), being the oldest modem server in the Computer Centre, can only support line-mode terminal access from home to the HKU network but not graphical display such as in web browsing.  In the last two years, the Computer Centre has installed many 56Kbps v.90 standard modems and there are now over 800 56K modem lines in total.  Most of our users have upgraded their modems and are using only the 56K modem lines to access the HKU network. Since the usage of the HKUDIAL modem pool is very low, the telephone number 28592595 will be removed from our modem service starting from 1st February, 2000.

Users who are still using the HKUDIAL lines regularly are advised to change to use any of the following 56K modem pools:
 
 
HKU Computer Centre Dial-up Services
60-minute lines 30-minute lines
56Kbps PPP Lines
(24-hour service and support modems of all speeds)
Please click here to see how to configure the settings to use the lines.
408 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for all users 29757000 144 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for all users  29647000
72 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for staff only 28595100 96 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for all users 21057100
48 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for HKU Graduate Account users 22497100 48 "V.90 or x2" 56Kbps lines for staff only  29642300

Users who have any special needs to continue to use the HKUDIAL modem pool or have any queries about the above described arrangement, please contact the undersigned immediately.

Katherine Kwok
Tel : 28592497
Email : katkwok@cc.hku.hk


Powerful SUN Enterprise 10000 Server for Upgrading the HKUSUA and HKUSUB Systems

The HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems have been used as the general-purpose computing servers and email servers for over 14,000 students and staff accounts of the University for many years.  The HKUSUA is a SUN SPARC Centre 2000E and the HKUSUB is a SUN SPARC E6000.  The two systems currently support multiple services, such as:

We are now working on the upgrade-replacement of these two systems.  The HKUSUA and HKUSUB cluster will be replaced by  a powerful Sun Enterprise 10000 (Sun E-10000) system. This new machine is built with advanced architecture and equipped with the HA (High Availability) feature such that the system will work to support multiple server functions with a very high service availability.  For example, when the email server is down in case of certain failure of the system which affects the email server function, the failure will be automatically detected by the other healthy part of the Sun E-10000 system and the email server function will then be restarted and run on the healty part of the system within a few minutes.

Besides the high availability feature, the new machine is much faster with higher CPU and file access speeds.  All file systems used by our users are supported by a disk mirroring set-up.  This means that whenever a user writes some data to the disk storage of the Sun E-10000 system, two copies of the same data are written on separate disks.  With the disk mirroring set-up, any failure of a disk will not lead to a system failure or any loss of user data. Moreover, the user file systems are supported by faster disk array engines for better file access performance in comparison with the old HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems..

The upgrade of the HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems is already underway.  The final migration schedule is yet to be confirmed.  Please check the Computer Centre’s homepage for more up-to-date details.  We can assure you that there will be no change in the user-interface environment and there will be no loss of user data (including email) due to the migration.  When the upgrade is complete, users will enjoy faster and more reliable services from the two servers.

The existing HKUSUB computer (SUN SPARC E6000) will be re-deployed to replace our existing HKUSUC (SUN SC2000E) computer as the former is much faster than the latter.  In brief, the information server cluster will consist of two SUN E6000 servers (HKUSUC and HKUSUD) after the replacement.

When the new HKUSUC/HKUSUD cluster is set up, the new HKUSUC server will see much improved performances of the existing services such as WWW, FTP, RealAudio.  Additional disk space will also be available for hosting web contents, images and other multimedia files for users of the HKUWWW server.
 

Charles Cheung
Tel: 2859 2488
Email: cheungyw@hkucc.hku.hk

System Security of Unix Servers Enhanced by Real-time Intrusion Detection Software

RealSecure - for Network Attack Detection

As a continuous effort to maintain good security of our campus network, the Computer Centre is deploying a security software - the ISS (Internet Security Systems) RealSecure to enhance the system security of our Unix Servers.  As a supplement to the existing Internet firewall system of our campus network, the RealSecure enhances the campus network security by detecting any possibly attack patterns on the network.

