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On behalf of the Computer Centre, I would like to give a warm welcome to all new staff and students who have joined the University in this academic year. I take this opportunity to introduce the Centre's wide range of computer facilities and IT services. To our old users, I would also like to update them on the new developments of our hardware, software and services in the last few months.

The Computer Centre provides comprehensive computer facilities and network services to meet the different IT needs of teaching, learning, research and administration in the University. We hope that you will acquaint yourself with the numerous IT services available on campus, and if you should have any difficulties in using any of our services, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The Computer Centre is primarily located on the first and second floors of the Run Run Shaw Building. The other major site is located on the first floor of the Old Library Building. Students and staff can access the numerous PCs available in the PC laboratories or access to the campus network resources with their own notebook computers through the ACEnet (Access Everywhere Network) facilities in these two locations. Faculty-based PC laboratories are also set up in various buildings, including Knowles Building, Main Building, KK Leung Building, Runme Shaw Building, Composite Building, Chong Yuet Ming Building and buildings in the Medical campus, the Dental campus and the Student Amenities Centres.

All students, faculty and staff members of the University are eligible for free e-mail service, Internet access and gaining access to our various computer servers to meet their daily needs. Computer accounts for first-year undergraduate students are automatically created using their student numbers as account names when they enter the University. Other students and new staff members can apply for an account on our host computer system online via the Computer Centre’s homepage. If you have difficulties in doing this yourself, you can go to the Help Desk at the Run Run Shaw Building and the Old Library Building during office hours and ask for assistance. Starting from this new academic term, we have begun to make use of the Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology to deliver our applications and services over the network. It is our plan to extend this state-of-the-art technology for use by the entire University community to realize our vision of making HKU a prominent digital paperless university.

The Computer Centre provides a large number of Pentium III PCs which are set up in various locations across campus for use by staff and students. To access these PCs, you must have an account on our HKUSUA computer system. All students have been created accounts on this server system. If you are a staff member with an account on the HKUCC system and you need to use the PCs in the laboratories, you can always create an account on the HKUSUA computer as well. A large variety of popular PC software and tools are provided in our PC laboratories to meet the different needs of our students. Laser printing service is available on a chargeable basis. All the PCs in the student laboratories are connected to the HKU Campus Network. For staff members, they can gain access to the Campus Network conveniently with the network connected PCs in their offices.

The central PC laboratories can be booked by teachers for instructional purposes. These laboratories provide network points for teachers to connect their PCs or notebook computers to the network. Overhead and video projection facilities are available. Booking should be made two weeks in advance through the Centre's General Office.

Our campus network consists of a sophisticated high-speed ATM-based network backbone supporting over 14,000 network points installed around the campus and in the student residences. ATM WAN links from the University’s main campus are set up to provide high-speed network access to the remote campuses in the Queen Mary Hospital area and in the Prince Philip Dental Hospital compound.

Our international Internet connection has been upgraded with a big performance improvement over the last summer. Now, the HKU Campus Network is connected to the Internet through a 30 Mbps link to HARNET (the Hong Kong Academic and Research Network) which is configured with a 48 Mbps international Internet link to the US. We are also in the process of improving our WWW proxy server facility for better response of web access by our users.

Since two years ago, undergraduate students entering our University have benefited from a student notebook computer programme. To provide ubiquitous network access for the notebook computers, 4,000 ACEnet (Access-Everywhere-Network) network points have been installed throughout the University premises so that students can connect to the campus network anywhere on campus. Students residing in halls also have direct access to the campus network from their own bedrooms. Each student is provided with a network access point through the HKU Hallnet and each room is also provided with a telephone. To use either the ACEnet or Hallnet, staff and students are reminded that they must register their network cards with the Computer Centre through their own personalised Staff or Student Intranet webpage.

Furthermore, all staff and students can connect to the HKU campus network and Internet from their homes through modems and telephone lines using our PPP dial-up service. There are now over 800 data lines which support 56Kbps V.90 standard modems and the service is free to our users. PPP network access accounts are created for all new first-year students as soon as they are admitted to our University. All other students and staff members who have not yet had their PPP network access accounts can register one by themselves online through the Computer Centre’s homepage.

All the centrally time-tabled classrooms with 100 seats or more now support high-speed wireless network connectivity. The facility provided is of the latest IEEE 802.11b standard with 128-bit WEP (Wire Equivalent Privacy). The same kind of wireless network is also installed in our Centre’s user areas and the open areas of the podium and concourse of the Haking Wong Building, Shaw Buildings and the K.K. Leung Building. We shall see further extension of our wireless network to the Sun Yuet Suen Square, inside selected areas in the Main Library and Medical Library and in the Student Amenities Centres. Please refer to the relevant articles in issue of this Computer News for more information.

