Essential Software for School of Engineering Students

Please review the School of Engineering’s recommendations for personal computers before making any equipment purchases. It can be found on our computer recommendation page.

VPN Client Downloads: software required for accessing certain School of Engineering resources, including software licensing servers. The School of Engineering has retired the OpenVPN Access Server and School of Engineering students are now being provided off-campus access via the University’s AnyConnect VPN Portal.

(links will be available when documentation is complete)

Access to the following servers do not require the use of a VPN connection at this time:

  • GITLAB: the School of Engineering’s software development server
  • YOUTRACK: the School of Engineering’s project management server

SFTP Drive: Windows software which will allow you to mount your School of Engineering home directory as a local drive on your machine using either Sloop or Clipper without the need for a VPN connection. This will allow software on your computer to access your School of Engineering files.

SFTP Drive Install, Configuration and Usage Directions!

(Alternatives solutions can be found here: https://web.engr.ship.edu/for-students/faq/accessing-user-home-directory/ )

MobaXterm: Windows software for remotely accessing departmental resources using SSH. We recommend using the installer edition for personal devices. The portable version has been verified to work with non-SoE lab machines on campus. In addition to establishing an SSH connection to one of our servers, the software is capable of running an SFTP session and an X-Windows session allowing for easy access to your files and the execution of graphical applications.

JetBrains IDE’s: These are the recommended development tools used in nearly all of the School of Engineering courses which involve programming. The four specific IDEs installed in the School of Engineering labs are: CLion for C/C++ development, IntelliJ for Java development, PyCharm for python development, and Rubymine for Ruby development.

As there is the possibility that student/faculty use of the network license on personal devices could impact the usability of the School of Engineering lab machines, the license for the JetBrains IDEs is now restricted to lab machines only. To use the software on a personal device, simply use the following form to request a personal academic license: https://www.jetbrains.com/shop/eform/students. Please use your SHIP.EDU email address as the university has an established relationship with JetBrains and therefore the entire process should take less than 5 minutes.

To ensure that students are running the same version currently installed in the labs, we are providing download links to the different IDEs. We are providing both the Linux and Windows versions. If students need something else, such as a version for MacOS, they should make sure to download version 2022.3 of the selected IDEs.

MATLAB: We now have an agreement with MathWorks which allows all SHIP students to install Matlab on their personal devices. For this process, you will need to use your standard SHIP.EDU credentials. If you are having issues, you can find excellent installation instructions and other useful resources on the SHIP.EDU site. You can also get assistance at the student help desk located in the library.


NOTE: OrCAD, Solidworks, Civil 3D, and Inventor Pro are ONLY available for Windows 10 / 11 Xilinx is available for Windows 10/11 or Linux

We do not recommend the use of virtualization with any of these products!


Cadence: Due to the size of the installation files for the OrCAD and PSpice software tools, we needed to go old school to provide students secure access to a compressed file as large as the Cadence setup program. Using a technique called disk span zipping, we break the large install files up into parts which allows reliable and timely downloads over less stable network connections. This requires you to download multiple small files rather than one large file. To use this method, you MUST be logged into your School of Engineering sponsored GSuite Account (CS/ENGR). You must download all the files to the same directory before attempting file extraction. To use this software from off campus, you will be required to establish an active VPN connection in order to access the licensing server.

Redistribution of this software is in direct violation of the University’s computer usage policy.

Access the Cadence Download and Installation Instructions

Solidworks: Due to the size of the installation package, we needed to go old school to provide students secure access to a file as large as the Solidworks setup program. Using a technique called disk span zipping, we break the large install files up into parts which allows reliable and timely downloads over less stable network connections. This requires you to download multiple small files rather than one large file. To use this method, you MUST be logged into your School of Engineering sponsored GSuite Account (CS/ENGR). You must download all the files to the same directory before attempting file extraction. To use this software from off campus, you will be required to establish an active VPN connection in order to access the licensing server.

Redistribution of this software is in direct violation of the University’s computer usage policy.

Access the Solidworks Download and Installation Instructions Here

AutoCAD Civil 3D: Due to the size of the installation package, we needed to go old school to provide students secure access to a file as large as the Civil3D setup program. Using a technique called disk span zipping, we break the large install files up into parts which allows reliable and timely downloads over less stable network connections. This requires you to download multiple small files rather than one large file. To use this method, you MUST be logged into your School of Engineering sponsored GSuite Account (CS/ENGR). You must download all the files to the same directory before attempting file extraction. To use this software from off campus, you will be required to establish an active VPN connection in order to access the licensing server.

Redistribution of this software is in direct violation of the University’s computer usage policy.

Access the AutoCAD Civil 3D Download and Installation Instructions Here

Inventor Pro: Due to the size of the installation package, we needed to go old school to provide students secure access to the Inventor Pro installation files. Using a technique called disk span zipping, we break the large install files up into parts which allows reliable and timely downloads over less stable network connections. This requires you to download multiple small files rather than one large file. To use this method, you MUST be logged into your School of Engineering sponsored GSuite Account (CS/ENGR). You must download all the files to the same directory before attempting file extraction. To use this software from off campus, you will be required to establish an active VPN connection in order to access the licensing server.

Redistribution of this software is in direct violation of the University’s computer usage policy.

Access the Inventor Pro Download and Installation Instructions Here

Xilinx Vivado: Due to the size of the installation package, we needed to go old school to provide students secure access to the Xilinx Vivado installation files. The Xilinx download is for a unified installer which includes the files needed to install Vivado on either Windows and Linux systems. WARNING: This will require approximately 90GB of free space to hold the downloaded files and have sufficient room to extract the installation files. As with the other Engineering software tools, we once again go old school to provide students secure access to a files this large. Using a technique called disk span zipping, we break the large install files up into parts which will allow reliable and timely downloads from less stable network connections. This requires you to download multiple small files rather than one large file. To use this method, you MUST be logged into your School of Engineering sponsored GSuite Account (CS/ENGR). To use this software from off campus, you will be required to establish an active VPN connection in order to access the licensing server. 

Redistribution of this software is in direct violation of the University’s computer usage policy.

Access the Xilinx Vivado Download and Installation Instructions Here