Welcome
Welcome to the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. This orientation guide will help you understand some of the computing resources and services at your disposal. Please be aware that we communicate with our students through their Penn E-mail, and our Web site: www.design.upenn.edu/comp. Most of the computing information you need can be found on our web site. Please send any additional questions to ithelp@design.upenn.edu.
PennCard, PennKey and PennDesign Accounts
PennCard: The PennCard is your physical Penn ID Card. If you have not done so already, you should visit the PennCard Center on the ground level of the Franklin Building. In addition to serving as your University ID, the PennCard give you access to card-swipe controlled buildings.
PennKey: The PennKey is your virtual Penn ID – it gives you access to University network resources. The username you select during the set-up process will be the username for all of your Penn accounts. For additional information, visit the PennKey web site at www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey. However, your PennDesign account is a separate account. Your ID is based on your PennKey ID, but you must establish a password for this account. (Further details are below).
DesignMail: mail.design.upenn.edu is the University operated e-mail server. You need to set up a DesignMail account—this is not done automatically. You can set up your e-mail account through CampusExpress.
PennDesign Account: Your PennDesign account gives you access to our lab, as well as output devices like plotters and printers. PennDesign accounts are created automatically for new students at the beginning of the semester—they will be ready no later than September 5th. Your PennDesign username will be the same as your PennKey username. The temporary password is Temp1234. You will receive e-mail when the accounts are created with instructions on activating your account, and changing the password. The rules for PennDesign passwords are stringent. You must meet all of the following rules: at least eight characters, at least one upper-case letter, at least one lower-case letter, and at least one number or special symbol.
Policies
Each person accessing the University’s network is responsible for their appropriate use and by their use agrees to comply with all applicable University, School and departmental policies and regulations. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with these policies. Many of PennDesign’s policies and procedures are located in your student handbook, or on the web.
PennDesign Computing policies may change or be updated during the academic year. We will notify you of any policy changes by e-mail to your Design e-mail account. We will also post policy changes to the PennDesign Computing web page, highlighting changes in red.
PennDesign IT Services Tip Sheets
These documents provide instructions for connecting your computer to our network, setting-up network printers and installing PennDesign owned software for use on your personal computer. All instructions on how to configure your personal computer to take advantage of PennDesign’s digital infrastructure are available on our website.
Network/Software Resources
Each studio desk is equipped with a dedicated 100Mb wired network port which provides access to the Internet and various PennDesign network resources. A few of these resources follow:
"Home" Directory: Your Home Directory is 2 GB of secure network storage that is backed up daily. The Home Directory appears as the H: drive when logged into PennDesign Computers Data saved on your “Desktop”, as well as “My Documents” folder is considered part of that 2 GB. If you need to have files restored, please send e-mail to ithelp@design.upenn.edu. Restoration of your data may take up to two business days. The folder can be accessed from any PC on the PennDesign network at (//juno/username$). Read here for more info on Home Directories.
Course Folders: Each course and studio has a folder on Juno that can act as a gathering and distribution point for individual or group projects. Course Folders have a maximum capacity of 15 GB. Read here for more on Course Folders.
Remote Access: Both Home Directories and Course Folders are available from any location with an internet connection. The url for Remote Access is www.design.upenn.edu/remoteaccess. Remote access service can only be used when off the PennDesign network.
Networked Printers and Plotters: Managed by Vulcan, our print server, users can add network printers, their drivers and associated color profiles simply by double-clicking on them. Read here for additional instructions on printing and plotting.
License Managed Software: PennDesign students have access to many software application for use while on our network. A complete list of available software, as well as detailed instructions, are available on the PennDesign Computing web site.
PennDesign Computing Lab Locations and Hours
PennDesign’s computer labs are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the academic year. However, these are teaching labs, and are often reserved for instruction. We also need to close the lab occasionally to perform maintenance. Please visit the PennDesign web site for class hours or check the schedules posted in the labs for more detailed information.
PennDesign Computers
If you have problems with a PennDesign workstation, please help us out by restarting the machine. This resolves many technical problems. If rebooting does not solve the problem, please see the student worker on duty in the lab, or contact the PennDesign ITS staff. Most problems are resolved within one business day. If you enjoy people and technology and are interested in working with PennDesign IT, please contact Cathy DiBonaventura.
Computing Health and Getting Help
Certification, Patching and Viruses
All student computers need to be certified before connecting to the Penn network. This is the first step in an evolving program to reduce worms, Trojan horses, viruses and other security risks. Additional information on the certification process will be distributed in your school mailbox, or can be found in the student worker area in the lab.
PennConnect DVDs
Penn has site licenses for various software packages for both Macs and PCs. You will need this disc for our certification process. You can pick one up in the student worker area.
Getting Support for Student-Owned Computers
The PennDesign IT staff does not support student-owned machines. If you experience hardware difficulties, you should contact the computer vendor immediately. If you would like some advice on what might be wrong with your machine, please send us an email with specific information regarding symptoms or error messages. We’ll do our best to guide you to the appropriate resources available to you.
University and Vendor Resources
Student Self-Help Resources
Computing Resource Center: Students living off-campus, in Sansom Place East or West, or in a fraternity or sorority house, will receive their computing support from ISC’s Computing Resource Center (CRC) and First Call (215.573.4778). The CRC is located at Sansom Place West, 3650 Chestnut Street, Suite 202, and is open 2-4:30, Monday through Friday. You can also email them at help@isc.upenn.edu.
Lenova Tech Support: If you purchased a PennDesign-configured Lenova laptop from the Computer Connection, you have 3 years of next business day, on-site support. The phone number for support is 800.932.0465.
Dell Tech Support: If you purchased a Penn-Design-configured Dell computer from the Computer Connection, you have access to Premiere Support, as opposed to Consumer Support, and 3 years of next business day, on-site support. Dell’s support number is 800.234.1490.
Apple Support: If you purchased a MAC through the Computer Connection, Apple’s support line can be reached at 800-800-2775 www.apple.com/support.
Computer Fixer: If you are having hardware problems with a PC or MAC that is no longer covered under warranty, consider contacting the Computer Fixer. They work on a regular basis with Penn. You can reach them at 215.387.5900, or www.upenn.edu/computerstore/repairs.
