SOFTWARE  INFO

Students must read entire information below before going to the Software Center website.
Several technical issues you might encounter later are discussed below. 
Please read carefully and thoroughly.


ABOUT THE COMP SCI Software Center.  As an added benefit to Comp Sci students of GWC, you can now obtain full version copies of select programs you use for your Comp Sci class (such as Visual Studio or SQL Server.)  You can either have the CD's mailed to you (just pay e-academy.com's CD shipping/handling) or download a free copy, all from our Software Center website.  To qualify, you must be currently enrolled in any GWC Comp Sci class.  One software title restricted per qualified student.

Please note: you are NOT REQUIRED to obtain the software.  All our Comp Sci lab rooms have these software installed for your use during your lab time.  In addition, the GWC Student Computer Center (visit website) also has all these software installed in all their computers for your use.  The department is simply providing this software service as an added benefit to Comp Sci students.  This service may be subject to termination at any time.

HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR THE COMP SCI SOFTWARE CENTER?  You need to be officially enrolled in your Comp Sci class to get the software.  Petitioners and late adders will have to wait until they are officially enrolled.  If you have already registered, submit your email by going to www.gwcCS.com then click on Sign-up to get Software.  Fill out the online form and in a few days you will receive a Welcome Email from e-academy.com that contains your username, password and a link you can log on to gain access to software (view sample Welcome emails).


IT'S BEEN 3 BUSINESS DAYS AND I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM THE
COMP SCI SOFTWARE CENTER or E-ACADEMY.COM.  WHAT DO I DO?  
Try the following:

  • Check your inbox again.  Watch out for emails from:

    • elms_support (with email address:  elms_support@e-academy.com) or

    • User Import (with email address:  system_mail@e-academy.com) or

    • billing (with email address:  billing@e-academy.com)

  • Make sure you add all emails ending in @gwc.cccd.edu and @e-academy.com to your email contact list to ensure delivery to your inbox and not to your Bulk Mail or Spam Mail.

  • Try going to our Software Center website and click on Forgot Password.  Under username, type the email address you submitted.  If your account is already active, our system will then email you your password.

  • If all of the above fails, send an email to JRoxas@gwc.cccd.edu with your full name, class name, section, and a short message.

    •

Students can get the software below through our online Software Center:

Visual Studio 2005  (for students in CS 147, 175, 177, 178, 189, 196):

  1. There are two options:

    Option 1 - Get the CDs: You may choose to have all 5 CDs shipped to you:  Visual Studio CD # 1 and 2, and MSDN Library CD 1, 2 and 3.  The CDs are free (a $650.00 value), you just pay e-academy.com's shipping and handling. 
    After logging in to the Software Center, you MUST choose only the software titled: Visual_Studio.NET_2005_Professional_Full_Install (this software name is for ordering CD's only & not for downloading the software.)  CHOOSE THIS OPTION if you want the convenience of a ready-made CD and would not want to hassle with problems associated with downloading huge files, slow and unreliable internet connections, unzipping files, burning files to CDs, installation errors, and other problems that several Comp Sci students encounter.

    OR

    Option 2 - Download for free: There are 2 sets of programs for Visual Studio:

    1. Visual Studio 2005 (There are 2 CDs you can download.  After logging in to the Software Center, you must choose only the software titled: Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD1 (size 575MB) and Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD2 (size 597MB).  These 2 software titles are for download only and not for ordering CDs.)

    2. MSDN Library for Visual Studio (Help Files).  This is optional.  You must choose software title MSDN Library (Visual Studio .NET) Full (Jan 2004) to download this.  (size 1.7GB)

     

  2. Minimum System Requirements. Make sure your computer passes the Minimum System Requirements before you install the program. Go to: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718687.aspx 

    After passing the Minimum System Requirements, make sure you install the Visual Studio 2005 first before you install MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 (Help Files).
     

  3. For technical problems, see if there's a quick fix on the Support page of the Software Center website by clicking here.
     

  4. If you're having trouble logging into the system, ordering software, or completing your download, click here.
     

  5. More technical help and info for Visual Studio 2005 at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa973782.aspx
     

  6. The MSDN Library Help Files are also available online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library

SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition (for students in CS 171 - SQL)

1.   There are 2 disks you can download for free:  SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition CD1 (size 360MB) and CD2 (size 536MB).
(Currently you can only download this software;  the CD delivery option is unavailable.)

2.   Minimum System Requirements.  Make sure your computer passes the Minimum System Requirements before you install the program. 
Go to: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/developer/sysreqs.mspx

3.  For technical problems, see if there's a quick fix on the Support page of the Software Center website by clicking here.

