Installing ARD through commandline (trackpad not working)

So, an interesting problem with Jessas' laptop. The trackpad button thought it was always being pressed! A simple problem, but it would not allow you to do anything on the mac using the mouse. I tried lots of things including trying to tick the box which said "disable trackpad when mouse present, but it wouldn't let me. On top of that was the problem that it was OS X 10.4 and the command for ticking the box didn't work either:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.ignoreTrackpadIfMousePresent 0

So my next plan was to enable ARD on her laptop and remote in, it hopefully registering the ARD clicks (i could always block off the user with it too. Soooo, I eventually found this command:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -clientopts -setvnclegacy -vnclegacy yes -clientopts -setvncpw -vncpw mypasswd -restart -agent -privs -all


The "kickstart" command does have a -help option. I found I had to edit some of these options because I couldn't get it to start straight away. Got there in the end.

Flash animation workshop

So I have volunteered to do an animation workshop in Flash on the 14th of June, so students can animate some still work to add to their portfolio of work and help them pass the grade.

To freshen up my knowledge, I shall undertake a personal project which will incorporate most animation techniques they will use in Flash. The best way is to undertake a project which will interest me, add to my portfolio.

Ideas:

• Animated storyboard for an animation i.e:
• Trees everywhere
• Chesterfield college burning down/exploding
• Towerblocks covered in plants
• Totally new animation?
• Johns website
• My portfolio website

The trouble with the first three ideas is that they require time to storyboard. I could schedule this into the project though.

The trouble with Johns website is that he has not decided to go with the flash one and also it does not have adequate animation in it.

The trouble with "My portfolio website" is that it requires interactivity which I will not be focussing on in the lessons and which require a large amount of time to learn.

I am tempted to go with one of my original animations and schedule in the story-boarding to the project. These animations need it anyway. The students might also need to make storyboards, definitely a synopsis. perfect.

The schedule:

• Finish synopsis to perfection - 1 day
• storyboard including rough timing and explanations - 1 days
• breakdown of what needs to be made and how - 1 day
• making the separate models - 3 days
• Put together and animate - 3 days
• add music and titles - 1 day
• finish - 1 day

All this in 11 days. I plan to finish early to allow for unforeseen things or bad planning!! That should leave 6 days of relaxation :-) But I could always refine it.

Epson Stylus Pro 4000 changing ink to dye

Well, I think the document which told you how to change the inks to dyes must have been lost by now, over 5 years old. So I reconed the basics were to drain the system of inks and then load in the dyes. Found a "Field Repair Guide" for the Epson Stylus Pro 4000. On page 208 it tells how to drain ink (no draining cartridge required - unlike the stylus pro 7600). It also tells of how to get to the service mode (hold down < > and down and switch machine on.

Works like a dream!

HP Designjet 130 losing colour halfway

Well, strange problem with the designjet 130, when doing large colour prints, the blue seems to run out halfway, leaving the rest of the image without blue. It's taken a long time, replaced cartridges and it's been so long I don't even know if we've replaced print heads. So, the first thing you think of is to clean the print heads, but no facility comes with the drivers. Finally downloaded the facility (web-based) and was going to try it but thought I'd look into the problem before wasting so much ink.

I don't know why I didn't look before, but I finally did a search and found this article. Found this and the 'experts' recon it might be air in the tubes. So take the back off and find the tubes and have a good look (you'll need a torx screw driver!).

I will update this and tell you what happens!

For test prints it's best to use the gradient facility in Photoshop. I made two prints, one of the spectrum of light (all colours) which came out fine. The other was a gradient from 100% Cyan faded to 0% Cyan (remember to make it CMYK mode!) The first time I printed the Cyan one, it seemed fine up until the very end when it only printed the left side (100% Cyan) and did not print the Light Cyan (presumed to be 50% Cyan). So, ran the "Clean printheads" and ran off a test print. This time the whole sheet printed just the right hand side, leaving little or no light cyan!

It looks like a problem with transporting the ink to the printhead (I think I remember now that we did change the printhead). Found a couple more pages. One saying what to do if there is possibly a bubble:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1273579439158+28353475&threadId=1173674

They suggest examining the printhead, changing it if possible. If not, then a RIDS assembly kit should be replaced. - £45.

An interesting page I found was in analysing the test page - http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00044783

Turns out to be the printhead. Instead of printing a photoshop document just do the test page. To do this I used the HP designjet system maintanance program and clicked on "Image Quality".

Looked like lines across the cyan blocks only, and everything else was OK. Upon changing the printhead the lines had disappeared. It's interesting that this has happened twice in 2 years. Not had a problem with any other printhead. I think the printer does need cleaning out though.

infocus lp650 projector flashing

Phil phoned up and said the projector in N150 (fashion) wasn't switching on, with a flashing red light. He'd replaced the batteries in the remote to no avail. It took us a while but we finally found the key to get the projector out (it was in the draw in the fashion staff room). Couldn't find any filters (it's old so I guess they didn't have filters back then.

Eventually found a couple of manuals, put them on the 3D server. Figured it was the lamp, but you can reset the lamp life on it by holding down the two volume controls simultaneously for 10 secs. Hey! It worked. Job done