As mentioned above, the Computer Centre has embarked on a development to deploy Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) to improve the efficiency and user convenience in many of our daily academic, administration and service activities. Built upon the use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology that enables the use of Digital Signature over the web and Internet, we have recently set up a HKU Certification Authority server (HKUCA) and an ESD server (HKUESD) to support this development.

Staff and students can now apply for personal digital certificates (HKU-Cert) on their staff or student smart-cards. A card-size CD-R version of the HKU-Cert is also generated to facilitate use on PCs not equipped with smart-card readers. At this early stage of development, only a few applications of the Computer Centre have made use of the ESD technology. We are now working with other departments and offices in exploring some possible ESD application deployments. You can find more information about this exciting development in other articles of this issue of Computer News as well.

The Computer Centre is running quite a large number of computer servers to support our staff and students on their IT needs. These include computation, Internet communication, as well as many other academic and administration applications. Among the numerous servers, we have an IBM SP2 supercomputer for research support, a SUN Enterprise 10000 system for meeting the general computation and communications needs of our staff and students, a pair of Sun Enterprise 6000 systems for the central HKU WWW and proxy servers, and a high-availability cluster with two Compaq AXP 12000 systems for email, GCG genetic database and other applications used by staff members. More information about our Centre’s computer servers can be found from the Computer Centre’s homepage at http://www.itservices.hku.hk .

Our Centre is operating a 48-node IBM SP2 scalable parallel supercomputer which is the most powerful one of its kind in Hong Kong. This system is a very valuable resource for our University’s researchers or graduate students who require intensive computation for their projects. If you have intensive computing needs for your project, please do not hesitate to seek assistance from colleagues of our supercomputer team (Mr. W.K. Kwan – 28578631 or Mr. C.M. Woo - 28578632). In the next month or two, we shall install 26 more CPUs to our existing Sun Enterprise 10000 (or the Sun Starfire) system. By then, the system will be equipped with 41 CPUs and is the most powerful system of its kind in Hong Kong. It would certainly be a very valuable addition of resource for supporting computation intensive research projects undertaken by our researchers and graduate students.

We have two Help Desks, one located in the Run Run Shaw Building (Room RR104) and the other in the Old Library Building (Room OLB134), to assist our users in computer and network problems during office hours. For users who are not in the vicinity of the Computer Centre, you can call the hotline number of the Help Desk at 2958-2480. Alternatively, you can direct your enquiries and requests for support electronically at email address ithelp@hku.hk. We also respond openly to enquiries put up on the news bulletin board, hku.cc.forum, on a daily basis.

The Computer Centre provides an in-house maintenance service for PC and network equipment in the University on a cost-recovery basis. Our aim is to provide departments with a cost-effective, convenient and fast-responding hardware maintenance service to all the PC users in the University. We pledge to respond immediately to service calls and aims to be on your premise in the Main Campus within half an hour after receiving your call. If your office is outside the Main Campus, we would still respond to your calls in the same way but would take a longer time to arrive at your site, depending on the travelling distance. If you are interested in our maintenance service, please enquire about our competitive pricing at telephone 2859-2491 or come to the General Office for details.

Our Staff Intranet and Student Intranet systems provide convenient personal access to university information and communication resources. The Computer Centre has adopted a web-based system development strategy and most of our client-based administrative systems have been converted to web-based systems for easy access. The Student Connect system now provides an entirely web-based student administration system whereby students can register and select courses via the Student Intranet. All students can gain access to the Student Connect system using their email account names. The University Information System (UIS) provides departments with all the administrative information that they need on the Staff Intranet. If you are a staff member, you should get an UIS account to facilitate your own access to personal information.

The Computer Centre supports the use of the web technology in the University's teaching and learning activities and has installed WebCT, which is a web course tool, to enable teachers to mount their web-based course on the University Network. We provide assistance to help our users in their web-based course development through our regular offerings of induction courses and training workshops on the use of multimedia design software, homepage programming and use of the WebCT software.

To provide our users with the necessary skills to use IT and our systems, we offer regular training courses on all of our computer facilities and PC software, email, Internet access and World Wide Web, news bulletin service and multi-media facilities. Most computer courses offered by the Computer Centre are free of charge. Some courses that are provided by external course vendors through our coordination are charged at cost. Users are advised to register early to secure a place. All our courses can be registered over the Intranet through our Centre’s homepage. We can also arrange special training sessions for departments at a very reasonable cost.

We maintain comprehensive documentation on our Centre's hardware, software and services in our “User Handbook” and "Computer News". The handbook is normally updated once a year before the academic year starts. Other updates on our lastest acquisitions of hardware, software and services are published in the Computer News on a bi-monthly basis. All staff and students are notified by email when a new issue of the Computer News is published. You can of course access “Computer News” from our Centre's webpage (http://www.itservices.hku.hk).

We also maintain a library of computer periodicals, reference manuals and books, which are available for short-term loan from our General Office located in Room 223, Run Run Shaw Building.

