Old News
On this page you will find updates and information from last year
Quick Links
Updates to the Labs in Rapson September 2007
Free Copy of Revit for students
NEW Lab Hours for the Fall Semester
Effective September 4th, 2007, the Rapson Hall computer labs will begin new hours of operation. Click here for the Fall Semester Lab Hours!
The labs will be staffed during these hours with full access to printing and plotting services for eligible students. The labs will be closed and there will be no printing or plotting services available outside of these hours. For a more indepth explanation to the Lab Hour change please click here.
Equipment Upgrades and Additions
The college has made a substantial investment in equipment for the computer labs on both campuses.
In Rapson Hall, the new and improved list includes:
In St. Paul:
Rapson/McNeal Hall Lab Improvements
The Computer Labs in the College of Design have seen extensive improvements during the summer. Recall that the college partners with OIT's ADCS group for over 150 computers in McNeal Hall on the St. Paul Campus. The Rapson Hall labs, with 55 computers, are managed by the IT staff in the college.
Software
Click here to see a list of the software available in each of the labs.
Several new applications have been installed in the college's labs this summer. In St. Paul a new 3D CAD application for fashion design, Optiplex, has been added to the selection of software tools for Design, Housing, and Apparel students. Another new application already familiar to architecture and landscape architecture students, SketchUp, has also been added to the St. Paul labs. In Minneapolis, students will be working with a new application suite called ECOTECT, a building performance analysis and design tool, including the companion add-on's SOLAR TOOL and WEATHER TOOL.
Both campuses have several updated software packages including the latest Adobe CS3 Design Premium suite, Autodesk's 2008 version of their CAD vizualization software, and many more. In addition the St. Paul labs now have the new Office 2007 suite from Microsoft. There are some file compatibility issues with older versions of Office including Office 2003 which is installed on all the faculty computers. ADCS has taken steps to mitigate the impact of this change by configuring Office 2007 to save files in the older Office 2003 file format. If you are having problems with file compatibility this may be the problem, please go here for assistance on this issue.
Active Directory
The “CALASTUDENT” login is going away in Rapson Hall. On both campuses, students will be logging into lab computers with their Internet (X.500) login and password. As part of this change, some of the “behind the scenes” infrastructure will be changing which will mean different ways to access network storage (class folders). For more details on the UMN Active Directory (UMNAD) service see the web site.
For instructions on how to sign up for Active Directory click here.
A new color plotter, identical to those in Rapson, will be installed in McNeal Hall. New computers, both Mac and PC, will be installed in many of the McNeal labs. The primary Rapson teaching lab, room 33, will have new computers installed as well (based on expected funding levels). The color laser printers will be replaced in Rapson.
Many popular application software packages will be updated including AutoCAD, ArcGIS, and the Creative Suite. There may be some new software titles added on both campuses (depending on funding) like ECOTECT in Rapson and OptiTEX in McNeal.
So, as you can see, there will be a lot of work going on over the summer months. There will be more information available next fall and, of course, lab staff in Rapson and McNeal will be available to answer questions and help out. Make sure to check this web site during the summer for progress updates.
Need Help with Changing your U of MN Password
University of Minnesota policy is that Internet passwords must be changed at least once per year. Changing your password should not be a problem normally but there are some things you should be aware of when you do change your password.
Click here for information on how to change your password and update your email client.
Exporting An Image from Revit
Since the labs do not have the same version of Revit as the Students do, here are instructions on how to Export an Image to print out on the plotters:
Arch 5512 & Arch 5372 Students
FREE copy of Revit is available to download with instructions here:
AutoDesk Revit.
A couple of problems may occur for U of MN students:
The e-mail message from Autodesk after registration was frequently marked as SPAM by the U's
filtering software. We recommended that students turn
off the SPAM filtering before going through the registration process.
Follow these steps BEFORE you register: