Important Bits
If you are responsible for a computer connected to our network, you need to read the Self-administered computers policy.
This document sets out your responsibilities towards CSE services and your own data.
Most importantly:
- You must back up your data.
- You keep your secure and updated.
- If your computer is found to be compromised, insecure or causing a problem on the network, we will disconnect it until it is fixed.
- If this happens three times, we will not reconnect it until it is completely wiped and reinstalled.
Getting on the Network
Where possible, you should register for and use the CSE wired network, as it's faster than wifi and can be used for incoming connections.
For mobile computing, you will want to use one of the available wireless networks, most likely Uniwide.
To connect from outside our network, you can use the UNSW VPN for general UNSW services, or the CSE VPN for accessing CSE-specific ones.
Choosing an operating system
Most users use either Windows or Ubuntu Linux for their day-to-day computing.
However, you're free to install whatever you want - Debian, Fedora and Mint are popular alternatives among our Linux users.
If you want to install multiple operating systems, we strongly recommend that you use a virtual machine instead of dual booting, if at all possible.
Getting software
CSE keeps local archives of linux distributions, TeX, and other large software packages, for faster downloads.
There's also a wide variety of licensed Software available from CSE and UNSW.
Computing services
Once your machine is set up, you might want to take a look at: