Working in the new School of Public Health building

Introduction

In the new building, desks in the common areas are set up to allow any member of the SPH to work from any desk with their departmental laptop.

Some desks have PCs on them. These are to allow remote users a fast wired presence to our DIDE HPC cluster, or else they are powerful workstations for GPU work. Do not interfere with these PCs unless you are the registered owner.

Do not disconnect any cables. If you are unsure of how things work, speak directly to your local IT staff.

How to work (laptop users)

The first step is to book a desk. You may not use a desk unless you have booked it for the time period which you are sat at the desk. The booking system link is here. Log in with your Imperial account.

Once you have booked a desk, connect your laptop using the supplied USB-C cable. This single cable handles the following functions:

1. Power. Your laptop does not need its charger if it’s a USB-C type. Obviously if it’s the old barrel type you need to connect your charger to the white sockets on the desk.
2. Screens. The cable connects you to the two screens. If it does not, check that the main Dell screen which the cable connects to is set to have the input source as USB-C.
3. Keyboard and mouse. These accessories are connected to the screen and are used by both the desktop PC (if any) and the laptop. Do not disconnect these to connect them directly to your laptop.
4. (Optional): Network. In some cases, such as the private offices used exclusively by one staff member, the cable also handles their network connection.

How to work (desktop users)

The first step is to book a desk. You may not use a desk unless you have booked it for the time period which you are sat at the desk. The booking system link is here. Log in with your Imperial account.

Once you have booked a desk, you may sit at the keyboard and mouse and use the PC exactly as you have always done.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes, especially with older laptops, things might not go exactly to plan. Read on.

My laptop is so old that I don’t have any USB-C ports.

This has been a standard port for 7-8 years. If your laptop is older than this then it’s really time to upgrade. You also won’t be able to upgrade to Windows 11 in 2024 when all support for Windows 10 ends. ICT will be blocking all access from Windows 10 computers once support expires.

I plugged into my USB-C port and nothing happens.

First of all, try another port. Usually one of them is designated as a port supporting external displays (often indicated by a lightning symbol, which curiously denotes it as a Thunderbolt port - not to be confused with a Lightning port, which you would expect from the logo).

If that fails, especially with HP laptops, then you’ll need to install the software to talk to the dock in the main Dell screen. Go here and install the software. Once these packages are installed (installed by default on Dell laptops), restart your laptop and try again.

What’s a USB-C port and what does it do?

It’s a little socket in the side of your laptop, about the size of the charging socket on your phone. The role of a USB-C port is mostly for data transfer, e.g. to memory sticks, but these days is also capable of charging and carrying video, audio and network traffic.

I’ve an Apple laptop and I don’t have USB-C ports.

Yes you do, but Apple calls them Thunderbolt ports. You can identify the ports on your Apple laptop on this page. If you want to read about the subtle differences between USB-C and Thunderbolt, read here.

Nothing’s working. I’ve tried different ports and I’ve installed the software.

The most likely explanation is that the USB-C cable has come out of the back of the monitor. Carefully push it back in, or see your local IT staff.

The next most likely explanation is that the main Dell screen (the one with the USB-C cable connected) is set to not display from the USB-C cable. Change the monitor source to be USB-C (it will be labelled as ‘USB-C (PD)’ - the PD means Power Delivery, meaning it will also charge your laptop).