Software Resources

MTL has access to various software packages through MIT and can install this software on Institute-owned equipment for you, but we do not lend out any associated media.

MTL should do the set-up of new Institute-owned computers as well as installation of operating systems on existing Institute-owned computers. This is to make sure that appropriate software is installed (e.g. virus scan) and the computer is working properly on the network.

For personal machines, the rule of thumb is that if you can download the software yourself from MIT with your personal certificate, then MTL can install it for you as a courtesy. Of course, if you can download it, then you can also install it yourself.

Some software cannot be installed on non-MIT owned computers. An example of this is Adobe Acrobat. This may only be installed on Institute-owned computers for faculty and staff.

For more information about what software MIT has available and under what license conditions, please go to MIT's Software and Hardware site.

Software that is typically installed on Institute-owned computers includes:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 (operating system)
  • Mac OS X (operating system)
  • Red Hat Linux Enterprise 7 (operating system)
  • Ubuntu 18 (operating system)
  • Microsoft Office 2019 (Windows, Mac)
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (Windows, Mac)
  • Sophos Anti-Virus (Windows, Mac)
  • X-Win32 (Windows only)

In addition to the software listed above, MTL supports various other software packages on Institute-owned computers that are obtained via download from MIT or as part of the operating system.

Some older versions of the software and operating systems listed above are still supported, but they are no longer installed by MTL. Examples of these are:

  • Microsoft Windows 7/8
  • Red Hat Linux Enterprise 5/6

Some operating system software is so old that we do not recommend putting it on the network for security's sake. If for some reason you need a machine running one of these operating systems, they can be set up in a non-networked way. Examples of these are:

  • Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Vista
  • Mac OS 10.7 and lower

MTL also has many license agreements covering CAD tools such as Matlab, Cadence and Synopsys. For information on CAD software and resources, see the CAD section.

For more information on installing any software on your Institute-owned equipment, send mail to problems [at] mtl.mit.edu (problems[at]mtl[dot]mit[dot]edu).