4.  If you're having trouble logging into the system, ordering software, or completing your download, click here.

5.  More technical help and info for SQL Server 2005 at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/sql

Windows XP Professional.  If you choose to upgrade your operating system to Windows XP Pro, you must install this first before installing the Visual Studio or SQL.  (Please note: Windows Vista is not available on our Software Center website and is not yet supported by the campus.)

1.   If you want the CD, you must choose software name: Windows XP Professional (Single User) (this software name is for ordering CD only & not for downloading the software.)  Just pay e-academy's shipping and handling.  That's a fraction of the price for Windows XP Pro which retails elsewhere for $300.00.  CHOOSE THIS CD OPTION if you want the convenience of a ready-made CD and would not want to hassle with problems associated with downloading huge files, slow and unreliable internet connections, unzipping files, burning files to CDs, installation errors, and other problems that several Comp Sci students encounter. 

If you want to DOWNLOAD it for free, you must choose software title: Windows XP Professional with SP2 (Single User) ISO Image (size 537MB) (This software title is for download only and not for ordering the CD.)

2.  For technical problems, see if there's a quick fix on the Support page of the Software Center website by clicking here.

3.  If you're having trouble logging into the system, ordering software, or completing your download, click here.

4.  More technical help and info can be found on Microsoft's website.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

  1. I want to order the CDs instead of downloading them... Do I go to a different website? 
    You can do both on our online Software Center website as long as you select the appropriate software title.  After you receive your username and password via email, login to the online Software Center website and select the correct title that you want from the products page. 

    EXAMPLE, when getting Visual Studio:

    >> ORDERING THE CD's:  To order Visual Studio CDs you must choose only the software titled Visual Studio .NET 2005 Professional - Full Install. 

    >> DOWNLOADING:  To download instead of ordering the Visual Studio CDs, you must choose only the software titled: Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD1 and Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition CD2. 

    READY TO ORDER?: If you already received your username/password, select below:
             
         TO ORDER CD's:
              a.  Visual Studio and MSDN Library CDs
              b.  Windows XP Pro

         TO DOWNLOAD:  Click here to see details on how to download.
     

  2. I noticed that the downloaded files end with ".ISO"  What is an ISO?
    The software available for download are usually ISO image files. An ISO image file is an exact representation of a CD or DVD, including the content and the logical format. ISO files from our MSDN Software Center end with either an .ISO or .IMG extension. The extension might need to be changed to work with your CD writing software.
    Common utilities for writing an ISO file to recordable media such as CD-R include ISORecorder, Nero, and Roxio. The contents of images files can be extracted to hard drive using utilities such as ISObuster or DaemonTools. Image files can be mounted locally using the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP. For more information about image files, please visit the MSDN FAQ.
     

  3. I burned the "VS_Net_2005_Pro_CD1.ISO" file I got from the website to a CD and now all I have is a CD with a "VS_Net_2005_Pro_CD.ISO" file on it. This file is just as worthless as it was before. What am I doing wrong?

The problem is that instead of burning the contents of the ".ISO" file to a CD you burned the file itself. ISO files are not normal files that you can open with any old program and read. ISO files contain the entire contents of a CD inside them. These contents can include the name of the CD, a complete file system with hundreds of files in many folders, and even bootable parts to allow you to start you computer from the CD. It is this contained information that you want.

To access the data contained in an ISO file you have two options:

1) Open the ISO with an extraction program.
There are a few programs that will extract or mount ISO files without a CD Burner. This is the harder way to install because you have to get the directory structure correct (Microsoft says to start with CD2).  You are welcome to try these extractor programs:
WinRAR – Archive opening program that requires registration and expires without payment.
DAEMON Tools – CD Mounting/archiving program that costs $15 but has a free trial.
IsoBuster.exe - trial version.  Right-click and save to your computer, then open it.  (How to use)

         OR
2) Burn a CD using the ISO as a disk image.
The better solution for using a ISO File is to just burn it to a CD.  CDs do not take up hard drive space and are easier to use than extraction tools. To burn an ISO Image you will need a CD burner that will "Create a CD from an Image" or "Burn an Image" or "Copy Image to CD".  After you burned the files to separate CDs, just insert disk #1 to install and follow the prompts.

If you already used your CD burning program and could not get it to work then you might need to keep reading below.

Windows XP itself will write files to a CD but it will not write ISO images to a CD without extra software. The software we recommend is Alex Feinman's ISO Recorder. This software adds a "Copy image to CD" menu item to the context sensitive menu you get when you "right-click" on an ISO file.

4.  I got an error message while downloading the program.  What does it mean?

See list of error codes here.

5.  Can I download the program and burn it to a CD in the Comp Sci lab?

Yes, you can download the program and burn CDs in the lab.  See here for instructions.

6.  My problem isn't stated above.  Where can I get more info?

Go to the download website (http://msdn06.e-academy.com/gwc_csc) and click on Support on the top menu.