Workstations

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Brief description

In the course of the IT project, VSETH is providing the student associations, commissions and associated organisations with workstations supported by us. The workstations are PCs from the Fujitsu Esprimo model. They are equipped with an Intel i5 processor, 16GB DDR3 Ram, a 250GB SSD hard disk and integrated GPU. VSETH commissions can also receive monitors free of charge with the workstations. Student associations and associated organisations can order screens in bundles using the order form, but must pay the full cost. A wide range of licence-free software is already installed as standard on the workstations (especially Microsoft Office). A complete list can be found below.




Site map




Documentation for users

General

The VSETH workstations are managed by VSETH ISG. For this reason, users have no admin rights on the workstation. The VSETH and ETH regulations apply to the use of the workstations.




FAQ

Here you will find the most important answers to frequently asked questions. If your question is not answered here, please send an e-mail to vseth-it-support@ethz.ch. 

The login is done via your nethz account. If you don't have one, please contact the VSETH ISG and an ETH guest account will be provided for you.

The following software is installed on all devices by default:

  • 7-zip
  • Acro CutePDFWriter
  • Adobe Reader DC
  • Anaconda3(Python)
  • Arduino
  • Blender
  • Chrome
  • Cisco AnyConnect VPN
  • Cygwin
  • Eclipse 201809
  • Emacs
  • Enpass
  • FileZilla
  • Firefox
  • GIMP & GIMP Extensions
  • GhostScript
  • Git
  • Inkscape
  • JRE 8.x
  • KeePass
  • LibreOffice
  • MikTex
  • Notepad++
  • Office 2016
  • Paint.NET
  • Perl 5.2
  • Polybox
  • Putty
  • R for Windows & RStudio
  • Skype
  • Slack
  • Sophos
  • TeXnicCenter
  • TexStudio
  • Thunderbird
  • VLC Player
  • X2Go Client
  • XLogo
  • golang

Please refer to your OIV, they may request the installation of additional software on the workstation. 

Please note that no data should be stored locally on the workstation, as VSETH ISG may have to reset the workstation if problems occur. For this reason, all data should be stored either on the preconfigured network drive or on an online storage service such as Polybox or Goolge Drive.

The workstations in the offices have a license on the device when Adobe Suit is requested. But you have to log in with a personal Adobe account. You can either create a free Adobe account or login with one of the other login methods (Google, Facebook, ...).

The network drive should not be visible in Windows Explorer (open with Windows key + E). If not, then you can find instructions on how to connect to the drive here.

Of course it can happen to anyone and everyone, contact your OIV, they will know what to do.





Documentation for OIV

Note

This section is only relevant for Organisational IT Managers (OIVs)


Customer benefits

VSETH Workstations offer the following advantages over operating your own workstations:

  1. It gives the active members an opportunity to work on commissions or student associations, not always using their private devices and to have legal access to professional software (especially for layouting).
  2. Computers are registered in the ETH system, so everyone can log in with their NETHZ account.
  3. In case of hardware defects, we have workstations in stock and can thus quickly replace defective devices.
  4. Due to the central administration software and system updates are installed in the background, i.e. the maintenance effort for the workstations is very low.
  5. Users have no admin rights and therefore cannot break anything.


Customer groups and pricing

The range of workstations is available to all VSETH organs, student associations and associated organisations. Please note that due to the network, the workstations can only be operated within the premises of ETH Zurich.

The cost for student associations and associated organisations is defined as follows:

  • One-time contribution of CHF 100 per workstation
  • Annual contribution of CHF 100 per workstation (billed annually)
  • License costs for software subject to license will be charged on

The service is free of charge for VSETH bodies and commissions

Pricing for software

Here the costs of some frequently used programs are summarized:

ProgrammDescriptionCost [CHF] / Year
Visio LicenceLicenses for the visualization software Microsoft Visio10
Adobe Creative SuitLicences for the complete Adobe Suit without Cloud Apps70
Affinity SuitLicences for Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher10


Further software wishes can be specified in the order form. If the software is not available in the ETH Shop, the license must be provided and the programs will be installed when the workstations are delivered.

ETH software may only be used by members of the board or employees of the association directly in connection with the management of the association. Among other things, use for private purposes or on behalf or for the benefit of third parties is not permitted. Also excluded is the offering of ETH software on computer workstations as a service to students, so that they can carry out work for their studies or for private purposes.


Dependencies

This service depends on three additional services:

  • The room where the workstations are to be located must have network access from ETH.
  • User administration: Login to the workstations is done via the ETH user administration, i.e. all users must have an account. If necessary, VSETH ISG will create guest accounts for non ETH members.
  • Storage: TODO


Configuration and order

Via ticket to vseth-it-support@ethz.ch with the following information:

  • Name of the organisation
  • Building/ room


Support

The basis for the support process is the general VSETH support process according to the User Documentation: Support Process. This means in particular that all support requests are managed via the ticketing system OTRs. Questions and problems may always be reported to vseth-it-support@ethz.ch. VSETH's IT support group will then deal with them in accordance with its response times for queries (SLAs). Additionally the ISG provides:

  1. Regular updates
    1. Windows: updates on Tuesdays, whereafter the user has 24h time to restart the machine
    2. On the first day of the month Polybox, JRE, 7-ZIP, Chrome, Firefox, Adobe Reader, VLC, KeePass, Thunderbird, Notepad++, Enpass, LibreOffice and Skype are updated if necessary.
  2. Installation of new software (upon request)
  3. Security monitoring of the workstations (and actions following inconsistencies)
  4. Support for Hardware problems (might include the complete replacement of the workstation) 
  5. Support for software problems