HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 16:04:31 GMT Server: Apache/1.3.31 (Unix) mod_auth_tkt/1.3.11 PHP/4.3.8 mod_ssl/2.8.19 OpenSSL/0.9.7d mod_perl/1.29 X-Powered-By: PHP/4.3.8 Connection: close Content-Type: text/html Rothera Computing Facilities - For Staff - British Antarctic Survey

Skip navigation

For Staff

Antarctic Visitors

Rothera Computing Facilities - For Staff

Home » For Staff » Antarctic Visitors » Computing Facilities » Rothera Computing »

Hardware for general use (main building):

8 public use Windows XP PC's in New Bransfield all with DVD/CD writers and card readers
Colour & Black and White printers
HP ScanJet Scanner
HP photo printer (requires user’s own photo grade paper)

Hardware for science use (Bonner Lab):

Various job specific and general Windows XP professional PCs - contact the base Communications Manager before arriving.
Specialist science software is available only via prior arrangement. Bring the software with you to avoid problems. Sigmaplot and Minitab will be available at all times.
1 Hewlett Packard laserjet 8150DN connected to the LAN in the Bonner Library.

Local Area Network (LAN):

The LAN is CAT5e with RJ45 type connection only
Ports for general use are available in most rooms. There are LAN access ports in every dorm room, except Giants, where there is a wireless network (802.11g). If you will require network access in your bedroom come equipped with both wireless and wired capability.
The Satellite link has a total bandwidth of 256kb (about one eighth the speed of your broadband link at home). This has to cope with the traffic for everyone on base, including some telephone calls, work data, remote access, web browsing and email. Many people bring web "toys" south only to find they do not work as well as they might hope. Skype and webcams are strongly discouraged. As a general rule, internet activities involving text work OK, ones involving photos are very slow and ones based on video are un-usable.
If providing your own PC/Laptop (both work and personal), network cables are available on Station. The Communications Manager will assist you in connecting your PC/laptop to the LAN providing you have a sufficiently secure machine with the correct hardware and software (anti-virus is required for all operating systems including MacOS). If you are unsure, it is better to contact the IT helpdesk at BAS Cambridge prior to departure for more information. (Contact the Helpdesk on +44 (0)1223 221447 or send an email to helpdesk@bas.ac.uk)

Server:

The server is fully spared, secure and backed up
You will be allocated with an account and 1Gb of NetWare server disk space for your personal/work use.
Your account and all files will be deleted upon leaving the base.

Software:

The standard operating system for PC's is Windows XP Professional
XP Home and Windows Vista are not completely compatible with BAS systems although are perfectly good for personal use if anti virus software is already installed
Windows 7 Home Basic and Home Premium can't be networked unless they have up to date anti-virus software installed
Software packages available from the server to networked PCs include:
- Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (word, excel, powerpoint, access)
- CorelDRAW Suite
- email via IMAP (for BAS staff only, non-BAS staff will have to use a web based email service such as googlemail)
- Adobe Acrobat (reader and writer)
- WinZip
- Minitab
- SigmaPlot
- Firefox
All BAS PCs run Sophos Anti-Virus.
All Laptop users should bring with them all driver and recovery disks related to their equipment, plus an updated version of an anti-virus program.

Consumables:

There are NO spare media on base for any use. This includes writable CD ROM disks or floppy disks. If you wish to make use of these facilities then you must bring your own media.
There is a limited supply of A4 & A3 paper for printing purposes.

Backups:

The Server is backed up on a daily basis. All files that you place on your N: drive (personal account space) will be backed up.
No backups are taken of the PCs local hard drives. You are responsible for backing up any files that you place on the PC local drives. Users are advised not to keep corporate value data on local hard drives.

Email:

For BAS staff email is via IMAP (IE using Thunderbird). Full instructions will be given on base.
Non-BAS staff will have to use a web based email service such as gmail (gmail have a low bandwidth interface which is ideal for working while south).
You should bring with you the full e-mail addresses of all those people that you wish to contact (both personal and work). Once you are South it may be difficult to 'lookup' email addresses.
The maximum size for any email both work related and personal is currently 10Mb, but please try to keep all emails/images much smaller. A standard text only email is about 5Kb.

Security

If you are bringing your own laptop to Rothera it must have up to date anti-virus software on it. For personal use, we recommend NOD32 by ESET software (http://www.eset.co.uk/Products/SmartSecurity). Please bring the laptop to the comms manager before plugging in to the network.

Change Text Only Settings

Graphic version of this page