Advice on small VC set-up

Hi,
I need advice to set-up the best but affordable VC set-up using Skype.
Requirements:
- Set-up for conference table for 6 people
- Main screen on 42inch monitor on the wall
- Group calls possible
- Ability to do screen/application sharing during calls
- Good sound/video quality
- Wireless if possible
- Don't want to install dedicated VC computer
Thanks,
Jesse

Similar Messages

Advice on small gigabit network for students

Hi Guys (and ladies)
I am about to start planning a small network of macs for use by a local college. There are only 20 students. I plan to have a Mac Pro for server and 5 networked clients for use by the students. There will also be another client in the office for admin use.
I plan to set up the student machines as follows:
4x iMac (Intel) for general word processing, DTP and internet research.
1x Mac G4 MDD for video editing using iMovie and iDVD.
The Admin machine will use MS Office and Sage accounting software under Parallels.
I planned on having the Student computers booting from the server so that they (the students) could not interfere with the setup of the OS and allowing any foul ups to be cancelled by a reboot. Each student would have a home directory on the main server.
My query is this:
The student need to use digital photos for their work - proably using iPhoto as their digital album. Would the uploading of photos into their respective home folders impact on the network or would everything be able to cope or would local storage be better?
I figured that the home folders would be safer on the server (using a mirrored hard drive) rather than trying to implement a network back up system.
Individual machines would be a nightmare to administer because each machine would need setting up manually and with all the user accounts duplicated on each machine and therefore a students work would only be available from that one machine.
The G4 MDD would be used only for video editing so each student could save their iMovie projects on a mirrored HDD on that machine only. Do you think running iMovie or iDVD over the network would be problematic?
So many questions!!!
Finally, What is the best way, in your opinions, to police internet use by the students? I know that OSX client can limit the sites accessible by an account holder but each individual web address has to be configured for the account. Has OSX Server got a facility to allow access to only certain sites that is maybe not quite so restrictive but equally easy to set up?
Your opinions on how you would set this up would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Dean

>The student need to use digital photos for their work - proably using iPhoto as their digital album. Would the uploading of photos into their respective home folders impact on the network or would everything be able to cope or would local storage be better?
Any network traffic has the potential to impact other users on the network. Whether or not you're generating enough traffic is the issue.
If the users are running typical digital camera-based images of a few megabytes each you should be OK. If they're playing with multi-gigabyte images in things like PhotoShop then that would be a different issue.
>I figured that the home folders would be safer on the server (using a mirrored hard drive) rather than trying to implement a network back up system.
Mirrored hard drives are NOT a viable backup solution.
A mirror drive won't prevent some user from acceidentally deleting a file and calling you for help.
A mirrored drive won't protect users from file corruption.
What a mirror drive will do is protect you from a single disk failure on the server, and give you a single point to backup (rather than multiple clients), but you still need some kind of backup plan.
>Individual machines would be a nightmare to administer because each machine would need setting up manually and with all the user accounts duplicated on each machine and therefore a students work would only be available from that one machine.
Correct.
>The G4 MDD would be used only for video editing so each student could save their iMovie projects on a mirrored HDD on that machine only. Do you think running iMovie or iDVD over the network would be problematic?
Am I missing something? Why does this need to be a MDD (unless you already have the MDD and are looking for some use for it).
As for whether it's a problem or not, it comes back to the volume of traffic you're driving. Most iMovie projects tend to be small, so you may be OK.
> What is the best way, in your opinions, to police internet use by the students
How old are the students?
Seriously. If they're high school or elementary, fair enough, but if they're college grade you're probably wasting your time.
That said, the typical solutions tend to hinge around proxy servers that all web traffic has to pass through. Access controls on the proxy server limit which sites can and cannot be accessed. Mac OS X Server comes with a proxy server built into Apache, but there are other (better?) proxies available, both commercial and open source.
If you're like many school districts you should probably check with the school network admins for policy referrals to make sure that whatever you do fits within district guidelines.

Need advice about how to set up a NBA finals spreadsheet.

