ingnan University ITSC Newsletter is published by Issue No.5 the Information Technology Services Centre. Distribution December 2000 L is free to staff and students. And available from our webpage http://www.ln.edu.hk/itsc. Any comments, suggestions Acting Editor or contributions are welcomed and should be e-mailed to Gurdit Gill [email protected].

Announcements and Contents Notices Announcements and Notices

! Hotline Service - One-stop-Shopping 1 HOTLINE SERVICE - One-Stop- ! MS Campus Agreement Renewed 1 Shopping ! Main Campus Network Upgrade 2 (By Francis To, User Services/Operation Support Group)

! Email Server Upgrade 3 ince 1st September, HOTLINE 92535117 has been serving Sas One-Stop-Shopping for IT services (including AV services). Software All users may call this number requesting for any kind of IT services, including reporting of hardware and/or software ! Great Web Authoring Tools 3 Adobe GoLive, problems, installation of IT equipment and setting up of AV Dreamweaver and equipment, etc. Microsoft FrontPage 2000

! Webmail 5 MS Campus Agreement Renewed

Internet Station (By Kläre Ng , Academic Computing)

! Net Dictionary 6 nder the umbrella of MS agreement, students can access ! Captain Internet 9 UMicrosoft software in all Lingnan University computing labs and staff can access this software in their office PCs. Since the MS agreement is based on a head count i.e. the number of staff numbers, staff can also use this software at home as well. A copy of the latest software provided by the vendor is available at the library. All further releases and software service packs will also be sent to the library so that staff can access them.

1 The products covered under the MS Campus Agreement Main Campus Network are Upgrade " Microsoft® Office® Standard & Professional (By Waiman Cheung , TSG) Editions

" Microsoft Office Macintosh® Edition n summer 2000, a large-scale upgrade of the University ICampus Network was successfully accomplished. " ® Upgrades The upgrade aims to provide high speed network " Microsoft BackOffice® Server Client Access License (CAL) connections all the way down to desktops in the Campus, which in turn, enable the deployment of " Microsoft FrontPage® more sophisticated teaching and research software applications. " ™ Professional Edition Before the upgrade, the University Campus Network " Microsoft Office Starts Here™/Step by Step Interactive by Microsoft Press was a backbone switched network where asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and fast Ethernet channel (FEC) Students can also enjoy similar benefits if they opt technologies were employed. Put it in a nutshell, the for the student option, but the minimum number as data transmission rates between different buildings required by Microsoft is 50% of the total student were 400Mbps. However, desktop communications population or the lowest - 1000 students. This scheme were still restricted to the rate of a shared 10Mbps. costs US$19 per student, approximately HK$150 per The upgrade allowed ITSC to enhance the University annum. Furthermore, students also can enjoy the Campus Network to a fully switched network where option of using the software legally after they graduate. end-to-end communication can now reach 100Mbps. Final year students who opt for this scheme will have a document issued to them, giving them the In order to achieve such a feat, all network devices rights to use the software. If students are interested located in different buildings were replaced by 100Mbps in this option, they should contact their Student switches. In addition, some core network devices Union representatives. were also upgraded to increase the robustness of the Campus Network. Should the student option of MS Campus Agreement materialise, media will be distributed accordingly to The new Campus Network is now capable of supporting MS agreement, as following - software applications of stringent bandwidth or delay requirements such as multimedia applications, Effective February 1, 2000, new and existing Campus courseware-on-demand, high-speed Internet surfing, Agreement customers with Student Option can order video-on-demand, video conferencing, etc. It is highly (through their reseller) student media four times per believed that the new Campus Network can act as year, in minimum quantities of 200 units. Media pricing an innovative information highway for enhancing for student CDs will remain the same. The Authorised the teaching and learning quality in the University. Educational Reseller will charge an Estimated Retail Price of US$4 per unit for student CDs. The student media includes Office 2000 Professional and FrontPage only.

