Fast Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions
Fast Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FAQs
MATLAB, CPLEX and CORE FAQs
COMPUTING FAQs
| SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FAQs |
Answer : Mail your homework to
ITV
Rm 2105, Engineering Classroom Building,
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD 20742.
FAX : (301) - 314 - 9639.
ITV will return the homeworks to you after they have been
graded.
Answer : Rational Rose 4.
You can download a demo copy of the Rational Software
and build diagrams up to 30 classes. We also have the
demo version installed on the PC in the SEIL Lab.
Visio Professional (maybe .... we need to check this)
See http://www.visio.com
| MATLAB, CPLEX AND CORE FAQs |
Answer : MATLAB can be accessed from anywhere on the Glue System
(you do not need an ISR account to run MATLAB).
First, type
kiwi:~: tap matlab
kiwi:~:
MATLAB can be started by typing:
kiwi:~: matlab
< M A T L A B (R) >
(c) Copyright 1984-98 The MathWorks, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Version 5.2.0.3084
Jan 17 1998
To get started, type one of these: helpwin, helpdesk, or demo.
For product information, type tour or visit www.mathworks.com.
>>
A small MATLAB 5 graphics window will appear for a few seconds,
followed by the program announcement, and the MATLAB prompt.
>>
We are now ready to start solving problems.
Answer : MATLAB statements can be prepared with any editor,
and stored in a file for later use. Such a file is
referred to as a script, or an "m-file" (since they
must have a name extension of the form filename.m).
Writing m-files will enhance your problem solving
productivity. Suppose that we create a program file
myfile.m
in the MATLAB language. The commands in this file
can be exectued by simply giving the command
myfile
from MATLAB. The MATLAB statements will run like
any other MATLAB function. You do not need to compile
the program since MATLAB is an interpretative (not
compiled) language.
Answer : The MATLAB Optimization Toolbox contains routines that
implement the most widely used methods for performing
minimization or maximization on general nonlinear functions.
Additional routines are provided for linear programming,
quadratic programming, nonlinear least squares,
and solving nonlinear equations.
Answer : The MATLAB Optimization Toolbox contains routines that
CPLEX is a tool for solving linear optimization problems,
including constrained and unconstrained. Linear programming
is used extensively in a wide variety of industries for
solving mission-critical resource allocation problems.
Examples include manufacturing scheduling, airline routing, raw
material blending, financial portfolio optimization, personnel
scheduling, and transportation logistics.
Answer : CPLEX is only available from the Systems Engineering Integration
Laboratory (SEIL) within ISR. We have licenses for the following
machines:
watt.isr.umd.edu
coulomb.isr.umd.edu
kelvin.isr.umd.edu
oxygen.isr.umd.edu
Application forms for SEIL/ISR accounts are available from outside
of the Open lab AVW 1146. After you have filled out the form
(make sure you request access to "SEIL), ask Dr. Austin to sign
it, and hand the completed form to Ms. Peggy Jayant in AVW,
Rm. 1201. Your account will be activated within 3 working days.
Answer : After you have logged into one of the SEIL machines
supporting CPLEX, type
watt >> tap cplex4
and then
watt >> cplex
For help, just type "help"
CPLEX> help
add constraints to the problem
change change the problem
display display problem or solution
enter enter a new problem
help provide information on CPLEX commands
netopt solve the problem using network method
optimize solve the problem
quit leave CPLEX
read read problem or basis information from a file
set set parameters
tranopt solve the problem using the dual method
write write problem or solution info. to a file
xecute execute a command from the operating system
Enter enough characters to uniquely identify commands and options:
Commands may be executed in either of two formats:
1. Incremental entry.
Enter the command name, and CPLEX will prompt you for
additional required information.
2. Single-line Entry.
CPLEX accepts single-line command strings, provided
simple syntax rules are observed.
Answer : Within SEIL, CORE is installed on the following PC's:
babbs, hagen, arnbach, garmisch
Please send me e-mail (austin@isr.umd.edu) if you have
any problems.
Answer : Here are some recommendations.
Chapters 2,3 and 5 for an introduction to how CORE works
Chapters 7, 8, and 9 for the system database management
Chapters 11-17 for drawing different diagrams with CORE
| COMPUTING FAQs |
Answer : Go to Rm 1400 in the Computer Science Services (CSS) building ...
and follow the signs.
The Glue system operates under a "Pay-for-Print" policy.
To print from a open glue lab, you will need a print account. This
account can be used not only for the Glue Open labs, but also all over
campus (WAM labs: PG2, Hornbake...).
Each page costs $0.10. Users must obtain a Terrapin Express card in
Room 1109 South Campus Dining Hall, in the hours 08:00 - 16:00.
