23 Software Resources
23.1 Overview of IT services
23.1.1 UA Information Technology
For information on available services and procedures, see the UITS getting started page.
Excellent 24-7 support: (520) 626-TECH (8324)
23.1.2 UA Research Computing
The “University of Arizona Cyberinfrastructure and Research Support” Report provides a comprehensive inventory of UA computing resources.
23.1.3 Bio5 IT group
- To request IT support, you can submit a ticket at https://keating.bio5.org/ticket_support/.
23.2 Cloud & High Performance Computing
23.2.1 Campus Cluster
Every group gets a generous monthly allocation by default, plus infinite lower priority time as available.
- How to create an account
- Use kristinariemer@arizona.edu as sponsor email
- Overview of Campus HPC Resources
23.2.2 OpenStack
OpenStack is a cloud computing platform similar to AWS and other commercial clouds (except that it is open!) and we have allocations on CyVerse’s OpenStack environments.
23.2.3 Exosphere
An experimental open stack interface being developed by Chris Martin and Julian Pistorius. They would appreciate feedback and feature requests. See project README for install instructions.
23.3 Development / Collaboration Tools:
General philosophy is that each person should use what works; for collaborative work it helps to use the same tools! Feel free to suggest alternatives… tools like GitHub and Slack are chosen because they are the widely adopted and feature-rich.
- When specifying a new task/app/tool identify why it’s needed; what’s to be gained
23.3.1 Slack
- Instant Messaging, quickly sharing documents and code snippets, etc
- Video Conferencing
23.3.2 Zoom
- Documentation: is available under Virtual Communication & Collaboation
- Video conferencing (more robust and feature rich than Slack)
- Unless otherwise specified, if you are joining a meeting remotely we will meet in the group room (link pinned to our Slack channel)
23.3.3 Other Document Sharing Services
These aren’t our primary way of sharing documents, but it will be prudent to set up account because they are sometimes useful.
- Box
- Documentation https://arizona.account.box.com/login
- Access https://arizona.account.box.com/login
- Office 365
- Documentation https://it.arizona.edu/service/microsoft-office-365
23.4 Software
If you need a software license, first see if there are discounts for open source or academic users, and then ask Kristina if you need a license. When in doubt, ask. As with computers, she wants you to have the resources you need to be productive.
23.4.1 RStudio
For R users, RStudio makes the development process easier, and we can assume that collaborators will use RStudio unless they have a reason not to. Many other great IDEs exist, e.g. VSCode, but it is okay in teaching, documentation, and demos to assume that learners will have access to RStudio.
23.4.2 PyCharm
We are eligible for free PyCharm Educator licenses
I received the following instructions in an email from customer support:
if you are using this license for academic research, you are eligible to apply for a free Educational license below:
http://www.jetbrains.com/student
If your institution domain is not available in the application, please attach your student/faculty ID and/or report card to the “OFFICIAL DOCUMENT” tab.
To Renew each year: (From their FAQ), “use the dedicated link in your JetBrains Account, or use a link from the automatic email reminder we send out one week before your subscription expires”
23.4.4 Postman
A free program that is useful for investigating and creating API endpoints.
23.4.5 Adobe tools:
UA has a site license for these powerful tools. For example, Acrobat Pro for PDF annotation and signing; Adobe Xd for UI mockups. See https://adobe.arizona.edu/ for more information. Those whose primary appointment is in CCT will need to request a License from Ryan Creswan: cresawn@arizona.edu. Otherwse, there is a link to a spreadsheet with all of the Adobe campus reps on this page.
23.4.6 Training Videos
Recording Zoom sessions is a great place to start. But often it is useful to edit these videos.
- OBS Studio is an open source software for video recording, editing, and live streaming welcome.
- Camtasia is a commercial video editing software; contact Kristina if you would like a license.
- You can also edit videos directly in YouTube with YouTube Studio
23.4.7 GIS
- QGIS is a widely used and fully featured open source GIS IDE. We should use this for teaching and documentation (unless python or R will work and the workflow can be scripted).
- ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Pro run on Windows. UA has a campus license to these and other ESRI services. And for Windows users there is an Excel plugin for simple maps. UA GIS also provides https://uagis.maps.arcgis.com/ for sharing map data.
- Tyson Swetnam has his Cloud based Ubuntu desktop enabled for GIS.
23.4.8 Survey123
Survey123 is part of ESRI’s offerings at the University of Arizona.
It is a cross-platform survey form that doesn’t need internet connection to work. These forms can become complex and have multiple subforms along with response-displayable content; optional content shows depending on the answer to a question.
The online form create site allows the development of multi-page, single form surveys. The downloadable Survey123 application is only available on Microsoft Windows and can create a much more conplicated form than the online version.