We’re kicking off a refresh of PCs in the space. Other than taking full advantage of nonprofit discounts we can find and generally making things cleaner and faster, the biggest change is that we’re using Reboot Restore on all our machines.
This means the PCs are not locked down to users - you can change or install or login to whatever you need, but when the machine is rebooted the filesystem is reverted to a clean image. If you’re the paranoid sort, rebooting when you sit down guarantees a clean system. Rebooting when you’re done means you can be extra sure your Google Drive credential is cleared.
The first PCs to roll out are actually brand new and installed on Blue and Pearl. Tarkin and Dorian will be will get new PCs next, then we’ll be trickling-down hardware with updated disk images at the rest of the workstations.
Yes, good point that wasn’t really on my radar. I did transfer the rotary class files that were on Pearl’s desktop, but I’m sure I didn’t/won’t catch everything.
Several stewards are / will be set up to modify the baseline images. Feel free to put class stuff on the appropriate machines. So far I’m replacing disks instead of reformatting them, so let me know if something important is missing and I can track it down.
Today we updated the default page size and color space in Corel to match Blue & Pearl, which should solve some of the random problems folks were having (noticed the Blue PC was defaulting to CMYK).
New PCs also went out on Dorian and Tarkin. All Lightburn settings were copied over to the new machines, as well as class folders and some random Asmbly space designs. These two don’t have any particularly interesting design software on them.
An updated (new-old) PC went next to the IQ, and it does have an interesting software update: our first full license of Fusion360. That’ll also be going on the MPR computers, but CNC folks wanted to have one nearby. (note that if it actually gets a lot of use, we’ll probably need a real upgrade for that PC).
The iQ PC is missing Mozaik (the license key expired and needed updating anyway) and Design & Make Machinist (which I just forgot). Hopefully we’ll get those on there this weekend.
The first updated PC for the multipurpose room is installed. It’s been substantially overhauled and set up with all new software including Fusion360, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office (sometimes you just need Word).
The old MPR PC will be similarly overhauled and set up with the same software circa next weekend.
The 2nd design PC is set up in the MPR. It’s almost-but-not-quite-the-same as the first one. The only real notable difference is that #2 has Mozaik installed for our CNC folks.
Speaking of Mozaik, we declared the first IQ PC a mulligan and replaced it with a new new one, along with a bigger monitor. This one has everything the CNC folks should need, including our second Mozaik seat
(note that Mozaik activations are manual and apparently stone-age; we’re still waiting on license activations for both PCs)
The last new PC and monitor are installed in Textiles. All the Sawgrass stuff is set up and Sure Cuts A Lot is installed, but I’m having trouble getting the vinyl cutter to cooperate. That’ll be red-tagged for the time being; the old PC is still there, so you can use that in the event of vinyl cutter emergency.
One last software bonus - both design PCs in the MPR have Eagle Premium installed for all your electronics design needs.
