--- Forwarded Message from Joseph Kautz <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2002 15:00:46 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Joseph Kautz <[log in to unmask]>
>To: LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Fwd: #6773.2 Language Lab (!)
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
We use a program called Assimilator for reimaging Macs. We have gone
almost all PC though since OS X's multilingual capability os so limited
for now. On the PCs we use Ghost. Best - Joseph
On Wed, 7 Aug 2002, LLTI-Editor wrote:
> --- Forwarded Message from "Jason Filice" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
> >Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 09:31:33 -0700
> >Subject: Re: Fwd: #6773 Language Lab
> >To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
> >Cc: [log in to unmask]
> >From: "Jason Filice" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> ------------------
>
> >--- Forwarded Message from Aleta Anderson <[log in to unmask]> ---
> >
> >>Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 12:02:00 -0700
> >>To: [log in to unmask]
> >>From: Aleta Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> >>Subject: Language Lab
> >
> >Does anyone have any ideas about daily (or weekly) restoring hard drives
> >in
> >a lab? We are hesitant to try RevRDist, as it may not work with both
> >Macintosh OS 9 and OS X on the machine. The graphics program (with whom we
> >share the lab) will be using OS X, but the language programs do not work
> >in
> >OS X, even in the Classic mode.
> >
> >It would be very convenient to be able to run a program that would restore
> >the language part of the disk, removing all applications and files that
> >have been added by individuals over the week. Please let us know your
> >thoughts and experience.
>
>
> =======================================
>
> There are several options for keeping a lab hard drive refreshed, even if
> you want it to be free. As with most things, you'll have to work a little
> harder for the free stuff--in this case that mostly means writing some
> AppleScript. I will assume that your booting Mac OS 9 and into Mac OS X
> with Classic mode. If you don't need Classic mode while booted into OS X,
> it simplifies things considerably; more on that later.
>
> *Mac OS 9 booted*
> If you have or are able to get Mac OS X Server, then the easiest solution
> for the OS 9 environment would to boot into Netboot for the classes that
> need it. In that way you never have to worry about maintaining an OS 9
> load set that needs to be refreshed, because all you have to do is
> re-Netboot the Macs. The added benefit is of course that when you no
> longer need to boot into OS 9, you can repurpose the Server as a web
> server or the dozens of other things OS X Server can do.
>
> If you need to do things on the cheap and do not have an OS X Server, then
> I suggest you go with Mac OS 9's built-in Multiple Users abilities to
> create a restricted account (not panels), which you can optionally have
> automatically log in when the Mac starts up. Alternately, you can use
> some third party software, as we do, such as FoolProof or On Guard. I've
> had more success with On Guard than with FoolProof, but that's another
> email.
>
> When it comes to keeping the software refreshed, the Multiple Users or
> third party solution will allow you to keep users from changing everything
> except the individual applications' preference settings, any documents
> that you allow the user to save to the hard drive (such as in the local
> disk's Documents folder), and possibly the Mac's chosen desktop printers
> (because most labs leave the Chooser accessible, even though Network
> Browser works perfectly well--it can even connect to FTP servers if you
> start the address with ftp://).
>
> *Refresh OS 9 with AppleScript*
> A solution is to delete the contents of such Documents folder and to
> refresh the contents of the Preferences folder. I believe RevRDist could
> provide this, as well as Apple's Network Assistant, but I like to use an
> AppleScript to do it. The advantage of using AppleScript over RevRDist
> (and the sometimes unreliable and spotty Network Assistant) is that
> AppleScript can delete and recreate desktop printers, while using
> something like RevRDist will require knowing exactly what visible and
> invisible files in the System Folder need to be refreshed, and even then
> the printer's icon (for those who care about such things) tends to revert
> to the generic printer icon. Also, you could use both and have RevRDist
> do some of the work and AppleScript do the rest.
>
> Basically what the AppleScript needs to do is move the contents of the
> Documents folder to the Trash, then do the same with the contents of the
> Preferences folder, keeping any files which should be unique to each Mac,
> such as TCP/IP Preferences, AppleTalk Preferences, Norton Schedule File
> and LiveUpdate Preferences, File Sharing CP prefs, and the Users & Groups
> Data File. Next, refresh the preferences with a backup copy either
> elsewhere on the local drive or from a file server.
