Before we begin

1. Time: You will need either 2 to 3 hours (most of which is spent waiting), or a helpful/naieve PhD student.
2. An Apple Mac: We assume you have either
   • A new, (virtually) unused Mac
   or
   • An older Mac with an Intel processor (i.e. purchased after 2006) and a copy of Snow Leopard.
3. Credentials: You should know your CSG username and password. We're going to refer to this username as YOU throughout this document.
4. Printer names: You should know the name(s) of the printer(s) you want to use. A list of printers, locations and access needed to use them can be found via CSG.
5. CSG UID: You'll need your CSG user ID number. You can ask CSG for this, or find it out with the following commands at a terminal.
   MyMachine: ssh YOU@shell1.doc.ic.ac.uk
   (Enter password)
   YOU@csgMachine:~$ id -u
   1234
   
   In this case, 1234 is your user ID.
6. (Optional) An external hard disk: This will be used to backup your machine (but not your work), so that if the hardware fails, you can setup a new one quickly. At least 100G of space will be needed. It's optional, but recommended. Several people are using Western Digital My Book Studio drives.
7. Ethernet Information (Optional): If you're going to be using wired networking then look on the wall socket your Ethernet cable is plugged into for the ID number. Talk to CSG, and ask for your IP address, Netmask, Gateway and DNS Servers.
8. Power: Your Mac should be plugged in, with mouse and keyboard attached. If you're going to use wired networking (rather than wireless), plug in the Ethernet cable.

Operating system installation

1. Boot into setup: Turn on the computer, and whilst it's booting, insert the Snow Leopard install disk. Turn off the machine, then hold down "C" on the keyboard. Turn it on whilst holding down "C". You'll eventually see...
2. Format your hard disk: When you see the installation dialog, choose "Utilities->Disk Utility" from the menu. In this dialog, pick your hard disk from the left hand list. Click the "Erase" tab on the right hand side, and choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" as the file system type. Give your disk a name (like "Macintosh HD"), then click Erase. Quit Disk Utility when the process is finished.
3. Install and reboot: Start the installation process, and wait around 45 minutes. The system will reboot when setup is complete.
4. Endure: On the first virgin boot, you'll be subjected to a noisy and unskippable video, and have my sympathy.
5. Setup your user account: Follow the instructions until you see are prompted to enter a username (if you're asked for a wireless network, choose "IC-DoC"). You can use your real name for "Full Name", but you must enter your CSG username as your "Short Name". For ease, we recommend using your CSG password as the system password.
6. Finish up: Complete the rest of the setup steps and login.
7. Enable Time Machine (optional): If you have an external hard disk, connect it. If your Mac prompts you to use it as a Time Machine disk, great - follow the instructions. If not, open the Time Machine preferences pane, and see the following Slide the switch to "ON", and choose "Change Disk". Select your new disk, and click "Use for Backup". The first backup may take some time, but you can carry on working whilst it happens.

Networking setup

1. Connect to the network: Open the Network preferences pane in System Preferences, and follow one of these columns.

   Wired	Wireless
   Configure Ethernet: Pick Ethernet from the list on the left. Change "Configure IPV4" to Manually, then enter the details garnered in step vii of "Before we begin" into the relevant fields. Click "Apply".	Enable AirPort: Pick AirPort from the list on the left, and make sure AirPort is enabled. Join the network: From the Network Name dropdown, choose "IC-DoC". Click "Apply". Register your MAC: Wait a few seconds, then open a browser. You'll be redirected to a website where you can enter your CSG credentials to register your machine.

