I run a grad-school lab, and what we do sounds a lot like what you need.
I think you're saying that you have a single account on each machine that every student logs in as. If that's the case, enable the "Guest" account, and let students use that (passwordless) account to log in. the Guest account has the tightest restrictions, and most of the things you can change as Guest get wiped away by a simple reboot. This is what we do, with the systems set to automatically log in as Guest - see http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.h tm for details.
If I'm wrong, and you need individual accounts for each student, then you'll need Windows XP Pro on every machine and some flavor of domain controller (SaMBa does a dandy job for us). Make your student accounts members of the "Domain Guests" group, and viola!
One other note: ditch the "administrator" account. It's trivial to find tools that will let a person reset the password of the default "administrator" account. Create another administrator-level account, then delete or disable "administrator".
This being Slashdot, somebody of course suggested that you "put Linux on it", but in this case they might be on the right track. We have a general-use lab that is running Ubuntu with Crossover Office, and the users are happy as clams (and these aren't techies, folks - these are writers, pastors, and chaplains). We use a single shared unprivileged account with automatic login (similar to what I described above for Windows), and everything works beautifully. It's also more stable than the Windows lab, which makes everybody happy!
(Thought I'd follow up the 'death-to-Blackboard' rants with a constructive suggestion...)
If you want to ditch Blackboard, take a look at Moodle. It's a dang good PHP-based courseware system that's open source, free (in both senses), very actively developed, and (important for administration types) you can buy support and various other services via Moodle.com. You could set it up in your personal webspace as a sandbox for people to look at and play with.
Plus, you could have CS students write modules or otherwise contribute to development - everybody wins!
You can take a look at how other schools are using Moodle at their site list.
Why doesn't some manufacturer make a laptop that can be charged via USB?
I first thought of this when in a meeting. The laptop of the guy next to me was running out of juice - I had two batteries in mine and plenty of power, but there was no way to move the power the 15 inches from my machine to his.
Think of the possibilities: no more carrying a fat, proprietary power brick around to charge your laptop - just slip a USB cable in your pocket and pull some power from your desktop machine (or a friend's, or a stranger's, or the local library's). No USB port handy? Grab one of the $15 USB power jacks in the original post, and you're all set.
Probably won't ever happen, though - too much damage to the 'laptop power brick' sector of the economy...
My wife and I had the Prius vs. Echo discussion when we bought a year ago. We realized that by the time we added the features we wanted to the Echo, it was only a couple of grand less than the Prius.
Plus, the Echo feels like driving a cardboard box, whereas the Prius grips the road better than the Cutlass Supreme we had before.
So, we went Prius. ~48 mpg over the course of a year, 0 to 100kph in 12 seconds, double acceleration on the highway (gas AND electric), plus a cool little touch screen. If you can get one, do it!
Look at the Dell page - it's a Recycle/DONATE page, routing donated PCs through the National Cristinia Foundation. I'm not sure whether they use Linux on donated machines (or if they'd leave it on if it was there already), but it would be worth discussing with them.
Hmmmmm...
Copyright law is an agreement between the public and content creators - the public grants (and defends) the creator's right to control their work, and in exchange gets fair use during the copyright term and public use after that term. Since an architecture like Palladium would allow creators to assert any control they choose over their work, there would be no need for the public to continue to grant legal copyright protection. Copyright law could be ended, millions of taxpayer dollars could be saved, and nobody would have to worry about the legal or moral implications of file sharing.
Ergo, if I could get a DRM-free copy of Britney Spears' latest disc (58 years old and still mostly naked), I could feel free to share it with all of my closest friends (or worst enemies), because the technology would be the boundary of creator's rights - if it's possible, it's permissible!
...the Bush administration has announced that in "weeks, not months" it will release Gulf War II, which will provide continuous global war that will support several million 'players' at once. "We expect it to be available for the forseeable future" says Defense Secretary 'Master of the Universe' Rumsfeld. Vice President Cheney says "it's like 'America's Army Operations', but much, MUCH bigger..... yes, reaaallly big...."
What if we tried something that might actually work?
PAWS, Inc. (the office of Jim Davis, the Garfield guy) has a 'solar aquatic system' in Indiana that processes all the waste water from their complex in a greenhouse, using plants and small critters in series of tanks and pools. Without using any chemicals or electricity (beyond pumping and some supplementary heat for the greenhouse in extreme cold), the system outputs water cleaner than what you used to make your morning coffee.
Look at the photo. Wouldn't this billboard be including the people driving the other way (both on the freeway and on the auxilliary road just in font of the sign)?
Slashdot Mirror
I run a grad-school lab, and what we do sounds a lot like what you need.
