Help with a Mac...

gamerman4

gamerman4

Active Member
Okay our computer lab actually went and got a Mac today. Well I didn't see it until the end of school so all the dorks, dweebs, and people that don't know a lick about comps got to play with it......needless to say something is wrong with it.
It is a new 20" iMac
its got a C2D and 3GB of DDR2 RAM (I only messed with it for a few minutes so im not sure on specifics).
it has OS X

Anyways i have some questions

Is there any advanced system settings? (i.e. Control Panel) All I can find is the system preferences which is far too basic and doesnt really show hardware options.

How do you change the region code of the DVD drive (some idiot changed it somehow....)?
 
everything is controled through system preferences. Why would you need direct access to the hardware?

To change the dvd region simply put in a new dvd. It will ask you if you want to change regions every time you change regions. So, really you never have to set the region because the software automatically adapts to whatever region you are playing.

I would hope your admin locks that system down otherwise there is going to be a lot of dumb stuff done to it. Also, if you change the dvd region too many times it locks and you have zero left. This is the play fair rule or whatever retarded rule the DVD companies made up.

If you need region free rips of your DVD check out MactheRipper.
 
well i created a 6 minute DVD in Adobe Premeire Pro (on an XP machine) and put it in the dvd slot in the Mac and it said that it was a different region code but i didnt see any options for changing it....I used the DVD player prog from the "media center" looking thing, is there any DVD playing app outside of that, that would be better?
Now since region codes are universal, it shouldn't matter between a Mac or PC so I know the Mac region code is off... I'll play with it tomorrow...

Why would you need direct access to the hardware?
Click to expand...
Well for one I usually like know what is attached and installed in the computer.....
To play the DVD I had to hook up an external DVD drive to the Mac that had the correct region code and when I hooked the DVD drive up nothing happened....no new icon, no beep, nothing to tell me anything happened. The only way I could find that it worked was when I put the DVD in, then an icon popped up for it...
Also, it would be nice to know more about the hardware than just the CPU and RAM.....
I will lock the system down tomorrow but I was too amazed today by how simplistic the Mac was....it like an "OS for Dummies" book....
I love my Windows XP even more because of today :D
 
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gamerman4 said:
eww.......oh well, too bad

is there at LEAST a way to see all installed hardware?
Click to expand...

There is But I can't remember how. Funny thing is, is that I'm on my macbook pro right now and I'm pulling my hair out lol. I guess going in through the terminal like in linux or unix could be a way but I have no idea. I tried the -ls command and got just the stuff in the apps folder.
 
apple menu > about this mac > more info

or

/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/AppleSystemPrfolier.app

The Apple system profiler lists all hardware installed, its like the device manager for OS X.

Almost any advanced utility will be under /Applications/Utility

If you want my honest opinion, just download VLC for OS X its way better than the Apple DVD player

www.videolan.org
 
Okay, one more thing. Our lab uses Windows 200 Server, I can get the Mac to connect to the server folders and use the files but how would I make the Mac part of the domain so anyone with an account on the other Windows machines can login on this with their user and password, or if that is impossible at least how do I automatically connect it to the server upon login?
 
sadly, i am pretty much the only admin for the lab and the school Tech Dept. probably knows just as much as I do about it (i.e. nothing).
 
gamerman4 said:
Okay, one more thing. Our lab uses Windows 200 Server, I can get the Mac to connect to the server folders and use the files but how would I make the Mac part of the domain so anyone with an account on the other Windows machines can login on this with their user and password, or if that is impossible at least how do I automatically connect it to the server upon login?
Click to expand...
of course you can, be pretty dumb of apple not to be able to integrate with existing windows networks now wouldnt it.... check this out - http://www.apple.com/itpro/articles/adintegration/

dragon
 
gamerman4 said:
Okay, one more thing. Our lab uses Windows 200 Server, I can get the Mac to connect to the server folders and use the files but how would I make the Mac part of the domain so anyone with an account on the other Windows machines can login on this with their user and password, or if that is impossible at least how do I automatically connect it to the server upon login?
Click to expand...

I can only assume your domain runs active directory. This is an absolute nightmare with windows and OS X. The only thing you can do with AD on the mac side is map network shares and authenticate, no policies can be pushed out what so ever.

To create network shares that windows clients can see you need to enable windows file sharing via system preferences > sharing

It uses SMB (samba) so you must enable a user account to authenticate to the share.

An easy all in one free open source app to configure this stuff on the mac side is called sharepoints. You can download it here:

http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/

As for making it part of the workgroup and domain you can edit the proper fields in netinfomanager under /Applications/Utilities

To connect to a windows share on your mac you can simply hit the Go menu (from the apple menu at top of the finder screen) and hit connect to server, or the keyboard short cut of cmd + K and type in this

smb://ipoftheshare, e.g. smb://192.168.100.1 Just plug the IP in. Again SMB requires authentication so you will need a valid user/pw to access the share.
 
As for making it part of the workgroup and domain you can edit the proper fields in netinfomanager under /Applications/Utilities
Click to expand...
I suppose after making it part of the workgroup, they should be able to log onto their accounts?

I have figured out how to navigate to the server and connect to its shares, it's just having that share enabled upon logon is what I want. (It is a specific share, nothing unique for each user. This is a really ghetto-rigged network, put together by students 8 years ago.


The reason I might sound ignorant to the whole networking thing is because I am a student at this school full of rednecks and I'm really just kinda learning as I go, if something on the network breaks I kinda google around until I can find a solution. I can fix almost any problem with an individual computer. With networks...I'm just walking in the dark with a weak flashlight...
I'm not even %100 on what Active Directory is.
 
