Deployment of ExamView, Treasures and other poorly written software

[Brian Moskalik]

I've been tasked with trying to deploy ExamView, Treasures, and other similar software.  The included installers provide zero means of deployment.  Running silent installs errors out.  Sitting at each workstation is out of the question.

Are any of you using this software, and if so, how are you managing / deploying the software?

535 reports they are using AdminStudio to repackage these programs.  Looks great, but we'll be selling candy bars for years to cover the cost.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!  :)

[Brian Moskalik]

I deployed the TI-84 software through SCCM with this batch command line:

"\\server\path\TI84\TI-SmartView_TI-84.exe" /quiet

Unfortunately, almost all my systems are Win 7 32bit.  We don't run 64bit yet, and our XP systems are largely gone minus select office systems so I haven't had to deploy much to them via GPO or SCCM lately.

Mike Plass said:

TI Calc.....has anyone gotten this to work being pushed out via GPO?  We have invested a lot of money in to TI-83+ calculators.  Each of these come with a license to install the "virtual" edition on a computer.  I have had success to push out the software on to Windows 7 32 bit, but not XP Pro or Win 7 64 bit.  

[Brian Moskalik]

We have a very specific naming convention that works pretty well for our needs. 

Two Digit year of model release, 3 letter building designation, 3 digit room number - computer iteration (-01, 02, 03 etc)

So an example of a new system we acquired this year for Lourdes, in room 200, and the 3rd system would be 12LHS200-03

I assign all computer names through FOG, which then names each system as it images them, and joins the domain with the assigned name.

Mike Plass said:

I can't wait to get that SCCM server up and running.  Sounds like the way to go.

On thing with the FOG server.  Are your machine names random?  Is it possible to have a specific machine name go to a particular machine?  Maybe set up to name it according to MAC address?  

I have a naming convention for every device on the network.  I need to stick with it.  And the PCs in the labs are in order, in case we have a machine that goes down, I have a map on the wall that a teacher can look at to see what the machine name is and then submit a trouble ticket on it.

[Mike Plass]

Awesome.  Same here.  I have a specific naming convention.  SCPSHS103TE001 - Which means:  St. Charle Public Schools - High School building - Rm 103 - TE for teacher machine - 001 - sequential number for the machine.  

TE - Teacher PC

ST - Student PC

SW - switches

RT - routers

PR - printers

CP - copiers

AD - administrative machines

MA - maintenance machines

you get the point

[Brian Moskalik]

We're adding the designation of 'z' for our teacher computers.  Then I can easily run a SCCM query and deploy software just to teachers rather than blanketing all the systems.  We haven't gotten very far in our renaming yet, but I'd guess we might make some progress over the upcoming breaks.

Mike Plass said:

Awesome.  Same here.  I have a specific naming convention.  SCPSHS103TE001 - Which means:  St. Charle Public Schools - High School building - Rm 103 - TE for teacher machine - 001 - sequential number for the machine.  

TE - Teacher PC

ST - Student PC

SW - switches

RT - routers

PR - printers

CP - copiers

AD - administrative machines

MA - maintenance machines

you get the point

[Mike Plass]

Where did you get the .exe software for this?  All I have is what I was given by the math teachers, which is a directory of skins and roms, 1 .bin file, and vti.exe, rom8x.exe, and skin.exe files.

And yes, we are legit on our software and roms.  We have heavily invested in in TI-83+ calculators, having over 100 of them.  Having over 100 of the physical calculators entitles us to install the software on over 100 computers.  Done my research on that one of course.  But for the life of me, I can't find where to go to download the actual installs.

Mike

Brian Moskalik said:

I deployed the TI-84 software through SCCM with this batch command line:

"\\server\path\TI84\TI-SmartView_TI-84.exe" /quiet

Unfortunately, almost all my systems are Win 7 32bit.  We don't run 64bit yet, and our XP systems are largely gone minus select office systems so I haven't had to deploy much to them via GPO or SCCM lately.

Mike Plass said:

TI Calc.....has anyone gotten this to work being pushed out via GPO?  We have invested a lot of money in to TI-83+ calculators.  Each of these come with a license to install the "virtual" edition on a computer.  I have had success to push out the software on to Windows 7 32 bit, but not XP Pro or Win 7 64 bit.  

[Brian Moskalik]

In this instance, the math teachers had made a purchase and obtained physical media which I copied to my network install point.  With what you have, you may wish to try running the software on 64bit and XP, and then create a batch xcopy to where the files need to be, and place shortcuts as appropriate.  Unfortunately my installer only has the exe and a DMG file in the installer folder.

Mike Plass said:

Where did you get the .exe software for this?  All I have is what I was given by the math teachers, which is a directory of skins and roms, 1 .bin file, and vti.exe, rom8x.exe, and skin.exe files.

And yes, we are legit on our software and roms.  We have heavily invested in in TI-83+ calculators, having over 100 of them.  Having over 100 of the physical calculators entitles us to install the software on over 100 computers.  Done my research on that one of course.  But for the life of me, I can't find where to go to download the actual installs.

Mike

Brian Moskalik said:

I deployed the TI-84 software through SCCM with this batch command line:

"\\server\path\TI84\TI-SmartView_TI-84.exe" /quiet

Unfortunately, almost all my systems are Win 7 32bit.  We don't run 64bit yet, and our XP systems are largely gone minus select office systems so I haven't had to deploy much to them via GPO or SCCM lately.

Mike Plass said:

TI Calc.....has anyone gotten this to work being pushed out via GPO?  We have invested a lot of money in to TI-83+ calculators.  Each of these come with a license to install the "virtual" edition on a computer.  I have had success to push out the software on to Windows 7 32 bit, but not XP Pro or Win 7 64 bit.  

[Mike Plass]

I got the installation DVD for the Emulator from one of our math teachers.  It actually had a URL on it.....education.ti.com

I went there and called the support #.  Apparently, you have to purchase the TI SMARTView software separately, unless you've purchase enough calculators to have enough points, then you get the software for free.  It sounds like there is a bit of a process to find out how many points we have.  But I'm going to start this process.

But, there is a 90 day trial period on the emulator.  So I plan on pushing this out using your script.  Wish me luck, but it shouldn't be a problem, as I've done this many times with GPOs.  In the mean time, I'm going to work on finding if we have enough points.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.  Apparently, what has been told to me by the math teachers has been either inaccurate or incomplete information.

Mike