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The Spark

Igniting the imagination through cooperative learning

Standard Desktop Software

APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE ON DESKTOPS/Laptops Standard

The applications available on the desktops and laptops supported by the Spark meet the UNT computer lab systems standards for student computing. The chart below outlines the various software and what type of machines the software is available on from The Spark. It is important to note that UNT provides access to remote software that does not need to be installed a the given station. To get more information on remote access go to mylab.unt.edu

In the event the software available from the Spark does not meet your needs you can submit a Software Technology Review request however not all requests will pass the tech review. Therefore it is important to remember that the computer lab system has a number of virtual and physical lab options that should be able to support your academic required computing needs.

If you would like to request a technical review for an application to be considered for the desktop or laptops support by the Spark, please complete the following form.

Disclaimer: The SPARK does not support outside hardware or software brought in by our patrons. Only hardware and software installed by the technical support group for the facility will be maintained. However, hardware or software that works in our current environment can be used but it is used at the risk of the patron. This list is subject to change without notice.

SECURITY WARNINGS/INFORMATION

  • Laptop borrowers are expected to have read the [Information Security handbook][]. The Information Security handbook contains UNT computing guidelines and policy for UNT faculty, staff and students. This document is available for review and print and is required reading for anyone using UNT computing resources. Departments that work with financial, medical, academic, or any other sensitive information are required to read the security handbook and become familiar with the policies and guidelines listed within as a continued effort by The University of North Texas to prevent FERPAHIPAAGLBADMCA, and [Federal Copyright Law][] violations.
  • Laptop borrowers are expected to refrain from deleting, modifying, or otherwise altering any hardware or software including display and desktop settings. Personal software or files should not be saved or installed to the laptops hard drive.
  • All users are expected to use the Libraries’ wireless access in a legal and responsible manner, consistent with the educational and informational purposes for which it is provided.
  • The UNT wireless network should be treated as an insecure network. There can be un-trusted parties between you and anyone with who you communicate, and any information being transmitted can potentially be intercepted by other wireless users. Cautious and informed wireless users choose not to transmit personal information (credit card numbers, social security numbers, passwords or any other sensitive information) while using any wireless connection. Please take appropriate precautions when using the wireless connection.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES AND REMINDERS

  • Do not sync your iPod or other MP3 players with iTunes. You might lose information as the laptops will erase anything saved to the hard drive.
  • The Libraries are not responsible for the loss of or damage to a user’s file during the loan period.
  • The Libraries are not responsible for any computer viruses that may be transferred to, or from, a user’s storage device.
  • The Libraries or UNT cannot be held responsible for any information (credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.) that is compromised through the wireless network.
  • The laptop is your responsibility while it is checked out to you. Never leave the laptop unattended.

SAVING YOUR WORK

  • Do not save any files to the laptops hard drive. They will be erased when the laptop is turned off.
  • Files can be saved to a personal storage device or your UNT Student Storage Space on OneDrive.
  • Once the computer is shut down, any files saved on the hard drive will be erased.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

  • Library staff does not provide technical or software support for users.
  • If you experience problems with your borrowed laptop, please return it to the appropriate desk. You will be given another laptop, if available.
  • Technical Support and Software Application questions may be directed to the Spark at TheSpark@unt.edu or by calling 940-369-5259 Monday through Friday 8am-8pm.

Software NEW

  Software and Description Desktop Laptop SPARK Tutorials
Accessibility Accessibility is a program that comes with built‑in features that work the way you want them to work for your Apple device. 

► Mac

    Customizing Macs for Accessibility and Ease of Use
  Automator is a 

 

► MacBook   Customizing Macs for Accessibility and Ease of Use
  JAWS is a screen reader program that allows blind and visually impaired users to read their computer screen with text-to-speech or a braille display. ► Win   ► Win

The JAWS PDF reader experience

JAWS training page - Information on using JAWS screen reader.

  MAGic is a screen magnification software with speech. ► Win    

MAGic training page - Information on using MAGic screen magnifier.

