Library Computers

Your Man · 06-03-2009 7:23pm #1

If your in the library and you need to print something off or whatever, go up to the computers and theres a queue, but a few computers are logged in with a few sheets maybe a bag at the seat but the user obviously gone off for lunch or whatever...you stand around wastin your time for about 10 minutes. Do you save the stuff on the screen and log the feckers out or keep waitin in line?

ive started loggin people out lately, just wonderin does anyone else do it?

Breezer · 06-03-2009 8:10pm

The situation's never arisen for me because I bought a laptop a few years ago and I'm never in the main library anyway. But if it did arise I reckon I'd give them 2 minutes before logging them out. I'd probably save the stuff as new files on the desktop and leave an explanatory text file or something.

bnt · 07-03-2009 2:58am

I saw one recently which was not only logged in to Windows, but had UCD Mail open in IE. I could have walked up to it and sent a mail to the entire university, saying something like "I like hogging the computers in the Library". :mad:

aequinoctium · 07-03-2009 3:48am

when you log into the computers in the library or around campus (not the SUAS ones though) you get a message that no-one reads and clicks okay to...but if you do read it then it says that the computers are not to be used for game playing or frivolous use.
i would like to think that leaving yourself logged into a computer and going out to lunch is considered frivolous use....

33% God · 07-03-2009 7:21pm

I hate this kind of thing. There were people using the computers on the first floor of the library to write entire essays the other day, which in itself is bas enough while lines of people were waiting to print stuff (just go get a laptop from the desk, is that not why we have the laptop loan service no?), but then one asshole got up, put his bag on the seat and left. It took me 15 minutes after that to get a pc and get my stuff printed but he still wasn't back.
I was sorely tempted to delete everything he'd written.

Even more annoying than people using bebo on the SUAS machines. :mad:

Tayto2000 · 07-03-2009 7:54pm

33% God wrote: »

I hate this kind of thing. There were people using the computers on the first floor of the library to write entire essays the other day, which in itself is bas enough while lines of people were waiting to print stuff (just go get a laptop from the desk, is that not why we have the laptop loan service no?), but then one asshole got up, put his bag on the seat and left. It took me 15 minutes after that to get a pc and get my stuff printed but he still wasn't back.
I was sorely tempted to delete everything he'd written.

Even more annoying than people using bebo on the SUAS machines. :mad:

Umm... surely writing essays on the sit down PCs is what they are intended for (among other things of course)? You'd have a hard time convincing IT services that that's not legitimate use of a PC I think.

Completely agree about 'bagsieing' PCs (and desks for that matter), I'd have logged him out for sure. Let the Library staff know about stuff like this, they'll step in if you're uncomfortable doing it.

The SUAS machines are intended for quick and not necessarily work related use... Bebo users would be one of the reasons they were installed, to get people out of the labs and off the sit-down machines. Maybe there should be a couple of stand-up PCs designated as printing terminals within the Library? Might help with this kind of problem.

aequinoctium · 07-03-2009 7:55pm

just read this:
http://www.ucd.ie/itservices/itsupport/announcements/currentannouncements/name,27956,en.html

honestly, these guys are making a joke of the place - working on fixing bebo instead of, well, doing anything else!

they should be grateful that the fault was created by itself! which is amazing, normally it would happen to a respected academic site.

this was surely the best thing ever to come out of a fault....

33% God · 07-03-2009 9:17pm

Tayto2000 wrote: »

Umm... surely writing essays on the sit down PCs is what they are intended for (among other things of course)? You'd have a hard time convincing IT services that that's not legitimate use of a PC I think.

Completely agree about 'bagsieing' PCs (and desks for that matter), I'd have logged him out for sure. Let the Library staff know about stuff like this, they'll step in if you're uncomfortable doing it.

The SUAS machines are intended for quick and not necessarily work related use... Bebo users would be one of the reasons they were installed, to get people out of the labs and off the sit-down machines. Maybe there should be a couple of stand-up PCs designated as printing terminals within the Library? Might help with this kind of problem.

Ya, stand up printing terminals would be a big help, although copi-print still have problems with people arsing around on theirs.
I always thought that the laptop loan service was designed for people trying to write essays.

bnt · 07-03-2009 10:24pm

It's not about "what the computers are for", but how long the queue is, I think. If there's a long queue, don't spend any more time on one than you absolutely need to. If there's no queue: great, write away.

Exams are approaching, the queues will be getting longer, so if you know you're going to need to spend a lot of time on a computer, I'd recommend you not plan to rely on a UCD desktop PC. Especially in the Library or Daedalus: think about finding somewhere out of the way, such as Health Sciences or Newstead. (There are previous threads on "where to find a free computer".)

Red Alert · 08-03-2009 12:42am

Think you're looking for:
http://whatsfree.ucd.ie/

I'd advise pretty much anyone to get themselves a laptop. Even something like a used iBook or an Acer One netbook would let you surf the net and print stuff anywhere on campus.

SirLemonhead · 08-03-2009 3:10am

aequinoctium wrote: »

just read this:
http://www.ucd.ie/itservices/itsupport/announcements/currentannouncements/name,27956,en.html

honestly, these guys are making a joke of the place - working on fixing bebo instead of, well, doing anything else!

