LSU technology you should know

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By Philip DiStefano

If you’re new on campus, odds are that your first concern doesn’t really have anything to do with technology – that is, unless you’re a nerd like me. After all, it’s likely that this place is completely new to you and you’ve got a lot to explore. However, maybe you’d like to take a break from all of that exploring and check your email.

Whatever the case is, at one point or another, whether you live on or off campus, you’re probably going to want or need to take advantage of some of the technology LSU has to offer you. So, that should probably leave you with at least one question – exactly what technology is there to take advantage of?

Well, no matter where you live, if you have a laptop, you’ll probably want to take advantage of LSU’s campus-wide wireless network called “lsusecure.” Wireless access can be found nearly everywhere, the only exception I’ve discovered to that being in dorm rooms.

It’s kind of tricky to set up sometimes, so if you have any problems, just connect to “lsuwireless” instead and direct your Web browser to autoconnect.lsu.edu.

You can’t do too much else with the lsuwireless network besides going to the autoconnect Web site and grok.lsu.edu – a knowledge database for LSU’s technology services – but autoconnect is really all you should need, as running the utility on that site should get you all set up on the proper wireless network that allows you to do whatever you want – lsusecure.

If you head over to tigerware.lsu.edu, you can download some great free software, such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 and Symantec Antivirus. This software usually costs hundreds of dollars, but it’s made available to students for free, thanks to the student technology fee.

Computer labs are scattered across campus as well. There are far too many to mention individually, but you should be aware of the computer labs in Middleton Library and in Patrick F. Taylor, both of which offer an assortment of PCs and Macs for students to use and print from. There are also various email stations scattered across campus.

If you live on campus, there are most likely email stations and a computer lab in your dorm or in the activity center if you live in a campus apartment.

If you need to borrow a laptop, Middleton Library also offers a laptop rental service. You can actually rent quite a few things.

If you like music, check out ruckus.com, a free music downloading solution for college students. I’ve written about Ruckus before, as it’s worth an article in itself, and I caught some flak from people who thought I was promoting the agenda of the Recording Industry Association of America.

By promoting Ruckus, I’m actually just trying to prevent you, the poor college student, from getting sued for sharing MP3’s on LimeWire or BitTorrent or some other peer-to-peer downloading program. Ruckus isn’t only for LSU, but we are one of their officially affiliated schools.

LSU also has some pretty amazing Web services for students to utilize. Of course, there’s your PAWS account, in which you’ll find a link to Moodle – course management software customized for LSU that was just introduced this summer.

You’ll also find a link in PAWS to TigerTRAK/Careers2Geaux – a site designed to help you find employment – as well as a link to Tiger Bytes, which is a special online storage system where students can upload documents or whatever files they may need to take from computer to computer.

If you live off campus, you should see a link to the GeauxBox as well, which is a special deal LSU has with Cox to get non-resident students a normal high-speed Internet connection at an astonishingly low price.

If there’s some other form of technology you need on campus, odds are that it’s around somewhere. I’ve been here for four years and I’m still finding out new services LSU offers. You just have to know where to find it or who to ask.

Originally Published: Issue 701 - August 19, 2008

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