Whilst fiddling with my WordPress installation I managed to completely corrupt my whole blog (that will teach me to fiddle late at night!). I have managed to restore majority of my posts but not any images or video. I may over time restore these images but for now, any old posts will be text only.
Increase available PC’s using NComputing X550
Rationale:
Using the NComputing X550 virtual desktop device we can use the speed of a single PC to create five additional workstations. The NComputing PCI control card is installed into the host PC and each X550 device is then plugged into the host computer via this card to create an additional workstation. All that is then required to complete the workstation setup is a monitor, mouse and keyboard.
Each user then has access to the software installed on the host PC. USB ports on the host PC can be assigned for use on all or one of the virtual workstations. Users will be able to login using their normal Windows/Network credentials just as they would if they were using any other PC.
Pros & Cons:
| Pros: |
Cons: |
|
Cost effective |
If host is down, all workstations are also down |
|
Smaller hardware footprint |
|
|
Simplified software deployment (one install) |
|
|
Energy efficient |
|
Usage:
We envisage implementing the X550 devices where “pods” (up to 4 workstations) of computers are required. We would look at implementing this into the music and/or science classrooms as a testing ground for the product. This could also be a solution for Jnr School classrooms.
What is required?
|
Component: |
Cost: |
|
NComputing X550 |
$700.00 (approx.) |
|
Host PC |
$1600.00 (approx.) |
|
Monitor |
$XX.XX |
|
Keyboard & Mouse |
$XX.XX |
The following is a video presentation of the X550 by NComputing:
[MEDIA not found]
The following is a video presentation of the L-Series component by NComputing. This is the next level up component designed to run a full computer lab:
[MEDIA not found]
I was asked to explore the idea of setting up virtual PC’s for students use to allow them to “fiddle” with the software side of a computer without disrupting the school’s network. Strangely enough I was already somewhat exploring this issue. I decided to use VMware server as it allowed for greater control over the use and administration of the Virtual Machines compared to VMware player.
I setup an Active Directory group containing the students that would require the access to the Virtual Machines. I then assigned this group the following permissions on the Virtual Machines using the VMware Server console:
- Virtual Machine ->
- Interaction ->
- Power On
- Power Off
- Reset
- Answer Question
- State ->
- Revert To Snapshot
- Interaction ->
The Interaction permissions are fairly self explanetry and the Revert To Snapshot permission allows the student to revert to a clean/working OS using the snapshot I created after I completed building the Virtual Machine.
I then created another Active Directory group containing the teachers that would be teaching the classes and assigned the same roles. I decided that teachers would not require any higher level of permissions than students as I have done all the neccesary work creating the Virtual Machines.
More to come once I have fully implemeted the above…
Microsoft Office 2007 allows you to publish a .docx document to a blog and WordPress is one of the supported blogging systems. However, while attempting to register my blog for publishing with Word 2007, I received the following error:
To resolve this error the XML-RPC option needs to be enabled on your blog. The setting can be found by browsing to Settings -> Writing and ticking the “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.” check box.
I have recently installed the WordTube WordPress plugin onto my blog site. The plugin is by far the easiest that I have to; install, manage and upload videos. The plugin allows you to upload media from your computer or link directly to a video URL (hosted elsewhere). You can also create video playlists using your uploaded or linked to videos. An example of a WordTube playlist can be found on my AG-Tube page.
WordTube adds a button to the WordPress editor which allows you to easily insert a video or playlist into a post or page. Videos cand playlists can alos be added using the [MEDIA not found] and [PLAYLIST not found] tags. If you link directly to a video (such as a video hosted on YouTube) WordTube will automatically import the metadata (creator, description, etc.) for the video into the video properties inside your blog.
Uploading a Video:
The process for uploading a new video is simple…
1. Browse to the WordTube section located in the Manage menu of WordPress.
2. Click the Insert new media file >> button.
3. Fill in the relevant information about the file (this info. will be automatically filled in if you are linking directly to a file).
4. Click the Add media file >> button.
Inserting a video:
You can easily insert a video into a blog or page…
1. Click the Insert a flash video button located in the WordPress editor.
2. Select a video you uploaded or a playlist you have created and click the Insert button.
My blog is now viewable on mobile devices. This was achieved using MobilePress WordPress plug-in.
Who would have thought that I would be posting so much Mac related content?!? Who knows I may be a convert yet!
I have been fortunate enough to have a MacBook Pro allocated to my department which I then keenly allocated to myself for some play time 
Two days in and so far I am liking the latest OS X iteration.
The first thing i did was to setup and install Wndows XP using Boot Camp as I knew I would need some of the useful Windows only applications I use. This process was almost easier (if not easier) than installing Windows on a PC. Simply run the Boot Camp Assitant in OS X, set the Windows partitions size, insert a genuine Windows install CD and off you go. Your Mac will then boot initiating the usual initial Windows setup screens followed by the graphical Windows setup Wizard. Once the process is complete all that’s left to do is install the required drivers using the OS X Leopard install CD and your dual boot MAC-Windows computer is complete.
Boot Camp setup guide can be downloaded here.
Boot Camp is a great feature; however having to reboot each time to use your Windows apps is a bit of a pain. Enter VMware Fusion! VMware Fusion allows you do run a virtual OS machine under OS X much like Parallels or the archaic Virtual Desktop from Microsoft. VMware fusion was able to use my already setup Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine so setup was minimal. All that was needed was to install VMware tools once logged into Windows to allow the virtual machine to run alot smoother and use Macs inbuilt devices. VMware fusion can be run in Unity mode, which allows Windows applications to be run directly from the Dock or the VMware applications menu when the virtual machine is running (examples below).
Unity mode is nice however, I prefer full screen mode so I have allocated my Windows virtual machine to the second space in OS X. This means using the shortcut keys or Expose I can switch between full screen OS X and full screen Windows XP. Below are screen shots of OS X Leopard spaces with VMware assigned to the second space. The screen cap. looks a little odd as at the time I was also playing with multiple monitors with different screen resolutions.
I like the apple dock but I also like to organise it my way. OS X Leopard has introduced dock stacks, which allow you to sort applications, documents, downloads, etc. into folders in your dock and display them using the predefined fan, grid or list effects. I love this new feature however it looked a little plain. So over to my mate Google to find out how to pretty it up. I found a bunch of icons which the author has called Drawers which look awesome as stack icons. I will post a how to on this soon…
Other useful application I have installed which I will post about in the near future include:
- iAlertU
- iRed Lite
- WinClone
The next project, OS X Leopard on a PC…
DO NOT copy and paste from Word to WordPress without clearing formatting options.
Imagine it, a Mac and a PC playing well together…
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/ozjmJBOAWg0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
To be continued…
Voice recording using the EZCOOL Digital Audio Player!
[audio:v035.mp3]
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