What a fortnight! I started back at TAFE last Monday and tried to continue the set up of PCs and new Mac Pros ready for teaching this year. I set up a Windows 7 64-bit box and found that the DET* Adobe CS4 installer didn’t install Photoshop. When you install Adobe CS4 on a PC running a 64-bit version of Windows you normally get 2 versions of Photoshop – the 32-bit and 64-bit versions which support different plug-ins and effects. This meant that I had to start again with the 32-bit version of Windows 7. When I had finished this I discovered that Windows 7 Enterprise wouldn’t activate properly – #$%@&*! Windows. Time was running out so I decided to clean up last years Windows XP installations in the Lab and use those again, I’ll sort out the activation process later.
Whilst all this has been going on I have also had serious hassles with the Mac OS X Adobe CS4 DET installer, the new installer for OS X 10.6 wasn’t released until Monday this week. This was the “Intermediate” version (??? DET terminology – Design Premium ???) but it included most of the software we need to deliver courses. All of the packages installed, but every Adobe application crashed as soon as it was launched. So I was erasing the whole disk and re-installing without updates, without any other software installed and still no success. At the suggestion of the programmer who writes the DET Installer I tried on another system that hadn’t been turned on before. Success!!! So I did all of the Apple updates – half of the Adobe applications crashed as soon as they were launched. In the meantime, DET had release the “Comprehensive” version (??? DET terminology – Master Collection ???). I started comparing the two systems to identify any differences.
I decided to wipe the original system, install Adobe “Comprehensive” and then all other software when the Adobe software was working. Another successful install with all software working. I’m currently creating a deployment image so I can get as many systems working today and I’ll have to finish the classroom on Monday.
What caused the problem with Mac Pros? When I start setting up a Mac Pro with the OS X Install DVD, I use “Disk Utility” to wipe the hard drive. During this process you can choose between 2 different Mac formats – or Mac OS X (Journaled, case-sensitive). I have always chosen Mac OS X (Journaled, case-sensitive) because of using Linux and my background in web design. MyResume.docx is a different file to myresume.docx and also a different file to MYRESUME.docx. When trying the installation a the second MacPro I didn’t wipe the hard drive, I was just racing to see if I could get a working system. The default setting on new Apple computers is Mac OS X (Journaled) which ignores case-senstivity on file names and programs. This means either Adobe or the DET programmer have specified file names which are interpreted differently when a case-sensitive format is used on the hard drive. At this stage I am just imaging systems as fast as I can so I can’t identify the exact cause.
This hasn’t been a great start the new year at TAFE, hopefully things get better as we go along. On the other hand I am quite busy on the Bathurst Computer Solutions side of things with people upgrading RAM in their laptops and needing help getting new hardware and web sites set up. It seems that people are starting to see the end of the “Economic Crash” and have more confidence in the future.
* DET = NSW Department of Education & Training, who can’t supply me with the Adobe installer discs because of the contract with Adobe.
