Last updated 09.11.06

1. The need for more labs and computers was evident throughout the survey results. Currently, there are five new computer labs in the pipeline. Two will be located in part of the area where the cafeteria between K17 and J17 is at present. Three will be underneath the Physics Theatre. These are underway and are expected to be completed during Session 1, 2002. This will provide the School with one hundred extra lab computers.
   
   
2. There is a definite lack of booking, print queue and sky terminals. These are also in the pipeline for Session 1, 2002, and will be available in all lab areas.
   
   
3. With the introduction of a new model of printers last year, problems with bad fonts and print job rejection were experienced and it was a substantial period of time before the cause was identified. Late last year, new firmware with modifications to drop jobs with bad fonts, rather than crash the printer, was trialled. This has since put an end to this recurring stalling of the print queue on the newer model undergraduate lab printers.
   
   
   A slightly less common request was for a second printer in the thesis lab. A backup printer is being arranged for Session 1, 2002, in this lab.
   
   Further, we are looking to improve the waiting areas for printers in the Electrical Engineering building labs by creating walk-in access for the existing printer rooms.
   
   
4. There was reference to having faster response times for printer and computer faults. Currently, lab computer and printer faults are handled with highest priority. The vast dispersion of CSE facilities makes it difficult to attend to faults immediately. Last session we trialled rostering extra staff during peak hours (Mon-Fri 9am to 7pm) during the sessions heaviest load expectancy (weeks 10 to 14 inclusive). This reduced response times substantially and will likely be implemented earlier in the Session as of 2002.
   
   
5. The problems involved in identifying the owners of student printouts will be aided with the login of the owner printed on each page of the job by default. This should alleviate the number of unidentified print jobs. The option to print without the student login will be available for those who may prefer it at any time.
   
   
6. Usability of labs:
   
   Noise seems to be a growing issue. Results for noise levels in various CSE labs show that the Electrical Engineering Undercroft and the K17 labs are the worst.
   
   For space and comfort ratings, the Mechanical Engineering Undercroft and the K17 labs were best.
   
   Temperatures in the labs are now being more closely monitored and reported when substantially higher or lower than the required temperature for computer hardware (approx. 22 degrees Celcius). The Mechanical Engineering Undercroft was diagnosed with a more serious air conditioning problem for which a more permanent solution has since been found and put in place.
   
   Labs have undergone a thorough cleaning over the summer break and all faulty chairs will have been attended to by the start of Session 1.
   
   Thesis lab rated well all round in terms of usability.
   
   
7. Usability of computers:
   
   Most students spent some time doing their coursework from home (only a small percentage didn't).
   
   Overall, the time spent by students doing coursework in the CSE labs is almost the same as the time spent doing work at home.
   
   Results for the availability of computers showed that this was worst in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Undercrofts as well as the K17 labs. The low reliability/speed rating of the Electrical Engineering 3rd floor labs seems to be the reason for the high availability of the computers in that area.
   
   New hardware is currently being set up in four of the Electrical Engineering third floor labs (lyre, flute, fife and gong) as well as in the oboe lab (which will be running Win2k) and the harp lab in the Undercroft. Replacement hardware will be set up in the kazoo lab. All I am told is that these computers will be newer, faster and better!
   
   
8. Overall there is a lack of exposure to the booking system. Most students didn't book computers in advance or booked very little. Many senior students admitted to not knowing how to use the booking system at all. There is a need for increased awareness of the booking system as well as more documentation for its use. This will be accessible at the Help Desk and near all booking terminals.
   
   Students would like to see something done about idle computers. Idle computers include those blocked by xlock and the grace period on class lab bookings when a large number of terminals are not being claimed by students in the class.
   
   There is also a large number of students who would like to see something done about the number of computers being used for non-academic purposes such as playing games, chatting and browsing the Internet.
   
   Increasing booking terminals and raising awareness of the booking system will certainly encourage students to book and reduce the number of students disadvantaged by such activity.
   
   
9. The inconsistency of operating systems running in the labs has been rectified. All lab computers have now been converted to Linux. We are looking to move VMware from the K17 labs to the Mechanical Engineering Undercroft. This will not mean that more lab computers will be running VMware (due to licencing restrictions) but will, at the very least, eliminate any physical access issues students may have early in the session.
   
   
10. There is a substantial amount of concern about the reliability of our file server glass after the last academic year. With the introduction of eno, a new file server, the load on glass has been reduced. The file server glass has also since been reloaded with the homedirectories it carried in order to reduce fragmentation.
    
    We will have three central general purpose file servers: glass, cage, eno. Each will have a single filesystem and will use treequotas, so both user and group accounts can share the same filesystem. They all will have a mirrored pair of drives for root so if one fails we can live of the other for a while. Also, all fileservers are using the ext3 journalling filesystem so that if there is a crash, recovery is reasonably quick.
    
    Ongoing review, testing, and development of the fileserver software (in the Linux kernel) should increase its reliability.
    
    
11. 24 hour labs were discussed extensively. 24 hour labs were trialled just under two years ago and were found to be undesirable. The same students were attracted to the labs each evening and the productivity rate was found to be extremely poor. It was decided that work at such late hours of the evening should be discouraged. Security is also an issue, it is considered unsafe for students to be using the facilities at unsociable hours.
    
    The possibility of extended hours will be considered, however, for 2002.
    
    
12. There is a general need for more documentation, from print commands to unix commands and laboratory locations. These can all be found on the Help Desk brochure stand in the Mechanical Engineering Undercroft as well as at http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/people/helpdesk. All lab signage has also been reviewed this summer. More detailed general information is available in and around the labs and printers for student reference.

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