Hi everyone,
Some friends and I are playing a version of the Over/Under game during the NBA finals. My wife, being the geek she is, set up our score sheet in Numbers. Here's a screen shot of it:
What we're looking for is a more elegant way to set this up. M D and V are the first names of the folks participating in the game. The colored cells indicated that those predictions were correct. What we'd like is a way to automate the counting to determine the winner (and perhaps report first, second, third place, etc.)... and a way to make the whole thing easier to understand at first glance.
Any suggestions?
My question really isn't a trouble-shooting issue. If it's not appropriate for this forum, I'm happy to delete it.

Macademic1 wrote:
My question really isn't a trouble-shooting issue. If it's not appropriate for this forum, I'm happy to delete it.
Hi Macademic,
Your question is about how to do something using Numbers. As a 'technique' question, it's appropriate to the forum. Good thing, as you'd have some difficulty deleting your post.
The main difficulty I see is that with the positioning of the data, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to determine which bits Numbers should count as 'wins'.
Here's a possible solution. Details under the graphic.
Data table (on left)
Column A: Descriptions. This is a sampling of your list, some repeated to show different entries for "Yes" and "Results".
B: "Yes": This contains the numerical criteria to be met or exceeded to make a "Yes" answer correct.
C, D, E: Columns for each player (identified in Row 1) to enter their guesses. Checked means "Yes", unchecked means "No"
Formula in the Footer row: =Evaluation::B Returns the value in the footer row of column B of the Evaluation table.
F: "Results": Results should be entered as numbers. See below
Evaluation Table
A: Formula: =IF(ISBLANK(Data::B),"",Data::F>=Data::B)
checks if an entry has been made in the "Yes" column.
If not, the formula returns the empty string ( "" ), if so, the formula returns the result of a comparison of the values in "Yes" and "Results"; TRUE if "Result" is equal to or greater than "Yes", FALSE if it's not.
This column shows the choice (TRUE=checked, FALSE=unchecked) that will be evaluated as 'Correct' in the three checkbox columns.
Note the warning triangle in A2 due to comparing the number (1) in "Yes" to the text string ("!!!!") in "Results". Any text is greater than any number, but comparing 'apples to oranges' this way will display a warning. Avoid the warning by using only numbers in "Results" (and "Yes").
Also note the error triangles in Row 7. These result from 24:00 entered into the "Yes" column being interpreted as a duration, and the smaller 15:53 entered in "Results" being interpreted as a time (of day). (Originally 3:53 PM—I must have re-entered it as 3:53 at some point.) The error triangle in B7 is due to the formula there (and in C7 and D7) referencing A7 in its calculations. I removed the formula from C7 and D7 to allow the formulas in the Footer Row to show a result,
The next two lines show workarounds to avoid the error messages.
In Row 8, "Yes" and "Results" have only the number of full minutes entered, and that value entered as a plain number.
n Row 9 the two cells have been formatted to contain Durations, and to show them as minutes and seconds, separated by a colon.
B, C, D: Formula =IF(Data::C=$A,1,0)
In English, If the guess is correct, 1 point, if not, 0 points.
Footer row formula: =SUM(B)
Conditional formatting is used to change the Fill colour for correct guesses.
The rule shown is for the selected cell, E10. The same rule is used for C10 and D10. For other rows, the cell reference A10 must be changed to match the row being formatted (ie. in C8, the reference would be to A8).
Regards,
Barry

Need advice about a WiFi set-up

Dear Gang,
I want to have a pure 802.11n network using the 5 ghz spectrum and the wide array setting. However, I have one desktop computer that is 802.11g. I'd like to run a 25 ft. Cat 5 cable to one of the LAN ports on the TimeCapsule and then shut-off the WiFi on this computer. However, strangely enough, I've always had all my computers (even desktops) networked via WiFi so I don't know how well using the LAN works.
What are the thoughts of the group?
I know that ethernet should give me greater speeds to the TC's hard drive and should solve my problem with bringing a non-802.11n machine in to a "pure" network, but I don't want to do so if the set-up is arduous or if doing so makes me lose a lot of features that I get in an all WiFi network.
TIA,
Mark

