The Douglas, Vincent and Cairns campuses house a total of 23 General Access Teaching Computing facilities, including the Libraries in Townsville and Cairns. There are a total of 604 desktop units, of which there are 98 Macs and 506 Intel based PCs.
The GATCF Lab model provides at minimal capital cost and minimal support cost, computer hardware and software to support students in their academic endeavours.
Only current staff and enrolled students have the right to use the computers located in the GATCF Labs. Students and staff are presented with a login box on the computers where they must enter their JCU Login-ID and password. Authentication is managed via Novell eDirectory. User and Desktop management is controlled via Novell's Zenworks for PCs and MacOSX Server software for Macs. On login, Users have access to various network resources depending on their student subject group affiliations, and in the case of staff specific software associations.
The Managed NetPC is the model used for the desktop. The NetPC is a PC with local storage and drives but functions such as asset control, hardware diagnosis and software update are managed centrally. The Managed NetPC allows the following:
- The solution is robust and tolerates network and server failure as most applications are stored on local storage. Temporary failure of a server or the network does not preclude Users continuing to use core applications.
- Applications developed for teaching purposes that are difficult or unable to be served can be deployed to students on local storage.
- Specialist School Software can be made available to students based on their enroled subject groups
The environment is sophisticated and strictly controlled to
- minimise inadvertent or intentional tamperage and concomitantly minimise support
- maximise availability of resources for teaching and learning at JCU.
Standard Software
There is a range of Software applications and utilities that are installed on all GATCF workstations forming what is commonly referred to as the GATCF Standard Operating Environment. Students and staff have access to all of these packages after successfully logging in on a GATCF computer.ITR staff are responsible for the installation, maintenance, and availability of software installed as part of the Standard Operating Environment
PCs
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2 operating system
- Microsoft Office 2003 - Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, Publisher
- SPSS V15
- MatLab R2007a
- Firefox
- Internet Explorer 6 SP1
- PuTTY Terminal
- Cygwin XServer
- Utility Programs - Aladdin Expander, Calculator, Sound Control, Ultimate Zip, Log Off
- Endnote X1
- Adobe Acrobat Reader V7
- Advanced Typing Tutor
- Ghostscript and Ghostview
- Roxio Creator DE
- PowerDVD 7DX
- Paintshop Pro V7
- Animation Shop V8
- iTunes
- dbPowerAmp
- WaveMP3
- Audacity
- Windows Media Player
- Mac OSX 10.5.1
- Terminal
- Microsoft Office 2004 - Word, Excel, Powerpoint
- SPSS V16
- MATLAB 2007b
- Safari v3.04
- Stuffit Expander V12
- Endnote V11
- Apple Developer Tools
- LyX v1.3.6
- NetBeans v5.51
- Fetch FTP
- Firefox 2.0.0.11
- Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.02
- iTunes v7.6
- iPhoto v7.1.1
- iMovie08 v7.1.1
- iCal
- Toast Lite V5.2.1
Additional Standard Software
These software packages are available for use by all staff and students in the GATCF Labs. They have not been installed as part of the Standard Operating Environment,however by clicking on the Installation icon the software will install on the workstation.ITR staff are responsible for the maintenance and availability of these software packages:
PC
DreamWeaver 8
Fireworks M8 2004
Flash Basic 8
Freehand MXa
Dreamweaver 8 Extension Manager
Flash 8 Video Encoder
Mac
Not Applicable but can be installed by GATCF staff if requested.
Teaching Software
Academic Staff who require specialist teaching software in the GATCF Labs (PC or Mac) need to contact their IT Support Staff personIt-support staff have rights to install software onto the GATCF computers.If you are unsure of the software that is available in a particular GATCF Lab your it-support person has a test student account that they can login with to display the software that is available.