What else would you like them to be doing exactly?

aequinoctium · 08-03-2009 3:32am

SirLemonhead wrote: »

What else would you like them to be doing exactly?

probably the most important thing would be to fix the computers which do not work (esp. SUAS computers in arts of which 30-40% of them don't work at any one time)

Raphael · 08-03-2009 9:20pm

aequinoctium wrote: »

probably the most important thing would be to fix the computers which do not work (esp. SUAS computers in arts of which 30-40% of them don't work at any one time)

Reboot them. 95% of the time, this works. I never queue for SUAS' any more, I just walk up to a "broken" one, reboot it, and go about my business.

scop · 08-03-2009 11:03pm

Raphael wrote: »

Reboot them. 95% of the time, this works. I never queue for SUAS' any more, I just walk up to a "broken" one, reboot it, and go about my business.

Me too, but for some reason people don't want to mess with them (understandable to non-PC savvy types). I tend to find myself turning off a lot of stalled ones. You can have 4-5 people come running up to one before somebody turns the damn thing off!

aequinoctium · 09-03-2009 1:15am

Raphael wrote: »

Reboot them. 95% of the time, this works. I never queue for SUAS' any more, I just walk up to a "broken" one, reboot it, and go about my business.

that takes time.

one of the primary reasons for the computers is for people who have just a few moments and need to check their timetable or email etc.

LC_ugh · 09-03-2009 1:48am

rebooting the computer would save time if there was a huge queue in front of you. every time i pass by a SUAS computer allotment, there is a queue, and at least 2 computers not working

Dubliner(temp) · 10-03-2009 1:06am

Your Man wrote: »

If your in the library and you need to print something off or whatever, go up to the computers and theres a queue, but a few computers are logged in with a few sheets maybe a bag at the seat but the user obviously gone off for lunch or whatever...you stand around wastin your time for about 10 minutes. Do you save the stuff on the screen and log the feckers out or keep waitin in line?

ive started loggin people out lately, just wonderin does anyone else do it?

There's a sign that says they've got a maximum of 20 minutes -- then you can log them off. But sometimes I'll be working on an essay or sth and need to go to the bathroom or look something up, and I wouldn't be happy if I was logged off when I come back.

That being said it is extremely tempting to log people out when you know for a fact they've gone to meet someone or whatever and are only using the pc for facebook anyway.

Breezer · 11-03-2009 6:47pm

Dubliner(temp) wrote: »

There's a sign that says they've got a maximum of 20 minutes -- then you can log them off.

There is? It must be new. The 30 minute rule always applied to desks, but computers were always hot property IIRC.

Dubliner(temp) · 13-03-2009 4:51pm

Breezer wrote: »

There is? It must be new.

It doesn't actually say to log them off. It says if you know you're going to be gone for twenty minutes or more, then you should log off and leave the pc to someone else. It also says that you shouldn't be on "social utility" websites because it's unfair to your fellow students. I don't remember whether they said that staff will log them out or if they will be reported or sth ...

Tom65 · 13-03-2009 5:31pm

aequinoctium wrote: »

just read this:
http://www.ucd.ie/itservices/itsupport/announcements/currentannouncements/name,27956,en.html

honestly, these guys are making a joke of the place - working on fixing bebo instead of, well, doing anything else!

they should be grateful that the fault was created by itself! which is amazing, normally it would happen to a respected academic site.

this was surely the best thing ever to come out of a fault....

That is insane. I can't believe they're fixing that! God forbid some people would have to go without Bebo?

Incidentally, who still uses Bebo?

33% God · 13-03-2009 5:46pm

Tom65 wrote: »

That is insane. I can't believe they're fixing that! God forbid some people would have to go without Bebo?

Incidentally, who still uses Bebo?

To be fair those of us who live on campus do have to use the university network and do want to be able to use bebo.
A more important question is who still uses IE?

bnt · 13-03-2009 9:35pm

33% God wrote: »

A more important question is who still uses IE?

See the recent thread(s) about people having trouble posting assignments to Blackboard: that's who. It's the easy way out for any org. that doesn't want to spend money on interoperability testing.

33% God · 13-03-2009 9:39pm

bnt wrote: »

<p></p>
<p>See the recent thread(s) about people having trouble posting assignments to Blackboard: that's who. It's the easy way out for any org. that doesn't want to spend money on interoperability testing.</p>

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

bnt · 14-03-2009 1:36am

33% God wrote: »

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419

Eh? IE running in a Firefox tab is still IE, so you may as well use IE with Blackboard, if it's there. However, there are Macs, and then there are Linux boxes such as this netbook, and the only common browser across all these platforms is Firefox. Limiting compatibility to Windows is simply a bad idea these days

33% God · 14-03-2009 1:39am

bnt wrote: »

Eh? IE running in a Firefox tab is still IE, so you may as well run IE itself, if you have it - which is only true on Windows boxes. There are Macs, and then there are Linux boxes such as this netbook, and the only common browser across all these platforms is Firefox.

It's not the same as running IE. The point is that for pages that Firefox can't load or for using safe assign or whatever you can open one tab that runs IE, and still use firefox for everything else.

remus808 · 16-03-2009 6:24pm

Library Computers

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