RealSecure vs the Firewall

As quoted from the software documents, RealSecure is an automated, real-time intrusion detection, misuse, and response system for computer networks.  The RealSecure attack-recognition detector unobtrusively analyzes the activities on our campus network and host computers.  The RealSecure product suite has two basic components: the detector for detecting suspicious attack pattern and the management console which is the central control station for the detectors.  When installed on a network segment, the detector continuously  monitors the network traffic for suspicious traffic patterns.  When the software is installed on a host system, the detector will monitor the operating system log entries and key system files for indications of unauthorized access.

Unlike Internet firewall and other static security devices which impose only access control on the campus network, RealSecure can be set up to monitor the network traffic and to detect any suspicious patterns (such as the famous Windows Trojans - BackOriffice and NetBus) online without causing any performance degradation to the network.

If you have any question concerning RealSecure, please feel free to contact the undersigned.

Internet Firewall Upgrade

We are pleased to announce that our Internet Firewall system has been upgraded on 12 November 1999.  The firewall software has been upgraded from Checkpoint Firewall-1 version 3.0 to version 4.0,  and the original firewall server (SUN Ultra10 Workstation) was replaced by a new SUN Enterprise 250 Workgroup server.

What is a Firewall?

In summary, an Internet firewall is a set of related programs, located on a server, that protects the resources of a private network from users from other networks.  This server acts as a gateway separating the campus network and the Internet.  The primary function of a firewall is to filter out unwanted network traffic between the Internet and the campus network according to the rules and policies as specified by the network administrator.  The Computer Centre, being the central campus network administrator, has been continuously safeguarding the security of our campus network.  From time to time, we enhance or upgrade the  security measures in our campus network with minimal interruption of our services.  The deployment of the Internet Firewall serves as a foundation of the Centre's security policy.

Benefits of the Upgrade

   1.Checkpoint Firewall-1 version 4.0 is 100% Y2K-compliant

   2.new features in version 4.0 will enable the implementation of the Centre's security policy

   3.the upgrade implemented provides spare system capacity for implementing other value-added services, such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) and high availability set-up of the Internet Firewall.

If you have any questions related to the Internet firewall system of the HKU campus network, please  contact the undersigned.
 

K.C. Chang
Tel: 2859 7972
Email: kcchang@hkusua.hku.hk

Large Scratch Disk Available to Programs during execution on the HKUSP2 System

We have recently installed two 9.1GB disks on two batch processing nodes (spf3n10e and spf3n11e ) of the HKUSP2 system. While the adding of these two disks are intended for use by the Gaussian 98 software package which requires a huge scratch disk space, users requiring a large working disk space during their program execution (serial or parallel) can also use this large disk facility by using the following loadleveler command setup.

The procedure below is for reference only.  G94/G98 users are advised to check the web-page for the Gaussian software on HKUSP2 for the updated procedure which may be required in case there have been system modifications since the writing of this document. 

#!/bin/csh
#@ job_name = test123
#@ initialdir = /d12/home/cc/cmwoo/test
#@ output = $(job_name).$(cluster).out
#@ error = $(job_name).$(cluster).err
#@ job_type = parallel
#@ class = g94
# Use 1 or 2 processors depending on whether 
# your program is serial or parallel.
#@ min_processors = 1
#@ max_processors = 2
#@ checkpoint = no
#@ queue

#Clear the temporary disk space on those nodes
foreach node ( $LOADL_PROCESSOR_LIST )
  rsh $node /usr/local/bin/cleartmp1
end
#Run the paralle program and use /tmp1 as local scratch disk space.
poe my_parallel_program.exe
# If it is serial program, use this command instead : 
# ./my_serial_program.exe
Should you have any queries relating to the use of this large scratch disk space, please feel free to contact the undersigned.
 

Kwan Wing Keung
Tel: 2857 8631
E-mail: kwk@cc.hku.hk

Woo Chat Ming
Tel : 2857 8632
E-mail: cmwoo@cc.hku.hk

New Software installed on the HKUSP2 System

Gaussian 98 is the latest product in the Gaussian series of electronic structure programs. It is designed to model a broad range of molecular systems under a variety of conditions and to perform such computations starting from the basic laws of quantum mechanics. Theoretical chemists can use Gaussian 98 to perform basic research in established and emerging areas of chemical interest. Experimental chemists can use it to study molecules and reactions of definite or potential interest, including both stable species and those compounds which are difficult or impossible to observe experimentally (short-lived intermediates, transition structures and so on).

