Distributed Systems Group

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Institute FAQ

This page contains a list of frequently asked questions that "newbie" members of the Distributed Systems Group (DSG) might be interested in. If you have any suggestions for improving/extending this FAQ, please email to enji_infosys*tuwien*ac*at (with "_" for "@" and "*" for ".").

Secratary's Information

Our secretary's office has issued an information sheet that you should take a look at.

Internal Mailing List

There is an internal mailing list that members of the DSG should subscribe. Just send an email with the corresponding request to our technician [currently, we have none...].

Mensa Card

Employees of the Vienna University of Technology (and hence employees of the DSG) can use the Mensa Card to get a discount when dining at the Mensa. In ages long forgotten, the transaction for applying the Mensa Card efficiently was a frequent source of confusion, tears and misery. Starting from October 2nd, 2006, it has become much simpler (and more expensive). Let's take a look at the terminology first:

• Menus
There are two types of menus at the Mensa with the imaginative names "Menu1" and "Menu2". The regular prices are ???€ for Menu1 and 4,60€ for Menu2. Here you can take a look at the menu plan for the current week.
• Menu Bons
Normally you first go to the menu cash desk, pay the price for the desired menu, receive a chip card, proceed to the bar, hand over the chip card, and get your meal. With menu bons, you can skip the cash desk and go directly to the bar (which is an advantage especially at around 12.30). Since there are two types of menus, there are also two types of menu bons.
• Stammkundenkarte
Each time you buy a Menu or the "Tagesteller" (dish of the day), you can get a stamp into this "card for regular customers". As soon as the Stammkundenkarte is full (12 stamps), it is worth 4€ after signing it and handing it over to the cashier.
• Gutscheine
"Gutscheine" (vouchers) are sold in blocks of 24 pieces, where one piece is worth 2€. You can use them to pay at the Mensa. They are only interesting for non-employees, since they can be used to achieve the same effective price as employees (see below).

With the Mensa Card, you can buy 13 Menu2 bons for a total price of 51,00€. Here comes the explanation:

• For 12 of these bons, you pay the reduced employee's price: 12 * 4,2 = 50,4€.
• For these 12 bons, you get 4€ from the Stammkundenkarte (the cashier will ask for your signature).
• With these 4€, you can buy the 13th meal for 4,6 - 4 = 0,6€ (you don't get the employee's reduction for this one).
• ...resulting in the total price of 50,4 + 0,6 = 51€.

This results in an effective price of 51,0 / 13 = 3,92€ per Menu2.

You are advised to show your Mensa Card right at the beginning of the transaction unless you want to provoke unsolvable problems. Also be sure to remain concentrated during the whole transaction - experience has shown that sometimes, people notice afterwards that they have paid too much in some mysterious way.

If you are not an employee, you can still get a reduced price by means of Mensa vouchers ("Gutscheine"). Here is an example:

• First, you buy Gutscheine with a total value of 48€. Every customer (no matter if employee or not) gets a 10% discount for these, meaning that you only have to pay 43,80€.
• With these vouchers, buy 13 bons for Menu2: 13 * 4,6 = 59,8€
  • From these 59,8€, you can subtract the vouchers' value of 48,00€: 59,8 - 48 = 11,80€
  • Further subtract the 4€ that you get for dining at the Mensa 12 times with the Stammkundenkarte: 11,8 - 4 = 7,80€
  • So finally, you have to pay 43,20€ for the vouchers plus the remaining 7,80€ from our previous calculation to get 13 bons for Menu2: 43,2 + 7,8 = 51,00€ (the same total price as for employees).

Where to eat

Anton Ertl of the Computer Languages Institute has created a helpful map displaying all sorts of restaurants near the Technical University. It also provides information about the type of meals they offer, and whether they are expensive or not.

Holiday

At least once in a decade, you should consider the possibility of going on holiday. Simply download, print and fill out the application form (called "Urlaubsmeldung") and hand it over in the secretary's office. The following approval process takes about four days, so you should do it in time. Be sure to mark your holiday on the calendar in the kitchen on the 3rd floor so that the others can see how long you'll be gone.

Keys

Don't get confused if there are certain doors at the institute that you can't open with your key: It's not broken, there are number of different keys with different "locking power".

Printer Installation under WinXP (2nd floor)

(thanks to Huy for contributing this guide)
This guide is for Windows XP only. Try it at your own risk ;)

1. Download the PCL 6 printer driver for HP LaserJet 1320 series .
2. Run the downloaded executable. It will create a new directory under "C:\Program Files", named "\Hewlett-Packard\LaserJet 1320 Drivers\".
3. Go to the printer control panel and choose "Add a Printer". Next, choose "A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer". Then, next choose to give an URL. For the URL, type in the location of the printer: http://intra.infosys.tuwien.ac.at:631/printers/hplj1320a, or http://128.131.172.19:631/printers/hplj1320a.
4. Next to install the driver, choose "Have Disk...", and browse for the new directory above (i.e., C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\LaserJet 1320 Drivers\"). Then, choose file hpc1320c.inf.
5. You should configure the newly added printer to print on A4 paper size. That's all :).

For more information, please refer to http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CUPS_Setup.

Strange blinking lights on the printer (2nd floor)

If the printer refuses to do what you want, you have to show him who the boss is :) Otherwise, he'd be tempted to also annoy the next one who wants something printed. Next to it (or below it) you should find a copy of a few pages from the manual that describe the printer's status light patterns and what to do in each case. If that doesn't solve your problem, you can take a look at the whole manual.

Salary Sheet

You can download your most recent salary sheet from Tuwis (after logging in first). Apart from that, there are other useful services available at Tuwis, so you should definitely take a look at it.

Blinking red light on the telephone

A blinking red light to the right of the "Transfer" label on your phone means that someone's called you while you weren't there. Just push the button to see what happens... (look at the display). The telephone's manual can be found here:

Complete Manual (English)
Shorter Manual (German)
Quick-Reference (English)

Phone Card

For calling someone inside the University's internal phone network, you don't need a phone card. Simply type in the "Durchwahl" (extension, usually 5 digits and starting with the institute's number) of your communication partner. For external calls, you need to have a phone card that can be applied for in the secretary's office. Once you have it and want to do a business call, put the prefix "02" in front of the phone number. For private calls, prepend "03". Refer to the following page for the current charges.

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Distributed Systems Group, Technical University of Vienna, Argentinierstrasse 8 / 184-1, A-1040 Vienna / Austria
Copyright 2005 Nenad Jovanovic. All Rights Reserved.