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Basic Labs Rules

IT Computer Laboratories

The I&TS Division maintains a number of public computer laboratories. These are used mostly for teaching during the day, but when not booked for courses are available for general use to all students. Jacaranda lab is open 24 hours a day.

Printing in the labs

Large capacity printers are installed in all the public labs.  A4 Printing is charged at 50c per page and colour printing at R3.17 per page.  Double-sided printing is charged at 40c per side and 80c per page for mono and for colour R2.50 per side and R5.00 per page in labs where duplex printers are available. 

The Xerox printers that are installed in some labs can also print on A3 paper.  The charge for A3 printing is R1.00 per page, 80c per side and R1.60 page for double-sided printing.  For colour A3, it is R6.33 per page and R5.00 for double-sided printing (R10.00 per page).

Students can load print credit and check their print credit balance as well as transaction history using ROSS.

Software

All the commonly used applications are installed across all the labs. Where licensing restrictions allow it, specialised software such as Statistica is also made available as widely as possible. Software configurations are updated twice a year and all requests for new or additional software to be installed need to reach the I&TS Division at least a semester in advance to allow for proper installation and testing.

Lab Assistants

Lab assistants are employed to perform general maintenance tasks and to keep the printers up and running.  Lab assistants are available in the evening until 22:00 to assist with problems.

Acceptable Use

The computers in the labs are provided primarily for academic work. All students are expected to use IT facilities responsibly and with consideration for others. To this end the following rules apply and will be enforced by the IT lab assistants:

  • There is to be no noise in the labs. This is an area for academic work.
  • Cell phones are not to be used in the labs
  • No eating or drinking is allowed
  • No smoking is allowed
  • Work stations are not to be locked for more than 10 minutes
  • Students who need to complete academic work get first priority when the lab is full
  • No games are to be played in public labs
  • Do not tamper with any hardware or software configuration
  • It is the user's responsibility to log out of a machine when leaving. Users will be held accountable for any abuse originating from their accounts.
  • No pets are allowed

Department Labs

The I&TS Division maintains a number of department labs in addition to the public labs. These labs are generally for the use of students, mostly postgraduates, in that department.

Contacting the Labs Administrator

All queries related to the labs should be addressed to the labs administrator via e-mail at labadmin@ru.ac.za.

Last Modified: Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:53:00 SAST