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Information for New Department Members

Internet Access

To get connected to the outside world, you can use either a hardwired Ethernet connection, or WiFi. Offices the building have Ethernet ports which look like this:

Ethernet Jack from Geology

The Easiest way to get connection is to email a photo of this box to help@epss.ucla.edu, and tell us which port you are going to be using. We can then remotely configure the ports to connect. You can also email us without a photo, and we can setup a time to come examine your office and help get you connected!

Wifi

UCLA and EPSS have many different WiFi networks, and your Lab, or research group may also have their own WiFi network. For official department business, we recommend that you use EDUROAM, which you can read more about here: https://www.it.ucla.edu/news/eduroam-wireless-network . For many tasks, such as printing to the department printers , this is the only wireless network that is supported.

Email

You may already have a UCLA email through google apps. If you have not yet, please contact Bruin Online for help setting one up.

Some EPSS Members are eligible for departmental email addresses, [<username>@epss.ucla.edu] In gerneral, these accounts are for faculty, staff and research appointments and not students. for more information, click on the “email” tab under “resources” in the top menu. To request an account: just click here and fill out the relevant information!

Printing:

The department offers free (within reason!) printing to all members. You can read more about setting up the connection yourself here or you can email us to help you. You will need a printer code to use these devices, please email helpdesk@epss.ucla.edu to request one.

TA’s will also be given a separate code to use for class related materials.

Computer labs

EPSS has two student computer labs, one in Geology 4691 and Geology b707. Any Student is welcome to use the labs, which have a combination lock. If you have a class scheduled in the labs, you can ask your TA, or professor for the access code, which changes quarterly. The code can be obtained from the helpdesk if you have forgotten it.

Software:

EPSS licenses some software for use in the computer labs in the department including:

  • Matlab
  • ArcGis Advanced
  • Microsoft Office Pro Plus
  • Adobe Creative Cloud (including Acrobat pro)
  • and More!

Students are all covered for Windows 10, Office Pro plus, and Adobe Acrobat pro. Please email the help desk if you need to install any of these, which are available for free to students in the department. We can install this on your personal devices as well. When in doubt, ask us!

Remote Access to EPSS Networks- RDP Edition

For the purposes of this document, we will cover remote desktop connections for windows hosts, using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Other methods and OS’s are coming soon.

  • A static IP address. These can be requested from the helpdesk.
    • Grad students seeking remote access should email the helpdesk and their Advisor/Lab PI
  • An account on the windows machine you wish to log into.
  • A UCLA login ID (needed for VPN access)
  • A computer that YOU OWN and can install remote desktop client from Microsoft
    • installing this on a public computer, such as a library computer must be powered on here at UCLA

*at this time, home Linux users should consult with the helpdesk about connecting to windows hosts

In order to access the EPSS network from off campus, you will need to tunnel your connection through the UCLA VPN. Instructions for installing and configuring the VPN are here: VPN INSTALLATION

On the machine you will remotely access (this step needs to be done at the machine, not remotely) you need to allow remote access. This setting is OFF by default on windows 10.

  1. Navigate to (Start>Settings) and in the search bar type “Remote Desktop
  2. You will see an entry called “Remote Desktop Settings
  3. Click this, and flip the switch “Enable Remote Desktop” to “on
  4. You will be asked to confirm this, click OK
  5. Once this is active, you will see two check boxes below.
    • Turn ON the “Keep my PC awake for connections when it is plugged in
    • Turn OFF “make my PC discoverable on Private Networks to enable Automatic Connection from a remote device
  1. You need the static IP (from the helpdesk) of the computer you want to connect to. This will be a number like 169.232.144.244, or 128.97.31.89
  2. To get the IP of your machine, open a command prompt (search for “CMD” from start menu) and type “ipconfig” and hit enter.
  3. you will see a lot of output, but you are looking for the “Ethernet adapter” setting.
  4. write down the address listed under “IPv4 address

You will need the user account name and password that you use to log into the computer when you are on site. Write these down on paper, you can obtain the username by clicking on (Start>Settings>Accounts).