2 Email Server Upgrade Password ” item under the “Special” menu in Eudora. A password is recommended to have 8 characters (By Daniel Suen , TSG) with at least two alphabetic characters and one numeric/ special character within the first 6 characters. Passwords ur University-wide email server had been upgraded that do not satisfy these conditions will not be Ofrom the existing HP9000 K200 model to the accepted as replacements to users’ old passwords. SunMicrosystem E450 (Enterprise) server model on This will enhance the email security for Lingnan October 1, 2000. users.

The new system is more cost-effective and yields better performance. It has the following new features Email Quota Email Quota and enhancements:- (before upgrade) (after upgrade)

Enhancement of Email Storage Staff 5MB 10MB Capacity Student 3MB 5MB

With arrival of multimedia technology and the existing popularity of using email as an official mean for communication, more and more users will receive emails with multimedia content. This brings along a continual growing demand for more disk storage for Software user emails. One of the objectives in the upgrade exercise was to enhance the disk storage capacity for user emails.

Highlights of the changes for email disk space are: Great Web Authoring Tools Adobe GoLive™, Macromedia This means that emails have less chance of getting bounced back to the sender due to limited disk space. Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage 2000

Auto-Response (By Nathan Chung , WebTeam) Auto-Response set-up will soon be available on the web. This means that users can configure his or her o design and create simple web pages, you email account to auto-response to incoming emails Tcan start with simple text editor software such via the web. The expected launch date for this service as Microsoft Windows’ notepad software or a HTML will be late November, 2000. editor. To have more web-authoring features, you should consider using Microsoft Words or Netscape’s Better Security Composer. If you are a webmaster, web designer or The new server runs the open source Solaris 8, an a serious web author, look no further than the full- featured, powerful and convenient web authoring , which has some advance built-in tools. In this article, I will introduce three great web- features to defy Denial of Service attacks. Routine hacks are warned. Moreover, users can no longer authoring tools in the market : Adobe GoLive™, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage use easy-to-guess passwords. This is enforced when 2000. users change their passwords through the “Change

3 There are some reasons why we introduced English Adobe GoLive™ or Chinese FrontPage 2000 as a web-authoring tool GoLive is professional web authoring and site in Lingnan University. management software. You can create professional and dynamic-database-driven web sites. Needless Firstly, it provides a good compatibility with the to say, it can tightly integrate with other Adobe Internet standards. FrontPage 2000 answers complaints products such as and Adobe of compatibility from the users of FrontPage 97 and Illustrator. It supports visual layout and design including FrontPage 98. It supports 100% HTML source WYSIWYG Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), dynamic preservation. FrontPage 2000 will not modify HTML HTML for example JavaScript Actions, precisely placing code , tag , comment order , capitalisation and white objects using a layout grid, boxes and rulers. In spaces when you import those files from other software. addition, it provides superior site management and supports Flash, QuickTime Streaming. However, there Secondly, it supports cross-browser DHTML animation is no Chinese version of Adobe GoLive, at the time effects and target browser selection. User can add of writing. dynamic HTML effects, including animation and collapsible outlines to pages with the click of a Macromedia Dreamweaver button. Effects work seamlessly with Netscape Navigator 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Besides, Dreamweaver is a professional web site design and FrontPage automatically restricts features that will production software. You can develop groundbreaking not work on the targeted system if users pre-select sites with this software. You can visually design target environments (browser, server ,JavaScript). and manage web pages and web sites. Same as other products, it tightly integrates with other Macromedia Thirdly, there is Chinese version of FrontPage 2000 products such as Fireworks and Flash. In addition, and a shorter migration path for FrontPage 97 and it includes HTML inspector, quick tag editor, CSS 98 users in Lingnan. There are many users who use , visual table editing, pixel precise layout , drag and Chinese Windows and Chinese FrontPage 2000 satisfies their needs. drop objects and site management tools. There is no Chinese version of Macromedia Dreamweaver, at To conclude, there are three great professional web- the time of writing. authoring tools in the Internet market: Adobe GoLive™ , Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage Microsoft FrontPage 2000 2000. They have some features that are common and It greatly differs from its previous versions such as also have their unique features. In Lingnan, ITSC FrontPage 97 and FrontPage 98. In terms of functions provides Microsoft English and Chinese FrontPage and site management, it catches up with the above 2000 to all staff and Macromedia Dreamweaver is professional web authoring software. Since ITSC available at the multimedia booths in GE202. At present, supports FrontPage 2000, we will describe this software Adobe GoLive is not available in Lingnan. To install, in greater details. Basically, it has similar functions please fill in User Request Form and submit to ITSC. and features of the GoLive and Dreamweaver such as pixel precise positioning and layering , CSS , database connectivity, HTML editor , site management. Similarly, it also tightly integrates with other Microsoft products such as Office 2000 , Visual Basic for Applications. The bonus is that there is Chinese version of FrontPage 2000.