I have summarized the numerous IT facilities and services supported by the Computer Centre and introduced our new developments in the last few months. It is by no means a complete account of what we offer. Please read other articles in this newsletter and our Centre’s publications to get all the details.

HKU Computer Centre Dial-up Services
60-minute lines	30-minute lines
56Kbps PPP Lines (v.90 modem standard) (24-hour service and support modems of all speeds) Please click here to see how to configure the settings to use the lines.
408 lines for all users	29757000	144 lines for all users	29647000
		96 lines for all users	21057100
72lines for staff only	28595100	48 lines for staff only	29642300
48 lines for HKU Graduate Account users (no connection time limitation)	22497100

I hope you will enjoy reading the Computer News and find the information useful. Your feedback and comments are always welcome. It will certainly help to improve our services and guide us to develop those services that are important to you.

HKU Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) System in Operation

The use of digital signatures can speed up the work flow from an end user initiating a request to the final completion of the whole process. Digital signatures provide reliable user authentication and assured data integrity. The use of ESD eliminates the requirement of written signatures and circulation of paper forms, thus increasing the productivity and service quality.

If you wish to find out how the ESD platform can help you deliver your departments services electronically, please contact the undersigned.

For the purposes of accounting and efficient use of the University's central computing resources, the Computer Centre has instituted a budget accounting scheme for the computer user accounts. The budget of a user account is updated according to the scheme given in Section 6.15 of Centre's "Computer Services Handbook". At the beginning of each academic year, the budgets of all computer accounts are reset. This year, the budget resetting was done on September 15, 2000.

For staff and post-graduate students, the budgets of their user accounts on the HKUSUA and HKUCC systems were reset to $5,000. For undergraduate and other users of these two systems, their account budgets were reset to $2,000.

A user can enquire the updated budget balance of his/her computer account by entering the command "budget" after logging in the corresonding computer system.

When the budget of a user account is used up, the user will not be able to login the system to process any computer jobs any more. Under such circumstances, the user must apply for additional budget for his computer account. Additional account budget application can be made by completing the application form: "Application for Additional Computing Resources" which is accessible from the "On-line Enquiries => Application Forms" webpage under Computer Centre's homepage (URL - http://www.itservices.hku.hk).

The budgets for the PPP Dial-up Service accounts for HKU staff and students were reset to $1,800 with effect from September 1, 2000.

The laser-printing quota for each HKUSUA account is initialised with a free allocation of 50 printing units at account creation time. This quota will not be reset annually and users are required to purchase any additional printing quota through the self-service PC's in the student laboratories in room 104, Run Run Shaw Building, or in room 134, Old Library Building.

The disk storage quota for a computer user account is divided into the "disk quota for user files" (generally called "disk quota") and "disk quota for storing e-mail messages" (generally called "mail quota"). These quotas will not be reset to their initially assigned values annually.

When a user's disk usage exceeds the account's "disk quota" , the user will not be able to create or save any new files. Likewise, when the "mail quota" of an account is exceeded, the user will not be able to receive any new email messages. Under such circumstances, the user must free up some disk storage space by deleting some of his files. Procedures for deleting files and email messages from an account can be found from Centre's webpages for FAQ for host computers and FAQ for Email, respectively. (URL for file deletion procedures:- http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/unix/index.htm#faq9; URL for email deletion procedures:- http://www.itservices.hku.hk/faq/email.htm#quota2).

If you have any questions on the services provided by the Computer Centre and need to find user documentation on how to use them, you should refer to the Centre's user handbooks on the web at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/handbook.html.

These handbooks have just been updated before this year's academic term started to reflect the latest provision of computer hardware and software. Currently the following handbooks are available:

Computer Centre Guide - This is a short guide for newcomers to the University to introduce them briefly to the central computer services and facilities available at HKU.

Computing Services Handbook - This is a handbook with detailed information on all the computer services available, a description on all our host computers and microcomputers, a description of the HKU network and services, and rules and regulations on computer use at HKU.

Network Services Guide for UNIX Users - This is a guide on how to gain access to the network services such as e-mail, telnet, file transfer and reading Internet news using a Unix computer.

Network Services Guide for PC Users - This is a guide on how to use the network services such as e-mail, telnet, file transfer and reading Internet news using a PC. It also contains instructions on how to gain access to the services and facilities available from the University Campus Network from the ACEnet, Hall Network, PPP dial-up lines and VPN (Virtual Private Network) gateway using a PC.

UNIX User's Guide - This is a guide for using the Unix computers in HKUCC. It contains the most frequently used Unix commands and how to invoke them.

If you have any comments on these handbooks, please send them to the undersigned.

We are pleased to inform our users that two new Sun E3500 servers (HKUCA/HKUESD) have recently been installed to
support our newly rolled-out HKU Certification Authority and HKU Electronic Service Delivery.

The Certification Authority (HKUCA) server is used to issue and manage the digital certificates (HKU-Cert) for our users.
Digital Certificates are required in the processing of digital signature applications through the University Campus Network and
Internet. The Electronic Service Delivery (HKUESD) server is used to run ESD applications that are being developed. For
instance, ESD software can be developed to transform a service request form which used to require your written signature to a
web-based form that can accept your digital signature for identity verification purpose.

Subject to the agreement of the respective administration and service authorities in the University, many existing procedures
that we regularly use in our daily University activities can potentially be converted to the more convenient and efficient
electronic services, e.g. purchase of laser-printing units and computer supplies from the Computer Centre and the submission
of grant and allowance applications, election of provident fund investment options, etc. to the related offices. With the addition
of the two new servers, we are better equipped in preparing for all these exciting potential developments.

The HKUPPP dial-up service is the most heavily demanded service of the Computer Centre and about 20% of the enquiries directed to our Help Desk or CCBOX are related to this service. While the service is so widely used by most staff and students of the University, apparently many of them might not have a good picture about the service as many questions that we have received are quite common and similar. To give a better understanding of the service to our user, we have compiled the most frequently asked questions on the PPP service and summarised them here.

The HKUPPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is the service for connecting your home PC to the HKU Campus Network and to the Internet via phone lines and modems. It is the Internet access channel provided by the Computer Centre.

In order to use this service, you must have a PPP account. Every HKU staff and student member is eligible for a PPP account. Undergraduate students have their PPP accounts created for them when they enter the University. Postgraduate students and new staff members need to create their own PPP account after they have created the email account on the host computer systems of the Computer Centre. The Email and PPP accounts can be created on-line at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/services/forms.htm

Every PPP account is allocated a PPP budget. The purpose of the PPP budget is to ensure that all users are given equal opportunities of network usage. The PPP budget is $1800 per year. Each time you connect to the network using this account, notional money is deducted from this budget at $4 per 60 minutes. The location for checking the balance of your PPP budget is at http://intranet.hku.hk:8030/cas/app/ppp.ver_user. This webpage can also be accessible from the webpage "On-line Enquiries => Other Enquiries" under the Computer Centre's homepage. The PPP budget is re-set to $1800 each year on September 1.

The most frequent problem for not being able to login the PPP server is due to exceeded PPP budget. In order to remind users to check their PPP budget status, and to alert them to gauge their PPP dial-up usage, the Computer Centre sends out a reminder to the users whose PPP usage have gone over 50% of their PPP budget and a warning message at 90%.

If your PPP budget runs out and you have a good reason for heavier usage of the PPP service for academic work, then you can fill out a form to apply for more PPP budget at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/services/forms.htm

To simplify the configuration process for PC users to use the HKU PPP dial-up service, we provide a software called the HKUPPP package. It is available at the Computer Centre's general office for $50 in CD-ROM format. What this package does for you is to configure your PC with the necessary parameters for connection to the HKUPPP server. It configures the telephone numbers, your modem speed and connection settings, and the DNS and TCP/IP settings.

If you purchase the HKUPPP software and install it on your PC, you can just run it to connect to the HKU network. If you do not wish to purchase our package, you can download the files for free from our FTP server at ftp://ftp.hku.hk/pub/hkunap.v30/

When you login the HKUPPP server, you will be asked for your PPP account name and password. The system will then verify your account name and password before a connection can be established. Many users confuse the PPP password with their email password which can be different, and of course, if you typed in the wrong password, you will not be connected in the PPP system.

If the password provided is correct, then there will be a small box saying that you are connected, and showing the time and duration of your connection.

The peak usage period generally occurs between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. in the morning. During this period when all lines (about 800) are in full use, users may not be able to connect easily and may have to re-try a number of times before a connection can be made. Users are hence advised to use the service before or after the peak period if possible.

For the above and other questions you may have on the use of the HKU PPP dial-up service, please browse our web page on:

In the last issue of the Computer News (No. 86), we reported in an article that we are extending our wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) service to a number of centrally time-tabled classrooms on the main campus. Now we are pleased to let our users know that the service has been put into production.

To recapitulate briefly, the classroom WLAN service is primarily designed to facilitate the use of the Campus Network and Internet in teaching in a classroom environment. It can be seen as a wireless extension of ACEnet (Access Everywhere Network). To access the network, a user needs only to perform 3 steps as follows :

No cabling is required.

