========================== SSCC News, October, 1997 ========================== Inside this issue... WinCenter has been Expanded and Upgraded Application Software Changes on WinCenter Update on Printer Problems SSCC Training Schedule for Fall Semester Training Offerings from LSS and DoIT Protecting Your PC Against Viruses Bug Discovered in Software Computing GEE Estimates Deciding on the Best Medium for Storing Data ---------------------------------------- WinCenter has been Expanded and Upgraded ---------------------------------------- SSCC's WinCenter offerings have been expanded and updated. A second WinCenter server (WinCenter2) has been added and WinCenter1 has been upgraded to the latest software level. To start WinCenter, simply enter the command "wincenter" at the VMS or UNIX prompt from any X terminal. The load balancing feature of WinCenter will then connect you to the node with the fewest number of users. Because of the upgrade, you will need to redefine your network disk and print shares. Since you cannot select a specific WinCenter node, the disk and printer definitions need to be set up the first time you run a WinCenter session on each server, WinCenter1 and WinCenter2. It could take several login attempts to get to both WinCenter servers. See SSCC publication 5-9 for details on accessing disk and printer shares from X-terminals using WinCenter. ----------------------------------------- Application Software Changes on WinCenter ----------------------------------------- The following changes have occurred with application software on WinCenter: o New software called NUD*IST 4.0 (Non numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theory-building) is now available on WinCenter. NUD*IST is used for development, support, and management of qualitative data analysis projects such as text from interviews and historical or legal documents. o A Word97 converter from Microsoft has been installed on WinCenter which allows users to open/import native Word97 documents into Word95 (which we're currently running on WinCenter). There's an icon in the Office 95 program group that opens a readme file which contains details about this software. o Citation 7 has been upgraded to version 7.1. Citation 7.1 offers compatibility with WordPerfect 8 and Word 8. For a full list of other new features, visit http://www.oberon-res.com. o WordPerfect was removed from WinCenter October 1 as was announced in last month's SSCC News. -------------------------- Update on Printer Problems -------------------------- Many of you have noticed that the UNIX and VMS printer queues for the self serve printers in the I/O room and the two user rooms have been unavailable for several days now. This is because these printers were causing serious system problems on VMS. The printers kept losing their ethernet connection to ROBIN which caused so many messages to be sent to ROBIN that ROBIN's CPU was slowing down and its system disk was filling up. We are going to need to replace these three HP printers and we hope to do so over the next few months. Until then, we hope to move at least one printer out of the Computer Room into one of the three self-serve areas. This should happen sometime next week and will be announced in BROADCAST. ---------------------------------------- SSCC Training Schedule for Fall Semester ---------------------------------------- All SSCC training sessions require preregistration. If less than three people have preregistered for a course one week prior to its start date, the class may be canceled. To preregister, either send mail to SSCCLASS indicating which class(es) you plan to attend or use the registration form on the SSCC home page (https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/trainreg.htm). You will be reminded about your preregistration through e-mail a day or two before the class begins. Time Time Topic Room Instruct. ---- ---- ----- ---- --------- 10/6 10:00-11:30 Preparing Presentations with PowerPoint 3218 McDermott 10/8 1:20-2:10 Scanning Text and Graphics 4411 Wald 10/10 9:55-11:50 Point/Click Extracts/Merges of Census Data 7413 Fassnacht 10/9,14 8:00-9:15 Introduction to SAS 4308 Winsboro 10/16 8:00-8:40 Managing Source Code under UNIX 4308 Rodriguez 10/16 8:40-9:15 Coding Clearly and Using the SAS Log 4308 McDermott 10/21,23 8:00-9:15 SAS Programming 4308 McDermott 10/28 8:00-9:15 Creating & Reading Permanent SAS Data Sets 4308 Winsboro 10/30 8:00-9:15 Working with SAS Formats inc. Dates 4308 Winsboro 11/4 8:00-9:15 An Introduction to SAS Procedures 4308 Winsboro 11/6,11 8:00-9:15 Analyzing Data with SAS 4308 Winsboro 11/13,18 8:00-9:15 SAS Programming Efficiencies and Tips 4308 McDermott 11/20 8:00-9:15 Importing Data into SAS 4308 McDermott 11/25 8:00-9:15 Concatenating and Merging in SAS 4308 Winsboro 12/2,4 8:00-9:15 Intro to the SAS Query Language (SQL) 4308 Winsboro Note: Sessions scheduled in 7413 or 3218 (SSML) are "hands-on" sessions. Sessions scheduled in 4308 meets concurrently with Sociology 365. Descriptions for each of the training sessions listed above may be found in SSCC's web page (https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/trainf97.htm). ------------------------------------ Training Offerings from LSS and DoIT ------------------------------------ Learning Support Services (LSS) and DoIT also offer computer training. LSS offers hands-on free-of-charge workshops on PC and Internet topics including several on home page construction. Visit their homepage for more information at http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/lss/micro/workshops.html. DoIT offers workshops on a variety of topics although most are not free. Visit their homepage at http://www.wisc.edu/pte/ ---------------------------------- Protecting Your PC Against Viruses ---------------------------------- Because of the recent outbreak of the so called Baboon virus on campus last month, we have been getting inquiries about antivirus software. We thought this would be a good time to remind you about the antivirus software, F-Prot, which the University of Wisconsin obtained a site license for in the spring of 1996. (See the related April 1996 SSCC News article at SSCC's web page: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/sscnews/apr96.) SSCC's web page: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu provides a link to the web page for downloading FPROT. Every PC should have updated antivirus software installed. If yours doesn't, install it right away. -------------------------------------------------- Bug Discovered in Software Computing GEE Estimates -------------------------------------------------- A bug has been discovered in software which computes GEE estimates. The GEE estimates are incorrect when single-observation clusters exist (singletons) AND you have specified an exchangeable correlation matrix. This bug affects the GENMOD procedure in SAS, the Oswald command in S-Plus, and the xtgee command in STATA. For more information about the problem and possible solution, see http://biosun1.harvard.edu/~carey/gee.html. More information is also available from the software vendors on their web pages. -------------------------------------------- Deciding on the Best Medium for Storing Data -------------------------------------------- This article was submitted by Cindy Severt, the CDE Data Librarian. In the seemingly distant past 1/2 inch 9-trk magnetic tape was the standard storage medium primarily because it was the ONLY medium with any kind of capacity. In the current SSCC environment we have three types of user storage media: 3480, 4mm DAT tape, CD-ROM. To help you answer the proverbial question "What's the best medium for storing my data?", below are criteria for determining which is the best medium for your needs. 1. For what purpose am I storing data? Am I making a temporary weekly backup best suited to an erasable medium, or am I making an archival copy for which a non-erasable medium would be best? 2. Accessibility at another site. Will the appropriate drive be available at my destination site? 3. Capacity. How much storage space do I need? Is my file a few megabytes, or a few gigabytes in size? Am I storing an entire directory structure? 4. Cost. This factor is becoming less critical as prices in general drop and become consistent. 5. Operating system. This factor is also becoming less critical as files can be FTPed between operating systems, and users convert their files to transport files where possible. 6. Longevity. There is no such thing as permanent storage. Even if the medium of choice does not degrade there is a high probability that the equipment used to read it will eventually become obsolete. In general a magnetic tape streaming medium will be more prone to failure than an optical medium. 7. Many vs. a few. An argument can be made for storing hundreds of files on one piece of media. An argument can also be made for storing a few files on many volumes. In the case of the former, if the volume is lost and a backup doesn't exist, then everything is lost. Similarly, if the volume develops an error, the files beyond the error point are no longer accessible if the medium is a sequential medium like a tape. The convenience of having everything on one volume is offset by the vulnerability of that one volume. Spreading files among many volumes makes for complicated record keeping and takes up shelf space in one's office, but damage to one volume does not result in loss of the whole. MEDIA ERASABLE CAPACITY COST OPERATING SYSTEM ========================================================================= 3480 YES 150mb n/a VMS 4mm DAT 60m YES 1.3gb $ 6.25 UNIX, VMS, or networked PC 90m YES 2.0gb $ 7.20 UNIX, VMS, or networked PC 120m YES 4.0gb $17.00 UNIX, VMS, or networked PC CD-R NO 640mb $ 6.00 UNIX, VMS, or networked PC