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Purchasing IT Equipment

Possible computing line items for grant applications.

The standard, default, provision of computing resources (desktop, screen, etc.).

Public and Group Computers

Individuals and research groups are encouraged to use grants to purchase computer equipment. Access to Linux computers can be controlled down to the group or individual user account level.

The standard, default, provision of computing resources.

Computer Hardware for Maths Linux

Most software can be downloaded and installed on Linux computers without the need for root/system access privileges.

If you want to buy a computer for Maths Linux please email help@maths.cam.ac.uk with the specification of the machine you want to purchase. It is very helpful to know which of numbers of cores, clock speed, memory and storage you would like to optimise for and the budget/price range you are interested in:

  • CPU, cores
  • memory
  • disk(s)
  • what computer will be used for (e.g. people, codes/jobs, software, etc.)

Server room machines

We do not expect to be able to be able to offer further colocation services until we have conducted a review of the cooling arrangements in our server rooms.

The Faculty policy for machines to be housed in server rooms includes the following:

  • rackmount for resilience
  • dual PSU for resilience
  • IPMI for remote management
  • end-of-life date: lifetime of hardware warranty
  • no guarantee of hosting space after such warranty

Computer Hardware for Maths Windows

Typically the same PC hardware that will run Maths Linux will also run Maths Windows with the additional purchase of a Windows licence.

The majority of software available for Windows computers requires root/system access privileges to install it, consequently requests for software go to the Computer Officers (help@maths).

Other Desktops - not Managed by Computer Officers

Un-managed computers (i.e. not run by the Computer Officers) can be put on the wired laptop network. The user/owner/you will be responsible for maintaining the computer with security updates, software applications and hardware repairs. The Computer Officers can provide a limited amount of support for people running their own computers.

Of course you do get system/root/administrator access to your computer.

Expected useful lifetime for a desktop is more than 5 years.

Purchasing a computer (general information)

Apple hardware

Th university does not deal with Apple directly. We purchase through 2 suppliers, XMA or Academia. In addition to an educational discount a 3 ( 1+2 ) warranty is provided.

Laptops

The user/owner/you will be responsible for maintaining the computer with security updates, software applications and hardware repairs. The Computer Officers can provide a very limited amount of support for people running laptops.

Of course you do get system/root/administrator access to your computer.

Some things to consider when purchasing a laptop:

  • weight, under 2kg is portable for most people and netbooks are often down at 1kg
  • screen size, 14 or 15 inches is "normal" 12 inches is often "ultra-portable" and anything below 8 inches is tiny
  • CPU, memory, disk
  • network connections: wireless, wired/cable, 3G
  • other connections such as USB, firewire, eSata, memory card, audio
  • budget
  • OS: Windows, OSX, Linux, combinations - below
  • expected useful lifetime is 3 to 5 years

Screens

Prices and configurations change very often - please contact help@maths when purchasing a screen.

Some Apple computers can be used with a 3rd party screen - typically these screens cost substantially less (e.g. 50%) than the equivalent Apple screen (comparison by size, resolution and brightness).

Dual Head - 2 screens

You might get more pixels for your money by purchasing two screens and using them together. OSX, Windows and Linux can drive two screens with the right graphics card (most graphics cards can now drive two screens using the VGA and DVI ports).

Warranties

Most computer hardware now comes with a 3 year warranty. You might want to extend the warranty to five years. Each year of the warranty extension should cost less than 5% of the initial purchase price.

Printers

Currently we use HP networked printers.

Dual Boot / Multiple OSes on the Same Computer / Virtualisation

PC hardware can usually support dual boot of Windows and Linux. It is usually easier to install Windows first, then Linux. Files can be shared using a FAT (vfat) disk partition that both OSes can read. Modern Linux distributions can, typically, read and write to NTFS (Windows file system).

Linux can be installed on OSX hardware. We do not have much/any experience of this.

Virtualisation can be used to run one OS "inside" another (a virtual machine). For example Apple OSX can use "Boot Camp" to run Windows (you will need to purchase a Windows licence to do this). Linux can run Windows with Virtual Box.