SPRING 2011

Welcome back everyone! Over the break, several of the desktops in the labs have been cleaned up and upgraded to include more of the applications you may need. Wolfard 203 and 204, Doble 413 and 415 are now equipped with the SP2011 image which includes Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium.

Users are now able to utilize Bridge, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat Pro in any of these rooms.

If you want to see something in the next image, let us know and we'll see what we can do.

Enjoy your semester,

Sean E. Parrott-Wolfe
Senior Technician, University Technology
Lesley University

Atrium Technology Installs

 

A quick look at what they are putting into the Atrium Space ---- done by Spring 2011!

Rackspace Takes a Look at The Last Ten Years of Data Storage

Rackspace Takes a Look at The Last Ten Years of Data Storage: "

Rackspace takes a look at the last ten years of data storage, from USB drives to the Cloud.

To store a gigabyte’s worth of data just 20 years ago required a 500-pound machine the size of a refrigerator. Today, we carry gigabytes of data around in our pockets in our smart phones, mp3 players, and laptops.

the Pre-SPRING Stretch!

Needless to say, things have been rather hectic around here...  We have been diligently getting things ready for the Spring Semester by flipping spaces and testing hardware.  A few residencies and conferences this break have made things a little tricky.. keeping us on our toes and most of our equipment in the field.  

Some of the areas that you will notice that are different:

• the Laptop Cart... Wolfard 203, Wolfard 204, Doble-309, Doble-413, Doble-415 computer systems are re-flipped... they have been re-imaged with updated software.
  *we couldn't get to all of the kiosks or the UNIV labs, but we will work on them as the year progresses*
  
• there are installed LCD Display screens in the dance studios at University Hall (UNIV-4-009 and UNIV-4-010)... as well as a ceiling-mounted LCD projector in UNIV-4-004
  
• the research & training laptop cart in the Sherrill Library will be getting a fresh image soon.

We are in the process of installing digital signs and displays for the General Public's use in the Atrium at University Hall as well...

**** WE WILL KEEP EVERYONE POSTED AS DEVELOPMENT OCCURS****

Things are set to be pretty stable and consistently working.... buuut if they aren't, just send an email to ut@lesley.edu  

We will get to them ASAP.

Thanks for being patient with us as we make these renovations.

Lab Machines Ready for Testing!

Students, Faculty, Staff---

TEST YOUR PRESENTATIONS ASAP---

We have recently re-imaged computers in Wolfard and Doble.
As we understand the software configuration is stable and functioning, it is not unreasonable to expect technical difficulties with opening or viewing files and media on these machines.  These are often due to discrepancies with the version of software used to create the media, the format of the media, and codecs/plugins required to view the media.

*Even though we try to cover MOST bases with our installation, we cannot always guarantee that your media will work on our computers like they do your own computers.---- a common misconception.

To serve the community, we have provided sample machines from each of the computer areas on campus here in our office.
ALL members of the Lesley Community are welcome to come-down and test our computer configurations to see if they will work for your files or presentations.
If there needs to be any updates, we will be here to take requests in-person.

The longer you wait, the less likely we will be able to fix ANYTHING before your presentation or class meeting.

EVERYONE who uses ANY of our computers for any WORK should make an appearance in our office.

We are located on the Lower Level of University Hall (LL-010) and these machines will be here until March 4, 2011

---

In a letter to the faculty:

Hello, Faculty--

I hope you all had a splendid holiday.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you have been assigned one (or more) of the following classrooms as your designated teaching-space for the Spring 2011.

DOBL-309; DOBL-413; DOBL-415

WOLF-203; WOLF-204; WOLF-201

As many of you know, these are rooms that contain computer systems.

To update you on what’s going on, we are in the middle of re-configuring all of the computers, a process that is anticipated to take up the majority of the month of January. 

In an attempt to alleviate any software/hardware problems that may arise with your classroom materials, we have set-aside sample computers in our office (located at the HelpDesk Suite on the Lower Level of University Hall, LL-010) so that you may test your course materials and media PRIOR to the start of the semester.

We invite you to bring your course materials, multimedia, and a list of web-resources and give the computers a rigorous testing.  Any issues that come-up now will be documented and resolved before you start your class.

