Lab Macs
General
There are eight iMacs in the Astronomy Library (Pupin 1402). They are for use by lab students, visitors and all members of the department. In addition to use as interactive computers, these computers are connected to the Xgrid so their spare cycles are not wasted.
Names
- Sirius
- Canopus (DEAD)
- Arcturus
- Alpha Centauri
- Vega
- Capella
- Rigel
- Procyon
Specifications
- iMac
- Intel Core 2 Duo (1 processor, 2 cores)
- 2 GHz Processor
- 2 GB RAM
- CD/DVD +/- RW
- 150GB SATA hard drive
Accounts
There is a passwordless "astrolab" account with access to everything, as well as an "admin" account with root privileges.
Printing
Each of the computers can print to moth (the black and white printer in Pupin 1407), dragonfly (the black and white printer in Pupin 1328), and bee (the color printer in Pupin 1328).
File Storage
While these computers each have ~80 GB of free space, it is not recommended that you store precious data on them, because they will be wiped from time to time. If you have long-term data storage needs on them, please contact Cameron. Please do not leave downloaded, unwanted files sitting on the Desktop.
Software
Each of the computers should be identical in terms of software and functionality.
| Type | Software | Version | Short Description |
| Operating System | OS X Leopard | 10.5.7 | Operating System |
| Parallels | 4.0 | Program for allowing other OSs to be run as subprocesses | |
| Microsoft Windows XP | Windows XP SP3 | Operating System | |
| Word Processing | Microsoft Office for Mac | 2004 11.5.3 | Suite of MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint |
| OpenOffice | 3.1.0 | Free MS Office Clone | |
| NeoOffice | 3.0 Path 2 | Free OS X port of Open Office Suite | |
| TexShop | 2.26 | LaTeX GUI and Suite | |
| Images | ImageMagick | 6.2.8 | Image Manipulator and Converter |
| ghostview | 3.6.2 | Postscript Viewer | |
| gimp | 2.6.0 | Free Photoshop clone -- Image Manipulation | |
| DS9 | 5.6.3 | Fits Image Viewer | |
| Programming | Perl | 5.8.8 | Excellent, free programming language |
| Python | 2.5.4 | Excellent, free programming language | |
| Python:NumPy Module | 1.2.0 | Module adding arrays and other scientific extensions | |
| Python:Matplotlib Module | 0.98.3 | Module adding plotting functions | |
| HPC g77 | 3.4 | Gnu Fortran 77 Compiler | |
| HPC gfortran | Gnu Fortran Compiler | ||
| HPC gcc | 4.4 | Gnu C Compiler | |
| g95 | 0.91 | Gnu Fortran 95 Compiler | |
| Subversion | 1.4.4 | Version Control System | |
| Xcode Tools (gcc, g++) | 3.1.2 | Mac OS Development Tools and GUI | |
| IDL | 7.0.4 | Proprietary programming language | |
| IDL: Markwardt Library | June 3rd, 2008 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| IDL: astron Library | March 2008 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| IDL: idlutils Library | 5.2.0 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| IDL: idlspec2d Library | 5.2.0 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| IDL: kcorrect Library | 4.1.4 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| IDL: SDSSIDL Library | 1.4 | IDL Astronomy Library | |
| Sky Visualization | Starry Night Orion Edition | 6.2.3 | Proprietary program for visualizing the sky at any date/time |
| Stellarium | 0.10.2 | Free program for visualizing the sky at any date/time | |
| Celestia | 1.5.1 | Free program for visualizing the sky at any date/time | |
| Google Earth | 5.0.11733.9347 | Free program for visualizing the surface of the Earth | |
| Astronomy Tools | IRAF | 2.13 | All-purpose tool for reduction of astronomical observational data |
| Pyraf | 1.4 | Python Port of IRAF | |
| Gnupot | 4.2 patch 5 | Free Plotting Tool | |
| SExtractor | 2.5.0 | Source Extraction Tool | |
| SciSoft | 2009.6.1 | Astronomical Tools Suite -- List of programs | |
| Windows Programs | Meade Autostar Suite | 3.23 | Software for CCD Data Acquisition and Processing |
| Firefox | 3.0.10 | Free, awesome web browser | |
| Adobe Reader | 9.1.1 | PDF Reader | |
| Symantec Antivirus | 11.3.2 | Anti-Virus Program (Columbia Site License) | |
| CLEA Education Exercises | June 2009 | Free, educational astronomical exercises for lab students | |
| Miscellany | Firefox | 3.0.10 | Free, awesome web browser |
| x11 Window Environment | 2.1.6 | Window environment for using unix tools | |
| vim | 7.1.123 | Text Editor | |
| http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs | 22.1.1 | Text Editor | |
| xemacs | 21.4 | Text Editor | |
| Adobe Reader | 9.1.1 | PDF Reader | |
| Jolly Fast VNC | 0.98.18 | VNC Client | |
| Symantec Antivirus | 10.2.1 | Anti-Virus Program (Columbia Site License) | |
If you see any software missing that you would like installed on these computers, or if you encounter problems with the installed software, please contact Cameron.
For another reference on Mac OS X programs useful to astronomers, check out OS X for Astronomers
