Rothera computing facilities, Rothera Point, Adelaide Island

Position
Lat. 67°34'8"S, Long. 68°7'29"W

New Bransfield House

Hardware for general use

  • A number of networked computers for all staffr

Hardware for science use (Bonner Lab)

  • 8 x Windows XP PCs for visiting scientists
  • HP laserjet black and white printer
  • Scanner
  • Specialist science software is available only via prior arrangement. Bring the software with you to avoid problems. Sigmaplot and Minitab will be available on request.

Local area network (LAN)

  • The LAN is CAT5e with RJ45-type connection only.
  • Wireless network (802.11g) is available in Giants, Admirals and New Bransfield House.
  • 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 before departure for more information. (Contact the Helpdesk on +44 (0)1223 221447 or send an email to helpdesk@bas.ac.uk)

 Wide area network (WAN)

  • BAS provides a 24-hour satellite link of 384Kb (i.e. about one-eighth the speed of your broadband link at home). This has to handle traffic for everyone on base, including VoIP 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, those involving photos are very slow and ones based on video are unusable.

 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. This space can be increased at the discretion of the Base Commander.
  • Your account and all files will be deleted upon leaving the base.

 Software

  • The standard operating system for PCs is Windows XP Professional.
  • Windows 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 NetWare server to networked PCs include:
    • Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
    • CorelDRAW Suite
    • Thunderbird – Email Client
    • 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

  • You must supply your own backup media. This includes portable hard drives, floppy disks, DVD or CD-R media.
  • There is a limited supply of A4 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

  • There are two options:
    • Use one of the general-use internet-connected PCs to access web-based email.
    • Use the BAS in-house system called the Antarctic Message System (AMS). The AMS gives a much better experience and can be accessed from any PC connected to the network. The AMS can be connected to any NERC Exchange account or any IMAP service such as gmail. Many research institutes and email providers do not allow IMAP access so you may wish to forward email to a gmail account that does. Please contact helpdesk@bas.ac.uk for more information and make sure this is set up before you arrive on station.
  • You should bring with you the full email addresses of all those people that you wish to contact (both personal and work). Once you are south it may be difficult to ‘look up’ email addresses.
  • The maximum size for any work-related or personal email is currently 10Mb, but please try to keep all emails/images much smaller. A standard text only-email is about 5Kb.
  • All your email will be deleted once you leave the station. Emails can be exported to another program prior to this; the Communications Manager/Radio Officer can explain this to you when you are on station. Note you will need at least one writable CD/USB stick or external hard drive to do this.

Telephones: personal use

Security

  • If you are bringing your own laptop on board it must have up to date anti-virus software on it. For personal use, we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.
  • Please bring the laptop to the Communications Manager before plugging in to the network.