Linguistics

I discovered that the keychain service in macOS synchronizes itself with the login password used to login, including externally set passwords like netlink. This is a problem if a password is reset by the user or someone else on campus as it produces a keychain alert on next login to a linguistics machine which is confusing for most people.

I will fix this by using a script that deletes the previous users login keychain information on login. A new keychain is created each time a user logs in and then is deleted when they login again, thus avoiding the keychain sync issue.

The reasoning for that decision is here: http://technology.siprep.org/deleting-keychains-at-user-logout/

I will either use a logout hook, which is deprecated by apple but still usable (and very simple to implement): http://www.amsys.co.uk/2015/02/delete-keychains-logout/?nabe=6486817002487808:0

or I will use Offest: https://github.com/aysiu/offset

With this script: https://github.com/aysiu/Mac-Scripts-and-Profiles/blob/master/RemoveLastUserKeychains

I installed two focus rite 2i2 in the linguistics labs. They now work properly. I also added a "how to" for basic use.

I tested the epiphany avid hd video capture interface on the department's ultrasound machine. This now works as a plug and play device and is capturable on any computer with a USB port.

On Tuesday I spent two hours instructing students on how to use recording equipment. I have some small adjustments to make to the setup in the recording booth in D345, but I think it should work well.

I also committed for the next couple of months to regular hours in the labs as undergrad and grad are requiring more attention now. I'll be up there Thursdays, 10:00-14:00. Two class groups have already contacted me asking for assistance.

Ran weekly updates on all systems. Everything normal.

I have managed to configure the fire wire digitizer station to capture and the allow for saving, editing and exporting a nicely compatible mp4 file.

This is how I did it:

I used kino with the following command line changes after it was installed:

sudo chmod a+rw /dev/raw1394

That will change the file permissions to allow all users read and write access for firwire. If this isn't done kino wont work unless launched as a super user.

Kino is needed to preview and manipulate the tape being viewed to the point before capture. If the whole file was being captured I would have used dvgrab, which is a command line way of simply sucking the video in dv format onto the hdd.

After it is saved as a .dv I used openshot and imported the .dv file in and added a title and simple fade in fade out. (openshot has no capture capability) I then exported with the following settings:

Profile: All formats
Target: mp4 h.264
Everything else left on default.

This exported a 6 minute video in less than 6 minutes.

I setup a digitizing station in the HCMC with the old JVC deck attached to one of Greg's retired linux boxes. It may be used to digitize some of John Essling's mini-dv tapes. A PhD student (Aki) has been hired to do this but couldn't get it to work with the hardware up in the ling labs.

We will likely use Kino to capture the video, save it as raw dv and then transcode to its final format.

The project as it stands now is only to take a few minutes from each tape - the contents of which are cooing babies - and leave the rest stranded on the tapes. I will raise the issue with John Essling (or whoever is responsible) and see if we can get them digitized in their entirety so that this research material isn't lost as time passes.

Discovered today after installing ELCAP on the 27" iMac (which was having kernel panics) that the HP 3600n does not support the newest, or even last OS X version. My interim solution was to Bonjou share it off a maverick running iMac that is already there.

Martin mentioned perhaps using an old linux box as a print server. I'll look into this in the new year.

Met with Jason Castor and Corey Scholefield regarding using LDAP to authenticate in the Ling labs.

Jason said he would add 549 to allow for authentication and then configure in the new year. I will check later today or on Monday to see if authentication works.

Update: It works!

Sonya and I discussed refreshing the hardware in D345. What is there now I consider to be obsolete.

What is needed to restore the sound booth to operation while taking advantage of what linguistics has left that is still useful -- mostly XLR mics of pretty good quality and some older reference speakers -- is a new audio interface which will allow for two-way communication from the booth and back.

Here's some preliminary equipment I'm looking at:

• Focusrite usb audio interface ($199)
• DVI2USB 3.0 video grabber ($930)

Updates

Oct 1, 2015 - met with Marc Thoma. Will continue with setting up login script, my first attempt will be using launchd.

Sept 24, 2015 - successfully installed DeployStudio on a portable SSD and imaged the iMac I brought back from linguistics. I also have a tentative meeting with Marc in systems and will which will hopefully provide me with some shortcuts along the way.

After spending most of the morning bringing linguistic lab workstations up-to-date the old fashioned way I'm again turning my attention to how I envision this working in the future. I think it will be useful to describe how I want this to work and the tools that I've learned will likely make this happen.

The Context:

Up to 15 workstations, 12 running Mac OS X (I'd like to use El Capitan if possible in the future), at least one of which will be a dual boot into Windows (likely win7 but we'll see), and two PCs running win7 . They need to be up-to-date and configured with the specific software and hardware support linguistics needs for its students and grad students. The best case for me is that MOST of this will be done remotely (the Macs especially). This is the challenge.

Administration Software

I'm going to try and use DeployStudio. First to make the images required, and then to push those images to the workstations, by (in the easiest case) portable HDD, and then ideally by Netbooting and installing remotely. I've downloaded DeployStudio and will commence with a prototype tomorrow.

I'm still faced with the problem of a default profile that all authenticated netlink users will get when they log in. Ideally I would like to configure a default user profile. However, I consider this secondary, as netlink users can still use and configure the workstations installed software as needed, but I still think it would be nice. I think that launchagent likely holds the key to setting up user preferences at login.