NOTE: Andromeda (Newark) and Crab (Camden) users can use this document as a reference.

Log In to Finish Setting Up Your RCI Guest Account

After New Brunswick Computing Services processes your Guest Account application form, the Accounts Office will contact you by telephone and you are ready to create your account. Account creation is available at the following: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/rats/rats.cgi

More information on how to create an account is available at http://www.nbcs.rutgers.edu/newdocs/newuser004/rmakeacct.php3.

Two other useful documents related to account issues are: "Creating Accounts on OIT Systems" and "Account Problems and Issues: Creation, Use, and Closing." Both documents are available online.

Using Your RCI Guest Account at Home

Once your account is set up, you can use it from Rutgers terminals or by connecting from home with a computer equipped with a modem. The two basic options for accessing your account from a home computer are (a) using an Internet Service Provider and connecting to your RCI account with the SSH program, and (b) dialing into the Rutgers system by configuring and running a PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) connection with dialup networking. The option you select will probably depend on whether direct dialing to a Rutgers telephone number is a local or long-distance call for you.

Detailed instructions for configuring and running PPP with dial-up networking for both the Windows (98, ME, 2000, and XP Professional) and Macintosh (OS X, with limited support for older systems) platforms are available online.

Electronic Mail

Your RCI Guest Account includes access to electronic mail, or e-mail. The IMAP mail servers permit access to folders stored on your account from any IMAP-using mail client (which most modern clients provide -- OIT discourages the use of the older POP server methods).

You can configure desktop mail client programs to handle e-mail from your RCI account. Detailed instructions for configuring the supported clients (to date, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Mac OS X Mail) are available online.

People familiar with SSH can also use a text-based e-mail program, called Pine, directly on RCI. To use it, you must connect to your account with the SSH program and then type pine at the system prompt. This will give you an opening screen menu containing command options and help. Online documentation for using Pine is available.

Access to your e-mail from public computers, where configuring a program or installing the SSH client might be a problem, is also available through the web-based SquirrelMail program, available through the webmail.rci.rutgers.edu web page. Some people prefer to use this as their primary mail reader.

Other Software Available Through Your RCI Account

Your RCI Guest Account gives you access to a number of programs, utilities, and internet applications, and the system also supports a number of programming languages. The document "Faculty and Staff Guide to Computing Services " provides an overview of the software available.

Print versions of all the online documents mentioned here are available at OIT/NBCS Help Desk, 013 Hill Center, Busch Campus, (732) 445-HELP (732-445-4357). A variety of technical documents are also available from the NBCS Help Desk Documentation home page.