4 WebMail Address book can not be imported/exported on different client PCs. A public address book is available for (By Kläre Ng , Academic Computing) Lingnan Community only. Your personal address books can be accessed from Netscape or IE but you ood news for all those registered who opt to must carry them in a floppy disk. Guse WebMail during the summer vacation - 7. When you read the mail, the system does recognise additional licenses have been acquired. that you have read it and keep a trail mark. There’s Despite this, we still do not have enough to satisfy a option with the heading, “Do Not Delete File from everyone on campus. There are many things you System” and this is a log file which informs the must remember when using WebMail. system which mail you have read. Every time you retrieve new mail, the new mail is kept on the top of There is no outbox and you must carbon copy (cc) the list, those that are read are relegated to the the message to yourself should you require a reference bottom. You can delete this file without causing of your reply/sent mail. anything problems.

Creation of Folders is prohibited. The WebMail acts 8. You must perform mail directory housekeeping by only as an interface while you are travelling away deleting unnecessary mails and only retaining important from HK. mail while you are away. This will save you time when you return to the office after your trip. If not, When you delete your mail, it is automatically deleted Eudora will off load all the mail from the server onto from the mail system and you cannot retrieve it your directory in the Campus network - sometimes when you return to your office. this quota may exceed and you will end up with file corruption in Eudora. Your mail attachments in WebMail can only be opened depending on the availability of third party software 9. Always log out from WebMail even if the browser in your host PC. If the application programme required give you an error message or else your account may is not available or no substitute application can be be used by other host users. found, then you are advised to save the attachment file onto a floppy disk and open it in another PC that has the correct application programme. Please note the attachment-handling feature is PC dependent and has nothing to do with the WebMail system.

5 Compact Flash Internet Station Gurdit Gill([email protected]) Another memory standard and unlike SmartMedia, its physical and memory size far exceeds SmartMedia.

elcome! Internet Station is a regular section Compact Flash comes in sizes of 4Mb to 256Mb. Wthat appears in ITSC newsletter. The main There are two types of Compact Flash slots, namely goal of the Internet Station is to create a better CFI and CFII. awareness about the Internet within the Lingnan community.

Net Dictionary

Compact Flash

Compact Memory If you have a CF+ Type II slot in you electronic Most of us may have seen Digital cameras, PDA equipment, you can also use the IBM’s MicroDrive and MP3 players that have compact memory slots that comes in 2 sizes, 340Mb and 1Gb. but how many of you are aware of different types of compact memories that are available in the market. Do note that IBM’s MicroDrive is in fact a physical hard disk, about the size of a match box and has Let’s go through the main ones, mechanical parts and thus consumes more power (current) than other the solid state Compact Flash. SmartMedia memory