>
> The final two steps would be to empty the the Trash and restart the Mac to
> use the refreshed settings. However, that won't work for one or two
> reasons: locked items and in-use items (files that are still open in some
> application, including preferences used by system software). These two
> reasons are also the reason why you cannot simply use a "duplicate with
> replacing" command to refresh the contents of the Preferences folder; the
> Finder simply will not let you replace a file that is open or locked.
>
> First of all, if any of the items moved to the Trash were locked, then you
> cannot empty the trash using an AppleScript command (there is no
> AppleScript command for holding down the option key while emptying the
> Trash). Therefore, you need to unlock all the locked items in the Trash,
> and the algorithm to do such a thing can be complicated.
>
> The second obstacle, open files, usually requires restarting the Mac. For
> that reason, I have the Trash emptied after the Mac is restarted. You can
> create a separate AppleScript application that only empties the trash. I
> like to have the cleanup script, just before restarting the Mac, simply
> create an alias of this empty-trash script to the Startup Items folder.
> Then, after startup, the empty-trash script can move that alias to the
> Trash, and then empty the trash.
>
> As long as you restart the Mac first, however, the emptying the Trash can
> be done manually by lab staff, which also negates the need to unlock the
> contents of the Trash because the staff can just Option-empty-Trash.
>
> Deleting and recreating desktop printers is a process which basically
> involves stopping all the desktop printer print queues, deleting all
> queued print jobs, deleting the printers, and creating the desktop
> printers with the correct settings (including the PPD file). These
> desktop printing commands can be found on Apple's
> <http://www.apple.com/applescript/help_mods.html> web site. If you would
> like to see my AppleScript code for all of the above, just ask me.
>
> *Mac OS X*
> Now, for the OS X lab, it is also possible to use Netboot if you install
> Apple's latest version of Mac OS X Server 10.2 (Jaguar Server), because it
> finally adds that ability for Mac OS X clients. However, if you intend to
> spend most of the time booted into OS X, and especially for video and
> graphics programs, that is probably not a good solution. If the OS X
> Netboot works the same as the OS 9 version, then everything written to a
> hard drive is actually being written to the server temporarily, which is
> not good unless you have one heck of a fast server and some wicked fast
> network bandwidth (full gigabit Ethernet from the workstations to the
> server).
>
> Mac OS X Server 10.2 will also include a feature for automatically pushing
> out software installs, and in conjunction with Apple Remote Desktop,
> should solve this refresh problem nicely--but for a price. However, if
> you need to keep things cheap, below is how I would do it.
>
> With Mac OS X, refreshing things get much simpler (especially if you can
> stay away from Classic). If you create your setup such that the default
> user(s) only have normal NON-administrator privileges, OS X will keep them
> at bay by default. Almost all of the stuff users can change or mess up
> will all be kept in one tidy place (with the exception of the Mac OS 9
> Applications and System Folder, which are both left unprotected by the Mac
> OS X folder privileges).
>
> The users will be kept out of certain System Preference panes, and will
> only be allowed to save and make changes to files within his or her own
> directory (e.g. /Users/labuser/). The user's Desktop, Documents,
> preferences, and anything else the user tries to install will only be
> installed or changed within the appropriate locations in the user's home
> directory, found within the Users folder (again, except for the Mac OS 9
> Applications and System Folder).
>
> I am still developing the exact scripting to accomplish this, but
> basically the process is as follows: (1) log the user out; (2) delete the
> contents of the generic lab user's folder; (3) copy the refreshed settings
> backup (similar to the OS 9 stuff above) from another location on the
> local drive or from a file server. Bare in mind that all of this needs to
> be done using root level privileges, meaning you cannot simply log in as
> an administrator and expect to be able to start deleting a user's
> directory and replace it with a new one--that's where AppleScript's
> fantastic integration with Mac OS X's Unix side comes in. In other words,
> you need to have AppleScript execute some Unix commands that it will
> execute as the root user and do all these things. Don't worry about that,
> however; when I come up with the code, I would be glad to post it to this
> listserve.
