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December 31, 2007

Using Apple's Leopard Operating System at UMBC

In late October, Apple released "Leopard", operating system version 10.5. This is my review after using this for 60 days.

OIT has purchased 500 Apple operating system licenses. This means if you have a Macintosh purchased with institutional funds you can upgrade to Leopard through OIT's license. If you have a departmental IT staff person they should be able to get you a copy of the DVD; otherwise contact the helpdesk and we will work with you to get a DVD.

Before installing this you should note that many of the features in Leopard benefit from additional RAM. We recommend having 2 gigabytes of RAM, though 512MB is the minimum to install. In addition, you must have at least a 867 Mhz G4 or G5 or Intel system to install Leopard. Finally, you need nine gigabytes of disk space to install the DVD. Installation takes about 1 hour.

Leopard is a major upgrade for Apple and like other major upgrades it has many good features but also has some new issues you should be aware of. I would say that if the negatives don't matter to you then you should upgrade to get the new features.

Negative Features of Note:

The Java environment has changed and the VPN software we distribute does not work properly. OIT is testing a fix but this is an important issue if you need to use the VPN.UMBC.EDU. ,/li>

The firewall utility is off by default and doesn't provide the flexibility found in the prior version 10.4 (Tiger). Those worried about security should make sure you enable your firewall after installing Leopard.

Positive Features of Note:

The File Viewer has added many additional features, two I like are the cover view. In this setting you can view your files as images to visually see the file. This helps if the name doesn't provide enough meaning. The second element is they have improved the spotlight search feature for looking at files, this is faster than before and allows you to add boolean conditions such as AND, OR, NOT.

Spaces is a new feature that allows you have a number of virtual desktop screens. This can be very helpful on a laptop if you want to work with many different windows open.

Time Machine provides a way to back up a Mac to another device. The first time you use this it will take a while to make an initial backup and then after that it works incrementally. Time machine understands that it doesn't need to back up system files and does a good job.

Finally, a number of applications got new versions. Mail, Preview, iChat, and iCal all have new versions with some improvements.

For me, I would rate the features in Leopard as a positive and believe it is worth the effort to upgrade so long as you don't need the VPN. If you are a home user and have to pay to purchase the upgrade I would base my decision on how long I planned to keep the machine. If I planned to keep it for another two or three years it makes sense to upgrade. If the machine may only last another year or so then I would save the money for purchasing the upgrade to Leopard and get Leopard when I purchased a new machine.

For more information here is a more detailed review by MacWorld

Posted by jack at 9:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Using the Verizon High Speed Data Service for PC/MAC

I recently had the opportunity to test out the Verizon high speed cellular data service. This service uses Verizon's high-speed cellular data service. This service runs at approximately 600KB to 1Megabit a second. Putting this into perspective this is a little bit slower than Comcast but faster than the low-cost DSL and about 10-20 times faster than using the fastest dial up modem.

My test setup was purchasing a card for my Macintosh Powerbook Pro (15") that uses the Apple express card slot. This Verizon card comes in a USB and express card version. The express card slides into the Powerbook and has the antennae extends 1 inch outside the laptop. The USB version extends about 3 inches outside the laptop. The first time you install this on an Apple it is recognized and configured for your system. I set this up for me using the Apple System Preferences so that I had to click a button to connect, it is possible to have this auto-connect whenever you go to access the Internet.

What is good about this service is that it is very ubiquitous, meaning that if you have good cell-phone coverage in the location you are at then you have good data access. If you travel a lot and spend considerable time at the airport or hotels this is a great device to get access when you are out. Another use for this is taking a laptop and using it heavily in an outside setting for data collection. If you tend to be in outdoor areas where you have cell-phone coverage you are likely to have access to the high-speed data service. For basic email and web access you will think you are on a standard wireless connection. If you try to do streaming video you may notice a little sluggishness over standard wireless but it still performs well.

The cost for unlimited data from Verizon is $60 a month. This is not cheap but for those of you that spend a lot of downtime in airports this may be worth the cost to have access to your work.

Anyone interested in learning more should contact Jack Suess or Mike Carlin at OIT.

Posted by jack at 8:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 14, 2007

OIT Publishes FA2007 Most Active Blackboard Courses Reports

OIT has again published UMBC's "Most Active Blackboard" courses reports for the Fall 2007 semester, based on an "average hits per user" approach. To learn more, visit www.umbc.edu/blackboard/reports.

Highlights include the following (based ONLY on student activity):

Most Active Graduate Course: EDUC 688 "Methodology of Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language" taught by George Chinnery, Eunju Chen, Margaret Wilson (avg hits per student: 2,075)

Most Active Undergraduate Course: PSYC 100 "Introduction to Psychology" taught by Kelly Forys, Brian Jobe, Linda Jones (avg hits per student: 927).

Most Active Department: Information Systems (90 Blackboard courses).

Most Active Community: "Project Lead The Way" managed by Anne Spence, Mechanical Engineering (avg hits per user: 1,214).

Total Number of Blackboard Courses (including those with multiple sections): 1,074

While activity alone is not a measure of quality, OIT publishes these reports so faculty can seek each other out about what does (or doesn't ) work in using Blackboard. Toward this end, faculty may also want to try out the new "Average Hits Per User by Final Grade Distribution" "self service" report announced on November 30, 2007.

For more information about the Blackboard Reports project, contact John Fritz at 410.455.6596 or fritz@umbc.edu.

Posted by fritz at 4:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack