Services & Computer Requirements
Dear Student,
The past year has seen an increasing number of students take advantage of internet service available in the residence hall rooms. This service will again be available for the '08-'09 school year. The service includes direct access to your e-mail account via the campus ethernet network and wireless network, without any of the hassles associated with dial-up accounts. This means that you can access your e-mail without involving off-campus ISPs or systems, providing faster more secure e-mail. The service also includes the ability to share files and applications between students, faculty and staff, and full internet access, at faster than modem speeds. There are two ethernet ports in each residence hall room on campus. The connection to the campus network from the residence halls is available to all residence hall residents at no charge.
McPherson College will not be providing network adapter cards (NICs) for student’s computers. Students will be required to purchase a computer with a NIC already installed or to buy a NIC and have it installed. The College's Bookstore sells 10/100MHz NICs for approximately $15 each for desktop computers. McPherson College does provide RJ-45 Network Cables to students, at no cost. Please call Computer Services once you arrive on campus. I have listed the computer and NIC requirements below. The minimum requirements will be compatible with McPherson College systems for the ‘08-`09 year, but may not be adequate for future years. The recommended requirements will be compatible with McPherson College systems through the ‘10-`11 academic year.
McPherson College provides wireless (802.11G/B) access each residence hall and some other locations on campus. This access is free to students, faculty, and staff. In addition, McPherson College Computer Services supports all student computers. Computer Services will work with you to solve any problems on your computer. We can also advise you on beneficial upgrades and provide information on where such upgraded hardware or software is available. If you experience problems, please contact Computer Services immediately.
Microsoft's Office 2003 is the standard suite of office programs at McPherson College. Students who want to be able to work on papers or other documents in their room and in the labs will need to have the Office 2003 Suite or Office XP Suite, to be compatible. Office 95, Office 97, Office 2000 files are readable by Office 2003 and XP, but students will need to remember to save in the older format when taking documents from campus computers back to their computers.
Minimum computer requirements, good for '08-'09 academic year:
- Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz (or equivalent) or greater (IBM compatible)
- 20.0 Gigabyte or larger hard drive
- at least 512 Megabyte RAM
- Windows XP or higher
- 100 MHz RJ-45 ethernet network adaptor
- Monitor with .28mm dot pitch and 800 X 600 maximum resolution
- CD-ROM drive
- Anti-virus software
Recommended computer requirements, good thru '10-'11 academic year:
- Core 2 Duo 2.20 GHz (or equivalent) or greater (IBM compatible)
- at least 100 GB hard drive
- at least 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
- 3D AGP Graphics card with 64 MB RAM
- Windows XP or higher
- 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 ethernet network adaptor
- 6X DVD-RW/40X CD-ROM/CD-RW
- Monitor with .26mm dot pitch and 1280 X 1024 maximum resolution
- Microsoft Office 2007 Suite
- Anti-Virus software
Apple iMac computers are also compatible with the campus ethernet network, but will need Microsoft's Office:mac 2008 to be software compatible with campus computers.
Thank you,
Dave Gitchell, Director of Computer Services
gitcheld@mcpherson.edu
Andy Ullom, Assistant Director of Computer Services
ulloma@mcpherson.edu
1-620-242-0455
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