New Computer: Like These Ideas?

[nuggety]

Hi All,

With the installation of our new system (Which I helped install/test yesterday for the first time, and it is AMAZING) I have spoken to the IT Department in regards to a new computer; it is pretty much a definite to be coming soon, and I have some ideas of what to put on it.

• RGB mixer and color pallete program (Programmed by me)
• Position pallete spreadsheet
• Inventory of equipment
• All the manuals and datasheets for our equipment
• Sonar LE (To record with our new A&H ZED22FX)
• TrueRTA (To analyse frequencies)
• Microphone plot spreadsheets
• Playback software (To A&H ZED22FX) instead of CD

What do you guys think of these ideas? Me and my mate have started designing a piece of software to cover all aspects of a show, including cues, equipment, personell tracking, comms information, scheduling of load in etc. Unfortunately that won't be done till September.

 

[avkid]

If you use wireless microphones some sort of RF coordination software is essential.

 

[nuggety]

If you use wireless microphones some sort of RF coordination software is essential.

We have two RF receivers, which we can use with a combination out of 2 beltpacks and 2 radio mic's.

EDIT: I might program something now real quick to keep track of what frequencies things are set to.

 

[chausman]

Depending on how many people are using the computer, you may want to make an Admin account and an account to use for shows, then you can use parental settings to keep people from playing games. And, passwords are good, keep things limited to people who know what they are doing, not just someone who thinks "I have that, it can do this and then they loose everything. Maybe I'm paranoid but it is to easy to mess things up when everyone has full access.

 

[nuggety]

Depending on how many people are using the computer, you may want to make an Admin account and an account to use for shows, then you can use parental settings to keep people from playing games. And, passwords are good, keep things limited to people who know what they are doing, not just someone who thinks "I have that, it can do this
(something cool) and then they loose everything. Maybe I'm paranoid but it is to easy to mess things up when everyone has full access.

Only tech crew will have access (not stage crew) and it will be controlled by the IT administrator. Any software will be installed by him, but my programs will still work as they are standalone *.exe's.

 

[zmb]

Include stuff like Microsoft Office and Audacity too. My junior high drama department just got its own laptop separate of the school's tech department and I'm helping to get it 100% functional.

 

[MarshallPope]

If software budget is an issue, remember that OpenOffice can be a good, free substitute for MS Office. I have a feeling, though, that the school will have a bulk license for MS Office that can be used.

 

[nuggety]

Include stuff like Microsoft Office and Audacity too. My junior high drama department just got its own laptop separate of the school's tech department and I'm helping to get it 100% functional.

Yes all that kind of stuff is included on any school computer SOE. And its all funded by the government, we have basically unlimited software.

 

[howlingwolf487]

Me and my mate have started designing a piece of software to cover all aspects of a show, including cues, equipment, personell tracking, comms information, scheduling of load in etc.

That sounds pretty cool - unless you want it freely distributed, it would be wise to keep it off of the forum. Maybe some people would be willing to beta test it for you guys. Keep it under wraps and PM those you think might be interested until you decide what you foresee its future to be.

 

[cpf]

Make sure you're running XP or 7 and they're not foisting some unwanted Vista license on you. Turn off automatic restarts for updates. See if you can convince the IT folks to put in at least 500gb of RAID'd storage, and a decent video card if you ever see yourself doing video on it. Also, look into online/"offsite" backups since it looks like you're going to be storing lots of important data on this box. One more thing: for the convenience of people down the road fully document any tools you're building yourself and leave a copy of their source on the machine so enterprising people down the road can make tweaks conveniently.

 

[nuggety]

That sounds pretty cool - unless you want it freely distributed, it would be wise to keep it off of the forum. Maybe some people would be willing to beta test it for you guys. Keep it under wraps and PM those you think might be interested until you decide what you foresee its future to be.

Awesome mate. We are obviously going to try to use it at school, but if other people used it, it would be great.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Audacity or SoundForge are great ideas if you want to include sound editing.

 

[museav]

What is the purpose for TrueRTA and what version do you intend to use?

 

[NickVon]

I'd recommend a version of Cyberlink DVD player, and VLC media player. Multiplay is a great audio cue play back Shareware found here.

I like Cyberlink but any full featured DVD playback software would be good.
VLC Plays basically any audio file and any video file you'd ever come up with. (including those frustrating Itunes and Quicktime formats, doesn't do DVD's as Discs though.) VLC. Actually it seems to indicate that does do DVD playback... eh
Multiplay is a great little freeware showcontrol and audio cue playback software, best of all it's free. There are other more full featured ones out there that have pricetags as well.

 

[Chris15]

If you have any intentions of this being used for show critical playback etc, it needs to NEVER see the internet. EVER. That also means not allowing it to be become infected by iPods, USB drives etc from the masses. In spite of your best attempts, consider virus protection a very wise investment, but I have a feeling McAfee is in the DET SOE these days.

It sounds like it is DET, so it will probably be 7 and Office 2007 or 2010. (btw, DET NSW have THE largest network in Australia and one of the largest bulk licences with Microsoft in the world...)

Folks, remember this is Oz, RF is not as nasty as in the States... yet
If you have 2 RF systems then get your frequencies right once and forget about them. Stick a label A or B on each transmitterand on the 2 receivers. If you want a freq. coordination done, email or PM me the brand, model and band of the systems and your school's postcode.