For more details on the procedure, refer to User Guide for HKU Wireless Local Area Network

User Guide for HKU Wireless Local Area Network

Introduction

The HKU Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN for short) was first launched as a pilot service in October 1999. The wireless network was then extended to the Run Run Shaw podium, the Haking Wong podium and the K. K. Leung Building concourse (G/F). After the successful implementation in the Wang Gung Wu Theatre for supporting the M.Sc. classes in E-Commerce and Internet Computing, the Computer Centre has now extended the WLAN coverage to a number of centrally time-tabled classrooms on the main campus, and they are listed as follows:

Building Classroom Numbers

Chow Yei Ching A, B, C

Chong Yuet Ming P1 - P4

James Lee J103

K. K. Leung LG109

Knowles K223, K419, K726

Library Extension LE1 - LE6, LE8

Main M167, M201, M217, M237

Meng Wah T1 - T7

Run Me Shaw Rayson Huang Theatre

T. T. Tsui TS303, TS403, TS404

The WLAN allows users to connect to the HKU network via radio signals without the use of cables and network sockets. To access the WLAN, a computer must be installed with a wireless network interface card (wireless NIC) and the required software driver. These wireless NICs communicate by means of radio signals with nearby signal transmitters (called access points) which are wired to the campus network backbone.

The WLAN product that has been adopted for this phase of WLAN implementation is the ORINOCO products with 128-bit WEP (Wire Equivalent Privacy) made by Lucent Technologies (also known as WaveLAN). It is IEEE 802.11b standard compliant and is inter-operable with all other IEEE 802.11b WLAN products that are based upon the Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) radio technology. The connection speed between an access point and a wireless NIC can reach up to 11Mbps. Each access point provides a 50m-radius coverage for a semi-open area.

At present, the classroom WLAN is designed to facilitate the access to the Campus Network and Internet in the classrooms. It can be seen as a wireless extension of the ACEnet (Access Everywhere Network). To access the classroom wireless network, one needs to perform the following 3 steps:

1. Install a wireless network interface card (wireless NIC) and driver software in one's PC. Like other network cards used for connection to ACEnet, the WLAN NICs must be pre-registered with the Computer Centre so as to prevent unauthorised use of the campus network. Please refer to the following section under the caption "Procedure for Setting up a Notebook PC for connection to the WLAN" for the details of the procedure. This procedure needs to be done only once for each PC.

2. Start up the PC. An IP address will be automatically assigned and a connection to ACEnet will be established.

3. Log in ACEnet using an ACEnet (i.e. HKUPPP) account/password to gain access to the network.

Procedure for Setting up a Notebook PC for connection to the WLAN

Checking Minimum Configuration

Your notebook PC must have a minimum configuration as follows:

Operating System: Windows 95 or 98
8MB or more of memory
At least 1MB space left in your hard disk
Have TCP/IP protocol installed in your notebook computer
CD-ROM drive

Acquiring the wireless NICs and software drivers

Some wireless NICs (WaveLAN PC cards) and CD-ROMs which contain the NIC drivers have been allocated to departments. Wireless NICs allocated by the Computer Centre have been pre-registered for use with ACEnet. Your department can also buy additional IEEE 802.11b compliant NICs with 128-bit WEP through the Computer Centre or directly from the vendors. In cases that you are buying a NIC directly from a vendor, please ensure its compatibility and remember to register its MAC address for use with ACEnet through the following webpages:

For students

            HKU Intranet for Students ( URL - http://www.hku.hk/intranet/student)
              => Intranet Systems for Students icon
              => Computer Centre icon
              => Registration of network card for ACEnet (Access Everywhere Network) and Hall Network

For staff

            HKU Intranet (for Staff) http://www.hku.hk/intranet
              => Intranet Systems for Staff icon
              => Computer Centre icon
              => Registration of network card for ACEnet (Access Everywhere Network) and Hall Network

Installation of Wireless NICs and Software Drivers

The following procedure applies to the WaveLAN PC card by Lucent Technologies. If you have other models of compatible wireless NIC, you should refer to their installation procedure. Our WLAN access points inter-operate with all IEEE 802.11b compliant wireless NICs with 128-bit WEP or those without WEP.

Insert the WaveLAN PC card into your notebook computer.
Power up your notebook computer.
Insert the WaveLAN Wireless LAN software CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
The Windows operating system automatically detects the new hardware.
In the "Add New Hardware Wizard" window, click the "Next" button.
Select the "Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location, so you can select the driver you want" option and click the "Next" button.
Select "Network adapters" as the type of device from the selection list and click the "Next" button.
In the "Select Device" window, click the "Have Disk" button.
Click the "Browse" button to locate the wvlan41.inf file under the software\adapter\pc_card\drivers\windows directory on the WaveLAN Wireless LAN Software CD-ROM and click "OK" twice to continue.
In the "Select Device" window, select "WaveLan IEEE PC card (5 volt)" and click the "OK" button.
You will be prompted for the location of the wv41inst.dll file. Click the "Browse" button to select the software\adapter\pc_card\drivers\windows directory.
In the "Add New Hardware Wizard" window, click the "Next" button to install the selected driver.
In the "WaveLAN/IEEE PC Card (5 volt) Properties" window, enter CC WLAN as the WaveLAN Network Name.
Enter either your name or your department name as the Station Name and click the "OK" button.
Insert the Windows 95 or 98 CD-ROM when you are asked to do so.
After the installation is complete, you are required to reboot your notebook computer to let the settings take effect.

