iTalc 2 Installation

[DriftGrant]

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since I've done a iTalc network install (1.0.9 which is from 2008!).

One of my schools has asked me to look into a classroom management system thats cheap so I've suggested iTalc and they've jumped at the 'free' price.

I've downloaded versio 1.0.13 remembering that at the end of the install it asks you do you want to save your installation settings into a .xml file which you can then inturn use to install other clients by 'setup.exe installstudent.xml'

Version 1.0.13 doesn't have that option! but their documentation says it does =\ so rather confused. I then read somewhere to skip 1.0.13 and go straight for 2.0 as it intergrates with AD.

Same again! no save installation settings or any other way to deploy it!

So I'm tearing my hair out here trying to figure out how to deploy the iTalc client to 50+ machines then the iTalc Master to 10 teacher laptops!

TL;DR - I cant deploy iTalc 2 and need help!

[skell]

This information can be found in the AutomatedSetupWithIMC.txt. To be honest, it seems to be a little hit and miss, although I haven't spent a lot of time with it.

1) Prepare a global common directory which can be accessed by all computers
in the network. Alternatively, a directory on an USB drive works as well.


2) Install iTALC on the master computer. Afterwards run the IMC and alter the
settings according to your needs and your environment.

In the "Authentication" area, launch the iTALC access key assistant and
let it create an access key pair and export the public key to the directory
prepared in step 1)


3) Create an iTALC client reference installation. Afterwards run the IMC and
alter the settings according to your needs and your environment. Then save
the settings via "File" -> "Save settings into file" to the directory
prepared in step 1) and choose a filename, e.g. ClientSettings.xml


4) Copy the content of the installation directory (e.g. all files in
C:\Program Files\iTALC\) to the directory prepared in step 1).


5) Write a batch file with the following commands and place it in the same
directory as the files in the previous steps.

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"
cp *.exe *.dll *.txt *.xml "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"
cd "\Program Files\iTALC"
imc -ApplySettings ClientSettings.xml
imc -ImportPublicKey PublicKey.key.txt
ica -RegisterService
ica -StartService

After running this batch file on a client, the client should be ready for use
with the iTALC network.

[russdev]

In my view it is not an easy program to setup. I installed it on few PCs other day and wasn't very impressed with limited feature set (but I would say that )

Just no thought into ease of setting up at all both from install and setting up in general...

Russ

[SimpleSi]

wasn't very impressed with limited feature set

I can cope with limited feature set (as its free ) and I don't mind manually setting it up (as I usually just have 1 or 2 banks or 15 laptops to configure) but the killer neg feature is that if you send out a lock desktop command (to get pupils attention) and then an unlock one and a laptop doesn't respond to the unlock, I can't find any way of manually unlocking it and I have to shutdown, lose any work in progress and start again

Now that's what I call a bad bug

Si

[Freedom]

I'm struggling just to get the master and client to talk on a 1 to 1 basis, yet alone deploy it out.

I've made the share folder which the client can access in explorer fine.

I've edited the registry settings to show it where the keys are as per the documentation, but the master just can't connect. Any ideas that I should try. Firewall is off and AV is not blocking the app (it was to start with).

[mouseslinger]

I spent the day playing with a .bat file to update lab computers from iTalc 1 to iTalc 2 in Windows XP. The supplied info above is great up until you hit the .bat file instructions. If you don't register the ica service before having imc apply the settings it has no idea what to do with itself. On your reference install machine use regedit to export the key "HKLM\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" and save that as italc2.reg. Place the reg file in the same network deployment folder as the Clientsettings.xml file.

Here are the lines from the two .bat files I created.

Uninstall iTalc 1
c:\progra~1\italc\ica.exe -unregisterservice -quiet
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" /f
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" /f
rd /s /q c:\progra~1\italc

Install iTalc 2
mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"
copy "\\pathtonetworklocation\*.*" "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"
cd "\Program Files\iTALC"
ica -RegisterService -quiet
imc -ApplySettings clientSettings.xml -quiet
regedit /s italc2.reg
ica -StartService -quiet

[jpteuf]

Hello,

I'm currently doing an internship in an NGO that operates a school in India. My task is to teach English, social sciences and soon computer classes. All the children never really had any contacts with computers before so I need to make sure I will have their attention when I want to show them something as they tend to be easily side tracked. This is why I wanted to use iTalc.
I downloaded the software and installed it on my computer to be the teacher and exported the key to use on the student’s laptops. After I installed the clients with the exported key, I tried to add them to a classroom and view their screen. As soon as I try, a message pops up on the client’s computer saying somebody tried to connect to this computer but did not authenticate itself properly and lists my computer’s IP address.
I checked online and it said it was probably because I didn’t use the same keys on both computers. I tried uninstalling on both, exporting directly to a usb key, copying the teacher’s public key file directly instead of the .txt file but it never seems to work.
I was wondering if there were other settings I need to adjust in order for the connection to establish itself. I made sure the firewalls let Italc pass through.
I’m usually knowledgeable with computers but I’m not an IT specialist and I have limited experience with network applications. The problem is I’m still the most capable person in the school to deploy the software.
Any help would be appreciated
Jean-Philippe

