Siemens/Mentor licenses (for tools like Questasim) are WORKING for now
The vendor delivered a two-week temporary license extension while they work through the paperwork.
News for new and returning MCECS students – Fall 2025
The CAT has been busy throughout the Summer, making some substantial changes to our computer infrastructure. These changes may affect both onsite and remote users. Here are some highlights: Use of Autodesk products (Autocad, Autocad Electrical, Civil 3D, etc) now needs a special Autodesk account. Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is now available to protect your MCECS [...]
Beware of phishing spam!
Fall term is when scammers try to get you to give up your login credentials. They assume you may be new to the university or have let your guard down after a nice Summer break. Some of these new phishing campaigns are quite sophisticated, sometimes using compromised accounts on legitimate platforms. The fake login pages [...]
Protect your MCECS Account with Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is now available for your MCECS account. It uses 6-digit Time-based One Time Passcodes (TOTP) that can be generated by a number of popular authenticator applications. For details about how to set up MCECS MFA and how it functions, visit: https://cat.pdx.edu/users/computer-accounts/mfa/ Once multifactor factor authentication is enabled for your account, most authenticated [...]
Xfce – default Linux graphical desktop changed for REMOTE USERS
NOTE: In this context, “desktop” refers to the graphical user interface presented to a user. If you open a remote graphical desktop on our Linux systems, you will notice that the default desktop has now changed to Xfce. This change will be visible to people using Xrdp or VNC to make remote graphical [...]
Standalone Acrobat Pro gone from MCECS Computer Labs
Until recently, we had 10 designated computers in the EB 325 and FAB 55-17 Windows Labs that had Adobe Acrobat Pro for student needs. However, Adobe is no longer providing new lab use licenses for this standalone product. Since the old version we had will run out of software updates soon, we will not be [...]
db.cecs.pdx.edu data loss of after reload
We have restored databases on db.cecs.pdx.edu to the state they were at 6am on Sep 22. If you didn't make any changes to databases on that day until 7pm, your data is fine. Any changes made between 6am and 7pm on Sep 22 are irretrievably lost and will need to be re-done.
How addpkg works on Linux has changed
If you are an addpkg user on our Linux systems, be aware that package selections to your environment will no longer appear by default when you login. To make your addpkg selections appear, you will need to do one of the following: If you are logging in to a shell (ie: terminal), run the [...]
ECE systems mo and auto no longer have access to the Internet
Centos7, the operating system that runs mo and auto, has reached its end of life. Since we are no longer able to secure it with the latest patches, we have cut off access to the Internet from mo and auto as a security precaution. Users with sessions running on mo and auto will no longer [...]
Microsoft Azure Devtools for Teaching availability has changed
Microsoft has discontinued the old Azure Devtools for Teaching portal. At this time, the old subscription based access we managed has ceased. Going forward, they are directing Devtools student users to their Azure for Students service which provides much of the same software for download (with a notable exception of the Windows desktop OS). In [...]