SmartMedia memory is a lightweight storage solution for digital cameras and MP3 players. It comes in sizes of 2Mb, 8Mb, 16Mb, 32Mb and 64Mb. At the time of writing, Samsung corporation of Korea had successfully created the 128Mb and expects to release it next year, first quarter. SmartMedia comes in 3 / IBM MicroDrive 3.3Volts or 5 Volts. Remember to read the specifications of your equipment before buying the memory. Your equipment may only have a limited memory upgrade MMC (SanDisk MultiMediaCard) capacity. The SanDisk MultiMediaCard is very small and measures 32mm high by 24mm wide and 1.4mm thick. It is designed for extremely compact portable Internet Music Players Smart Phones, and Digital Camcorders.

SmartMedia memory

6 Double click this icon to start Xenu.

MMC used in a smart phone

Sony Memory Stick Next, click on File in the menu and select ‘Check URL’ This is a proprietary memory created by Sony Corporation and can be used only in Sony products such as Sony DV cameras, Sony Digital Cameras, Sony VAIO notebooks and Sony multimedia players. Sony memory stick employs two types of copyright protection technologies, OpenMG and Magic Gate. At the time of writing, the maximum available memory stick was 64Mb. Enter your departmental URL, for example if you want to check all the web links in

http://www.ln.edu.hk/acct,

Memory stick enter this information in the address box. Select ‘ External Links’ if you want to check the state of all the external links that point from your web page to Xenu is an extremely user-friendly software other web sites. that examines your web links in your web site. It checks for all possible broken links, redirected URLs and valid text URLs. It also creates a site map of your web site.

You can download Xenu from the WebTeam home page at http://www.ln.edu.hk/itsc/webteam/

After installing Xenu in your PC, you should get the following icon on your desktop,

7 After checking the links, Xenu will prompt you a How can I view PDF files? message indicating whether you wish to generate a report. Choose ‘Yes’. Nearly all PCs in Lingnan University are equipped with a software known as Acrobat Reader. If you encounter a PDF while surfing the Internet, your web browser will automatically activate the reader for you and display the PDF file. If you happen not to have it on your system, you can download it from the Adobe web site,

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/

The web browser will now load and you will get a How can I create PDF files? web links report as shown below. From the following Unlike the Acrobat reader which comes free, Adobe page, we can see that there are no broken links in Acrobat software requires licence fee. You can use the Accounting Departmental home page. this software in our multimedia booths in ITSC (General Education Building, 2nd Floor) to create PDF files.

When to use PDF

1. PDF should be targeted for individuals who prefer printing documents in the original format. It should not be aimed primarily at individuals who would read instant information from their computers.

2. When it does matter how the information appears (certain size, certain font, certain layout), PDF Adobe Systems invented the Portable Document should be used. Format (PDF). Some documents tend to lose their 3. When a digital signature is required for the formatting features when displayed or printed and document, PDF should be used. to overcome this problem, the PDF system was invented to re-pack and re-format a document that can overcome 4. When existing software i.e. HTML can suffice hardware and operating system printing limitations. the needs of an individual, PDF is not recommended. PDF has an overhead as user PDF is a well documented Internet standard and has must install Adobe Acrobat reader in order to become a popular and widely used format for distributing view the information. documents over the WWW. In Lingnan University and other Internet sites, you will come across web pages that offer both HTML format for immediate display, and PDF format for downloading (to print).

8 Captain Internet

This section highlights some of the coolest Internet sites around Hong Kong and the world.

" Hong Kong Observatory http://www.info.gov.hk/hko/index.htm

Check out the newly refurbished weather site run by HK Government.

" Google http://www.google.com/ Probably the world’s best search engine.

" HK Imail http://www.hk-imail.com/welcome.html If you enjoy the compact size of Imail, then you would love this on-line copy of Imail.

" Hong Kong Bank On-line Services https://www.ebank.hsbc.com.hk/servlet/ onlinehsbc You can do so many things - check your account balances, transfer money and even buy travel insurance. A must !!

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