UCSB Mathematics Grad Lab

Location

South Hall 4617 (4th floor, near the stairs.) A key is needed to enter.

Features

• 3 Windows workstations
  • Webcam (top center, pops up)
  • SD card slot (left side)
  • USB A socket (left side)
  • Headphone jack (left side)
• 3 macOS workstations
  • USB A socket (left rear)
  • USB C socket (center rear)
  • Headphone jack (left rear)
• Laser printer
  • For small printouts. For large jobs please use one of the printer/copiers on the 6th floor.
• White board
• Small group meeting space

Software

The software loadout is subject to change but generally includes the following:

• LaTeX (TeXLive or its MacTeX variant, depending on the OS)
• Mathematica
• MATLAB
• Microsoft Office
• R
• Various text editors
• Web browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge (Windows only), Safari (macOS only)

Account information

The lab now supports individual user accounts -- contact sysadmin@math.ucsb.edu if you'd like one. Accounts provide the following:

• Storage space
  • Currently about 20 GB; this is for your working set of files. If you need to archive things, you should use Box or Google Drive.
  • The Windows Documents, Desktop, Downloads, and Saved Games folders are redirected to this network share, so files in them will appear on any Windows workstation you log into.
  • macOS workstations will automatically mount this network drive on login, providing easy access there too.
  • To access from a non-lab machine, SFTP to zeta.math.ucsb.edu. (If you're off-campus you must sign in to the UCSB VPN first.)
• Roaming profiles (Windows only) -- remembers most of your desktop settings on any Windows workstation you log into.
• Better privacy than the old shared logins -- no more forgetting to log out of your email and having the next person be able to access it!

Users without an account can log into the Windows workstations as "lab" with a password of "lab", or into the macOS workstations as "guest" with no password. Note that there are some restrictions with these accounts:

• All files and settings are deleted when you log out of the macOS "guest" account. You must save anything you want to keep to a USB stick, Google Drive, etc.
• The Windows "lab" account's storage is subject to being erased at any time.
• The "lab" account's web browsers are configured to clear cookies and other stored information on exit.

Problems?

Please report any issues with the computers to sysadmin@math.ucsb.edu. Include the name of the workstation(s) you encountered the problem with. Please do not just leave a note in the lab; I'm unlikely to see it.