Hi All, Here are some of my notes condensed down with some actions and conclusions at the end. I have put stars around things that are important in the individual reports that I will try to pull together at the end. If there is anything that I have missed (especially in the actions) then shout now as it will soon be too late. Best, david Reports ======== We went around different activities looking at need. 1st year computing ------------------- - It is based on Jupyter notebooks (which will not be switching to Azure notebooks) - The students will be organised into groups via teams - *** It will be completely remote in 2020 and will comprise of 4 weeks of work in the mornings of weeks 2->5, on the mornings Tues->Friday with 70 students in each *** -*** The default is to try to ask students to insall anaconda locally, but the fall back is to use rmote desktop to the machines on level 3. So at most this could take up 70 machines on those mornings *** - *** There is a need for documentation for installation *** - *** There are no licensing issues *** - Jupyter hub would be nice but not essential. 1st year lab -------------- - ***35 students every morning from week 3 to week 10 *** - *** Default is to ask students to install locally but fall back is to use remote access to the macines on level 3*** - *** There are no licensing issues*** 2nd year computing -------------------- - very similar to 1st year computing. -*** every day, morning and afternoon (apart from Wednesdays), maximum 32 per session, default is to ask to install locally, but fall back are machines on level 3 *** - *** Installation documentation needed *** Radioactivity lab ----------------- - Second term! - *** Requires complex software build and installation so DEFAULT is remote desktop connection to machines on level 3. Like second year computing AM and PM every day except Wednesday 32 people/session *** - a GEANT installation guide will be provided but that is the backup solution. Interferometry Lab ------------------ - *** Need for remote screen access to Linux machines that control the experiments - very different from eveything else *** Computational Physics ---------------------- - Don't tell the students which language/IDE to use but most use python and Spyder because of earlier years. - *** Don't tell students which machines to use but typically would expect 35 to 40 students using the machines on level 3 between week 4 and the end of term *** Complexity and networks ------------------------- - Term 2! - Needs python networkx module - *** Will learn from experience of others in term 1 to make everything work*** - Typically expect ~ 40 students to use machines on level 3 (remotely this year?) on Wednesday 10->12 MRes in Plastic Electronics ---------------------------- -*** License for Gaussian needed - this is college wide and may well require the students to use remote access to the level 3 machines *** - *** ~20 in Nov/December students but should have the software installed all machines to give maximum flexibility *** - Jupyter hub could be useful. Other areas that need to be considered ---------------------------------------- - Computing use by MSci/ MSc/ BSc and Erasmus students during projects. - Project use of CX1 (HPC systems) - Printing is not an issue from laptops as students should need to print anymore! - students are required to have a reliable internet connection. Those who live in areas where this is not possible (e.g. North Wales) we need to treat as individual cases. Conclusions and Actions ======================== Conclusions ----------- - *** In the worst case scenarios, the computers on level 3 are very oversold in term 1. This means: o at least at the beginning of the term there is no way that we can allo students to use the machines on level 3 physically. This may evolve... o we need a substantial fraction of the students to install python and other packages on their own machines o Documentation on installation is important *** Actions -------- - *** Aidan Crilly to lead a group producing installation instructions *** - David Col. (DJC) to make sure that required software is installed on the machines on level 3. - DJC to make sure that lab demonstrators have remote access to all machines on level 3 - DJC to work with Adrian on remote access to interferometry lab machines - DJC to try to find out about the needs of MSci/MSc/BSc/Erasmus projects.