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For previous issues, please check Computer News Index Page. 


Table Of Contents
Holidays Closed on Re-open on
Lunar New Year Holiday February 4, 2000
 (Thursday) 8:30 a.m.		 February 8, 2000
 (Tuesday) 8:30 a..m.
Foundation Day 
 (University holiday)		 March 16, 2000
 (Thursday) 8:30 a.m. 		 March 17, 2000
 (Friday) 8:30 a.m.
Ching Ming Festival  April 4, 2000
 (Tuesday) 8:30 a.m		 April 5, 2000
 (Wednesday) 8:30 a.m.
Good Friday & Easter Holidays April 21, 2000 
 (Friday) 8:30 a.m.		 April 25, 2000
 (Tuesday) 8:30 a.m.
Labour Day May 1, 2000
 (Monday) 8:30 p.m.		 May 2, 2000
 (Tuesday) 8:30 a.m.

Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) for the University


Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) is the delivery of services over the network (e.g. electronic commerce, electronic banking etc.)  Perhaps our readers are aware of the HKSAR Government's promotion on ESD and have already watched the video clips on TV.   ESD or e-commerce will be the competitive edge for Hong Kong.

The Government's promotion of ESD

The Government has signed a contract on ESD in November 1999  to build the first phase of ESD applications to be ready in October 2000, which will allow the filling of government forms (e.g. tax return, voter registration, drivers' license renewal), payment of government bills and taxes, booking of appointments, etc. over the Internet.

On 5th January 2000, the Legislative Council enacted the Electronic Transaction Ordinance which gives digital signatures and electronic records the same legal status as their paper-based counterparts. The first recognized Certificate Authority in Hong Kong, the Hongkong Post, announced its digital certificate (i.e. electronic identity) issuing service on 31st January 2000.

ESD in HKU

At The University of Hong Kong, the Computer Centre is also actively preparing for the development of some of the University's administrative ESD applications to be rolled out this summer.  Another article in this issue describes a pilot ESD application of the Computer Centre's services using the smart card for acquiring laser printing units for printing in the PC Laboratories.

Public key infrastructure (PKI)

The Computer Centre is building the public key infrastructure (PKI) for supporting digital signature and electronic record archiving for our future ESD applications in the campus.  PKI covers the use of public key cryptography for authentication and access control of a user, guaranteeing the integrity and non-repudiation of documents signed by the user, and confidentiality of data.  It employs a pair of keys for each user: a private key which is known only to the user himself and a public key is published by some authority, in the form of a digital certificate, for others to verify the authenticity and non-repudiation of documents signed by the user using his private key.  By using strong public key cryptographic algorithms, such as 1024-bit RSA keys which the Computer Centre is employing, it is practically impossible for anyone to crack the private key from the public key within the life-time of a private key.

The Computer Centre will exploit the advantage of the widely used smart card for the staff and student members of our university. The member's private key for signing digitally will be stored on his smart card.  His public key, in the form of a Digital Certificate, will be stored in a Certificate Server maintained by the Computer Centre.  We shall report the progress on the ESD project in the coming issues of the Computer News.
 

M. C. Pong
Tel: 2859 2491
E-mail: pmc@cc.hku.hk

Y2K Compliance - A smooth rollover to Year 2000

By now you will all know that the university's vigilance and caution has paid off. No problems have been found so far in any mission critical systems. Many thousands of potential problems were eliminated over the past 18 months but of course there is still some chance that failures will occur in parts of systems that only run infrequently. There is also the possibility of systems not taking account of the leap year, so it is not quite over yet.

In the final stages of the Y2K exercise, the University Y2K Contingency Task Force which was chaired by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Felix Wu was created with representatives from central adminsitrative offices with university-wide Y2K responsibilities such as the Registry, Finance Office, Estates Office, Safety Office etc. This policy forming group in turn established the Emergency Response Team headed by Dr P.T. Ho, the Deputy Director of the Computer Centre, to co-ordinate responses.