  1. To test the connection, open the remote desktop client on the computer you want to connect with.
  2. If you are off campus, skip this step
    • If you are testing from on campus, connect to PhySciOpen WiFi network (this will simulate an off campus connection) EDURoam will not work for testing reliably, and may cause the remote connection to work but not from off campus.
  3. Open the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client you installed in STEP 1 type your UCLA login id and password, then wait for the DUO authentication message.
  4. AFTER you are connected to the VPN, open remote desktop client. (if you have a macOS machine at home, you can download this from the app store)
  5. In the “computer” (or PC name on an apple device) field, type the IP address from STEP 3
  6. Click on “show options
  7. In “username” enter the username you would use to log into the remote machine from STEP 3
  8. You can optionally select “allow me to save credentials” and save the connection information for later use (this means you can click a shortcut to connect in the future, but only do this step on a off campus computer that is under your control)
  9. you may see a notice, saying that the computer you are connecting to has a certificate that couldn’t be verified. you can ignore this message.
  10. If all goes well, you should get a full screen view of your remote computer!

Remember not to shutdown the remote session, or you will not be able to log back in from offsite!

Using Zoom Meetings

Zoom is UCLA’s choice for video and web conferencing. Through a system-wide license agreement, the University of California has negotiated a significant discount off the regular price of a Zoom Pro license. You can read more about Zoom here.

Click the button below for instructions on how to handle Zoom meetings

How To Use The Department Printers

The EPSS copy room in Geology 3607

EPSS provides two Ricoh MFD high capacity printers for use in the department. These are located in Geology 3807 (across from the Main Office). The use of these printers is open to all department members, but requires a user code to be used. You can obtain a code by emailing helpdesk@epss.ucla.edu with your name, affiliation (what lab/group) and your status (faculty, student, researcher postdoc ect)

Large classes such as EpsSci 8, 9, 10 ect. are issued their own codes, since the printing requirements for these classes is very large. If you are a TA for one of these courses, you can contact the TA coordinator, or email the helpdesk to obtain the user code for those classes.

These devices can print black and white or full color, and can also scan documents and email them to you. A USB flash drive, (must be FAT formatted to be read) can be used as well to both provide documents for printing (PDF and IMG formats only) or to store scanned files, if you do not want them emailed.

Once you have a user code, or if you have one already, follow these steps to install and use the printer. the instructions are different for macOS and Windows machines (printing from Linux is possible, but not supported at this time, if you need this function, please email the helpdesk)

For both platforms

Go to https://ricoh-usa.com and click on support and downloads. Then in the search box type “c6503”

Screenshot of ricoh website with string filled in search box.

then click on the name “MP c6503” under the drivers icon to navigate to the download page. you will be asked to agree to the Ricoh terms of service, please click yes.

The website should automatically select your operating system. for macOS computers there should be one PS driver option. For windows machines, please select the PCL6 driver once this has downloaded, please install the driver.


Windows specific instructions:

To add the printers to your computer, you will need to be connected to EPSS ethernet network, (wall jacks) or connected to EduRoam (wireless), in the Geology/Slichter building. You may encounter difficulty if you are connected your lab/group’s own wireless or switch. PhySciOpen will also not work. If you have trouble, just email the helpdesk and we can assist you.

Once you have downloaded the driver as listed above, the process is the same for both machines (color and black and white). For this tutorial, we will focus on the MP C6503, color copier. Download the driver as above, but for the windows 10 machines, select the PCL 6 driver.

arrow showing the correct driver version to install.

Download the driver installer, then you will be given the option to unzip the contents of the driver. (if you are given a security warning, its ok to continue) when you see the dialog below, click unzip, and when the process is complete, copy the highlited text from the box and paste into a file browser.

win zip window

So, in this example, we would copy “c:/temp/z80159L15” into the file browser, then hit enter to navigate to the folder, like so:

Which will bring you to the temp folder. click on “RV Setup” to launch the driver installer.

open RV_SETUP.