Gaining Access to ACEnet

As all wireless access points in the HKU campus go through ACEnet, you must login ACEnet each time before your PC can gain access to the resources from the Campus Network. For details on how to set up your notebook computer for ACEnet login, please refer to our web page at www.hku.hk/cc/services/acenet .

Vitus Lam
Tel: 2859-2484
E-mail: lsw@cc.hku.hk

Update on Networking and Video-conferencing Facilities in the Renovated Rayson Huang Theatre

With the completion of the renovation of the Rayson Huang Theatre in September, we are pleased to announce that a wireless local area network service (WLAN) has been installed and put into production in the renovated theatre.

The WLAN service covers the entire interior of the 320-seats theatre, together with its conjunctive foyer and reception area. The WLAN product deployed is the same as the one we adopted for our newly launched Classroom WLAN service, i.e. the IEEE 802.11b standard compliant ORINOCO by Lucent Technologies (also known as WaveLAN). Procedure of use follows that for the general Classroom WLAN. Readers seeking more information are therefore referred to the article Update on Wireless LANs for Centrally Time-tabled Classrooms and the associated User Guide for HKU Wireless Local Area Network, both appearing in this issue of the Computer News.

Besides WLAN, the theatre stage is also furnished with traditional cable-based UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) network points which support 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet connection.

Video-conferencing equipment and live web-casting facilities for the lecture theatre as reported in our last edition of the News are in the process of installation.

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

Renewal of HKUSP2 Accounts

In accordance with the regulations of the Supercomputer Safeguards Plan which governs the use of the HKUSP2 supercomputper, users are required to renew their HKUSP2 accounts annually and to change their account passwords periodically.

All existing HKUSP2 users have been requested to renew their HKUSP2 accounts and to change their account passwords by the end of September. Those accounts which have not been renewed by their users will be disabled after November 10, 2000. Users who have not yet sent back the account renewal forms are advised to do as soon as possible in order to avoid any unnecessary interruptions to their work using the HKUSP2 system.

Should you have any queries regarding HKUSP2 user accounts or the services supported by the HKUSP2 system, please contact the undersigned.

W.K. Kwan
E-mail: kwk@cc.hku.hk
Tel: 2857-8631

ADINA/AUI Version 7.4 Available on HKUSUA

We are pleased to announce that the ADINA package on the HKUSUA system has been upgraded to its latest release - Version 7.4.

ADINA (Automatic Dynamic Incremental Nonlinear Analysis) System is a set of programs for static and dynamic displacement and stress analyses of solids, structures and fluid structure systems. The package consists of five independent programs, namely, ADINA which is the main program, ADINA-IN, ADINA-PLOT, ADINA-T and ADINA-F. ADINA-IN is for generating input data, ADINA-PLOT is for producing graphic displays of the input and/or output data, ADINA-T is used for the analysis of temperatures and ADINA-F is specially designed for fluid flow analysis.

To invoke ADINA 7.4, enter the following command after logging in the hkusua system.

/usr/adina/tools/aui7.4

for all shells

Please refer to the 'Help' menu in ADINA for the features and the changes of this new release in comparison with its previous version. The Help menu can be accessed by starting the individual ADINA program and click 'Help' from the pull down menu at the upper right hand corner of the window.

ADINA users are reminded that an X-window display (on a Unix workstation or a PC X-emulator) is necessary to use the software properly. If you have any questions relating to the software package, please contact the undersigned.

Kenneth Yip
Tel: 2859 7973
E-mail: kkyyip@hkusua.hku.hk

Staff News

The Computer Centre has been experiencing quite a lot of staff turnovers in recent months. This is probably attributable to the high demand for IT personnel in Hong Kong. We are continuously recruiting to fill the vacancies.

We welcome the following new members to the Computer Centre:

Mr Frankie Cheung Fai Ting joined the user services support team on September 1, 2000. Frankie is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong and received his Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering) degree in 1999.
Mr Raymond Liu Chi Kin joined the research services support team on September 12, 2000. Raymond is a graduate of the City University of Hong Kong and received his Bachelor of Science (Computer Studies) degree in 1990.
Ms Tracey Au Yeung joined the research services support team on October 16, 2000. Tracey is a graduate of the University of London and received her Bachelor of Engineering (Information Systems) degree in 1998.
Ms Anita Chan Kwan Yeung joined the academic services support team on October 16, 2000. Anita is a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and received her Bachelor of Engineering (Systems Engineering and Engineering Management) degree in 1999.

