We found that many changes in computing at MIT are poorly
publicized if at all, and students are slow to become aware them. For
example, you may still not know that you can check your MIT email when
you are on vacation using just a web browser by going to
http://web.mit.edu/webmail/. Second, we found that there were many questions
that came up often, so people in general might benefit from hearing
the answers, and when better than while reading the Tech in lecture.
We also heard that people who wrote for the Tech get to go to their
annual dinner at Top of the Hub.
There are several places on campus where you can get computer help.
You can come ask SIPB in person or via email. Our office is w20-557
(right next to the Athena cluster). Anytime members are in the office,
the office is open to answer questions. You can also phone SIPB at
x3-7788 or email sipb@mit.edu.
OLC is Athena Online Consulting, MIT's official support group for
Athena related questions. They have an office in the basement of the
Student Center (W20-021B), and are usually open Monday-Friday 10am-5pm.
OLC has a set of stock answers for Athena related questions on the
web at http://web.mit.edu/answers/.
To ask olc a question, first make sure the question isn't already
answered in the Stock Answers, then type at an Athena prompt:
If you are receiving zephyrs, you will be notified of the status of
your question via zephyr. You can send messages to the consultants
by using
For more information, look at http://web.mit.edu/consult.
MIT Information Systems staffs the Computing Help Desk, which provides
free support for Macintosh and Windows, and provides limited Unix/VMS support
by paid subscription. The Help Desk phone lines are open Monday-Friday
from 8 am to 6 pm; walk-ins are welcome in the office in N42 from 9:15
am to 5 pm. For Mac questions, call 617-253-1101; for Windows
questions call 617-253-1102.
The Computing Help Desk also maintains a set of stock answers for common Macintosh
and Windows questions encountered by MIT community members, at http://hdstock.mit.edu/.
Zephyr classes are also useful sources of assistance. You can zephyr
class help with your questions, both computer related or general
interest. Be sure to include a one word instance name that describes
your general area of concern:
For example, if I were having trouble getting a personal certicate I might try:
Most MIT Buildings now have wireless Internet access. Signing up for
this service is easy. Detailed instructions are available at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/wireless/
If you're an MIT student, and have a static IP address, follow the
instructions for faculty and staff members. If you don't have a static
IP address, do the following: First, install your wireless Ethernet
card: see MIT supported wireless cards information at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/wireless/configure.html. Then go to W20 or
N42 and turn your laptop on, and open up a web browser to any website
- you should be redirected to the registration website. If you have
trouble, see the instructions at
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/dhcp/dhcpstud.html. Read the MITnet rules
of use, click on the Register button, enter your Athena username and
password, and click register. After the confirmation message is
displayed, reboot your machine, and within 15 minutes you should be
able to use wireless ethernet in most parts of campus.
If you're a faculty or staff member, then you first need to get a
static IP address for your laptop. Go to
http://web.mit.edu/is/help/network/ip-request.html. Then, configure
your laptop's wired Ethernet card for network using the static IP
address you receive and reboot. Open a web browser and go to
https://nic.mit.edu/dhreg/ to register for wired DHCP. After
restarting your computer with DHCP enabled, register at
https://nic.mit.edu/dhreg/wireless/. Enter your hostname, and then the
MAC address (aka Hardware address, ethernet address, Airport ID) of
your wireless ethernet card. This is a set of 6 pairs of characters,
often separated by colons or whitespace (e.g., "Why do a Column?
What other places around MIT can we get help?
athena% olc ask
athena% olc send
athena% zwrite -c help -i topicname
If you are having trouble getting your computer onto your dorm
network, you can ask an RCC for help. RCC's (or Residential Computing
Consultants) are students who get paid to assist other students,
usually residents of the same dorm. They can do everything from
assigning IP address to providing network cables to helping you
configure networking on your computer. To get in contact with your RCC,
ask around your dorm or visit http://rcc.mit.edu/ to submit a request.
athena% zwrite -c help -i certificates
Why would Netscape claim it is "unable to generate private key"?
.
How can I use the wireless network at MIT?
71:23:f7:0c:7f:b1
" or
"ee a0 13 d1 f8 0a
"). The MAC address will be printed somewhere on
your wireless card. If you have a Macintosh with built in wireless,
you should go to the Airport Control Panel, and look for the "Airport
ID". When entering the MAC address in, make sure that you only enter
the alphanumeric characters. For example, the above two sample MAC
addresses should be entered as 7123f70c7fb1
and eea013d1f80a
. After
you've entered these in, in about 15 minutes, you'll be able to use
wireless ethernet in most parts of campus.
If you have any other questions, feel free to email us at
sipb@mit.edu. We'll try to get back to you, and we might put your question in our next column.