>
>
> As for all the automated AppleScript stuff above, I haven't gotten it all
> quite automated in the sense of automatic scheduling. I just found it was
> easier creating an AppleScript application that our lab staff could walk
> up and double-click once a week or could use some other software (Apple
> Network Assistant, remote program linking, etc) to remotely invoke the
> scripts.
>
> *Mac OS X with Classic*
> When you are using Classic in Mac OS X, things get a bit more complicated.
> You can still refresh the OS X user folder as I described above.
> However, because you cannot lock down Classic's System Folder with OS X
> (you can, but then Classic will refuse to startup). My solution was to
> keep the Classic System Folder unprotected, but to create a copy of it
> which could be refreshed when the rest of the OS X user environment is
> refreshed.
>
> The thing to do is to create a System Folder that is intended just for
> booting into Classic. This folder will include only the extensions
> required for Classic to startup and have networking, plus any extensions
> required by any of your Classic applications. This will keep the Classic
> system a few hundred megabytes smaller and make it startup and operate
> much faster. Directions for creating an optimized Classic folder can be
> found at many web sites listed below.
>
> Then, use Disk Copy to create a compressed read-only image of that Classic
> System Folder. This will give you an image file that is as small as half
> the size of the actual Classic system folder.
>
> Leave the Classic System Folder in the root of the hard drive and make
> sure the Classic system pane is set to use it for Classic. The Classic
> system folder should have read/write access by everyone (use OS X's Show
> Info command).
>
> If you also have a normal System Folder (or any other folders that may be
> on another partition on the Mac and for which you need protection), be
> sure to set Mac OS X to give all users ("Owner," "Group," and "Everyone")
> read-only access to it.
>
> When the automated script runs, it should shut down Classic (not necessary
> if the user is already logged out), mount the disk image created above,
> delete the contents of the Classic System Folder, and copy the contents of
> the mounted disk image to replace the Classic System Folder.
>
> I am still working on this script "on paper," but as soon as I have a few
> machines to test, I think I will finally be able to make some real
> progress. I'll let you folks know.
>
> *Other Resources*
> Also, although it may seem like it at times, you are not the only one
> trying to do the exact same things in creating an OS X lab. For that very
> reason, there is a great site with a great deal of information including
> techniques, documentation, software tools, thought process of developing a
> lab, and even an explanation of why on Earth even create a Mac OS X lab.
> The following are several other resources on the Web:
>
> Mac OS X Labs
> http://www.macosxlabs.org/
>
> Optimizing Classic
> http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20010413120058733
>
> Optimizing Classic
> http://www.bombich.com/mactips/optimize.html
>
> Classic minimum System Folder
> http://mc04.equinox.net/informinit//exposf2002.html
>
> Using the Classic Environment in OS X
> http://www.InformINIT.com/exponyc2001.html
>
> Troubleshooting the Classic Environment
> http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa/111/wa/query?type=id&val=PQ.106677
>
> Classic Playing Nicer (faster)
> http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20001221185034927
>
> Setting up Macintosh OS X 10 Web Browsers for Multilingual and Unicode
> Support
> http://www.hclrss.demon.co.uk/unicode/macbrowsers_osx.html
>
> Mac OS X: About the "Install Mac OS 9 Drivers" Option in Disk Utility
> http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75275
> http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n75275
>
> Mac OS X 10.1: How to Set up Open Firmware Password Protection
> http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n106482
>
> HideOrShowPreviousLogin: How to disable the feature in which the prior
> user's login name appears in the login window in Mac OS X
> http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n106691
>
> ASM: the reincarnation of the application switcher menu.
> http://asm.vercruesse.de/
>
> BatChmod: manipulates file and folder privileges and empties a stubborn
> Trash in Mac OS X .
> http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft/
>
>
> --Jason Filice
>
> Student Systems Administrator
> Language Lab, Institute for World Languages and Cultures
> http://LanguageLab.csumb.edu
> CSU Monterey Bay
> 100 Campus Center, Building 48, Room 119
> Seaside, CA 93955-8001
> 831.582.5046
>
____________________________________________________________
Joseph Ollie Kautz
Stanford Digital Language Lab
tel -(650) 725-1615 fax - (650) 725-8495
"Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the
spoon."
-E. M. Forster
____________________________________________________________
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