IGPG Resources
Your Desktop
Virtual Private Network
Wireless Service
Supercomputing
E-mail
Printing
Windows XP Scanner
Web Service
File Backups
Seminar and Conference Room Facilities
Your Desktop
The Institute provides desktop computers with Red Hat Linux operating systems. A variety of free Unix software is installed on these Linux machines, including the commercial packages Mathematica, Matlab, and Maple.
For security reasons, our machines are only accessible via secure shell connections (no incoming telnet is allowed). Regarding the transfer of files, incoming ftp connections are also not allowed. (You can, however, ftp out from a linux machine to other non-Institute machines.) From a Linux environment, you can use the secure copy command (scp) or secure ftp (sftp) for file transfers, and from a Windows environment, you can use the SSH Secure File Transfer Client.
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
We have a Cisco VPN which allows for a secure connection to our network from any external connection to the IGPG computer network. Please refer to the instructions at http://anubis.gravity.psu.edu on how to install the VPN client on your laptop.
When the connection is established, you have a secure channel from your laptop to the IGPG network. At this point your laptop will appear to the rest of the world as a local IGPG machine.
Wireless Service
We offer two types of wireless service. One is for older wireless clients that do not have 802.11x (i.e. WPA2) security. The second is for those clients that do have 802.11x capabilities.
For older clients, connect with the SSID gravy and refer to the instructions at http://anubis.gravity.psu.edu/.
Newer clients can connect to SSID gravy-wpa using WPA2 authentication. More formal instructions will be made available in the future.
Supercomputing
In addition, the Institute has other specialized computer facilities listed below. Please contact the corresponding manager of each machine if you need access to these facilities.
pleiades.aset.psu.edu
A 156 node dual-processor Beowulf Cluster (Linux) + 35 Terabytes of storage
Manager:
hydra.gravity.psu.edu
A 8-node dual-processor + 2-node quad-processor Beowulf Cluster (Linux)
Manager:
revolution.astro.psu.edu
A 20-node dual-processor Beowulf Cluster (Linux)
Manager:
manifold.gravity.psu.edu
A 40-node dual-processor Beowulf Cluster (Linux)
Manager:
The Institute has its own e-mail server. Your address will be
.
Long-term visitors might want to consider using the University pop server mail.psu.edu. More details can be found at the Institute for Academic Computing's web site located at https://www.work.psu.edu/.
More information about email setup and local email aliases can be found in our FAQs and Howtos section.
Printing
We have several laser printers. You can choose the most conveniently located printer:
salieri.gravity.psu.edu is at the entrance of 321 Whitmore.
ganesha.gravity.psu.edu is at the entrance of 334 Whitmore.
bikini.gravity.psu.edu is at the entrance of 301 Whitmore.
mozart.gravity.psu.edu is in the right hallway of 321 Whitmore.
For a more consolidated list of Institute printers along with some printing help information, please visit our print documentation page.
Windows XP Scanner
The Institute offers a document scanner connected to a Windows XP computer next to the 323 Whitmore conference room. Instructions to use it can be found on the scanner.
Web service
The Institute's main page http://www.gravity.psu.edu has proven useful to many visitors, especially the section titled "links."
You can create your own web page by placing it in a directory called public_html in your Gravity Linux account. Files placed there are accessible as http://www.gravity.psu.edu/~your_username/ .
More information about creating personal webpages can be found in the FAQs and Howtos section.
File Backups
Only files residing in your home directory will be backed up, and these backups occur on a nightly basis. More information on file backups can be found in our policies section.
Seminar and Conference Room Facilities
The Institute has two seminar facilities available for use. Room 320 Whitmore is a large seminar room which contains a full-duplex speakerphone with remote microphones and a wireless lapel microphone is also available. The phone number in 320 Whitmore is 814-865-2375. Also available is the computer in 320. It is connect to a projector, as well as having a camera available for presentations over the web.
Room 323 Whitmore is a smaller conference room which contains a ceiling mounted projector and screen, a large whiteboard, and a full-duplex speakerphone with remote microphones. The phone number in 323 Whitmore is 814-863-2381.