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gamerman4 said:
I suppose after making it part of the workgroup, they should be able to log onto their accounts?

I have figured out how to navigate to the server and connect to its shares, it's just having that share enabled upon logon is what I want. (It is a specific share, nothing unique for each user. This is a really ghetto-rigged network, put together by students 8 years ago.


The reason I might sound ignorant to the whole networking thing is because I am a student at this school full of rednecks and I'm really just kinda learning as I go, if something on the network breaks I kinda google around until I can find a solution. I can fix almost any problem with an individual computer. With networks...I'm just walking in the dark with a weak flashlight...
I'm not even %100 on what Active Directory is.
Click to expand...

dude you have to learn sometime, I didn't magically know everything I know now, i learned all this stuff over the years.

The problem is, if you log in as an administrator in OS X it gives you root privileges, so someone can really F up the system. You need to make one admin account and one basic user account. Do updates, installs, etc on the admin and use the user account for just using the computer
 
tlarkin said:
dude you have to learn sometime, I didn't magically know everything I know now, i learned all this stuff over the years.

The problem is, if you log in as an administrator in OS X it gives you root privileges, so someone can really F up the system. You need to make one admin account and one basic user account. Do updates, installs, etc on the admin and use the user account for just using the computer
Click to expand...

1. I know I have to learn, this is what I'm doing...

2. Only the net admins (me and a couple others) have admin privileges.

3. I can't just have 2 accounts, every user needs their own workspace and settings, that way no one can screw eachothers projects up.

Thankfully not many people will be using it since it is mainly used for Final Cut Pro and advanced Photoshop, the other lab comps have various other software for normal use.
For one-time use, I have a guest account set up too.
 
I work for a school system in their IT department, and it can be a problem trying to integrate macs into a large NDS/AD environment. Almost all school systems run off of NDS or AD, so the mac support is lacking. This is by no means Apple's sole fault.

One solution we have come up with, is instead of having every single user have their own account (that can get messy if you aren't mapping network shares and authenticating over a network, because everything is stored locally then) we created user accounts for each class type. Like Hour 1, Hour 2, Advanced Photo, whatever....This also allows you to map share for back up and what not by the type of user. If you end up having 15 users on that machine then it can get hairy when trying to organize data. Plus if one user gets admin rights and changes stuff, they can change things at the root level, ie for everyone. More damage can be done by ignorance than you think at the admin level. At one time people were allowed admin privledges where I work outside the technology department, and that is no longer the case because it became a support nightmare.

This gives you better orginization skills and allows you to set up the mac for whatever you want it for.

I have no idea why your school system has students administering their computers (no offense by any means), do you not have an IT department? I am also pointing out the obvious bad things that could happen, if your environment people don't mess around with things they shouldn't then you may never ever have a problem. In the past I have dealt with kids who have "hacked" systems, typically they do more damage than good because they didn't know what they were exactly doing, but it is definitely a case by case basis.
 
Admin right permissions is handled delicately in this computer lab. Since I am the only one the Facilitator completely trusts with then network, I get full admin priviledges and hardly anyone else has them.

Our school has an IT department but it's not all that big and they have to manage the high school plus the middle and elementary schools (and they are quite large). Mostly when teachers have a problem they call us in the Networking and CISCO classes (class of students that are pretty good with comps, we are learning basic/intermediate networking now and hands-on stuff if the best tool for education so we get grades on helping fix school technical issues.) I also happen to be in the class that has the Mac issue so that got me to working on it. I've called tech before on an issue with the server only to find that they aren't all that experienced with Windows server 2000, they are trained in using the Novell client. The comp lab is using its own server and not the schools so we are running W2k server as our server. Knowing that, I doubt they know much about setting up Macs on W2K server.

Our art/graphic design teacher thankfully is very knowledgeable with Macs and told me that it would just be easier to make separate accounts on the local Mac which is what I will do.

The overall situation:
- Having either me or the Lab Facilitator create an account for anyone that will be using the computer over a long period of time.
- A guest account is set up now for temporary or one-time use.
- The Mac is configured with the network so transferring files to and from the network is simply to connect to the share and enter the user and password, that creates an icon for the share on the desktop.

I will ask our art teacher tomorrow if there is a way to automate connecting to the share upon logon, I'm sure he will know.

Thank you tlarkin for the help, we've had the Mac for 3 days now and its mostly configured and ready to go thanks to your info and my other sources. I haven't tried sharepoints yet so I will do that tomorrow and see how things work out.
 
well if you run novell you probably run NDS or edirectory, which is what we run at my work....

Sounds like your school district may be smaller and less funded than mine, which is a pitty. I really hate how education can be so biased in some areas versus others...but then again thats government for you. For example I support over 55 buildings in over three cities and we have a full on IT staff with seperate departments in what is dubbed, the Technology Division. We have like 33,000 users and over 10,000 computers and equipment on our network.

I know that some kids are definitely smart. I have been in some labs where some kids have totally hacked permissions and have a quake 3 game server running. I am of the logic that it is not my job to watch kids and if they load games on it, then the teacher should be the one to make the call. If the machine still works, but has games I typically don't touch it. I mean for one, I don't have time to mess with things like that.

I would like to be able to give certain people rights, etc to certain things but its not my call because I am not the boss and it definitely creates a support nightmare for the IT staff.

Seems like you are going to be in a situation where the mac is kind of just left on its own which happens a lot, and its mainly because people just don't want to deal with it or take the time to learn it.

anyways, good luck and enjoy your new mac
 
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