A copy of Gaussian 98 has been installed on the HKUSP2 supercomputer. Interested users may refer to our web-page for the Gaussian software for the procedure of running the software.

Abaqus is an analysis system for stress, heat transfer, and other types of analyses in mechanical, structural, civil, biomedical, and related engineering applications.

Abaqus/Pre is the pre-processing module of the Abaqus analysis software system. One license of this software has been installed on the HKUSP2 system. Please refer to our web-page for the Abaqus package for the details about the Abaqus and Abaqus/Pre software installed on the HKUSP2 system.

Should you have any queries relating to the Gaussian series of software or the Abaqus/Pre software, please feel free to contact the undersigned.
Kwan Wing Keung
Tel: 28578631
E-mail: kwk@cc.hku.hk

Woo Chat Ming
Tel : 2857 8632
E-mail: cmwoo@cc.hku.hk


More Disk Space for Centrally Managed LAN Servers for Departments

We reported in earlier issues of Computer News that the NOS (Network Operating System) of all the centrally managed LAN PC Servers for supporting academic departments had been upgraded to Novell Netware 5. The upgraded servers and the buildings they serve are as shown in the following table :
 
HKUHW1 Haking Wong Building
HKUKB1 Knowles Building 
HKUKK2 K. K. Leung Building 
HKULS1 Li Shu Fan Building 
HKUMB1 Main Building 
HKUMW1 Meng Wah Complex 
HKUP4 Chong Yuet Ming Physics and Chemistry Buildings 
HKUPC2 Run Run Shaw Building 
HKUPP1 Prince Philip Dental Hospital 
HKUQP1 Queen Mary Hospital
HKURM1 Runme Shaw Building

As each of these new servers are equipped with a much larger RAID disk storage, the Computer Centre has increased the size of disk allocation accordingly for each department.  While most departments should find the available disk allocation to be sufficient for their needs, some may consider it necessary to acquire a much larger disk space on the servers for their specific purposes.  For the latter cases, departments can direct their requests to the Director of the Computer Centre.  The Centre would coordinate with the departments to install additional disks to the servers based on a cost recovery arrangement.

For any enquiry, please contact the undersigned.

Tony F.K. Lai
Tel: 2859 7976
Email: lfk@cc.hku.hk


LAN PC Servers for Administrative Offices Upgraded to Netware 5

As mentioned in the above article, the NOS (Network Operating System) of all central LAN PC Servers for supporting academic departments have been upgraded to Novell Netware 5.  This time,  we are pleased to inform our users that all LAN PC servers for supporting the Registry, Estates Office and the Finance Office have also been upgraded to the newest version of Novell Netware, i.e. Netware 5.

The Novell Netware family of NOS products have been widely used in large as well as small enterprises for more than a decade.  Netware 5 is the latest version and is Y2K compliant.  It has included many advanced features for supporting LAN and Internet applications.  For example, it supports both Novell's IPX protocol which has been widely employed in LAN environment and the IP protocol - the Internet Protocol. Other than the file- and print-server services, Netware 5 supports also the web server function at the application level. These features make a Netware 5 server more efficient, in comparison with the earlier versions of Netware, in supporting network communications over local area network (LAN) as well as Internet.

Users who are interested in knowing more about the upgraded LAN PC servers for the aforementioned administrative offices and/or Netware 5 can contact the undersigned.

Tony F.K. Lai
Tel: 2859 7976
Email: lfk@cc.hku.hk


Staff News

We welcome the following new member to the Computer Centre:

Mr. Chu Chih Hui, Alan has joined the Centre on Nov 29, 1999.  Mr. Chu received his B.Sc degree in 1996 and his M.Sc. degree in Information Systems in 1999 from the University of London.