I think you're saying that you have a single account on each machine that every student logs in as. If that's the case, enable the "Guest" account, and let students use that (passwordless) account to log in. the Guest account has the tightest restrictions, and most of the things you can change as Guest get wiped away by a simple reboot. This is what we do, with the systems set to automatically log in as Guest - see http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.h tm for details.
If I'm wrong, and you need individual accounts for each student, then you'll need Windows XP Pro on every machine and some flavor of domain controller (SaMBa does a dandy job for us). Make your student accounts members of the "Domain Guests" group, and viola!
One other note: ditch the "administrator" account. It's trivial to find tools that will let a person reset the password of the default "administrator" account. Create another administrator-level account, then delete or disable "administrator".
This being Slashdot, somebody of course suggested that you "put Linux on it", but in this case they might be on the right track. We have a general-use lab that is running Ubuntu with Crossover Office, and the users are happy as clams (and these aren't techies, folks - these are writers, pastors, and chaplains). We use a single shared unprivileged account with automatic login (similar to what I described above for Windows), and everything works beautifully. It's also more stable than the Windows lab, which makes everybody happy!
(Thought I'd follow up the 'death-to-Blackboard' rants with a constructive suggestion...)
If you want to ditch Blackboard, take a look at Moodle. It's a dang good PHP-based courseware system that's open source, free (in both senses), very actively developed, and (important for administration types) you can buy support and various other services via Moodle.com. You could set it up in your personal webspace as a sandbox for people to look at and play with.
Plus, you could have CS students write modules or otherwise contribute to development - everybody wins!
You can take a look at how other schools are using Moodle at their site list.
Enjoy!
...if only people could accept that learning things rote is no longer something we actually have to do any more....
...except for your password...
http://www.mail2web.com
Why doesn't some manufacturer make a laptop that can be charged via USB?
I first thought of this when in a meeting. The laptop of the guy next to me was running out of juice - I had two batteries in mine and plenty of power, but there was no way to move the power the 15 inches from my machine to his.
Think of the possibilities: no more carrying a fat, proprietary power brick around to charge your laptop - just slip a USB cable in your pocket and pull some power from your desktop machine (or a friend's, or a stranger's, or the local library's). No USB port handy? Grab one of the $15 USB power jacks in the original post, and you're all set.
Probably won't ever happen, though - too much damage to the 'laptop power brick' sector of the economy...
My wife and I had the Prius vs. Echo discussion when we bought a year ago. We realized that by the time we added the features we wanted to the Echo, it was only a couple of grand less than the Prius.
Plus, the Echo feels like driving a cardboard box, whereas the Prius grips the road better than the Cutlass Supreme we had before.
So, we went Prius. ~48 mpg over the course of a year, 0 to 100kph in 12 seconds, double acceleration on the highway (gas AND electric), plus a cool little touch screen. If you can get one, do it!
Look at the Dell page - it's a Recycle/DONATE page, routing donated PCs through the National Cristinia Foundation. I'm not sure whether they use Linux on donated machines (or if they'd leave it on if it was there already), but it would be worth discussing with them.
Hmmmmm...
Copyright law is an agreement between the public and content creators - the public grants (and defends) the creator's right to control their work, and in exchange gets fair use during the copyright term and public use after that term. Since an architecture like Palladium would allow creators to assert any control they choose over their work, there would be no need for the public to continue to grant legal copyright protection. Copyright law could be ended, millions of taxpayer dollars could be saved, and nobody would have to worry about the legal or moral implications of file sharing.
Ergo, if I could get a DRM-free copy of Britney Spears' latest disc (58 years old and still mostly naked), I could feel free to share it with all of my closest friends (or worst enemies), because the technology would be the boundary of creator's rights - if it's possible, it's permissible!
Just a thought....
...the Bush administration has announced that in "weeks, not months" it will release Gulf War II, which will provide continuous global war that will support several million 'players' at once. "We expect it to be available for the forseeable future" says Defense Secretary 'Master of the Universe' Rumsfeld. Vice President Cheney says "it's like 'America's Army Operations', but much, MUCH bigger ..... yes, reaaallly big ...."
What if we tried something that might actually work?
PAWS, Inc. (the office of Jim Davis, the Garfield guy) has a 'solar aquatic system' in Indiana that processes all the waste water from their complex in a greenhouse, using plants and small critters in series of tanks and pools. Without using any chemicals or electricity (beyond pumping and some supplementary heat for the greenhouse in extreme cold), the system outputs water cleaner than what you used to make your morning coffee.
Look at the photo. Wouldn't this billboard be including the people driving the other way (both on the freeway and on the auxilliary road just in font of the sign)?