When the dialog box appears to ask if you want to allow the program to make changes click ‘yes’. You will be prompted to answer a few questions by the installer, answer ‘yes’ to the first question and then select ‘network’. The installer will try to find the printer on its own. If you see the Ricoh printer in the list, please select it and continue to “FINAL STEP” below.

Otherwise, if you see this message:

error

You should click ok and then click on the “click if you cannot find the device” button, then “specify device ip address” button.

cant find device button
specify ip address screen.

Now you can enter the IP of the printer manually.

  • If you are installing the c6503 driver for the color printer you must use 128.97.31.249 as the ip address.
  • For the MP 7503 black and white printer, use 128.97.31.241

If everything goes correctly, you should see the printer in the list, and can install it!

FINAL STEP!

Once you have installed the printer, you need to add your job code to the printer dialog, otherwise your jobs will all be discarded by the printer. Go to: Start menu >> Settings >> Devices >> Printers and Scanners.

devices settings
printers and scanners

If you DON’T see the Ricoh device listed here, something went wrong! (dont worry, just email us!) . Otherwise, select the Ricoh device and click “manage.”

manage button.

Then select “Printing Preferences.”

select printing preferences.

a) RICOH MP C6503 PCL 6 Printer:

And navigate to the Detailed settings tab, select the “job setup ” menu from the vertical items in the center menu and fill out your personal Job code in the “USER CODE box. Click apply and YOU ARE DONE!

setup screen.

b) Ricoh MP 7503 printer:

And navigate to the Basic settings tab, then click the “User Code Setting” and fill out your personal job code in the “USER CODE box. Click ok then click apply and ok and YOU ARE DONE!

If you have any problems, or even after this, you are unable to print, please reach out to us!


Instructions for macOS

On macOS, the setup of these printers takes two extra steps. Another important caveat is that unfortunately you cannot print to these printers from Safari. We have been in contact with Ricoh about this issue, and it seems it rests with how Safari implements their print drivers and settings. Any other browser will work (chrome, Firefox, edge ect).

  1. Open system preferences.
  2. Select “printers and scanners”
  3. to the left, in the window called printers, you will see a plus sign (+) at the bottom of the window. click this to add a printer.
  4. If you are connected to a wall jack on EPSS networks:
    1. On the network you should see two Ricoh printers at the bottom of the list with “bonjour multi function” listed under ‘kind’
    2. select the printer you wish to add, then wait for the fields at the bottom of the screen to populate.
    3. the field ‘use’ will likely default to “secure air print” which you will have to change to the “Ricoh XXXXX” value.
  5. If you are on Eduroam:
    1. if you are on Eduroam, you will have to add the printers by IP address. 128.97.31.241 is the black and white printer, and 128.97.31.249 is the color c6503.
    2. to add an IP printer, at the top left are of the ‘add’ window, you will see a grey globe icon that says IP. click on this icon.
    3. then enter the ip of the printer you wish to add.
    4. if this is successful, you should see the fields on the bottom of this window populate. be sure that under ‘use’ the proper printer model driver is selected.
    5. continue to the “adding job code” steps below this list.

Adding job Code on MacOS

This step assumes that you have already installed the Ricoh drivers, and that you have added the printers to your system using the steps above. Other methods may work to add the printers, but they will fail silently. To add a job code on macOS, you will have to use a print dialog from an application, such as word, PowerPoint, or a web browser other than safari.

For this example, we will use MS word.

  1. Open any word document.
  2. Open a print dialog (file>>print)
  3. Select the Ricoh printer you wish to use:
  4. Under the “presets “menu you should see a dialog dropdown called “copies & pages”, click this and select “job log”
    1. if ‘job log’ is not showing, its possible you need to reboot to fully add the printers, or there was a problem in adding the printers in earlier steps
  5. Under job log, you will see a box called “enable user code” and a field below to add you code. check the box and type your code into this field.
  6. Then, to save this setting, and avoid having to enter the code for every print job, click on the “presets” dropdown menu, and select “save current settings as preset”