Thanksgiving Hours
The CDes computer lab will be CLOSED on:
Thursday, November 26th
Friday, November 27th
Saturday, November 28th
We will reopen at our normal hours on Sunday, November 29th.
The CDes computer lab will be CLOSED on:
Thursday, November 26th
Friday, November 27th
Saturday, November 28th
We will reopen at our normal hours on Sunday, November 29th.
The CDes Computer Lab is Rapson 127 will be CLOSED on Saturday, October 24th. Due to the closing, there will be no after hours access between closing time (6pm) Friday and when we reopen on Sunday. We will re-open as usual Sunday at noon.
This closure is due to a service interruption of several major centrally-provided U of MN services. A short list of affected services is included below. For a more complete list, please see this url.
Services most relevant to the College of Design which will be affected are:
The downtime is scheduled to be concluded by noon on Sunday, October 25th. If the data center is back online at this time, then these services should start to become available again at some point during the day Sunday. Please be prepared for the possibility that the maintenance may take longer than planned and may not be available until later in the day on Sunday.
We realize that that this downtime will be inconvenient and apologize for the disruption in service, however it is critical that this maintenance be performed.
Please also note that the CDes/OIT Computer Lab in 305 McNeal Hall will be open on Saturday, and available for use. They will be affected by the same service disruptions that the lab in Rapson will be, but they will be open and remaining services will be available for use.
Several things in the computer lab will be changing for the next year. We will be rolling out new prices for printing & plotting (see below), as well as upgrading some of the computer lab machines and software in the labs.
Please refer to the following links to find out what software will be on the CDes computer lab machines for the 2009-2010 school year.
Rapson Hall
McNeal Hall 305 - PCs
McNeal Hall 305 - Macs
McNeal Hall 216
McNeal Hall 336
Please note that these lists refer to "core" and "supplemental" software; the differentiation is described in the College of Design Change Computer Lab Change Management Policy. However, a brief description is given here as well:
Core software is available in all CDes computer labs, and is always upgraded to the newest version each fiscal year. Supplemental software, on the other hand, is not necessarily available in all CDes computer labs (but will be available on all computers in a particular lab, if it is in there). Additionally, it is upgraded to newer versions upon request by the stakeholders, not automatically as with core software.
New prices for printing and plotting have gone into effect as of July 1st, 2009; they will be as follows:
B&W Plotting: $1 / linear foot
Color Plotting: $3 / linear foot
B&W Laser Printing, Single-Sided: $0.05
B&W Laser Printing, Double-Sided: $0.08
Color Laser Printing, Single-Sided: $0.12
Color Laser Printing, Double-Sided: $0.20
Please check back on this entry again, as it will be continually updated with new information throughout the summer.
Summer Hours will start on Saturday, May 16th and run until Tuesday, September 8th. The lab will be open from 9am until 5pm daily, and closed on weekends and University holidays.
The contents of the classes folders as well as the "D" drive on each machine will be removed after the end of the spring semester. Graduating students will still have access to the computer lab until the week of August 24th.
The downstairs lab rooms in Rapson 33 and 35 will be closed during summer session, except by appointment. Please see the lab manager, Tim Walters (twalters@umn.edu) to schedule these rooms.
Also please note that the CDes computer labs in McNeal Hall 305 & 216 will be closed all summer due to the roofing project in McNeal Hall. The labs will (hopefully) re-open in time for fall semester.
Also, please note that the computer lab will be closed on the following days:
Monday, May 25th
Friday, July 3rd
Monday, August 24th through Friday, August 28th
Monday, September 7th
The central U of MN data center, located in the West Bank Office Building, has experienced a leak in its cooling system. The data center will need to be shut down in order to be repaired, which will start at about 5am. This will affect a number of services used in the CDes computer labs. The outage may last from 6-12 hours. Once the coolant leak has been fixed the data center will be brought back online.
Services/programs which will be unavailable during this time are:
Autodesk products (AutoCAD, Revit, 3DS Max Design)
Ecotect
Rhino
SketchUp
Visual Retailing
Pharos & GopherGold (Laser printing)
As well as a number of central services provided by OIT.
The system status webpage will have updated info on which central services are affected. Also there is a webpage for info related to the data center shutdown.
We are sorry for in inconvenient timing of these effects and will work to bring services back online as soon as possible after the data center is brought back up.
