About the Dell Latitude D600

The Jean and Alexander Heard Library makes this laptop computer available for checkout to all students, faculty and staff of Vanderbilt University. This computer is equipped with the Windows XP operating system, Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, network and internet connectivity through either an ethernet cable or wireless card (internal), a cd-rom drive, and a 3.5" floppy drive.

Important Notice: All data and all settings beyond the original computer setup are erased from this computer each time it is restarted. Do not save data to the internal hard drive (also known as the C:\ drive), or your data is at great risk of being lost. To save data, use a 3.5" floppy diskette, a USB storage device, or save to your VUspace (see Connecting to VUspace).

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Turning the computer on:

To turn on the computer, open the display and press the power button, located on the upper middle of the base. No log-on name or password will be required.

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Managing Power

This Dell Latitude D600 is equipped with one lithium ion battery. When fully charged, this battery should be sufficient to run the computer for approximately four hours of normal operation. Power intensive use, such as using a wireless network card or running the cd-rom, will reduce the expected time. The system tray, in the lower right hand corner of your display screen, includes a power meter icon which will indicate the charge left on the computer battery.

To connect the computer to a power outlet, plug the AC adapter to the back of the computer (see the diagram below), plug the AC adapter into the AC adapter cable, and plug the adapter cable into a properly grounded, three prong power outlet. The computer can be run indefinitely when properly connected to an AC power source. The computer battery will recharge in about 1 hour when the computer is off, or in a longer period of time if the computer is in operation.

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Using the Mouse

The Dell Latitude D600 includes two sets of built-in devices for managing the behavior of the computer's mouse: a track stick and a touch pad. Additionally, an external mouse (included) can be plugged into the USB port (see diagram below) found on the back of the laptop.

The track stick (1) can be found in the center of the keyboard, between the G, H, and B keys (see diagram below). The direction of the mouse can be controlled by placing a finger on the track stick and placing mild pressure toward the desired direction, like using a small joy stick. For a clicking response, the left and right mouse buttons (2) located under the keyboard space bar correspond to the left and right buttons on a standard mouse.

The touch pad can be found below the keyboard, between the left and right wrist rest areas (see diagram above). The direction of the mouse can be controlled by lightly tracing a finger across the surface of the touch pad. To imitate the clicking action of a standard mouse, the left and right mouse buttons under the touch pad can be used, or a light single or double click on the surface of the touchpad itself will trigger the clicking response.

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Connecting to the Vanderbilt University Network

Using the Patch Cord

To connect to the Vanderbilt University network and the internet, connect one end of a cat-5 standards compliant ethernet patch cable (included) into the network connector port, found on the back of the computer(see diagram below); and plug the other end of the patch cable into an ethernet port. Many ports are available in all Vanderbilt University libraries. For library port locations, see the library staff at the reference or circulation desk.

Using Wireless

Wireless access to the Vanderbilt network is now available in the Central, Divinity, Education, Law, Management, Music, and Science & Engineering libraries, as well as many other locations on campus (for a list of locations, see http://www.vanderbilt.edu/its/wireless/coverage.php). You do not have to connect to the wireless network. If you are in one of the above locations the computer will automatically connect to the wireless network. The system tray, located in the lower right hand portion of the task bar, includes an icon for the local area connection which will indicate whether or not the computer has successfully connected to a network.

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Saving Data

All data beyond the original computer setup are erased from this computer each time it is restarted. Do not save data to the internal hard drive (also known as the C:\ drive), or your data is at great risk of being lost. To save data, use a 3.5" floppy diskette, a USB storage device, or save to your VUspace (see Connecting to VUspace).

It may be necessary to remove the CDROM drive in order to use the floppy drive. First click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" button located in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Select the device that you want to safely remove by clicking on the name of the device. In this case, click on SAMSUNG CD-ROM SN-124

Once the device is stopped you will receive a message stating that it is safe to remove the hardware.

Next, remove the CD-ROM drive from the right side of the laptop by pressing the device latch release so that the latch release pops out.

Pull the device by the latch release to remove the device from the module bay.

Now insert the floppy drive.

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Connecting to VUspace

To connect to VUspace in order to retrieve or save files in one's personal user space on the Vanderbilt network, double-click on the 'VUspace_Mounter' icon on the display desktop. Enter your VUnetID and VUnet Password. Notice: in order to connect to VUspace, your personal VUnetID must already have been activated, and your VUspace must already have been claimed. For more information about your VUnetID and VUspace, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vuspace/. This page includes step by step instructions for activating your VUnetID and claiming your VUspace.

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Printing

This laptop has been pre-configured to print to one designated printer in the library from which it circulates, regardless of where the computer is connected to the network. For the location of the pre-configured printer, see the documentation enclosed in the laptop carrying case, or see a library staff person at the reference or circulation desk.

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Applications Installed

Microsoft Office

This laptop is equipped with the Microsoft Office 2000 Professional suite of productivity applications, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. These programs can be launched by clicking on the Start menu, choosing Programs, and then the desired application. For more information on using Microsoft Office applications, see the Help menu available in each program.

Important Notice: All data and all settings beyond the original computer setup are erased from this computer each time it is restarted. Do not save data to the internal hard drive (also known as the C:\ drive), or your data is at great risk of being lost. To save data, use a 3.5" floppy diskette, a USB storage device, or save to your VUspace (see Connecting to VUspace).

Other Applications

In addition to Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, this laptop has the following applications installed:

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Laptop Front, Side, and Back View Diagrams

Front View:

1 Display 7 Speakers
2 Power button 8 Track stick/touch pad buttons
3 Device status lights 9 Track stick
4 Keyboard 10 Volume control buttons
5 Touch pad 11 Mute button
6 Display latch 12 Keyboard status lights

Left Side View:

1 Air vents 5 Audio connectors
2 PC Card slot 6 Hard drive
3 Smart card slot 7 Security cable slot
4 Infared sensor

 

Right Side View:

1 Security cable slot 3 Device latch release
2 Module bay

 

Back View:

1 USB connectors (2) 6 Video connector
2 S-video TV-out connector 7 Serial connector
3 Modem connector 8 AC adapter
4 Network connector 9 Air vents
5 Parallel connector

 

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