Welcome to the School of Informatics!

Getting help

The School provides many of its own computing services. This site can tell you a lot about them - just explore its menus or search for a key word. If you need further help, please use ⇒ this computing support form to contact the Informatics computing support team.

Other computing services are provided by the University (actually by Information Services, or IS). To get help with those services, use ⇒ EdHelp.

WiFi

To get access to the University's wifi network eduroam, visit ⇒ ed.ac.uk/wifi to set it up automatically, or follow the instructions on ⇒ How to set up wifi on your device.

Accounts

You will get two computing accounts:

Your University Login
This is used for computing services provided by the University: for example MyED, email (Office365), University computing labs (running Windows). You will be emailed details of this account prior to your arrival at the University, including details on how to set your password.
DICE account
This is used for computing services provided by the School of Informatics - for example the School's ⇒ remote desktop service and its DICE computing labs in Appleton Tower. Your DICE account will be created when you register for an Informatics course, and details of how to activate your account will be emailed to your student email account before Welcome Week. The email explains that you can set the password for your DICE account by accessing the ⇒ password portal using your ⇒ Your University Login account details. Please choose different passwords for your University Login and DICE accounts!

Student laptops

Informatics strongly recommends that you have your own laptop (or desktop) computer. We provide a minimum specification which new laptops should meet - but existing laptops do not have to meet that specification, and you can borrow a laptop if you need to. The student laptops page has more details:

Informatics computers

Students taking Informatics courses will usually use the School's computing environment, DICE. You can find these in the Informatics student computing labs in Appleton Tower. The labs house over 260 desktop PCs running DICE.

As well as ⇒ wifi the labs have ⇒ network ports for connecting a personal laptop with a network cable.

Learn about Linux and DICE

You can learn about Linux and DICE on the ⇒ Linux page.

Remote working

To learn about working remotely, see:

Backups

If you keep University files on your own computer, you should make backup copies of them, in case your computer breaks or is lost.

Printing

Taught students are ⇒ charged for printing.

Behaviour

The use of all University computing and network facilities is governed by the ⇒ University Computing Regulations and other ⇒ relevant policies .

The School also has a ⇒ Good Practice Guide.

Other useful information

Last reviewed: 
13/01/2023