The Department pioneered the introduction of interactive laboratory work for first year students in Australia and is making a determined effort to provide the best possible laboratory facilities for all students. The First Year Computer Science laboratory currently comprises 40 Power Macintosh microcomputer workstations plus high-quality laser printers. A Faculty Laboratory of 35 Power Macintoshes colour microcomputers is also available during normal working hours. Check availability of the laboratory on the time tables placed at the laboratory entrance. All devices are connected to the campus computer network and can access the Department's SUN servers running the Solaris operating system.
Individual subjects use a range of programming languages and software systems.
A number of working models connected to the microcomputers allow realistic interfacing, control and real time computing experiments to be set up. About 10 Intel Based machines and several Power Macintoshes are available for advanced programming courses. The equipment includes a Labmate mobile robot, a Yamabico mobile robot. The laboratory is linked to the campus network. There is an isolated network of PCs running Linux for virus, firewall and intrusion detection research.