We bid farewell to:

Mr. Chan Tsz Hong who left the Centre on Nov 25, 1999,
Mr. Samuel Lee who left on  Dec 9, 1999,
Mr. Thomas Lee and Mr. Wan Kim Tak who left on Dec 13, 1999
 

Training News

The Computer Centre is pleased to announce a series of courses given between January and February 2000 to assist staff and students in using the Centre's facilities. The courses will cover the following areas:
 
  • Internet Browsing and Webpage Authoring
  • Chinese Information Handling
  • Spreadsheet
  • Unix System and Application Software
  • PC Network and Services
  • Word Processing 
  • Web Course Tools
  • Parallel Programming
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Statistical Analysis

Most courses are open to all staff and students free of charge.  A fee is charged for courses provided by a course vendor. Some courses require pre-requisites.  Click on the course number to see the description of each course.

Users can apply on-line for these courses through the "CC Course Registration" icon in HKUWIN or click the "staff registration" or "student registration" links below.

Click here to suggest new courses you would like.

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration


Course Schedule from January to February 2000

Courses on Parallel Programming
 
 
C0313899 Introduction to Fortran90 Programming Jan 11, 12, 13, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. 		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101
C0713599 SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop Jan 19, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101
C0813599 SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop Feb 03, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101
C0913599 SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop Feb 22, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration
 

Courses on Unix System and Applications
 
C0511899 Introduction to UNIX Jan 20, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. 		 Old Library Building, 
LBO-135 
C0611899 Introduction to UNIX Feb 25, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration
 

Courses on HKU Network
 
C0515999 Connecting to the HKU Network (PPP, ACEnet, Hall Network) Jan 25, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Old Library Building, 
LBO-135
C0615999 Connecting to the HKU Network (PPP, ACEnet, Hall Network) Feb 29, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration
 

Courses on Web Browsing and Webpage Editing
 
 
C0115399 WebCT Course Designer's Advanced Workshop 
(Staff Only)		 Dec 20, 1999 
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0514099 Getting started with Internet Services and WWW Jan 10, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0515199 Basic HTML Editing Jan 21, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0415899 Advanced HTML Editing : Imagemap, CGI and Frames Jan 31, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0614099 Getting started with Internet Services and WWW Feb 14, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0615199 Basic HTML Editing Feb 15, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Old Library Building, 
LBO-135
C0515899 Advanced HTML Editing : Imagemap, CGI and Frames Feb 17, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration

Courses on Microsoft Office and Other Topics
 
 
W0380999 MS Access 97 
(Staff Only)		 Jan 13, 14, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 		 Old Library Building, 
LBO-135
W0280899 Chinese Input Method Jan 17, 18, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 
Jan 19, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0481299 MS PowerPoint 97 
(Staff Only)		 Feb 16, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0281099 Webpage Creation Using 
Dreamweaver 2 
(Staff Only)		 Feb 21, 22, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration
 

 Course Descriptions:

Courses on Internet Browsing and Webpage Authoring

Getting Started with Internet Services and WWW

This is a 3-hour introductory course. Course contents include
    Introduction to Internet
    Using The Netscape Communicator 4 Browser
    Reading Chinese on WWW Browser
    Tour on the HKU Intranet
    Tour on the Global Internet

Basic HTML Editing

This 3-hour course workshop on HTML editing using the Netscape Communicator 4 Editor.  In the workshop, students would be doing the following exercises:
    Exercise 1 - Create a document, try colors, fonts, bullets lists etc.
    Exercise 2 - Create targets and hyperlinks
    Exercise 3 - Create a table
    Exercise 4 - Using image files in your document
    Exercise 5 - Uploading your document to the server

Advanced HTML Editing

This is a 3-hour course on advanced techniques for HTML editing using the FrontPage Editor.  Contents include:
    Creating frames in a webpage
    Using image maps in a webpage.
    Downloading and imbedding "cgi programs" in a webpage
Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing.
 

WebCT (Web Course Tool) Training Courses

Introduction to WebCT

This 2-hour course will discuss the basic functionalities provided by WebCT from a student's point of view to give participants some feelings on what WebCT can do for their course. e.g. browsing course materials, attempting on-line quizzes, using bulletin boards.

WebCT Course Designer's Basic Workshop

This 4-hour course will cover steps for course designers (staff members who actually prepare courses on WebCT) to post lecture materials on WebCT, and to perform customization on course homepages.
Pre-requisites: Introduction to WebCT, Basic HTML Editing.