dwb,
I'll definitely take your advice about the ethernet cables - thank you.
Your info is reassuring as it means that my dual G5 will get a little more life out of it by connecting it in to my "pure" system via ethernet.
Two other quick questions:
-should I connect my new iMac via ethernet to the router, too, even though it's capable of going on my system in 802.11n 5ghz?
-also, as an aside, I'm trying to figure out if my new 802.11n network will equal my current 802.11g network in terms of distance as I have an Apple TV that's a few rooms over. That Apple TV gets about 4 bars of signal from my current network. Do you think that 802.11n at 5 ghz will have an equivocal range?
Mark

Advice on Lightroom/Photoshop set up

Hello all,
Newbie here... I wanted to know what the best set up would be i.e setting up scratch disks to where etc..
My current set up is
Win 7
Ram: 16GB
Samsung SSD: 120GB (looking to upgrade in the near future)
Internal Hardrive: 1TB
Any advice given would be appreciated.

Hello all,
Newbie here... I wanted to know what the best set up would be i.e setting up scratch disks to where etc..
My current set up is
Win 7
Ram: 16GB
Samsung SSD: 120GB (looking to upgrade in the near future)
Internal Hardrive: 1TB
Any advice given would be appreciated.

Need advice on hard drive set up for a Mac Pro

Just changed over to a Mac and would like some advice on hard drive setup. Have a Mac Pro 2.8 with the 320 gig hard drive.
I plan to run Windows with MS Flight Simulator and Office 2007 through VMware Fusion/Boot Camp.
Will be transferring camcorder video to edit and make DVDs. Lots of music, podcasts, photos, and short videos will be stored.
I'm planning to buy additional hard drives.
Any suggestions on how many/what size hard drives to get.
What should the stock 320 hard drive be used for?
Where would I put the Windows stuff? What format/partion size?
Where should the backup go?
I've seen many positive comments on Western Digital Caviar Black drives, would that be a good choice?

Welcome to Discussions!
Here's my (current) setup.
4 x WD640AAKS. As Hatter says, brilliant drives. Whisper quiet and very fast. Plus extremesly good-priced.
Drives 1 and 2:
Raid0 boot volume. Also set as Photoshop scratch. I ran lots of tests on different setups and this is faster than having a separate scratch drive, almost the same as having a separate internal raid0 for scratch. But I felt I couldn't motivate that use of harddrive bays for the little extra it offered in speed.
Drive 3: User account on first partition and a second, 23GB partition for Windows XP.
Drive 4: Time Machine, which only backs up the User account partition.
I clone the startup drive to an external regularly. In fact I have three bootable clones, one OS X with latest updates, one with OS X with latest updates and my applications, and one of the boot volume before any major updates - overkill perhaps... I use the 320GB OEM drive in an FW800 enclosure for this.
/p

APC Power Backup Advice for Small Office

I wasn't sure where to post this but I was hoping someone would not my pointing me to the right forum or offering some advice.
I am trying to put the finishing touches on a conversion to mac and have been looking at buying a Power Backup in part for the power part (no crashes and safe shutdown) but also for surge protection.
I have a MacPro (and a monitor), a Time Machine (for the MBP), 2 - 1TB WD externals, a 500 GB Iomega External (for the MBP), a 3DConnection spaceball device and 2 printers on the "desktop". And then I have a 1 TB Seagate External that I keep plugged in on another table for backing up the MacBookPro now and then.
A. Is there anything else (other than temporary power and surge protection) I should be looking for when purchasing such a piece of hardware?
B. Should I be getting everything on the "desktop" plugged in to a backup device such as this and if so how do I calculate which device to buy?
C. Is it a crime to leave the 1 TB Seagate that is not conveniently located off this backup/surge protection system? I suppose it would be wise to unplug it and only plug it in when I am running a backup?
TIA for any advice. It's been a long haul and I'd love to make sure I am finishing this with some pro level advice/approval.
- Jon