[2097]

Hello,

I'm currently doing an internship in an NGO that operates a school in India. My task is to teach English, social sciences and soon computer classes. All the children never really had any contacts with computers before so I need to make sure I will have their attention when I want to show them something as they tend to be easily side tracked. This is why I wanted to use iTalc.
I downloaded the software and installed it on my computer to be the teacher and exported the key to use on the student’s laptops. After I installed the clients with the exported key, I tried to add them to a classroom and view their screen. As soon as I try, a message pops up on the client’s computer saying somebody tried to connect to this computer but did not authenticate itself properly and lists my computer’s IP address.
I checked online and it said it was probably because I didn’t use the same keys on both computers. I tried uninstalling on both, exporting directly to a usb key, copying the teacher’s public key file directly instead of the .txt file but it never seems to work.
I was wondering if there were other settings I need to adjust in order for the connection to establish itself. I made sure the firewalls let Italc pass through.
I’m usually knowledgeable with computers but I’m not an IT specialist and I have limited experience with network applications. The problem is I’m still the most capable person in the school to deploy the software.
Any help would be appreciated
Jean-Philippe

The latest version did the same with me on my xp clients . Version before was ok .

theres quite a few problems with it on XP so i gave up using it , i waited a year for a workable copy where everything works

[TechSupp]

Got ver2 working OK here, bit of a fiddle admittedly but fine once I got one pc and the teacher pc working together. Ended up using the bat files above but had to install from a unc path rather than a mapped drive as the service failed when I tried from a mapped drive, works fine now apart from the bugs already found, demo not working, missing task bar at bottom of screen when comming out of lock. For what I use it for, monitoring what they do and reviewing their work while they are all sat in front of me (primary) is brilliant. Remote connect is great so we can edit and correct each others work while sat together. This is all on an XP based system.

[Cagey]

2) Install iTALC on the master computer. Afterwards run the IMC and alter the
settings according to your needs and your environment.
In the "Authentication" area, launch the iTALC access key assistant and
let it create an access key pair and export the public key to the directory
prepared in step 1)

When you say "alter the settings to meet your environment" is this really necessary or are the default settings ok to use? I have an install that is currently not working. Went through the version 2.0 setup. Left all the defaults as they were. Exported the Public key to a share on the network. Installed the client and imported the public key. Left all the defaults as they were. I have no connection between the two however.

[DaveP]

We are successfully deploying the software to the stations but we cannot see the remote stations unless an administrator our a network technician logos on first [at the remote station] and starts iTalc for the first time.

Deployment method:

Batch file:

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"copy "\\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\ServerShare1\iTALC 2\*.*" "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"
cd "\Program Files\iTALC"
ica -RegisterService -quiet
imc -ApplySettings clientSettings.xml -quiet
regedit /s italc2.reg
ica -StartService -quiet
end

We have used the iTalc Management Console to set:

iTalc service:

Tray icon hidden
Autostart

Configuration files:

Global configuration:

Global configuration: \\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\Server Share2\Global Configuration\GlobalConfig.xml
Personal configuration: [Home Share]\iTalc Personal Configuration\PersonalConfig.xml

Data Directories:

Snapshots: [Home Share]\Snapshots

Authentication:

Authentication methods: ACL based logon authentication [key file authentication would not work for us at all (although that is what we had for XP and it worked]

Permissions:

Domain administrator: Full control
Network technicians: Full control
Domain computers: Full control

[I also put 'everyone' in with Full control but this did not improve things]

I have tried the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of iTalc on our 64 bit stations without success.

Has anyone solved this problem where a user who is allowed to use the iTalc remote viewing interface has to logon?

Many thanks.

Edit: iTalc 2.

[ajcke]

I have a mixed xp and win7 environment running 2008 R2 servers. I'm using the same script as davep and mouseslinger. iTalc seems to install okay except for when an xp machine is applying startup scripts at boot they get an error
"The service 'iTALC Client' could not be registered."

I'm able to use iTalc to remote into the pc still. I'd like to get rid of this error. Is there something I'm missing?

[TechSupp]

Could it be a firewall issue, think there is a fix somewhere for it. Maybe why w7 does not havef the issue?

[ajcke]

What ports need to be opened? I thought I had these set in group policy but I'm not seeing an object for that.

[synaesthesia]

I think more can be achieved by using other products! Impero aside, Lanview is far less sluggy and crashy Tried iTalc 2 for a while and couldn't get on with it's unreliability. LV hasn't been supported for donkies yet is a mile more stable.