[Acocoops] Arts Computing Labs Thoughts

Wed Nov 5 12:48:23 EST 2025

Afternoon Will,

Some very interesting insights and you finally got access to the full wired speeds !!! In particular I'm hoping my continuous "expressing concerns" with the 802.1x authenciation system has been poorly received had changed things, but we will investigate.

I've added our co-op email address (& manager Jameson) so we can share your information with the co-op team, so we can help develop better services.

For such a extensive and complete feedback (including images), we would like to offer you something. Do you need a new laptop bag or sleave (as a thank you)?
https://www.kensington.com/p/products/laptop-cases-bags/totes-briefcases-for-tablets-laptops/ls240-laptop-carrying-case/

Sincerely, Bill

William R Baer, BASc (Systems Design)

Director IT - Arts Computing Office (ACO)

Bill.Baer @ uwaterloo.ca

Cell: 905-320-0483

Bill.Baer @ gmail.com

The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our _ Indigenous Initiatives Office_<https://uwaterloo.ca/human-rights-equity-inclusion/indigenousinitiatives>.

________________________________
From: William James Ancich <wjancich at uwaterloo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2025 10:57 PM
To: Bill Baer <wrbaer at uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: Arts Computing Labs Thoughts

Hey Bill,

It's Will, the multi-monitor guy. I'm actually an engineering student but found my way to PAS because it's the only place on campus I'm aware of that I can have such a setup. So yeah, I'm a fan of it, but I'm admittedly an edge case. Most students seem content to use their devices as-is. Many don't bother to find an external monitor to use, let alone two. It could be that the idea never crosses people's minds, but I would guess the main reason is that very few people's devices have the necessary ports, at least if we're talking about only using the USB-C cables that are provided. Interestingly, these monitors (ThinkVision P27h-20<https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd500392-thinkvision-p27h-20-flat-panel-monitor-overview>) do support daisy chaining through a Display Port cable<https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/monitor/thinkvision_p27h_20_ug_en.pdf#page=13>, so if they were configured that way I think most people could get the same result. On the flipside, I've seen the room one over (1098) get pretty busy at times, so without adding more monitors to compensate, halving the number of stations just for the sake having dual monitor setups wouldn't make much sense.

Anyway if there were any plans to purchase computer lab equipment in the future I'd say this:

  *
For any general-purpose lab, at least half of the stations (easily) could just be a BYOD setup (like in PAS 1098, 1099) without it causing any issues
     *
Having external displays is good enough IMO, but peripherals being available might be appreciated by some
  *
Having desktops available as an option is always good, although probably not many are needed these days
     *
Engineering labs go way overboard with how many they supply; most people just use their laptops in front of them and the setup goes completely unused
     *
Some desktops could be equipped with KVM+Dock like this<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKgbO9tS5_I> to accommodate either use case
  *
Especially if dual monitor setups are a consideration, it might make sense to buy cheaper monitors without all the integrated hub/dock features and then have them connect to a standalone dock in the case of BYOD setups
     *
It's a bit more complicated, but more flexible and should be around the same cost if not cheaper
  *
Maybe consider mounting monitors on arms, not a big deal though

More than anything I just wish there was more than one place to work that is quiet and has this setup.

A small aside: I relied on lab computers for most of my undergrad, but the biggest pain point - and why I stick to using my laptop now - is because you have to sign back into everything from scratch every time you log on. I asked IT about it a couple years ago wondering if this was a bug, but I think I was told it's a deliberate decision for security reasons. No idea if it's true, but thought it was worth mentioning.

The other thing you asked about was the ethernet connection. I know in the past a wired connection would often open http://ns-blackhole.private.uwaterloo.ca/. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore, but I can still access the same link manually. The page links to a PDF version of this article<https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/pages/361791643/Windows+10+802.1x+Wired+Authentication> (same as what the QR codes send you to). I've followed the guide multiple times, but I've never gotten it to work. After following the guide, the status for the connection will read "Attempting to authenticate" but presumably fails and then goes back to "Unidentified network". I've always just relied on using Wi-Fi instead. This just happened today, but for the first time I got the attached dialog box after waking my laptop from sleep. After clicking connect, the wired connection is now working and I'm getting close to gigabit speeds. I couldn't tell you what I did differently this time, or why it only started working the day after I last touched my settings, but there you go.

For reference I'm using a ThinkPad T580 running Windows 10 Pro Version 22H2.

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know.

Best regards,

Will
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