JoeJoe2009 wrote:
Hi Jon,
...C. Is it a crime to leave the 1 TB Seagate that is not conveniently located off this backup/surge protection system? I suppose it would be wise to unplug it and only plug it in when I am running a backup?- external hard drives use very little power, you can keep it plugged in to the power back up or not. Since you're not using it often, the odds of it suffering a surge power problem are rare...
A couple of things to consider in that scenario: first, while it's not necessarily true of all external drives, some, such as LaCie, are noted for the early failure of their power bricks. Since I've been using a LaCie power brick for over ten years without a problem, I suspect that's because it's not connected to a power source except when it's in actually in use. Even when an external drive is not actually spinning, the power source is still live and perpetual cooking is probably not good for its health. I follow that rule with all devices that use power bricks, including Seagate and WD external backup drives and no brick has ever quit.
Second, the Seagate external drives I've used tend to run very hot because of poor or nonexistent ventilation. Indeed, the SMART record of one of them showed a heat failure with a 155 degree F. reading "in the past." Especially if leaving the drive plugged in means the drive is actually on, keeping it unplugged except when it's in use is a good idea.

Advice on how to set up router

My internet provider is Fido and it's a plug and go set-up whereby you just plug in the modem and you're connected. It's like Bell and Rogers internet anywhere services. I have purchased a Linksys WRT150N router and a WMP300N wireless PCI adapter. What I want to do is have the modem and router upstairs and connect wirelessly to the PC that is in the basement. The reason for this is that the modem, while not line of site, works much better upstairs near a window. I set up the router by hardwiring it to the computer, then detached it, moved it upstairs along with the modem, then installed the wireless PCI adapter. It worked fine until the first time that I shut down the computer. After that the internet speed was terrible (about 1/10 normal speed). So I took everything apart and I'm going to start over. Is there a better way for me to configure my set-up? What would be the best way to set things up? Thanks, Jeff

It's probably not an issue with your router. I had the same thing happen with my PC on a setup that is very similar to yours. In my case it turned out that Windows XP and the Linksys program were both trying to manage the network settings and WRT300N at the same time. For some reason XP has a habit of turning the settings to lowest performance. So if possible go into your network settings and change the performance levels backup. That should cause your connection speed to increase. I'm still trying to find a way to cut out the Windows settings all together, but Microsoft doesn't make that very easy. Hopefully that will fix it for you, if you need more specific settings let me know and I can try and collect a screen shot. Good luck.

A small app setting parameter on the user

Hello
I have a portal that use an ABAP system as a UME.
I need to make an webdynpro application that can update a parameter on the user in the ABAP system (parameter CVR set in su01).
Is this possible done by webdynrpo on the Portal (Java) ? Or should i consider an abap for webdynpro for abap on the system that has the UME (Abap) ?
Best Regards
Kristoffer Engh

Kristoffer,
that doesn't really matter, as long as the used JCo-Connection (in case of WD for Java) has the proper authorities to change the user settings.
I think, you can achieve this really easy with BAPI_USER_CHANGE.
WD/J has the advantage, the application can run on the portal itself.
kr, achim

Advice of best export setting for HD

Hello. I am editing with CS4 and did my first HD project. Project setup was fine, used Sony XDcam EX native MP4 footage that was shot HQ 1440x1080i. Didn't show red render line in PRemiere so I believe the new sequence settings are correct (XDcam HD, 1080i (60i), 1440x1080, HD anamorphic 1.333, 29.97). In Premiere the footage looks supberb, I just had to interpret footage as HD 1080 anamorphic in the Premiere bin so it displayed to the right aspect ratio.
When I export with Media Encoder I find it looks compressed (softer) and on pans is blurs a bit with what looks like scan lines. Motion stabilizer was shot off when I shot, so thats not the issue. How do I get my HD project to encode to mpg2 and still retain the HD qualities. I've tried so many setting combinations in Encoder. Here's an example:
HDTV 1080p 29.97
NTSC
quality 5
1440x1080
29.97fps
none (progressive)
wide 16:9 (1.333)
profile: main
level: high
bitrate: min. 8.33, target 15, max 18.5
160 MB file size (sample 1 min 30 second clip)
What is the recommended bit rate that most people can play back on their computers / DVD player? Is it just not possible to get the quality unless you go BlueRay? What am I doing wrong? Is encoder improved in CS5?
Or should I be recommending a different playback format to clients?
I'm lost and can't find the answers. Thanks,
Christine Z