While most people in the university were enjoying the millennium celebrations, Computer Centre staff together with people from the Estates Office, Finance Office, Registry and Safety Office were checking equipment and software to make sure that everything would be working in time for Monday the 3rd. The first test began at 7pm on the 31st when New Zealand reached midnight and potential problems with the internet. The real testing time was midnight in Hong Kong. Everything went well but we all came back again at 9 am to do more complete checks on the network, the accounting and personnel systems etc. Many of you may not know that in addition to masterminding the University of Hong Kong Y2K campaign, Dr N. Ng, the Computer Centre Director also had the task of co-ordinating the responses of all eight HK tertiary institutions to the UGC.

As mentioned earlier, there still remains the potential problem of February 29th, as very many people believed until recently that centuries never have leap years and wrote software accordingly. All computer Centre systems have been tested for this but systems and network staff will be on duty at midnight on the 28th/29th just in case.

Finally, I would like to pass on a good tip given to me by a colleague in the Computer Centre. If you have an old computer at home and want it to record the correct date rather than one in 1980, ignore the OS request to enter the year part of the date as 2 digits and enter it in full as 2000. It works with Comtech 486s and Spectrum 286s and may well with many others.
 

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


Report on Our Performance Pledge

As a commitment to the delivery of quality computer services to the HKU community, a set of performance pledges were made for the year 1998/99 on the most demanded services provided by the Centre.  Now, it is time to review them and see how well we have met our pledges.

Performance data on the selected services were either captured by the computer system or compiled by hand and analysed in this review.  Actual performance levels were measured against pledged levels.  Results show that all services except "Response to contracted PC and departmental PC support" and "Notice of scheduled maintenance work" were over 95% of the targeted performance level.  The selected computer services,  the target performance pledges, and the benchmarks (actual levels over targeted levels) are tabulated below:
 
Service  Target  Benchmark
User account application processing through online electronic forms 1 working day  96%
User account creation which involves review and endorsement through paper form application 3 working days 99%
Solution for in-person enquiries at the Help Desk < 30 minutes 96%
Response to CCBOX email enquiries 2 working days 98%
Response to hku.cc.forum newsgroup enquiries (in the form of a consolidated answer) Once a week 95%
Response to requests of contracted PC maintenance and departmental PC support service 1 working day 93%
Response to requests of Campus Network cable and equipment
trouble-shooting and repair		 2 hours No data was available in the review period.
Notice of scheduled maintenance work 2 days in advance 91.3% (data collection since March,  1999)
Service system availability (during scheduled operation periods) 99.5% 99.85%
Computer News publication Every 2 months  100%

As the past year was the first time we started to measure our performance against targeted service levels, we felt that there will still be room for further improvement as we get more used to the process of quality control.  You as users of our services can give us your feedback via the ithelp@hku.hk  as to how we can further improve our services and what other services we should include in our list of performance pledges.

Mabel Chau
Tel: 2859 8934
E-mail: chaumabc@hku.hk

Self-Service System to Purchase Additional Laser Printing Units

Purchase Laser Printing Units

The present system of laser printing in the student PC laboratories is very convenient as users can print their documents at the Run Run Shaw Building, Room 103 or the Old Library Building, Room 134 any time during the day or night.  Printing units are deducted from the users' print accounts as the printed pages are collected by the users at the printers.

However, when the printing units are used up, replenishing the print account may not be so convenient as users have to come to the Computer Centre in the Run Run Shaw Building (Room 223) during office hours or to the Centre's Operations Room (Room 108) after office hours to acquire laser printing units. Besides, only Visa Cash is accepted for sales of laser printing units after office hours.

Self-Service System using Smart Card

To improve the process of purchasing laser printing units, we shall pilot a Self-Service System which uses the HKU Smart Card for verification of identity.  The pilot run will start on 14, February, 2000.  The Self-Service System is installed on a special PC with a smart card reader attached to it and the PC is located in the Run Run Shaw Building, Room 104. With their University smartcards, users can use the Self-Service System to acquire additional laser printing units. During the pilot run, the Self-Service System is available from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays (closed on Sundays and public holidays).