   You may have to wait a short while for your machine to join the network.
2. Changing your UID: To access files on the CSG network, we'll need your local machine UID to match your CSG UID. Initially, open a terminal, and switch to the super user (you'll need this in the next step):
   Machine: ~YOU$ sudo bash
   (Enter your password)
   
   Leaving that window open, load System Preferences, and choose "Accounts". Make sure the padlock in the bottom left is unlocked (click it if not). Ctrl+Click on your user (i.e. hold down the Ctrl key and then click on your username), then choose "Advanced". You'll see something like the following... Note down the User ID (501 here), then replace it with your CSG user id. Click OK, and close the Account preferences pane.
3. Fixing your files: In changing your UID, all your files are now owned by a non-existent user. Let's fix that. In our prepared terminal perform the following, replacing 501 with the original UID your account had in the previous step.
   bash-3.2# find / -user 501 -exec chown YOU {} \;
   (Lots of text and waiting)
   bash-3.2# exit
4. Mount your home directory: CSG supply a home directory on a backed up server for all users. We recommend you use this directory for your work, and we will set it up to automatically mount when your machine boots. This way, it will appear just like another local directory (but one that saves to the remote server).

   First, create a new directory in your Home using Finder: Click Finder, select your Home Directory under Places, then choose "File->New Folder" from the menu bar. Call this folder "Work".

   Open the "Disk Utility" application from the Applications/Utilities folder. From the menu bar, choose "File" then "NFS Mounts...". Click the little + at the bottom of the (empty) list. In the dialog that opens, toggle the triangle next to "Advanced Mount Parameters". Setup the fields as follows.

   1. Remote NFS URL: nfs://lycan.doc.ic.ac.uk/export/users/Y/YOU - In this example, the "Y" is the first letter of your user, so change it appropriately
   2. Mount Location: /Users/YOU/Work
   3. Advanced Mount Parameters: resvport,nolocks,locallocks
   In this authors case, the result looks like Choose "Verify", then Save the results. Close Disk Utility.
5. Install patches: Finally, update all the Apple software on the machine. Click the little black Apple logo in the top left of your screen, and choose "Software Update...". Tick each unticked box to accept every update, then install them and reboot.

Using e-mail

1. Start account setup: Open the Mail program. If you're not prompted to setup an account, choose "Mail->Preferences" from the menu bar, click the "Accounts" tab, then click the small + in the bottom left.
2. Enter your details: Enter your full name, and in Email Address, enter your Imperial College address. Enter your password, so the dialog is similar to... Click "Continue".
   You may be shown an error message, along with a new box for "User name". If so, enter your CSG username in that box, and try again.
3. If you want to synchronize your local address book and calenders with the Exchange server, check the appropriate "Also set up" boxes. Click "Create" in the resultant dialog, and wait a while for your mail to download.

Printing

1. Enabling advanced: First, open the Print & Fax preferences pane via System Preferences. Click the little + button at the bottom of the empty printers list, and you'll see a box with 4 options at the top: Default, Fax, IP and Windows. Ctrl+Click on any of these, and choose "Customize Toolbar". Drag the "Advanced" cog onto the toolbar, so it looks like this.

2. Add a printer: Click the "Advanced" button, and wait until the spindle stops. Pick "LPD/LPR Host or Printer" from the "Type" list. In the URL box, enter lpd://print.doc.ic.ac.uk/PRINTER-2s, where PRINTER is the name of the printer you want to use. Give it a friendly name, and you'll end up with a dialog looking like...
   The "-2s" suffix tells the printer you want to use double sided printing, and automatically staple multiple pages. Leave off the 2 (for single sided) and the s (for no stapling) if you don't like this.

   Click add, then close the Print & Fax preference pane (or repeat this step to add another printer).

We're done!

We're finished! Enjoy your Mac!

Hold on - you're stuck? Some thing's broken? You belong to the theory group and are generally terrified of computers? Here's a list of people you can ask for more help.

• CSG: The DoC Computing Support Group can help with account information, file restoration from their servers, and other things that are not specific to your Mac. They cannot help with Mac specific problems. Sorry!
• ICT: The college IT Services department can answer questions about your e-mail. They might also be able to help with software issues not specific to CSG.
• Apple: The Genius Bar at Apple Stores can fix mostly anything that's wrong with your Mac (both hardware and software), but they cannot fix CSG specific networking problems. You can check if your machine is still in warranty before you go, and then reserve an appointment.