Software & Hardware
Software
Available Software for Students
- MSDNAA
- The MSDN Academic Alliance is an annual membership program for departments that teach and utilize technology such as computer science, engineering, and information systems departments. The membership provides a complete, inexpensive solution to keep academic labs, faculty and students on the leading edge of technology. With this membership, we have the latest Microsoft development tools, operating systems, server software, documentation, and technical references at our fingertips. In addition, our students have complete access to these tools on their personal computers and in our departments' labs.
- Dreamspark
- Students can download professional Microsoft developer, designer, and gaming software through DreamSpark at no charge. DreamSpark enables students, like you, to download and use Microsoft tools to unlock your creative potential and set you on the path to academic and career success by advancing your learning in the areas of technical design, technology, math, science, and engineering! It doesn’t matter what classes you’re taking right now, just as long as you’re a current student at NC State and use the tools in pursuit of advancing your education in one of these areas. https://www.dreamspark.com/
- Matlab for Students
- The Matlab vendor, the MathWorks, has agreed to permit the College of Engineering to provide Matlab/Simulink on student-owned computers for students enrolled in COE curricula or COE courses. This is a pilot project within the COE only and does not apply to students enrolled in curricula or courses outside the COE. Students can download from the EOS Download site (http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/software/downloads/). Matlab/Simulink and the Optimization toolbox will be installed by default. Few other toolboxes will be available. If a student requires the use of a toolbox not in the installation, they will need to use VCL or a public computer lab.
- MS Ultimate Steal
- MS Office Ultimate Edition for $59.99. http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/
- MS Windows 7 Home Premium
- Windows 7 for $29.99 (until Jan 2010). http://www.win741.com/
- National Instruments Labview Student Install Option
- College of Engineering faculty, staff, and students may purchase the LabVIEW Student Install Option from e-academy for $40. Software upgrades are available throughout the student's enrollment. The license expires at the end of student's enrollment at NCSU or upon termination of employment at NCSU by faculty and staff. Seats are not transferable among students. The LabVIEW Student Install Option includes the following:
- LabVIEW Student Edition
- LabVIEW Control Design and Simulation Module
- LabVIEW MathScript RT Module
- LabVIEW System Identification Toolkit
- LabVIEW Digital Filter Design Toolkit
- NI Modulation Toolkit
- LabVIEW SignalExpress
- NI Vision Development Module
- NI Vision Acquisition Software
- NI DIAdem Student Edition
The LabVIEW Student Edition has all the features of the LabVIEW Full Development System, with one difference - the addition of a watermark. A watermark is on all LabVIEW panels (front panel and block diagram) and appears on any printouts of student edition VIs. If a student creates a VI at home using the LabVIEW Student Edition and then opens it on campus in the lab, the watermark will disappear.
The LabVIEW Student Edition may not be installed on university-owned computers.
To purchase the software, visit http://ni.onthehub.com/. You must use your NCSU email address to purchase the Student Install Option software.
- Origin 8.1
- this application is available on the Eos Software Download site at http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/software/downloads/. The licenses for Origin are held by the College of Engineering. Students majoring in Engineering, and students enrolled in College of Engineering courses are permitted to download and install Origin on their personally-owned computers and use them for academic instruction and research.
- TecPlot 360 2010
- this application is available on the Eos Software Download site at http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/software/downloads/. The licenses for TecPlot are held by the College of Engineering. Students majoring in Engineering, and students enrolled in College of Engineering courses are permitted to download and install TecPlot on their personally-owned computers and use them for academic instruction and research.
- TotalView
- free student licenses of TotalView Express, a C/C++ and Fortran debugger for Linux, Unix and Mac OS. After discussing the licensing and distribution process, it has been agreed to make TotalView available to our students from the Software@NC State web page at http://www.ncsu.edu/software/agreements/totalview/
Available Software for Faculty / Staff
MSDNAA Now Available for Faculty
Faculty are now eligible for the ECE MSDNAA software licenses as well (link above). Please note that this is for *personal* computers only. NCSU owned equipment is covered by alternative licenses.
Microsoft Office for HomeUse -- Faculty/Staff
Faculty and Staff are now eligible to participate in Microsoft's Software Assurance Home Use Program (HUP). This program enables you to get a licensed copy of Microsoft Office software to install and use on your home computer without restricting it to work-only purposes. You are eligible to use the Home Use Program software as long as you are an employee at NCSU.
The following products are currently available for purchase through the Home Use Program: Office Professional Plus 2010 and Office 2011 for Mac.
http://www.ncsu.edu/software/download/hup/
NOTE: TAs and RAs are eligible for this -- however, the website above has a problem if you have your Student Privacy Flag turned on. Turn it off, then you can participate in this program. For more information on the student privacy block: http://help.ncsu.edu/solutions/all/3005.php
Also, as part of the Microsoft Office site license, faculty and staff are now eligible for FREE E-Learning from Microsoft for the various Office applications. Applications included in this training are Access, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, Office, Office SharePoint Server, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Visio and others. The E-Learning is geared for both information workers and IT professionals.
http://www.ncsu.edu/software/agreements/elearning/
(Please Note: E-Learning classes must be completed in IE 7 or higher.)