Update: Thanks everyone for your patience during this time. The following note was posted on the U of MN System Status Webpage on Sunday evening:
NOTE: 05/03/2009 18:57:51 The cooling system in the WBOB data center has been repaired. All IT systems, applications, and tools have been brought back on line and are now functioning normally. If you continue to experience issues with any systems, check the System Status page, or call 1-HELP."
The CDes computer lab in Rapson 127 will be open extended hours over finals time.
Please see the calendar for the following schedule plus additional info.
Tue 5/5: 8am-2am
Wed 5/6: 6am-12am
Thu 5/7: 8am-2am
Fri 5/8: 6am-12am
Mon 5/11 through Thu 5/14: 7am-1am
Fri 5/15: 7am-8pm
Please keep in mind that this will be a very busy time in the lab - especially Friday, May 8th - so please plot early. 24 hours in advance is recommended as a minimum.
Also, during the peak plotting period between May 5th and May 8th, only satin paper will be available in the HP Designjet 5500s (the "color" plotters). Matte paper (42") will be available in the HP Designjet T610 (the "B&W" plotter), during this period only. You may print in color on the T610 at normal prices; if you want color prints on matte paper from the Designjet 5500 plotter you must come in prior to May 5th.
THESIS Book Printing Info
Higher quality thesis paper will be available in 127 Rapson Hall during open lab hours starting Monday, May 11th until lab closing on Friday, May 22nd. Only single-sided, color printing will be available for thesis printing. Paper will be 28# acid-free ultra-bright (98 brightness) paper stock. Both letter and tabloid sized paper will be available. The price for both sizes will be $0.17/page. To print, bring your print job to the lab attendant on a USB drive and they will print the job for you then charge your student account (the same way that plotting works). Binding services will not be available in the computer lab.
Note that you must show evidence that the copy you turn in to the graduate school has been printed on acid-free paper (see the section of the policy that deals with paper types here). You may print this PDF and show it to them as evidence of this.
The CDes computer lab in Rapson Hall will be closed on Sunday, April 12th. We will reopen as normally scheduled on Monday morning at 8am.
The CDes computer lab in 127 Rapson Hall will have reduced hours over spring break. The lab will be open the following times:
Saturday 3/14 and Sunday 3/15: 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Monday 3/16 through Thursday 3/19: 9:00am to 5:00pm
Friday 3/20: Closed (University Holiday)
Saturday 3/21 and Sunday 3/22: 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Also note that the computer lab in 305 McNeal Hall will also have reduced hours. Their hours are as follows, and can also be found online here.
Saturday 3/14 and Sunday 3/15: 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Monday 3/16 through Thursday 3/19: 8:00am to 6:00pm
Friday 3/20: Closed
Saturday 3/21 and Sunday 3/22: 12:00pm to 6:00pm
We will be back to our normal hours starting Monday, March 23rd.
Have a good spring break!
The computer lab hours for 127 Rapson Hall will be extended this week to facilitate plotting for Architecture GD1 and GD2 students who are finishing module one. Please note the following changes:
Thursday, March 5th the lab will stay open until 2am.
Friday, March 6th the lab will open at 6am.
Please keep in mind it is best to plot earlier if you are able to!
Welcome back!
The CDes computer labs are now back to their normal semester schedule. Additionally, we are now running ArchiCAD 12 in the Rapson Hall labs. More news will be passed along as it happens - please be sure to check back often or monitor this RSS feed!
The lab will be closed this week for updates to the hardware and software configuration for next semester. We will be back to our winter break schedule (M-F 8:30-5:00) next week. We will be closed on Monday January 19th, and then back to our full schedule (see the calendar here) starting on January 20th.
UPDATE: The computer lab in room 127 of Rapson Hall is now open again for student use. Note that the plotters are still being worked on, so no plotting will be available until a later date.
The Rapson Hall computer lab will have reduced hours during the winter break. The lab will be open weekdays from 8:30am until 5:00pm, and will be closed on weekends. Additionally, the lab will be closed from December 25th until December 28th, from January 1st until January 4th, and during the week of January 5th. The lab will resume regular hours on January 20th, the first day of spring semester.
The Rapson Hall computer lab will have extended hours during December to facilitate plotting in time for your reviews. The hours can be found here. Please keep in mind this is a very busy time for plotting in the lab; please review the extended hours and plan to leave yourself enough time to finish your plotting.
There are a couple of websites that offer full-text online versions of various books about CAD programs as well as many other topics. You may wish to explore the following websites and see if there is anything of interest to you there.