Here is a list of software that will be present on the computers:

*please keep in mind that without physically testing your media on our machines, there is NO guarantee that your media will function as expected regardless of whether it was made using the same software version or operating system.

On Mac

Adobe CS3 Design Premium -- Acrobat Professional, Bridge, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Reader 9

Ilife 09 -- Garage Band, iMovie 09, iMovie HD, iPhoto, iDVD, iWeb, iTunes

MS Office 2004 – Excel, Powerpoint, Word

MS Office 2008 -- Excel, Powerpoint, Word

Safari 5, Firefox 3.6 +SilverLight

Google Earth, Google Sketchup, Picasa, Epson Scan Utility

FileZilla, QuickTime 10 +Windows Media Components, VLC, Audacity

Inspiration 8, InspireData, Tech4Learning (KidPix, WebBlender, TimeLiner, Geometer’s Sketchpad, Twist, ImageBlender, Frames, Pixie), Skype

On Windows

Adobe CS3 Design Premium — Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, Reader X

MS Office 2007 — Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word

Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.6 +SilverLight, iTunes

Google Earth, Google Sketchup, Picasa, ArcGIS, Kurzweil 3000, Epson Scan Utility

FileZilla, VLC, Audacity, BurnIMG

Inspiration 8, InspireData, Tech4Learning (KidPix, WebBlender, TimeLiner, Geometer’s Sketchpad, Twist, ImageBlender, Frames, Pixie), Skype

These machines will be available for you to test up until January 23rd, by which time we cross our fingers that everything is copacetic.  

Any questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Thank you, and have a great rest of the winter break

P.S.  If you, or anyone else you know, uses the laptop cart for any part of your instruction, a sample laptop cart configuration will also be available to test.

-- 

Richard Phung

Labs & Classrooms Coordinator

University Technology

Lesley University

Ph:  617.349.8819

Fax:  617.349.8989

what do i need to print?

1) You need a student, staff, or faculty account. (that's yourname@lesley.edu)
2) You will need to have money on your Lesley Card (CashLynx) www.lesleycard.com
3) You will need to transfer money from your Lesley Card into your Print Credits by sitting down at a computer lab computer and clicking "Details" in the PaperCut Client window (located on the top-right-hand corner of the screen).
4) It will open a web-browser and ask you to log-in, then you just click "Add Credits with Cash Lynx"....

you can find more information here:
http://lesley.edu/ut/academic/printing.html

Ask me anything

WINTER MAINTENANCE BEGINS!

First Quarter Maintenance has begun!

So, while the majority of folks are away during the winter interim, we at the Labs & Classrooms office have been diligently working on getting the labs updated for the Spring 2011 semester.
This is a major overhaul of all systems… basically, pressing the "reset" button on everything.
This includes:

1. Re-Imaging the computer labs --- this involves fresh, installed-from-scratch computer configurations for ALL of the computer labs, kiosks, and computer classrooms.  You can see our maintenance schedule for these areas here:
   http://lesleylabs.blogspot.com/p/maintenance-schedule.html
   
   BEWARE.. while we are flipping these computers, they will be unusable (OFF LIMITS).  Please refer to the signs *posted outside the doors to the computer labs* and the schedule.
   
   The configuration of these machines will be posted in a later note.
   To get up-to-date notices on the actual maintenance procedure(s), please checkout our twitter feed:
   http://www.twitter.com/lesleylabs
   
   
2. Cleaning and repairing keyboards & peripherals. --- we will be scrubbing-down and replacing keyboards and mice.  Also, we're adding brand-new mouse-pads and security hardware.
   
   
3. To put to bed malfunctioning A/V concerns, we are going through all of the digital labs and classrooms and are manually testing all peripheral components in these spaces.  This involves rigorously using the DVD/VHS combination players, Auxillary Audio Inputs, Demo Stations (where available), and computer inputs in ALL areas.  We are also replacing cables, restocking cables, and repairing connections (the little connector pieces).  In addition, we are balancing the audio amplifiers, color-correcting + focusing the projectors… *for brightness and image sharpness.

Overall, this maintenance will take the better portion of the next 3 weeks (Starting January 3 until January 21)… We appreciate your patience during these times.