Licensing
Want to recommend a piece of software? Need something in particular to get the job done? Tell us, and we'll see what we can do about it.
signatures, legal, process
Hardware
license servers, dongles, etc
Restrictions
university owned, research vs teaching, etc
Requesting
Need a particular piece of software? See something in our list you'd like to try? Having trouble with an installation? We'll be glad to help.
Hardware
The availability of computers has skyrocketed in the past five years. One particular institution responsible for this explosion is the university. Encouraging students and professors to communicate via e-mail, using electronic gradebooks, providing free usage of computers, etc.
Considering the data network of NC State, it probably advantageous to make use of its resources. But, to ensure a higher caliber network, NC State must monitor the quality of the machines on its network. NC State makes minimum reccomendations for new computers for the advantage of its users and its network.
If you are planning on purchashing a new computer, printer, or other piece of technology to be used here on campus, it must meet or exceed all the minimun requirements given for a new purchase. If you are unsure or unaware of what these are, then just contact WolfTech and we can tell you wether or not your system will be acceptable. We can also tell you if there are going to be any major problems when your new devices get here.
Consulting
Getting in touch with us before you do anything can save both yourself and us a major headache if something happens to go awry. We are here to help if something goes wrong, but we would rather head off potential problems before they affect you.
We tend to get our fingers in all sorts of technology. We'd be happy to sit down with you and help plan any technology requirements and upgrades.
Starting a project sometime? Planning for the future? Sure you are--there has to be something you feel like upgrading, modifying, or altering. Now, here's the catch, if you do not know a great deal about the technology behind the system and the requirements of what you are about to get into, you need IT consulting on your project.
The field of technology runs the gamut of topics. A great deal of people have neither the time nor energy to commit to learning a great deal about computers and their workings. This is where we can help. We are staffed to answer most any question you may have regarding technology in general, with experts in a variety of topics.
We shall do our best to help you plan out your requirements, technology needs, and possible solutions which will fit your needs. And if we can not do so in house, our network of contacts within the University will lead to someone who can.
Purchasing Requirement
NCSU released a 3D memo from the CIO and the VC for Finance and Business outlining a new purchasing process for laptop and desktop computers that will go into effect on November 8th 2010. Here is a link to the memo if you haven't seen it: http://ncsu.edu/3d-memos/pdf/3dmemo-91.100-new.requirement.for.purchasing.university.computers.pdf
The basic facts are these:
1. The new purchasing process is required by law.
2. While the law only applied to purchases with state funds, the University has extended the process to encompass laptops and desktops purchased with any campus funding source.
3. There is a website that describes the process and provides links to the approved list of desktops and laptops available for purchase under the program. The link is: http://oit.ncsu.edu/it-purchases/
4. There is a process in place for keeping the common configurations updated as the technology changes or as needs change. Charles Hunt from my shop is the college's rep to the committee charged with keeping the configurations up to date.
5. There is an exception process in place that will allow non-standard configurations to be purchased to meet specific, legitimate needs that are not covered by the standard configurations. That process is described in general terms here: http://go.ncsu.edu/oit-cpi-exception-process. There is one primary and one alternate exception approver for the College of Engineering. The primary exception approver is Keith Boswell. The alternate is Charles Hunt.
As described in the exception process document, exceptions are treated in a tiered manner. Minor changes to the standard configurations may be approved at the college level. Requests for exceptions outside of the standard configurations (requesting a machine from a vendor not on the list, for instance) require approval at the university level. In all cases an exception will require specific, technical justification that describes why one of the standard configurations does not meet the needs of the purchaser.
Please notice that there is a limit to exceptions. Currently, no more than 20% of our purchases may be exceptions. Purchasing will be generating monthly reports by OUC that will detail all purchases made through the process to include exceptions so we (and University and UNC System leaders) can see how we're doing in adhering to the requirements of the law. At the end of each fiscal year the UNC System will provide a consolidated report to the legislature to demonstrate our compliance with the law.
6. The consolidated purchase process only applies to desktop and laptop computers at the current time. The CPI committee is currently working on a definition and set of configurations for a "workstation." The process does not currently apply to purchases of Apple Desktops and laptops, netbooks, printers and other ancillary devices. All of these may be added to the process in the future.
Sample Computer Configurations:
Personal Purchases
Vendors
DELL
All personal purchases need to go through the NC State University Employee and Student personal purchase premier page. This page allows you to do the credit card purchases. And this page has better pricing on the consumer models like the Inspirons plus this website will reflect all the same promotions that are running on Dell's Home Sales website in addition to the 5-12% extra discount you get for being an employee or student at NC State.
This premier page is linked from NC State's Bookstore website at: http://www.dell.com/ncstate/
Note: be warned that the pricing can be confusing -- you often have to get to checkout before all of your discounts are shown.
IBM
APPLE
SOC Laptop Program
Warranty
See ECE 3yr policy.