Instead of going to the Computer Centre's general office during office hours, users can now purchase laser printing units at the Self-Service System, but they need not pay immediately. The payment can be delayed until the total number of unpaid laser printing units have reached 400 units.  If users want to pay for the laser printing units at less than 400 units, they will be charged $30 per 100 units.  If the total unpaid laser printing units have reached 400 units, the users can enjoy a $20 discount and pay only $100 for 400 units.

Procedures for purchasing laser printing units using the smart card:

(1) put your HKU smart card on top of the attached smart card reader;

(2) enter the PIN (Personal Identification Number) of your HKU smart card in the 'Smart Card PIN' field and click on the 'Connect' button;
 

(3) if the PIN verification is successful, the System will allow you purchase additional laser printing units.

(4) REMEMBER to take back your smart card when you finish using the Self-Service System.
 

For further information or queries, please contact the undersigned.

Lui Tun Yee
Tel: 2857 8633
Email: lty@cc.hku.hk


From The Help Desk - Email System at HKU

E-mail at HKU

Since E-mail is the most popular use of the Internet and a large percentage of our network traffic is e-mail,  it deserves to be the topic of discussion in this column on how the e-mail system at HKU works.  This article describes the different kinds and formats of email programs available and the advantages and disadvantages so that users can decide which e-mail program to use.

What is the client/server model?

Client/server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request to another program, the server, which fulfills the request.  On the server, a mail program (usually called a mail daemon) is activated and waits for client requests. Typically, multiple e-mail clients share the services of a common mail server program.  For example, to check your e-mail on the server, the e-mail is sent to the client in your PC, which displays the e-mail messages for you. The e-mail messages can stay on the server while the client displays the messages or they can be pulled down from the server and stored in your client.

What is the difference between client-side and server-side e-mail?

Usually we refer to e-mail which is stored at the PC as client-side (e.g. Eudora) and e-mail that is stored on the server as server-side (e.g. Webmail).

For HKU staff who have their own PC's in their offices, they tend to use client-side e-mail programs.  The mail is pulled down from the server to be stored on the PC.  You can configure your email client to "leave mail on host" or not.  If you choose to leave a copy of your mail on the host, you must remember to clean up your inbox on the host every now and then to prevent exceeding your mail quota.

For students who do not have their own PC's,  it is easier to use server-side e-mail which does not store the mail in your PC but simply displays the mail at your PC. Server-side mail can be accessed by direct connection to the e-mail host (using the Telnet and Unix pine programs), or displaying the mail at the client (using the PC-pine program), or the most convenient way is by using the browser to access the 'Webmail'.

The advantage of client-side e-mail is that you can have it on your PC and print it to your printer conveniently.  However, the disadvantage is that you cannot access your mailboxes when you travel overseas because the mail is on your PC.

The advantage of server-side e-mail is that you can access your mailbox from anywhere in the world (e.g. by using a browser to access webmail).  The disadvantage of webmail is that it may be slow.  Also, with the Unix-pine program, the process of connecting to the remote server from overseas may be cumbersome.

What are SMTP, POP3 and IMAP protocols?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a protocol used in sending and receiving e-mail.  It is usually used with two other protocols, POP3 or IMAP, which let you save messages in a server mailbox or download them from the server to be stored on the PC. In other words, users typically use a program that uses SMTP for sending e-mail and either POP3 or IMAP for receiving messages that have been delivered to their e-mail server. The SMTP server at HKU is called mail.hku.hk.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. With POP3, when you read your mail, all of it is immediately downloaded to your computer and no longer maintain on the server. One of  the most popular POP3 e-mail client is Eudora. (You can configure Eudora to "leave mail on host" in which case you must remember to clean up your mailbox on the host.)