We bid farewell to the following staff and wish them every success in their future endeavors:

Mr Jeffrey Kwan Cho Fai who left on July 31, 2000

Mr Wu Sing On who left on August 13, 2000

Mr Ho Ka Fai who left on August 31, 2000

Mr Chan Yuen Keung who left on September 18, 2000

Mr Michael Leung Chi Wai who left on October 2, 2000

Ms Elaine Shum Kei Yum who left on October 9, 2000

Training News

The Computer Centre is pleased to announce a series of courses scheduled for October 2000 to January 2001 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

Courses on Parallel Programming

C0313500 SP2 Parallel Programming
with workshop Nov 30, 2000
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-101

C0413500 SP2 Parallel Programming
with workshop Dec 29, 2000
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-101

C0513500 SP2 Parallel Programming
with workshop Jan 29, 2001
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-101

Courses on Unix System and Applications

C0110600 Introduction to MATLAB Nov 6, 2000
3:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0311800 Introduction to UNIX Nov 10, 2000
2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0110200 Introduction to SAS Nov 24, 2000
2:30 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0416200 Using Electronic Signatures Nov 29, 2000
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201

Staff Registration or Student Registration

Courses on Web Browsing and Webpage Editing

C0415100 Basic HTML Editing Nov 13, 2000
2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Old Library Building,
LBO-135

C0215100 Basic HTML Editing Dec 1, 2000
9:30 am - 12:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0115100 Introduction to WEBCT
(staff only) Dec 6, 2000
9:30am - 12:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0115200 Basic WEBCT Workshop (staff only) Dec 12, 2000
9:30 am - 12:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0115300 Advanced WEBCT Workshop (staff only) Dec 19, 2000
9:30 am - 11:30 am Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0414000 Introduction to WWW and Internet services Jan 9, 2001
9:30 am - 12:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

C0315100 Basic HTML Editing Jan 30, 2001
9:30 am - 12:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

Staff Registration or Student Registration

Courses on Microsoft Office and Other Topics

W0181600 PowerPoint 2000
(Staff only) Nov 2, 2000 (1 day)
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Old Library Building,
LBO-135

W0180500 Adobe Photoshop 5.5
(Staff only) Nov 13, 14, 2000 (2 days)
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0181700 Flash 4.0
(Staff only) Nov 20, 21, 2000 (2 days)
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0181500 Access 2000
(Staff only) Dec 4, 5, 2000
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0181000 Dreamweaver 3
(Staff only) Dec 14, 15, 2000
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0381000 Dreamweaver 3
(Student only) Jan 11, 12, 2001
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0181400 Corel Draw 8
(Student only) Jan 15, 16, 2001
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0280500 Adobe Photoshop 5.5
(Student only) Jan 18, 19, 2001
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

W0281600 PowerPoint 2000
(Student only) Jan 19, 2001
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-101

W0181300 MS FoxPro
(Student only) Jan 22, 23, 2001
9:30 am - 4:30 pm Run Run Shaw Building,
RR-201

This is a 2-hour course on how to use electronic signatures in email and other electronic documents. You will learn:

1. how to sign in HKU ESD applications,
2. how to install a private key and digital certificates in e-mail programs,
3. how to sign, encrypt and decrypt e-mail messages.

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

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

This is a 3-hour course on using cgi programs in webpages. Contents include:
    Exercise 1 - Running cgi program on the web server
    Exercise 2 - Imbedding cgi programs in a web form
    Exercise 3 - Putting a counter in a homepage
    Exercise 4 - Putting a guestbook in a homepage
Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing.

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.

This 2-hour course will provide hands-on training on WebCT v2.1. Major new features in v2.1 are:

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.

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

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.

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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

This is a 2-hour seminar for users with some statistics background. Users will learn how to read the input data as well as to
perform some simple statistical analysis.

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

This is a 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.

This is a 2-day course on using the Adobe Photoshop, a software for photo retouching, image editing and color painting.
Adobe Photoshop 4.0 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

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

This 2-day course is designed for users who want to learn how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver 3, 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 Cascading Sytle Sheet
    6. Creating Forms & Frames
    7. Creating Interactive Homepage
Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing

This is a 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 :

This 2-day course is designed for students who want to learn how to use Macromedia Flash 4, to produce special effects and animation, for a multimedia homepage. It can help users produce home pages with vector and bitmap graphics, motion, MP3 audio, form input and interactivity.

Course outline :
    1. Flash Work Space
    2. Drawing and Editing Graphics
    3. Editing scenes and objects
    4. Using Timeline
    5. Creating animation and using sound files
    6. Using Actions
    7. Publishing and Exporting to movie
    8. Uploading homepage
Pre-requisite: Basic HTML Editing

This 2-day course provides an introduction to Visual FoxPro, a fast relational database management system in Windows. It is a 32 bit Xbase database engine, the application can be used in Windows 95/98/NT environments. It can also support Microsoft SQL Server/Client Server.

Course Outline:
    1. Starting Visual FoxPro
    2. Organizing with Project Manager
    3. Explore a database
        - Creating: new table, Query, view of local data, One-to-many form
    4. Ordering data using indexes
    5. Collecting tables into a database
    6. Finding information
        - Querying data, Updating data with views, Updating multiple tables
    7. Displaying information
        - Designing reports and labels, Displaying data in forms
    8. Visual FoxPro with other Application - Sharing information with other programs.