After doing this, they must get their print account activated in the
Laser Print Cost Recovery (LPCR) office, Room 3326 Computer Science
Center. The minimum deposit for the Terrapin Express Account is $25.
Users can check their print account by telnetting to the address:
bank.umd.edu
The login id is "teller". The bank will then ask for the print account
number and the password. The user can then move funds from the Terrapin
Express account to the print account.
For further help, please consult the first-aider on duty.
Answer : Students will need an ISR unix account in order to access the
open lab. Pick up an account application form form just
outside of Rm 1147 in AV Williams building. Follow the directions
on the form: you first register at a workstation in one of the
Open Labs, and then you hand the completed from to
Ms. Peggy Jayant
Office: AVW-1201,
phone: 301 405 8018 or 301 405 6628,
email:peg@isr.umd.edu.
All administrative questions about ISR accounts are handled by Peg.
More information on ISR's computing resources is located at
http://www.isr.umd.edu/ISR/resources/FAQS/Computing_Facilities.html
Answer : Dial-up access to the College of Engineering's network of UNIX
computers is provided through the Computer Science Center's (CSC)
annex service. All dialup lines are set for 8 bits, 1 stop bit,
and no parity.
The modem pools that you can access are:
(a) (301) 209-0700 -- X2 56kbps modems, 3hr session limit.
40 hrs per 14 days quota limit.
(b) (301) 864-2087 -- 33 kbps modems.
15 min express service session limit.
40 hrs per 14 days quota limit.
Access from Baltimore
(c) (410) 962-8865 -- 28.8 kbps modems, 3hr session limit.
(d) (410) 962-8867 -- 28.8 kbps modems, 15 min express
session limit.
WAM (Workstation at Maryland) accounts are available to all
University of Maryland students from the Computer Science Center
Consulting Lab (CSS 1400). Bring your University ID and current
registration card.
To dial in, you will need to connect to the computer or terminal
you are using. Run your favorite communications program and set
your communications port parameters to 8 bits, 1 stop bit, and
no parity. vt100 is a good choice for the terminal type if you
are not sure what to use.
When the connection to the annex service is established, you will
see the annex prompt. Issue the following command to initiate a
login session:
telnet <machine>.eng.umd.edu
where <machine> should be replaced by the name of the workstation
that you would like to log into. For example, the machines in the
Open lab in Room 1442, A.V. Williams Bldg, are as follows:
analog step
harmonic noise
convolution signal
state periodic
bandwidth digital
gain feedback
capacitance trace
Answer : First, try "netscape" and if that isn't available, try "mosaic"
Answer : Move the cursor to the location bar on your browser and enter
the URL:
http://www.isr.umd.edu/~austin/ense621.html
Answer : To save a file, click on the "File" item located in the top
left-hand corner of the Netscape Browser.
Then select the pull-down menu item that has a title
"Save As..."
A small window should pop-up requesting information on the
location and format for the file containing the saved page.
The three file formats are:
Text -- Save the the text within the page.
Source -- Save the html code for the page, including the text,
tags etc..
Postscript -- This saves the file in Postscript format.
Postscript is a special computer language understood
by many printers, and is used to send text and graphics
of all varieties to the printer. You can use this
option to save an image of a web page as a Postscript
file, which can then be sent to a Postscript printer to
reproduce the file on paper.
Answer : The answer to this question will depend on the local configuration
of your computer. Generally speaking you will need to give a command
like
qpr -q name-of-printer name-of-postscript-file.ps
See the lab attendant for specific details.
Answer : "vi" and "pico". A summary of basic vi commands is located in the
appendix to the class notes. For more information on vi, follow
the links to Online Computer Documentation at Berkeley.
Answer : When you log into your Glue account, you are initially
in your home directory. Typing:
cd ../pub
put you in your public directory. This is a
directory that the general public has access to, and
therefore this is where your home page should be stored.
You should put your home page in a file
Welcome.html
located inside the pub directory. So if your login
name is let's say "billclinton", then the location of your
home page will be something like
/afs/ ... /billclinton/pub/Welcome.html
(The row of dots indicates that the file system will change from
machine to machine) Folks from outside the University of Maryland
will be able to view your home page using the URL
http://www.glue.umd.edu/~billclinton/
More Information : Follow the link to "Instructions for
Creating a Personal Home Page" from the Internet Resources
section of the ENSE 621 home page.
Answer : You will need to write your home page in the Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML). An easy-to-read introduction to HTML is
"A Beginners Guide to HTML,"
located in section two of the Class Notes.
Answer : There are scanners in the engineering glue lab but they are
kinda slow (and broken most of the time).