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is the other standard protocol for receiving e-mail. You can view just the heading and the sender of the letter and then decide whether to open the mail. With the IMAP, you can also create and manipulate folders or mailboxes or delete messages on the server. IMAP requires continuous access to the server during the time that you are working with your mail. One of the most popular IMAP e-mail client is PC-pine or Webmail.

You can configure your e-mail client in either the POP3 or IMAP receiving mode. E-mail clients such as Netscape Mail or Outlook Express can be set either in POP3 or IMAP mode.  However, the Eudora is only in POP3 mode.

Configuring your e-mail client?

Configuring your e-mail client means setting up your e-mail program telling it what receiving format you wish to use and where your outgoing and incoming servers are, and what your account name is.  Your outgoing server is the 'mail.hku.hk' if you are using the HKU network.  Your incoming server is your e-mail server (hkucc or hkusua).
The table below lists the popular email programs used in HKU and what receiving modes (designated by 'x') you can set them at.
 
E-mail Program Connect to server directly  IMAP (server-side) POP 
(client-side)
Unix-pine x    
PC-pine   x  
Eudora     x
Netscape   x x
Outlook Express   x x
Webmail   x  

Which e-mail program should I use?

Considering the above advantages and disadvantages, you have to make a choice as to which e-mail program to use and then stick to it.  The reason for not switching between various e-mail programs is that different e-mail programs store the mail in different mailboxes, whether they are on your PC or in your host computer.  In other words, what mail you see in one program is not viewable by another program.

About mail quotas and file size limits

Please read the article on disk quotas for mail and user files  in a previous issue.  If you exceed your mail quota on your e-mail host, you will receive a warning message from the mail system. So, if you receive a system message saying your mail quota is exceeded, you know it is referring to the INBOX in the server, not in your PC and you must proceed to clean up the INBOX in your server.

For sending email and receiving mail, there are file size limitations as well.   For sending mail, the limit is 4 MB.  If you mail is more than 4MB, it will not be sent and you will receive a system message saying that you have exceeded your file size.  You can (1) chop up your file into smaller chunks to send or (2) use file transfer (FTP) or (3) displaying your file in your website so that your recipient can just access your site and download it using a web browser.

For receiving email, the file size limit depends on the free disk space available in your INBOX.  If your inbox is totally free, the file size limit is 8 MB.  If your INBOX exceeds 8 MB, then you will not be able to receive any new mail.
 

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

Recent Extension of the Campus Network

We are glad to inform our readers that in the past few months the Campus Network has been growing in pace with the continuous expansion and renovation of the University campus.  Here are some of the major sites where a significant number of new or upgraded network connections have been put into service :

1. Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building - which began to be occupied at the end of last year.  As reported in the last issue of the Computer News, about 400 network points for staff, and 230 for ACEnet have been installed.  All these points can connect at a maximum speed of 100Mbps.  The building-based ATM switch joins to the Campus ATM backbone by means of dual 155Mbps optical fibre links extending from the Computer Centre to the building itself.

2. Hing Wai Centre - Altogether about 150 network points, capable of running at 100Mbps, have been installed for the Estates Office and Technology Support Centre, which moved in at the end of December 1999 and early January this year respectively.  A T1 (1.5Mbps) link now provides network connection between the Main Campus and the 3 departments in the building (Estates Office, Technology Support Centre and the existing University Press).

3. University Drive No. 2 - About 80 network points were installed during the renovation of 1/F and 2/F, which now houses the Centre of Asian Studies and part of Radioisotope Unit.  The building connects by means of optical fibre to the Campus ATM backbone via the Graduate House ATM switch.

4. Knowles Building 1/F - which now houses the Finance Office and part of Estates Office.  185 UTP 100Mbps network points in the Finance Office were installed to replace the old 10Mbps coaxial BNC points.  To allow users to take advantage of the faster network infrastructure, we are further arranging for the replacement of old 10Mbps BNC network interface cards with UTP ones supporting 10/100Mbps.  28 network points were also installed for the Estates Office users who moved in Knowles 1/F.