WebCT Course Designer's Advanced Workshop

This 2-hour course will cover more advanced features for course designers, e.g. preparing on-line quizzes, checking statistical data, managing student records.
Pre-requisites: WebCT Course Designer's Basic Workshop

Courses on Parallel Programming

SP2 Parallel Programming with Workshop

This is a 3-hour seminar and workshop for people interested in parallel programming using the IBM SP2 Supercomputer. It covers the methodology of writing parallel programs using the message passing interface (MPI). Students should have programming experience in C or Fortran but experience in parallel programming is not needed. Sample programs will be given to users in the hands-on workshop.

High Performance FORTRAN

This 3-hour seminar on High Performance FORTRAN provides an easy way to write data parallel programs in MIMD computers such as the IBM SP2. The High Performance FORTRAN is an extension of the FORTRAN 90 in several areas, including:

Introduction to FORTRAN 90 Programming

This 9-hour course provides and introduction to the structure and syntax of the FORTRAN 90 language for FORTRAN 77
programmers. After taking this course, users will be able to write FORTRAN 90 programs using arrays and write reusable and
readable codes using the data encapsulation feature of FORTRAN 90.

Courses on Unix System and Application Software

Introduction to UNIX

This is a 3-hour introductory course for users with little or no Unix experience. The course will cover the Unix computing environment, the Unix file system, the editor, email, disk quota and mail quota allocations and commonly used Unix commands.

Seminar on MAPLE V

This is a 2-hour introduction course on the use of MAPLE V for mathematical computations.  The course covers:
    Maple Objects,
    Syntax of Maple V commands
    Some Common Operations
    Numerical Operations
    Graphics
    I/O
    Programming in Maple V

Seminar on MATLAB

MATLAB is an integrated computing environment for numeric computation and visualization. This 2-hour seminar will give an
introduction on using MATLAB in numerical analysis, matrix computation and graphics etc.

Seminar on Mathematica

Mathematica is a general computer software system and language intended for mathematical and other applications. In this 2-hour
seminar, examples of using Mathematica in numerical calculations, graphics, algebra and calculus, solving equations etc, will be
shown.

Seminar on SAS

The SAS package is an integrated system for data analysis. In this 2-hour seminar, users will learn how to create a SAS
data set, to retrieve data from the data set and to perform some commonly used statistical procedures. Users are expected to have
some statistics background.

Connecting to the HKU Network (PPP, ACEnet and Hall Network)

This is a 3-hour seminar on the HKU network with an introduction to the network topology, network services, and the software for accessing the HKU network.  The HKU network can be accessed from the following venues:
    PPP - for dialing in from home
    Hallnet - for student residing in residence halls
    ACEnet - for accessing everywhere from any network point
 

Courses on Microsoft Office and Other Topics

MS Word 97 for Windows 95 ($360)

This is a 2 1/2 day course especially designed for users who want to learn how to navigate through and work with documents; manipulate text; change formatting and page layout; and preview and print a document.

Course Outline :

  • Word 97 processing concepts
  • Using dialog boxes and icons
  • Documents editing
  • Files save/retrieve and Management
  • Files conversion and import/export filters
  • Selecting fonts and using special text and symbols
  • Auto formatting and style options
  • Using thesaurus and hyphenation, spelling and grammar check
  • Creating multiple columns and table
  • Positioning text and graphics with frames
  • Assembling documents with mail merge
  • Working with long documents
  • Printing master documents, envelopes and labels
  • Data linking and embedding

    •  

     

    PowerPoint 97 ($200)

    This is a 6-hour course on making a professional presentation slide show using PowerPoint97.  Contents include:
        Creating and editing a slide show presentation
        Entering data in a presentation
        Adding clip art and charts to a slide
        Creating speaker notes
        Adding transition effects
        Saving and printing a presentation

    ACCESS 97 for Windows 95 ($360)

    Access is a powerful database software allowing users to create
    database and database applications without any programming work.
    Access 97 is part of the Microsoft Office 97 system which operates in
    the Window 95 or Window 98 environment and is Y2K compliant.
    This is a 2 day course.

