March 17, 2015 FTC notes
Schedule change: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 FTC meeting now at 2 pm.
Scott Cann and IT announcements
1. Network Upgrade/Activation Update – Pilot underway within ITS;
Edu-Roam has been much expanded – 240 schools in USA – BC credentials work there. Users will need to download and installer at cat.eduroam.org (see appendix A below)
D. Philippides. Set up at BC first? Answer. Best practice.
M Connolly. Guest from Germany opened computer here and logged in at home university.
Full implementation by June 1. All network devices will be affected. Process will simply involve login. Massive project for all systems.
2. MyFiles and Cloudlock – MyFiles retirement. Migration from MyFiles is not Òentirely trivialÓ. Faculty needed – but these will be the heavy users, not volunteers. They will be asked to test data migration.
Cloudlock introduction (see February, 2015 mintes) – only works with Google Drive. From ÒDriveÓ there will be a drop down for ÒEncryptÓ. Cloudlock will only encrypt at file level – we await folder level.
Chemistry FTC question. Colleague wary of Drive. Can students get into unauthorized files? S. Cann – segmentation is reliable as contracted with Google..
3. Admin Apps. FARs (Faculty Annual Reports), sabbatical applications, grant research expenses. ITS did some preliminary research. S. Cann will need faculty Òtask forceÓ. What he has found out:
Grant applications – research admin realm – new proposal in the works to implement a Koali product. Timely need for information from FTCs and faculty in general.
Sabbatical applications. This, too, will be in the Koali sphere.
FARs. Digital Measures was selected several administrations ago. The team controlling this is within ITS, too.
Travel expense forms, etc., also equally within ITS purview.
ITS will go ahead on all fronts (with FTC input).
M. Connolly. FMRC operators will all ÒvolunteerÓ. Others interested in Admin Apps should contact S. Cann.
C. OÕConnor. New forms now used for Student Athletes. Student progress reporting.
M. Resler. Bookstore online ordering. Decline since Follett takeover. S. Cann. Third party software controlled by Follett.
S. Hesse-Biber. Confidentiality concerns about the new online system. Can the systems be standardized?
4. Yosemite. Mac OSX Support Matrix (see Appendix B below). The matrix explains the process to delet the file to enable the upgrade. ITS does not yet endorse the upgrade. But the upgrade file can be obtained. The Mac OSX Forum gives a step-by-step.
M. Connolly and FMRC
announcements
5. BC now owns a drone. Schedule a demo? Produces raw data that can be exported to all software. Wireless download of its output. See Appendix B below.
6. M. Connolly. New 3D printer being set up. New feature – works over network. Wireless/Ethernet. Controls to allow you to see and manage the job remotely.
D. Phillipides. Suggestion. Create a user group for uses being devised for new toys such as the drone and 3D printer.
S. Hesse-Biber. Insurance and FAA issues. S. Cann. Initially this is an amateur only affair. If the use is for research, scholars may need licenses and more formal arrangements.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix A (S. Cann email
of March
23, 2015)
BEFORE 3/24/2015
1.
Visit the eduroam website: cat.eduroam.org
2.
Select "Download your eduroam
installer" and search for "Boston College".
3.
Download the installer for your computer (save it somewhere you will
remember, like your desktop).
NOTE: Do not run the installer file before 3/24 as it
will disconnect you from the network.
ON OR AFTER 3/24
1.
Run the installer, and follow the prompts on the screen.
2.
Connect to the ÒeduroamÓ wireless
network.
3.
Login with:
¤ BCusername@bc.edu
¤ BC Password (same as used for Agora
Portal)
4.
Select ÒI AgreeÓ or ÒContinueÓ if you receive any certificate messages.
Mobile Devices
BEFORE 3/24
1.
Forget eduroam: Settings --> Wi-Fi --> eduroam --> "Forget this network" or
"Forget"
NOTE: Complete this step when you are done using eduroam
for the day, as it will disconnect you from the network.
AS OF 3/24
1.
Connect to the ÒeduroamÓ wireless
network.
2.
Login with:
¤ BCusername@bc.edu
¤ BC Password (same as used for Agora
Portal)
3.
Select ÒI AgreeÓ or ÒContinueÓ if you receive any certificate messages.
Appendix B: Yosemite (M. Connolly email, March 18,
2015)
You can pass on to colleagues looking to upgrade to
Yosemite (with the caveats that apply with going to any new o/s).
The URL for checking Yosemite compatibilities
(continually updated):
http://www.bc.edu/offices/help/essentials/software/mac/osx-support-matrix.html
The offending file from the earlier BC image which got in the way of upgrading from Mavericks to
Yosemite on many BCCR machines is located on the startup disk at:
Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/Search.plist
Deleting that file and rebooting the Mac should
then make it possible to install Yosemite without any further painful
glitches.
Some later BCCR Macintoshes got set up with a
cleaned-up Mavericks System and donÕt need that process, but, when in doubt, it
will do no harm to delete the file anyway before upgrading. (If absent it gets
regenerated in untampered form on startup.)
Alternatively your colleagues can call on a TC to
assist, who can either do the task on site or even remotely via Altiris.
===
Or, for the particularly adventurous:
Turn off the Mac
Restart while holding down <Command> and
<s> keys.
On the command line enter:
mount -uw /cd /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/rm Search.plist
Turn off then turn on the Mac
Appendix C: Drones over Yosemite (M. Connolly email,
March 18, 2015)
3) Drone
The dji Phantom Vision 2+
v3.0 drone we saw yesterday costs around $1480 with case,
extra battery, SD card, and some packages scrape the low end of $1K.
The video you saw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESKl2dza16U
and the dji
site is at
http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2-vision-plus
We
are looking next to set up some drone-related activities.
SInce professors are famous for droning on
and on, we should prove naturals at it ;-)