The Construction Management Computer Lab (Rm 1156, Eng
Classroom Bldg) also has a scanner, but the machines aren't
connected to the Internet. You will need to save your
results on a 3.5" floppy disk.
Answer : Here is a list of suggested content for your home page.
Suggested Content
-----------------
* Images of yourself (...or something similar ....).
* A resume, containing career objective, educational background,
(including schools attended), work experience, and a summary
of your computer skills -- hey, you can list HTML as one of
your Web skills.
* A summary of classes taken at University of Maryland.
* An e-mail link to your computer account.
* Signposts that help a visitor navigate the layout of pages
in your public_html directory -- one way of doing this is
to add an index page to your home page.
Where appropriate, your page should contain hypertext links to
schools, places of of employment etc ....
Also, because the purpose of your page is for self promotion, the
page layout should tidy and "visually appealing." Learn how to
create tables in html, and how to create pages with a good balance
of "hot" and "cold" colors.
Answer : The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program works on the same
concept as the file manager as in Windows 3.1.
To transfer files:
1. Save the file onto disk. Hard or floppy.
2. Click on the window icon FTP. This icon is usually pink letters
on a white background. This icon will open up the "File Transfer
Protocol" program.
3. Click on the space that says profile name. You will want to be
able to get into glue with your login and password.
One of the set ups in the drop list will allow you to do this.
4. Fill in your login where it says user id and password where it
asks.
5. Click on OK
6. You will now see a split window. on the left hand side is the
computer you are on, and on the right is your computer account.
In order for you to put stuff(files, etc.) into your pub account
you have to open up that part of your account. Look at the right
part of the screen. In the upper right you will see something
that looks like .. Click on the two dots. This will take you
up a level in your account.
7. Now you should see another list of things. One should be pub.
This is you pub account. Click on pub. If you have started your
web site you should at least see Welcome.html here.
You are now in the pub part ofyour account.
8. To transfer things there you now must look at the upper left of
the window.
Here you will see things that resemble the computer you are on.
For instance [-a-], [-c-], are both drives. [-a-] is your floppy
drive and [-c-] is your hard drive. If you have things saved on a
floppy click on [-a-] and then you will see all the files that are
on your disk.
9. Now highlight the thing you want to transfer by clicking on it.
10. Now that it is highlighted click on the right arrow and the
program will transfer that file to your school account.
11. Your done. The file should now be on the right side bottom. If it
is there, then it is in your pub account.
Answer : A good starting point is:
http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/bg/backgrounds.html
For more sites, go to a search engine and do a search on
"background pattern"
Answer : If you are running netscape on a PC, then you can simply move the
cursor to the background, and click on the right button. A small
window will appear asking where you want the background image to
be saved.
Otherwise, you can retrieve a background color pattern directly
from the Netscape cache (the cache stores images and patterns
locally on your computer, thereby enhancing performance).
The cache can be accessed by typing
about:cache
in the "Location" window of Netscape.
Answer : Information on the University of Maryland's WWW counter service
can be found at:
http://death.cs.umd.edu:8080/counter/
Read the section on "usage policy," "registration" and look at the
examples for required html.
Also see
http://www.digits.com
Answer : First, check your html code to make sure you haven't made a
silly typo. The html should look something like:
E-mail : <a href="mailto:your-login-name@glue.umd.edu"><b>
your-login-name@glue.umd.edu </b></a>
If your E-mail still doesn't work then perhaps
your Netscape browser settings are incorrect.
To check your mail preferences go to the Netscape Options
menu and button on "Mail and News Preferences". Then select
the services page. The SMTP (simple main transfer protocol)
setting for outgoing mail should be
smtp.glue.umd.edu
for glue users, and
smtp.isr.umd.edu
for users at ISR.
Answer : A script file contains a copy of all of the commands
given at the keyboard and all of the output sent to
the computer screen.
The syntax for starting a script file is:
prompt >> script name-of-script-file
..... now go ahead and run your programs. A copy
of the commands and program output will be
echoed to file "name-of-script-file"
The script file is terminated by typing
prompt >> exit
Now send the "name-of-script-file" file to the printer.
Answer: The ISR has a daemon running that automtically makes pdf
files. To use it, you log into an isr machine, and ftp the
postscript file that you wish to convert to your account.
Then copy the file to the directory
/software/isrwww/html/misc/tools/acrobat/IN
Wait for a few minutes, and the postscript file that you
copied should appear along with a pdf file in the directory
/software/isrwww/html/misc/tools/acrobat/OUT
Move the pdf file and the postscript file out of the OUT
directory to the place in your own homespace where you want
to put them.
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