  Microsoft Windows Ease of Access Center - The Ease of Access Center is a control panel application that allows you to set up the accessibility of your Windows computer to suit your physical and cognitive needs. ► Win     Customizing Windows 10 for Accessibility and Ease of Use
Data & Statistics ArcGIS is an application where you can create, analyze, manage, and share geographic information with users around the world. ► Win   ►Win ArcGIS Pro Essential Training

 

Google Earth Pro is a free software application that allows visualization, assessment, overlay, and creation of geospatial data. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ► Win  

 

MATLAB is a programming language used to analyze data, develop algorithms, and create models. ► Win & Mac     MATLAB 2018 Essential Training
  QGIS is a geographic information system application that allows users to view, edit, and analyze geospatial data. ► Win ► Dell  ►Win Learning QGIS
  SAS is a software tool used to analyze statistical data.  ► Win     SAS Programming for R Users, Part 1
  SPSS is a software package used to analyze statistical data of social science. ► Win & Mac    

SPSS Statistics Essential Training

Harvard-MIT Guide to SPSS - Information about SPSS.

 

Tableau Desktop is a data visualization software that lets you see and understand data. 

Tableau Public is a free platform to explore, create, and publicly share data visualizations online. 

 

► MacBook

► Dell & MacBook

 

 

  Wolfram Mathematica is a single integrated, continually expanding system that covers all of the areas of modern technical computing. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook   Mathematica 11 Essential Training
Internet Browsers Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Use keyboard shortcuts for Chrome
  LockDown Browser - Respondus is a browser that locks down where your testing environment is located in (canvas).  ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ► Win  
  Microsoft Edge is a cross-platform web browser created and developed by Microsoft.  ► Win ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Learning the Microsoft Edge Browser
  Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser developed by Mozilla.  ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ► Win -Firefox Help - A help page for the Firefox web browser.
  Safari is a graphical web browser developed by Apple. ► Mac ► MacBook   Browse and search the web with Safari
3D Modeling AutoDesk 3ds Max is a powerful 3D modeling and animation solution used by game developers, visual effects artists, and graphic designers to create massive worlds, stunning scenes, and engaging virtual reality (VR) experiences.     ► Win 3ds Max 2022 Essential Training
  AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application.      ► Win AutoCAD 2021 Essential Training
  Blender is a free and open source 3D animation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing and game creation.   ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Blender 2.91 Essential Training
  Fusion 360 helps students and educators prepare for the future of design. It's the first 3D CAD, CAM, and CAE tool of its kind, connecting your entire product development process into one cloud-based platform.     ► Win Fusion 360 Essential Training
 

 

       
  Makehuman is a free and open source 3D computer graphics software middleware designed for the prototyping of photo realistic humanoids. It is developed by a community of programmers, artists, and academics interested in 3D modeling of characters.     ► Win  
  Meshmixer is a free 3D sculpting-based CAD (Computer Assisted Design) program created by Autodesk as part of their “123D” software line. (Also an Autodesk product)     ► Win Meshmixer Essential Training
 

OpenSCAD is a software for creating solid 3D CAD models. It is free software and available for Linux/UNIX, Windows and Mac OS X. Unlike most free software for creating 3D models (such as Blender) it does not focus on the artistic aspects of 3D modelling but instead on the CAD aspects. 

  ► Dell ► Win Creating a Captive Sphere with OpenSCAD
  SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) computer program that runs on Microsoft Windows. SolidWorks is published by Dassault Systèmes. *Note Solidworks needs to be on the most recent server to work (current as of 6/10/2020: 25734@libwinapps02) (This can also be found on the software volume)     ► Win SOLIDWORKS 2021 Essential Training
Multimedia Adobe Creative Cloud is a collection of applications and services from Adobe Inc. that gives subscribers access to software that is used for graphic design, video editing, web development, photography, etc. *Must have an active student license to access these apps ► Win & Mac   ► Win

Learning Adobe Creative Cloud

-Adobe Illustrator support page - Forums, tutorials and troubleshooting for Illustrator.

-Adobe Photoshop support page - Forums, tutorials, and troubleshooting for Photoshop.