We look forward to reporting more exciting developments of the Campus Network in the coming editions of the Computer News.

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


Special Internet Service Package for HKU members

In addition to the Computer Centre's HKUPPP dial-up service for connection to the Internet, HKU members can now access the Internet through a special Internet Access Service Package offered jointly by the University and HKNet.  This service package is set up solely for use by HKU members and PNETS charge is not required.

HKU members can visit the website at url: http://www.vip.hknet.com for details of this Internet Service arrangement and application forms.

Enquiries about this Internet service can be directed to the HKNet hot-line 2110-2288.

Shen Tai Yen
Tel: 2241 5229
Email: sty@cc.hku.hk


Reading Simplified Chinese on the Internet

Question on viewing Simplified Chinese:

Some users ask the question of why they cannot view Simplified Chinese characters under Traditional Chinese Windows 95/98 (TC-Windows), even with RichWin installed.  For example, the Simplified Chinese characters appear as tiny rectangles in the browser window.

Answer:

TC-Windows uses a font of Chinese characters encoded in the Big5 encoding scheme to display the set of Chinese characters whereas the Simplified Chinese character set is encoded in the GB encoding scheme.

Even though RichWin can support:

  1. input of Traditional or Simplified Chinese,
  2. encoding of Traditional or Simplified Chinese in either Big5 or GB character encoding scheme, and
  3. output of Traditional or Simplified Chinese in either Big5 or GB codes to be displayed,
the default installed Chinese fonts under TC-Windows is referenced by Big5 codes.

Therefore, if you are using the TC-Windows, you are still unable to view Simplified Chinese characters properly even if your browser has been explicitly set to view Simplified Chinese (GB) because the underlying TC-Windows is still using the default TC-Windows fonts.

To view both Traditional & Simplified Chinese web pages under the same Windows environment, we can use one of the following two methods:

(I) Use RichWin with English Windows 95/98. (Use of other Chinese add-on software, e.g. NJStar, should also work.)

(II) Use English Windows 95/98 or TC-Windows; then

    1. install the Microsoft Traditional & Simplified Chinese fonts and input method engines (described in Section (A) below); and
    2. set the browser (MSIE 5 or Netscape 4) to use either the Traditional or Simplified Chinese character encoding schemes when viewing Traditional or Simplified Chinese web page accordingly (described in Section (B) and Section (C) below).


    Moreover, if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer v5 (MSIE 5) or later versions, then after you have done step (1) above, input of Traditional or Simplified Chinese characters to MSIE 5 and MS Word 2000 under English Windows is also supported.

(A) Download and install Microsoft Global fonts and input method engines (IME)

  1. Start MSIE. (If it has not been installed, download and install it. The latest version is 5.01 at the time of writing this article.)
  2. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/ie/Features/ime.asp (Download using Netscape browser may not work properly.)
  3. Click the link "download Global IME" (shown as blue letters).
  4. Select "Microsoft Global IME 5.01 for Chinese (Traditional) with Language Pack" in the "Choose an option" box.  (Keep the default value "English" in the "Choose a language" choice if you are using English Windows.)
  5. Click the Next button in the pages that follow until the "File Download" window appears.
  6. Select "Run this program from its current location". (Or you can download it to your PC & run it.)
  7. Click the OK button and follow the instruction to install the Global IME.
  8. After finishing the installation, you will be asked to restart the computer.
  9. Do NOT restart the computer yet, but continue to download the Simplified Chinese font by repeating the above steps and selecting "Microsoft Global IME 5.01 for Chinese (Simplified) with Language Pack" in step 4, and continue until you are asked to restart the computer during the installation.
  10. Restart the computer to enable the downloaded fonts.
After downloading the Microsoft Traditional and Simplified fonts, then configure Netscape to display Chinese characters as described in Section (B).

Follow the steps in Section (C) to switch between viewing web pages encoded in English, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese.

(B) Configure Netscape 4 to display Traditional and Simplified Chinese characters.

