Astronomy Computing Facility

Available Systems

At the present time the following systems are available for use as a part of the ACF:
  • kirk.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM) (to be used only for password changes and web space access)
  • spock.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • scotty.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • sulu.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • chekov.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • uhura.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • mccoy.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • chapel.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • sarek.astro.sunysb.edu (AMD Ryzen 5 3.7 GHz 6-Core w/ 16 GB RAM)
  • ugrad1.astro.sunysb.edu (Intel I5 3.3 GHz 4 core w/ 8 GB RAM) (no ssh access)
  • ugrad2.astro.sunysb.edu (Intel I5 3.3 GHz 4 core w/ 8 GB RAM) (no ssh access)
  • ugrad3.astro.sunysb.edu (Intel I5 3.3 GHz 4 core w/ 8 GB RAM) (no ssh access)
  • ugrad4.astro.sunysb.edu (Intel I5 3.3 GHz 4 core w/ 8 GB RAM) (no ssh access)
  • ugrad5.astro.sunysb.edu (Intel I5 3.3 GHz 4 core w/ 8 GB RAM) (no ssh access)
All of the aforementioned machines are running the Rocky 9.5 distribution of linux and they share the same /home partition. You may log into any of these systems (except the ugrad1-ugrad5 machines) using via secure shell, i.e. ssh, or directly at the console in room 445B. The machines ugrad1-ugrad5 are available for console logins (no ssh) in room 437A. Note that multiple failed login attempts will result in automatic blocking of the offending IP address from making any further connections for an extended time period .

Backups

Critical note: We do not maintain backups of the /data directories for special projects. Backing up your data is your responsibility! You may find it useful to back up your data to a USB flash drive or to Google Drive. Please see the system administrator if you require assistance.

Password changes

All passwords must be changed only on kirk.astro.sunysb.edu by using the passwd command. The changed password will propagate to all other machines in approximately two minutes.

Web space

All users with accounts on the ACF systems have web space on the Astro group web server at http://www.astro.sunysb.edu This web space is available through the ACF public systems via the /www disk which is mounted only on kirk.astro.sunysb.edu. Each user has their own subdirectory on the /www disk with the path /www/your_user_name. The URL for each user's web site is
http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/your_user_name
For example: a user with the username inewton would have a web directory at /www/inewton and their URL would be http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/inewton. Please note that there is no "~" in the URL.

Printing

Printing on the printers in Rm. 445 is available for PostScript and text files on the ACF systems using the lpr command. The default printer queue is the B&W duplex queue. The queue may be specified by the command: lpr -P queue_name where queue_name is one of the following:
  • hpk the B&W simplex (single-sided) queue
  • hpdup the B&W duplex (double-sided) queue
  • hpcolor the color simplex (single-sided) queue
  • hpcdup the color duplex (double-sided) queue
Please see the system administrator if you require assistance in setting up printing to these systems from your own computer.

Python & Python Packages

The default Python on the systems is currently Python 3.9.18 which is launched with the command:
python
but the Python 3.11 and python 3.12 are also available via the commands:
python3.11 or python3.12 or

A number of commonly used Python packages are also installed including:

  • Scipy is installed for Python 3.X (where X= 9, 11, or 12)
  • Numpy is installed for Python 3.X (where X= 9, 11, or 12)
  • Matplotlib is installed for Python 3.9. At the current time a system-wide installation of Matplotlib for Python 3.11 or Python 3.12 is not available but users may self install it under their own account via the command python3.12 -m pip install -U matplotlib.
  • Anaconda is not installed on a systemwide basis but each user may install this for themselves by following the instructions found at Anaconda Installation on Linux site.

Jupyter Notebooks

Users may install Jupyter notebooks in their accounts via the commands:
  • python -m pip install -U jupyter
  • jupyter notebook --generate-config
Alternatively the python3.11 or python3.12 executables may be substituted for users wishing to install Jupyter notebooks to be used with Python 3.11 or Python 3.12. The installed Jupyter notebook systems can then be launched with the command: jupyter notebook

Compilers

The default compiler system for C, C++, and Fortran is currently GCC 11.4.1 via the commands gcc, g++, and gfortran respectively. However the GCC 12.2.1, GCC 13.1.1 and GCC 14.2.1 compilers are available via Software Collections modules (execute the command scl enable gcc-toolset-14 bash) to enable the GCC 14 compilers (or the command scl enable gcc-toolset-X bash to enable the GCC X compilers). The CLANG 16 C/C++ compiler is also available via the command clang.

IDL

IDL is available on the the Ryzen 5 machines located in room 445B.

Other Available Software

There are a number of useful software packages installed on the ACF systems including:
  • IDL: (coming soon) for data analysis and plotting
  • Gnuplot: for plotting
  • GCC: the Gnu Compiler Collection (ver. 4.4.6) including compilers for C, C++, and F95
  • Octave: the freeware clone of MATLAB for linear algebra and other numerical computing
  • LaTeX: the LaTeX typesetting package
  • Emacs: the EMACS editing system
  • vi / vim: the vi and vim text editors
  • Firefox: the Firefox web browser
  • Google Chrome: the Google Chrome web browser
  • Libre Office: the Libre Office suite (oowriter, oocalc, ooinpress, etc.)
  • HDF5: the Hierarchical Data Format libraries
  • MPICH: the MPICH implementation of the MPI message passing libraries and runtime environment
  • IDL: version 8.9 is available on spock, scotty, sulu, chekov, uhura, mccoy, chapel, and sarek in the directory /usr/local/bin
  • ds9: (SAOImageDS astronomical image display tool) is located in /usr/local/ds9/bin/ds9
  • sextractor: the astronomical catalogue builder is located in /usr/local/sextractor/bin
  • Python & Python Packages: See the Python section above
Other versions of these packages should be installed in user directories. We regret that we cannot install these in common space as there are often conflicts between various versions of the libraries. If you need assistance with finding any of these packages please see the system administrator.

Wifi Access

WiFi is available on the 4th floor of the ESS building via WolfieNet Secure and WolfieNet-Guest. Please click on the preceding links for instructions on how to connect.