Student Discounted License

  Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and raw developer.   ► Dell & MacBook    
  DVD Player is a media program where you are able to insert and play a DVD or CD. ► Mac      
  GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a cross-platform image editor where you can change its source code and share your changes.    ► Dell & MacBook    
  iMovie is a video editing software application developed by Apple Inc. ► Mac ► MacBook   iMovie 10.1.16 Essential Training
  Krita is a professional, free and open source painting program.   ► MacBook    
  Paint.NET is a free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. ► Win      
  Photos is a photo management and editing application developed by Apple. ► Mac ► MacBook   Touring the Photos interface
Office Software iWork Keynote is a presentation program developed by Apple that lets you create presentations. ► Mac ► MacBook   Keynote Essential Training
  iWork Numbers is an Apple program that lets you create spreadsheets. ► Mac ► MacBook   Numbers Essential Training
  iWork Pages is a powerful word processor developed by Apple that lets you create word documents. ► Mac ► MacBook   Pages Essential Training
  Microsoft Office is a collection of office-related applications that are used to create documents, presentations, spreadsheets, databases, etc. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ►Win -Microsoft’s Office Assistance Page - Provides help and tips for all Microsoft Office components.
  Write-N-Cite is a Microsoft Word plugin that lets you insert and edit citations from your RefWorks account. ► Win     Willis Library Style Page - Links to common style guides.
Other Specialty

Arduino IDE-The open-source Arduino environment makes it easy to write code and upload it to the i/o board. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The environment is written in Java and based on Processing, avr-gcc, and other open source software.

  ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Learning Arduino: Foundations
  Audacity is a sound editing software for multi track audio.   ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Learning Audacity
  Bantam Tools is used for PCB milling.     ► Win  
  Cura is a free software program that both prepares your files for printing (by converting your model into GCODE), and also allows you to control the operation of many 3D printers.   ► Dell ► Win Ultimaker Cura 4
  Cura LulzBot Edition is a slicing software for LulzBot 3D printers.   ► Dell    
  Cricut Design Space is a software where you can plan and create any design projects for use on the cricut.   ► Dell ► Win  
  Energia is an IDE for use with TI Launchpad.     ► Win  
 

Fritzing is an open-source hardware initiative that makes electronics accessible as a creative material for anyone. We offer a software tool, a community website and services in the spirit of Processing and Arduino, fostering a creative ecosystem that allows users to document their prototypes, share them with others, teach electronics in a classroom, and layout and manufacture professional pcbs. (Can download here as well)

    ► Win Fritzing - An Introduction
  Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.   ►Dell & MacBook ► Win Inkscape Essential Training
  Makerbot Desktop is a complete, free 3D printing solution for discovering, managing, and sharing your 3D prints.     ► Win 3D printing with a MakerBot
  OBS Studio is free and opeOOSDFn source software for video recording and live streaming.   ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Configuring OBS (Open Broadcaster Studio)
  Scratch is an offline editor where you can create your own games, animations, and interactive stories utilizing code blocks.   ► Dell ► Win Learning Scratch
 

Slic3r is the tool you need to convert a digital 3D model into printing instructions for your 3D printer. It cuts the model into horizontal slices (layers), generates toolpaths to fill them and calculates the amount of material to be extruded.

    ► Win Slic3r
  Streamlabs is a platform where you can stream live content across multiple platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, Zoom, etc.   ► Dell ► Win  
  Zoom is a video communication app where you can set up a virtual conference to chat using video and audio. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ► Win Learning Zoom
Utilities Adobe Acrobat is an application developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print and manage files in Portable Document Format. ► Win & Mac    

Acrobat DC Essential Training

-Adobe’s Acrobat support Page - Acrobat forums, tutorials, and troubleshooting.

  HandBrake is an open source tool for converting videos to any format of widely supported codecs.   ► Dell & MacBook    
   iTunes is a software application from Apple used to download, play, and manage both audio and video files. ► Mac ► MacBook   iTunes
  PuTTY is a telnet service that you can use as a command line to access remote systems. ► Win ► Dell ►Win

Telnet and SSH

-PuTTY documentation page - Full manuals for PuTTY.

  VLC is a multimedia player where you can play media files. ► Win & Mac ► Dell & MacBook ►Win  
  WinSCP is a secure file transfer between a local computer and a remote server. ► Win ► Dell  ► Win

WinSCP documentation age - Full instructions for using WinSCP.

  7-Zip is a file archiver that is used to compress and decompress files. ► Win ► Dell ►Win  
VR Unreal Game Engine is a game engine development software.     ► Win Unreal Essential Training (2019)
  Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies. The engine can be used to create both three-dimensional and two-dimensional games as well as simulations for its many platforms.     ► Win Unity 3D 2019 Essential Training

 

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