Note: This section describes the steps for Netscape 4.  No configuration is required for MSIE 5.
  1. Start your Netscape web browser.
  2. Click the pulldown menu Edit => Preferences. The "Preferences" window will appear.
  3. Under the Category pane, click Appearance => Fonts.
  4. In the choice box "For the Encoding", select Traditional Chinese.
  5. In the choice boxes "Variable Width Font" and "Fixed Width Font", select MingLiu.
  6. Under the Category pane, click Navigator => Languages and click the Add button.
  7. An "Add Languages" window will appear.
  8. In the choice box "Languages", select Chinese/Taiwan [zh-TW] and click the OK button.
  9. In the "Preferences" window, click the OK button
  10. Now, you have enabled Netscape to display Traditional Chinese characters.
  11. Repeat the above steps to display Simplified Chinese characters, but (a) select the font MS Song (for Song-style font) or MS Hei (for Black-style font) in step 5; and (b) select Chinese/China [zh-CN] in step 8.
To switch between viewing web pages encoded in English, Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese, follow the steps in Section (C).
 

(C) Steps to change the character set in interpreting a web page in Netscape 4 & MSIE 5

Note: Even if you have done this step, but have not installed the Microsoft Traditional & Simplified Chinese fonts, you still won't be able to see the Chinese characters because the fonts are not available!

Note: To view English web pages, the fonts are easier on the eye when the character encoding scheme is set explicitly to the Western (ISO-8859-1) character set; i.e.,

Note: When we say Simplified Chinese characters are encoded in the GB encoding scheme, more precisely we are referring to the GB2312 encoding scheme, as there are some other not commonly used Simplified Chinese encoding schemes.

Note: Chinese characters defined by the Hong Kong SAR Government (for TC-Windows only)

For some commonly used Hong Kong Chinese characters not included in the Big5 character set, users can download and install the font from http://www.info.gov.hk/gccs/.  There are about 3,000 characters defined, and the font only works for Traditional Chinese Windows.


M. C. Pong
Tel: 2859 2491
E-mail: pmc@cc.hku.hk

Web-based Student Evaluation of Teaching (WebSET)

- a joint TDG project by Social Sciences Research Centre and Computer Centre

What is WebSET

WebSET is a project funded by the Teaching Development Grant and is jointly undertaken by the Social Sciences Research Centre (SSRC) and the Computer Centre.  It aims to improve the present system of student evaluation of teaching (SET) which uses simple web forms and paper forms.  The WebSET introduces a fully on-line approach for setting up questionnaires, collecting student responses and generating statistics for evaluation and reporting.  The WebSET system is expected to provide an efficient and timely solution for SET, and an alternative for those departments trying out new methods of teaching which need to ask different questions from those in existing questionnaires approved by the Faculty and University.

The current SET system

At present, students are asked to complete the evaluation on a course module or a course instructor, either on paper or on simple web forms, at the end of each semester.  The procedure is now well-established and provides useful student feedback on the effectiveness of teaching.  Students are assured of the anonymity of their responses and can express their feelings towards a course frankly.  This centralised SET system is governed by the Faculty and University guidelines and policy, and it is working quite well.

However, it is difficult to process the handwritten open-ended comments in these questionnaires unless a department is prepared to employ someone to decipher the handwriting and type in the comments in a word-processor for further scrutiny and analysis. Also, paper forms require a lot of manpower and time to design the layout and content of the questionnaires and process the computer-scanned data which often needs to be manually verified, and the economy of scale for printing costs means that the centralised system is biased towards large print-run of fewer questionnaires.

Therefore, the Computer Centre has collaborated with SSRC to develop the WebSET system with the latest web and java technology to improve the current SET procedure.  In the process of development, the ramifications and challenges to existing SET policy, guidelines, and practices were also re-examined in order to build an effective system.