This 2-day course is designed for students who want to learn how to use Corel DRAW, the most popular vector-based drawing program that makes it easy to create professional artwork - from simple company logos to intricate technical illustrations.

Course Outline:
1. Basic concepts on computer graphic design
2. Using various drawing tools
3. Style and color of line
4. Text editing, Fit text to path, Uses of different fonts
5. Rotate, skew and resize objects, Group and combine objects
6. Mask effect, transform 2D objects to 3D using Extrude function
7. Inserting graphic images

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.

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.

General Enquiries	2859 2495
Fax	2559 7904
Computer Operations (Network and Operational problems)	2859 2496
Help Desk (Software and general problems)	2859 2480
Equipment Maintenance	2859 2774

Location:	Opening hours:
Run Run Shaw Building Room 101, and 103, Room 113 (ACEnet)	24 hours Monday (00:00 a.m.) - Sunday (12:00 p.m.)
Run Run Shaw Building (Room 201)	Monday – Friday (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Saturday (9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Sunday - Closed
Run Run Shaw Building Room 210 (Workstation) Knowles Building (Room 218), K.K. Leung Building Room LG-108 (ACEnet)	Monday - Friday (9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.) Saturday (9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.) Sunday - Closed
Old Library Building (Room 134)	Summer schedule: July 3 - Sep10, 2000 Monday – Friday (9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.) Saturday (9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.) Sunday – Closed Term schedule: from Sep 11, 2000 Monday – Friday (9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.) Saturday (9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) Sunday – Closed
Old Library Building (Room 135)	Monday – Friday (9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.) Saturday (9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.) Sunday – Closed

Holidays	Closed on	Re-open on
Christmas Day & the day after Christmas	December 25, 2000 (Monday) 8:30 p.m.	December 27, 2000 (Wednesday) 9:00 a.m.

Building/Area	Room	Tentative Date of Production
Run Run Shaw	104, 113	Mid-October
Old Library	134	Mid-October
Run Run Shaw Podium		Mid-October
Haking Wong Podium		Mid-October
K. K. Leung Concourse		Mid-October
Yat Suen Square		Mid-October
Lok Yew Hall		Late October
Convocation Room		Late October

Building	Classroom Numbers
Chow Yei Ching	A, B, C
Chong Yuet Ming	P1 - P4
James Lee	J103
K. K. Leung	LG109
Knowles	K223, K419, K726
Library Extension	LE1 - LE6, LE8
Main	M167, M201, M217, M237
Meng Wah	T1 - T7
Run Me Shaw	Rayson Huang Theatre
T. T. Tsui	TS303, TS403, TS404

C0313500	SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop	Nov 30, 2000 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-101
C0413500	SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop	Dec 29, 2000 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-101
C0513500	SP2 Parallel Programming with workshop	Jan 29, 2001 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-101

C0110600	Introduction to MATLAB	Nov 6, 2000 3:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0311800	Introduction to UNIX	Nov 10, 2000 2:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0110200	Introduction to SAS	Nov 24, 2000 2:30 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0416200	Using Electronic Signatures	Nov 29, 2000 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201

C0415100	Basic HTML Editing	Nov 13, 2000 2:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.	Old Library Building, LBO-135
C0215100	Basic HTML Editing	Dec 1, 2000 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0115100	Introduction to WEBCT (staff only)	Dec 6, 2000 9:30am - 12:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0115200	Basic WEBCT Workshop (staff only)	Dec 12, 2000 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0115300	Advanced WEBCT Workshop (staff only)	Dec 19, 2000 9:30 am - 11:30 am	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0414000	Introduction to WWW and Internet services	Jan 9, 2001 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
C0315100	Basic HTML Editing	Jan 30, 2001 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201

W0181600	PowerPoint 2000 (Staff only)	Nov 2, 2000 (1 day) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Old Library Building, LBO-135
W0180500	Adobe Photoshop 5.5 (Staff only)	Nov 13, 14, 2000 (2 days) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0181700	Flash 4.0 (Staff only)	Nov 20, 21, 2000 (2 days) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0181500	Access 2000 (Staff only)	Dec 4, 5, 2000 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0181000	Dreamweaver 3 (Staff only)	Dec 14, 15, 2000 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0381000	Dreamweaver 3 (Student only)	Jan 11, 12, 2001 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0181400	Corel Draw 8 (Student only)	Jan 15, 16, 2001 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0280500	Adobe Photoshop 5.5 (Student only)	Jan 18, 19, 2001 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201
W0281600	PowerPoint 2000 (Student only)	Jan 19, 2001 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-101
W0181300	MS FoxPro (Student only)	Jan 22, 23, 2001 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Run Run Shaw Building, RR-201

HKU Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) System in Operation

Building/Area

Room

Tentative Date of Production