wazmac || Desktop Maintenance

Desktop Maintenance

Overview | Software | Support Sites | Re-imaging Notes

Desktop Maintenance - Support Sites

The sites listed below provide additional information relating to the maintenance and support of desktop computers, laptop computers and other mobile devices that may be operating in a school network environment.

Macintosh

Windows

Apple Serial Number Info: Lots of info about the build history and specs of your computer. All you need is te serial number.
Boot Camp Support: Installation, support and FAQs from Apple for running Windows in a Boot Camp partition on your Mac.
Bootcamp for Parallels: Configure Parallels to use your BootCamp partition, rather than a 2nd installation within Parallels.
Coconut Battery: Monitor the condition of you MacBook battery.
Dual Boot Lab (driley): Notes and links and information about setting up and imaging Macs for dual booting, plus a stack of other useful Mac links.
EveryMac: A complete online guide to every Mac ever made - processor speed, memory, optical drives, graphic cards, supported Mac OS versions, and expansion options, etc.
John De Troye's Network Tips and Tricks: Stacks of useful info for school network administrators.
LaCie: Manufacturer of some very neat external HDs, which are suitable for creating & storing workstation images.
Lock Down Mac OS X: Lock the Dock of your Mac OS X student computers, without disabling Internet access with Parental Controls.
Mac OS X Guest Account: This article describes the modification of the client User Template, so that when a new Guest logs in they receive a pre-determined environment. (Leopard includes new user called Guest.) When teh Guest logs out the entire contents of the Users' Home folder are deleted. The next time someone logs in as Guest an entirely new Home folder is created.
Mac OS X in Labs: A collection of information concerning the use of OSX in computer labs.
Mac OS X Versions (Intel): Which version of software shipped with which Mac?

Mac OS X Versions (PPC): Which version of software shipped with which Mac?
MacTracker: A downloadable database containing detailed information on every Mac ever made - processor speed, memory, optical drives, graphic cards, supported Mac OS versions, and expansion options, etc.
MCX without a Server: Use Workgroup Manager to create a managed local machine, without a server. (Leopard)
Netboot without a server: Turn any 10.5 or 10.6 workstation into a netboot server for re-imaging network Macs.
Puppet: Push files, maintain permissions, ensure that users are installed, and duplicate common configurations among many clients with very minimal work and maintenance. CLI.
Zytech: Online reseller (Australia) of a variety of external HDs and other storage devices.

Change XP Ownership: You can easily edit the registry to change the default owner and organisation of your XP installation.
Skip the XP Logon Screen: Set XP to automatically logon as the user of your choice.
Slipstream SP3: Information about using nLite to create an XP installer disk that includes all the latest service packs and updates.

Linux

Upgrade Edubuntu: Without a small configuration modification of the Ubuntu Update Manager, Edubuntu v8.04 won't recognise that a new 8.x incremental upgrade is available.

Other Desktop/Laptop Client Stuff

Netbooks: With small screens, and tailored for Internet-centric tasks like browsing, chatting, uploading photos, blogging, watching videos and listening to music, these mini-laptops are gaining popularity in 1:1 school environments.
Apple Laptop Battery Reset: Over time, the settings in the Power Manager may become unusable, which can result in operational anomalies with the computer. Examples include not turning on, not waking from sleep, not charging the battery, or not seeing the AC Adapter, among others.