    Contents of this course include:

    1. Introduction to Access 97
        - Basic concepts of Access 97
        - Starting the application
        - To quit Access 97
        - To open a database in Access 97
        - How to read from and write to standard text files

    2. Creating tables
        - Data type
        - Creating tables
        - Saving table
        - Data entry table

    3. Finding data
        - Sorting data
        - Filtering by selecting data
        - Filtering by form

    4. Query
        - Creating a query
        - Creating multi-table query and calculated field

    5. Creating a form
        - Creating a form with form wizard
        - changing design of form
        - preview designed form
        - formatting toolbar

    6. Creating reports
        - creating reports
        - creating mailing labels

    Ms Excel 97 for Windows 95  ($360)

    The course outline of this 2 1/2-day workshop include :

  • Spreadsheet concepts, basic movement
  • data entry techniques & create formulas
  • using special functions formatting
  • cells formatting, data & formulas cell reference
  • workbook save & retrieve
  • using dialog box commands, icons & toolbars
  • creating an embedded chart on worksheets
  • creating graphical objects on worksheets
  • worksheets printing techniques
  • database query and table handling auto filter
  • worksheet and workbook linking
  • useful built-in & functions, PMT, vlookup, (if, sumif)
  • add-in program, auto save
  • graph and picture handling and slide show
  • goal seeking and scenario manager
  • view manager

    •  

     

    Adobe Photoshop 5.5  ($500)

    This is a 2-day course on using the Adobe Photoshop, a software for photo retouching, image editing and color painting.
    Adobe Photoshop 5.5 has many new and enhanced features in auto-updating of formats, multiple layers control, digital watermarks for copyright, effects filters, and other enhancements for control of quality etc.
    Course outline :
        Photoshop Basic
        Selections, Mask and Channel Operation
        Enhancing Photo
        Montage and Collage
        Using Filters
        Painting
        Combining Photoshop and PostScript
        Special Effects
        3D/4D Adding Depth and Motion

    Adobe Illustrator 8  ($500)

    This is a 2-day course on using the Adobe Illustrator 8, a popular illustration software that can create graphically rich artwork for print or the Web.
    Course Outline :
        1. Basic concepts on computer graphic design
        2. Using various drawing tools
        3. Grid and guides
        4. Text editing, path type and area type and use of different fonts
        5. Rotating and resizing objects
        6. Mask effect, transforming objects from 2D to 3D
        7. Inserting graphic images

    Web Creation Using Dreamweaver 2  ($500)

    This 2 days course is designed for users who want to learn how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver 2, a powerful & professional visual editor for creating and managing web pages. With Dreamweaver, it's easy to create cross-platform, cross-browser pages.  Course outline :
        1. Dreamweaver Work Space
        2. Site Planning & Site Management
        3. Understanding Hyper Link
        4. Using Images & Animations
        5. Using Cascding Sytle Sheet
        6. Creating Forms & Frames
        7. Creating Interactive Homepage
    Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing, Advanced HTML Editing
     

    Chinese Inputting Method & Chinese Word 97* ($360)

    This is a 2 1/2-day course especially designed for users who are familiar with the English microcomputer working environment but with little experience on Chinese microcomputer operation. The course will cover :
     

  • Basic principle Changjei Chinese character input method.
  • Basic operation of Microsoft Word 6.0 under the Chinese Windows 3.1 working environment.
  • Techniques and common practices in preparing Chinese document.

    •  

     
     
     

    1. Since workshops on Microsoft Office97 and other programs for Windows are organised in conjunction with a course vendor, the Whiz Company, there is a nominal charge on the course.

    For courses requiring a fee, please send payment to the Computer Centre together with your registration form, or as soon as you have registered on the web, otherwise your registration is considered invalid and will be replaced by another applicant.  Payment can be made in cheque (payable to the University of Hong Kong), or through departmental requisition (for applicants supported by departments).   Successful applicants will be notified by e-mail or telephone at least one week before the commencement of the workshop. Once accepted, the fee is not refundable. However, substitution of participant is possible by written notification to the Centre.

    2. The workshops on Chinese Word 97  will be conducted in Cantonese.

    3. Enrolment for some courses may be for staff only while others are for students only.  Where it is not specified, the courses are open to all staff and students of the University.

    * The maximum number of participants for workshops held in Room 135, Old Library Building is 25; Room 201, Run Run Shaw Building is 22; and Room 101, Run Run Shaw Building is 20.