Christine,
You are getting very mixed up here or at least the language of your post is confusing.
Regardless of what flavour of HD you shoot and edit in, compressing for SD DVD involves resizing and effectively 'downrezzing' your footage so it will never look as good as HD. In PAL land where I live SD DVD is 720*576, NTSC is I believe 720*480. So to compress something to watch on a DVD player you want to be using those dimensions to begin with - there is probably a DVD preset that does that.
If, instead, you are talking about delivering to the client as some other file such as H.264, Flash or WMV then I would still down rez just to make it playback better - a 1440*1080 WMV wont play nicely on most PCs.
The settings you state below, by the way, look more like those you'd use for HD DVD or Blu-Ray.
In terms of using the Media Encoder in CS4, if it's any consolation, I've never got a decent HD to SD conversion out of it.
Finally the quality of DVD or other file playback can vary enormously depending on the monitor so check it on a couple of others and if it's a DVD, try it on a TV.
Maybe post exactly what you're trying to achieve and I'm sure others will chip in.

Advice needed regarding TC set-up

Dear Gang,
I want to have a pure 802.11n network using the 5 ghz spectrum and the wide array setting. However, I have one desktop computer that is 802.11g. I'd like to run a 25 ft. Cat 5 cable to one of the LAN ports on the TimeCapsule and then shut-off the WiFi on this computer. However, strangely enough, I've always had all my computers (even desktops) networked via WiFi so I don't know how well using the LAN works.
What are the thoughts of the group?
I know that ethernet should give me greater speeds to the TC's hard drive and should solve my problem with bringing a non-802.11n machine in to a "pure" network, but I don't want to do so if the set-up is arduous or if doing so makes me lose a lot of features that I get in an all WiFi network.
TIA,
Mark

Smokerz and Hopaki,
Thank you for your responses. That's reassuring as it means that my dual G5 will get a little more life out of it by connecting it in to my "pure" system via ethernet.
Two other quick questions:
-should I connect my new iMac via ethernet to the router, too, even though it's capable of going on my system in 802.11n 5ghz?
-also, as an aside, I'm trying to figure out if my new 802.11n network will equal my current 802.11g network in terms of distance as I have an Apple TV that's a few rooms over. That Apple TV gets about 4 bars of signal from my current network. Do you think that 802.11n at 5 ghz will have an equivocal range?
Mark

Looking for advice on small office use ...

I'm looking for options to share our photo library in a small office environment. Essentially we have a single person (ie, our photographer) who is responsible for maintaining our program's photo library. What we're looking for is a way for him to very easily "publish" the photos which would allow other staff in our environment to quickly find and use images when necessary. We're a pure mac environment, although our photographer is currently a bridge / CS3 user (ie, not Aperture). I'm an experience Aperture user at home, and I'm trying to see if it could be used in a shared environment.
If not - does anyone have any suggestions ?
Thanks,
Paul

Tell us about your "shared environment." I assume the various Macs are connected via a local network. Do you have a dedicated server? (A mac that is used to store files and is always on - that all other macs can access via cable or wireless.)
If so, it seems that Aperture may be the wrong app for this. Since "everyone else" just needs to access pictures that the photographer has adjusted (using AP), what you need is software that accesses a "library" of image files. I'm thinking of something like the old iViewMedia Pro (now MS Expression Media, yes it's available for the Mac). So, basically you need a good DAM (digital asset management) app for everyone to use.
What I envision is this (not sure if this is the workflow you are thinking about) - photog processes RAW or other image formats in AP and exports adjusted images to jpg or tiff. These are then stored in some folder hierarchy. "The DAM Book" discusses a strategy for this - folders in the
<year>
<month>
<day>
hierarchy, but you can use some other organization like
<year>
<subject>
Once the photog has processed the images and exported the final products, you import each new batch of images into each of the DAM software on each Mac. This software should be able to read metadata like keywords (you'd have to be sure the AP exported image files have XMP sidecar files or DNG files with embedded metadata that includes keywords - keywords are the important data you really need for everyone to use when searching for images). Unfortunately, DNG is still not well supported in AP, it's better handled in Lightroom. However, others here may want to add some ideas. I believe you can add some metadata like keywords directly inside other image file formats (tiff, jpg??). Don't know if AP handles this.
At any rate, look into Expression media or something similar that others here might suggest.