Empower SET with WebSET

From the outset, WebSET was built to extend the existing capabilities of SET such as the anonymity feature and to further improve the processing time and to reduce the use of paper.  Using the campus network and web as the distribution and presentation medium, students and course coordinators can design, administer and process an evaluation anywhere, anytime in a paperless environment.  Teaching staff can now create their own questionnaires, administer SET at any time that suits them and their students, and get results back in the shortest possible time in a digital form which they can use to do more complex analysis.

The two main modules of WebSET provide web-based interface for the course coordinators to design the layout of a questionnaire from pools of predefined questions and answers,  schedule an evaluation, generate statistical reports with professional input from SSRC as well as for students to complete an evaluation on-line.  With the assistance of the WebSET system, the time and labour costs are significantly reduced since the responses are directly stored into a central database and analyzed at real-time to provide analysis results automatically.   Open-ended comments can also be collected into a file for teachers and departments to view and analyse.

The Computer Centre has completed all technical development of WebSET, and the system is now in its final testing stage.  It will be ready for user trials towards the end of February, 2000.  Interested individuals and departments are advised to contact Dr. K.W. Ng , Acting Director of the Social Sciences Research Centre, or the TDG grant holder, Angela Castro of the MSc(Eng) Internet Computing and Electronic Commerce Programme Office. Further details can be obtained from the undersigned.

Joe Lei
Tel: 2964 5738
E-Mail: mklei@hkusua.hku.hk

Upgrade Replacement of the HKUSUA and HKUSUB Systems
 
As mentioned in our last issue of Computer News, we have been setting up a more powerful SUN Enterprise 10000 system with 15 units of 400MHz processors and 3GB of memory to replace the HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems which have been our general computing and email servers for over 14,000 students and staff of the University.

We are pleased to inform our users that the new system has now been installed and we are going to changeover to the new system by migrating the files and applications of our users on the existing HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems. To minimise inconvenience to our users due to the required system works, we shall carry out the migration on the morning of 3 consecutive Sundays starting from January 23, 2000. The services of the HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems will be interrupted during the following periods when system work for the migration is being carried out:

While we plan the migration to be as transparent as possible to users, if users find problems and difficulties in using the services on the HKUSUA and HKUSUB systems after the above periods, please contact the undersigned or Mr. TY Kan (tel: 2859 7979, email: kty@cc.hku.hk ) for assistance.
 
 

Charles Cheung

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

A Research Project using the HKUSP2 Supercomputer - Numerical Analysis of Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Pollutant Dispersion

Dr. Liu Chun-ho of Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the users who has been using our HKUSP2 supercomputer in his research work since the installation of our HKUSP2 supercomputer many years ago. He has kindly provided us his experience on how he has benefited from our HKUSP2 Supercomputer for his computation-intensive research work on Numerical Analysis of Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Pollutant Dispersion.

The Computer Centre would like to thank Dr. Liu for sharing his experience with other users on using the HKUSP2 supercomputer. We also invite other existing HKUSP2 users to write to us to share their HKUSP2 experience so that more users can benefit from our HKUSP2 Supercomputer.

Dr. Liu Chun-Ho wrote:

If you are interested in using the HKUSP2 supercomputer to solve your problem on hand, or if your feel the computational time of executing your current program is too long,  you can contact the undersigned or Mr. Kwan Wing Keung (tel: 2857 8631, email: kwk@cc.hku.hk ) to discuss your application.   You may be amazed at how the supercomputer can help you in your research work.
 

C.M. Woo
Tel: 28578632
Email: cmwoo@hkusua.hku.hk 

Security Policy on using the Centre's Computing Resources

Since incident reports of malicious attacks or account hacking and mail spamming originating from our University have been on the rise, the Computer Centre wishes to make users aware of the "The University of Hong Kong Statement of Ethics on Computer Use".  This article will further substantiate the Computer Centre's policy for legitimate use of our computing resources and state the course of action to take against an abuser of our computing resources.

 For details on how to protect your Unix systems against hacking, please refer to the article "System Security for Unix Systems" in a previous issue of the Computer News.  For PC system security, you may find the experience of a concerned PC user to be useful information.

