First, you need the hardware. There is great variability in quality and price, so you need to decide what is right for you (and your budget). Get a high quality video card ($50 is enough if you buy components) and a 17" color monitor (about $300). The monitor is important, and larger is better, but only if you have a good video card, with at least 8mb memory, to take advantage of it. The key is supporting high resolution and colors. A 14" screen is ok, but it will be a problem if you spend hours on the web. (Be sure to ask about the degauss function.) You will need a good modem ($100). A sound card and speakers are recommended, but not essential. You should get at least 64mb RAM, and you will need at least 10gb hard drive (more is better, looking ahead). You will also need floppy disk and CD ROM drives (DVD is preferable). An excellent setup can be obtained for less than $1,000. These do not come with a printer, and if you can afford it, a laser is best (about $400). Do not buy a matrix dot printer. If you get an inkjet printer (as low as $100, but they are slow and produce less resolution), the salesman might tell you that you need to buy a chip to print postscript files. Not necessarily so. Ghostscript will usually take care of this. You could get by without a printer if you install all of the viewing capability (see below), and print what you need at school.
Second, you need an operating system. A preferred system is linux, as it is a unix system and distributed free with all sorts of software that you would have to buy with other systems (or download freeware, which generally takes hours). In particular, linux comes with LATEX and dvi, postscript and pdf viewers. Also, the Mathematics Department has linux systems, so there are some people who can help with problems (at least answer questions). While you can download linux free, it is also sold at many places, including the Tattered Cover Bookstore (RedHat version 6.2 is available at $50). If you do not want to install linux, you can use Microsoft Windows NT/95/98/2000 (these will henceforth be referred to simply as Windows). This has some advantages over linux for multi-media communication. It is possible to have both linux and Windows, and you can choose one each time you start the system. (I suggest that you get help with the setup if you are not a computer person.)
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A good one can be obtained for about $2,400 (and going down). |
If you do get a laptop, make sure it has a LAN card to hookup directly to our network. We also expect to have docking stations soon, where you would have access to scanner, CD writer, and other peripheral devices. Visit Dell Premier after you obtain an ID and password from your instructor to receive a 4% discount.
Once you have your basic setup, you need to establish access. If you have chosen a Windows environment, see our Computing, Information & Network Services (CINS) Common Questions and Problems for how to establish a PPP connection. Also, see their Helpdesk for related information.
Once you have access, you will want to obtain (free of charge) the following systems for an MS Windows environment (no need to obtain these for a unix environment, like linux). Double click on the download. If it is an exe file, you will be prompted for installation options (just take the defaults if you are not a computer person). If it is a zip file, you must have WinZip already installed, and you will extract some file with info about installation (usually called readme.txt).
The following list is simply alphabetical; suggested priority guidelines follows.
Steve Fisher, a student at UCD, has written a guide for getting started, especially aimed at people unfamiliar with computers in general, and DOS in particular. (You can also see his tex source, which he compiled with MiKTEX.)
| Essential | Useful
| General
| Acrobat Reader
| Ghostscript/Ghostview Netscape (version 4.0 or higher) WinZip WS_FTP QuickTime, Cosmo,
| ... other Netscape plugins Program File Editor PeanutSoftware Shockwave LATEX
| MiKTeX
| TexforWindows or WinTexShell (or some plain text editor) 4TEX (or ispell) A Simplified Introduction to LATEX PSTricks, jpeg2ps, EMFtoEPS, IrfanView
| emacs + ispell gnuplot, Icon Maker, Euler LATEX documentation |
All of the above is for a Microsoft Windows environment, but see what you can get from the Linux Applications and Utilities Page (besides what comes with Linux RedHat). Also, see the CINS list of Freeware and Shareware, and the larger collections at Freeware Home and Simtel.Net. If you have any sight problem, here are some aids (free or low cost):