Advice needed on printer set-up

Hi all,
Just completed my ArchLinux installation (took me just a day for installation and nearly a week to config packages!) but I have yet to do the printer setup. I have an HP Laserjet 1200 and in my old Gentoo system I was using a2ps alone to do most of the printing jobs. I installed it in Arch as well but among other dependencies Pacman installed cups as well.
I remember having a lot of difficulties setting up cups and that is why I used a2ps alone, since I only print a few docs and a print queue/scheduler is not really needed. I wonder whether I should try to setup cups since it is installed or try to setup a2ps only. Is cups really needed in a single-user/desktop machine with occasional printing? Pacman says its needed by gimp-print and samba although I have not installed the Gimp or samba.
My thanks in advance!

on a single system there should be no problem in setting up cups
there is a nice howto in wiki i think at :
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/CUPS setup
the short version i own a laserjet 1200 too:
install the hpijs driver set with pacman
load the usblp module in rc.conf
start cups in rc.conf
now choose your favourit browser
call: http://localhost:631
now choose administration
if you're asked for user type root and password
choose add printer and so on
the rest should be self explanatory
you can also use the kde interface in kcontrol should also work

HT3964 connected new external monitor to macbook pro, was working but now have no power, black screen in laptop. monitor purchased with advice from tech and set up also. Worked fine for an hour and then quit

Have just connected a viewsonic external monitor to macbook pro 10.6.8, had everything up and running fine for about an hour then the macbook quit. No power (ws running off power source) Have I killed my macbook? Help!

Aha, all is good.
I went to Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays
and to home/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays
and deleted all SyncMaster.icc files. I did leave behind one SyncMaster file in the home/../Displays which had an old date and I new was ok.
Rebooted, plugged in SyncMaster, and a new icc file was automatically created in the /Library/../Displays folder.
My display works normally, now.

Need advice on how to set up pages!

So I am making a site and there is a section that will be
dedicated to selling boats. I need to have on one page a listing of
all the boats with a thumbnail picture and title...easy enough, I
can handle that.
The part I can't figure out though, is that I need to be able
to click on the listing title and have it open a new page with
several more pictures and a full description. My questions:
1. Can the database (mysql)/dreamweaver automtically resize
an input picture to a thumbnail size?
2.How can I create this layout and make it editable by users,
i.e. with a form to update records in the database that will
automatically create these pages with the input of
descriptions/pictures, etc?
I am familiar with mysql and use phpmyadmin and Dreamweaver,
however I am no expert. Any ideas anyone?!

www.cartweaver.com
Walt
"Brandon7777" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:fujl4e$4gn$[email protected]..
> So I am making a site and there is a section that will
be dedicated to
> selling
> boats. I need to have on one page a listing of all the
boats with a
> thumbnail
> picture and title...easy enough, I can handle that.
>
> The part I can't figure out though, is that I need to be
able to click on
> the
> listing title and have it open a new page with several
more pictures and a
> full
> description. My questions:
>
> 1. Can the database (mysql)/dreamweaver automtically
resize an input
> picture
> to a thumbnail size?
>
> 2.How can I create this layout and make it editable by
users, i.e. with a
> form
> to update records in the database that will
automatically create these
> pages
> with the input of descriptions/pictures, etc?
>
> I am familiar with mysql and use phpmyadmin and
Dreamweaver, however I am
> no
> expert. Any ideas anyone?!
>

Advice on small VC set-up

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