General Statement

In general, all computer users are expected to behave with ethics in using the University's computing equipment and services.  Any of the following behavior is considered unacceptable and shall constitute an offense or an abuse of computing resources: Please note that  the above guidelines also apply to ACE net/Hall network users using their own computing equipment in connecting to the campus network.  In order to ensure a high level of services to our users, the Computer Centre will monitor the network for sudden surge of traffic or violating activities.

Action against Reported Incidents

When a complaint of abuse of the computing resources is received, the Computer Centre shall handle the incident as follows:
  1. contact the individual to inform him/her of the alleged offense;
  2. suspend the computer account(s) of the offender;
  3. arrange a meeting between the offender and a Computer Centre staff to discuss the incident.  The meeting should focus on educating the individual on the nature of this offense so that future violations can be avoided;
  4. the computer account of the violator will be resumed after the investigation is completed and related issues resolved or when the Computer Centre considers it not a threat to our system's security any more.
If there is a compromised computer system involved in the incident, the computer should be immediately disconnected from the campus network before remedial work can be done on it.  Before re-connecting the machine to the campus network, the violator should be responsible for cleaning up the system based on advice provided by the Computer Centre.  If there is any difficulty in cleaning up the affected system, consultancy services will be provided by the Computer Centre and there may be a charge for such services.  The Computer Centre reserves the right to disconnect a computer system from the campus network if any of the following situations are encountered: If you wish to report any intrusion on your computer system, please feel free to report your case to security@hku.hk.

KC Chang
Tel: 2859 7972
E-mail: kcchang@hkusua.hku.hk


Response to a concerned user on computer and network security

The Computer Centre has received a note from Professor Brian W. Darvell of the Faculty of Dentistry on his view of computer and network security in the campus. We have reprinted his note below together with a response from the Computer Centre:

A. Professor Darvell wrote:

B. Computer Centre's response to Professor Darvell's note:

Staff News

Staff News

We are pleased to welcome Miss Shum Kei Yun, Elaine who joined the Centre in January, 2000. She graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1998 majoring in Computer Science.  She is now working in the team supporting the Research Services Section of the Registry.

We said farewell to Mr Kan Tak Ming, Tayman and wish him every success in his future endeavor.

Training News

The Computer Centre is pleased to announce a series of courses given between February and April, 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 February to April, 2000

Courses on Parallel Programming
 
 
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
C0313799 High Performance               FORTRAN Mar 8, 9, 10, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101
C1013599 SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop Mar 24, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-101
C1113599 SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop Apr 28, 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
 
C0611899 Introduction to UNIX Feb 25, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0711899 Introduction to UNIX Mar 21, 2000 
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration
 

Courses on HKU Network
 
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
C0715999 Connecting to the HKU Network (PPP, ACEnet, Hall Network) Apr 11, 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
 
 
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
C0615899 Advanced HTML Editing : Imagemap, CGI and Frames Mar 17, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0714099 Getting started with Internet Services and WWW Mar 23, 2000 
2:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0715199 Basic HTML Editing Apr 18, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
C0814099 Getting started with Internet Services and WWW Apr 27, 2000 
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201

Staff Registration   or   Student Registration

Courses on Microsoft Office and Other Topics
 
 
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
W0280599 Adobe Photoshop 4.0
(Staff Only)		 Mar 1, 2, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0480999 MS Access 97 
(Staff Only)		 Mar 7, 8, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.		 Old Library Building, 
LBO-135
W0581299 MS PowerPoint 97 
(Staff Only)		 Mar 13, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0380899 Chinese Inputing Method

(Staff Only)

 Mar 29, 30, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Mar 31, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0380699 MS Word 97 
(Staff Only)		 Apr 5, 6, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Apr 7, 2000 
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.		 Run Run Shaw Building, 
RR-201
W0681299 MS PowerPoint 97 
(Staff Only)		 Apr 20, 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.