Lots of free macs, woohoo, now what do I do with the things?

[beancole]

Hi all,

 

My names Ben and I am a macophobe.

 

Just been given 10 iMacs and I have not the foggiest what to do with them. they have come from a college donated free. On arrival they are vanilla straght out of box. I have added a username and i'm on.

 

I don't know where to start configuration wise. If anyone knows a decent video series or some material to read that would be great. My first goal is to connect them to the network so users can log in and have their documents, at a push some shares. Also I want to lock them down will joining the network do this at all?

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[DalekSec]

Sell them, buy Windows

 

#PCMasterrace

[Pyroman]

Set one of them up with OS X Server and keep it as a master machine for your office for testing/configuration/mac server. You can set up profiles/shares etc like you can in Windows

[abillybob]

1. Setup local admin user

2. download all the apps you want on the iMacs

3. Use 1 of the macs as a server, download server and deploy studio

4. join mac server to ad

5. setup kerberos proxy on smooth wall

6. deploy settings using ad and workgroup manager

7. capture image and create the workflow in deploy studio to add the mac to the domain and OD

8. Deploy all macs and your set.

 

Should take you about a week to properly configure or that's how long it took me!

[Kitkatninja]

Lots of free macs, woohoo, now what do I do with the things?

 

What's their size? Big? Big Macs are great especially with fries and a drink....

 

But on a serious note, for you it's a chance to upskill and certify (get your ACA cert).

 

See if your media or music departments wants to try them out (with limited support until you get more skilled at it).

 

Or if you don't want to do any of that, get rid of them. The question is what do you want to do?

Edited February 24, 2016 by Kitkatninja
grammer

[Fazza]

Step 1: Be prepared for all the Mac Haters to reply on this thread with no helpful information whatsoever causing the thread to become very large with no actual answer for you.

Step 2: Swap them for PCs...

Step 3: Ignore step 2 I was trying to be funny!

 

On a serious note...

 

Like Micro$oft, Apple do some Technician Training called OS X Support Essentials and you can get the books on Amazon for around £30 a go which will help.

 

Before you know what to do technically, you need to decide what you want to use them for! If it's just for any old user to connect to the internet on and do some Wordprocessing then just create a local user account for the students/pupils and do it that way! You can integrate the in to Active Directory if you want them to log on themselves.

 

Remember, if you have an ESS agreement you can get Office for Mac and install that on them!

 

Do they want to print - then Google that and you'll see how to connect to a Windows UNC path (I think they're called SMB connections).

 

Want a Mac Server? Well, there's an App for that for around £20! Take a look in the Apple App Store and see what it can do!

 

If you've got some pupils who are struggling to engage with computers then let them have a go on a shiny Mac - they look cool(ish) and are a trendy brand and look nice in a classroom - a lot of the time iPads are used simply because they look shiny and the students are willing to engage with it because of that.

 

Here are a couple of links you might find useful:

 

http://training.apple.com/pdf/mac_integration_basics_1010.pdf

 

http://training.apple.com/pdf/mac_management_basics_10.10.pdf

 

If you're keeping one for yourself you can even install Windows on it using a program called Parallels or VMWareFusion (around £45 each).

[clareq]

We have a suite of Macs that I added to the network etc. I was asked if Windows would run on them, so I bootcamped them and use rEFIt at boot so the OS can be selected easily. They are never booted into the Mac OS.

[Steve21]

Wipe em and just stick Windows on yay Easy management!

 

Steve

[abillybob]

I think if all you want to do is turn them into a Windows machine you're probably better off selling them and buying a bunch more Windows computers as you'll get more bang for your buck. I've never understood why people insist on installing Windows on a Mac unless you're looking to game on a personal machine. You can pretty much do everything on a Mac that you can on a Windows computer if you know you're way around them.

 

I'd personally use this as an opportunity to learn more about Macs, the guys on Edugeek are very helpful if you run into issues! I got my latest job because of my knowledge about Apple, it's a good thing to stick on your CV because most tech's try to avoid them you stick out a bit better if you've got that in addition of knowledge of windows based networks.

[sted]

I think if all you want to do is turn them into a Windows machine you're probably better off selling them and buying a bunch more Windows computers as you'll get more bang for your buck. I've never understood why people insist on installing Windows on a Mac unless you're looking to game on a personal machine. You can pretty much do everything on a Mac that you can on a Windows computer if you know you're way around them.

 

I'd personally use this as an opportunity to learn more about Macs, the guys on Edugeek are very helpful if you run into issues! I got my latest job because of my knowledge about Apple, it's a good thing to stick on your CV because most tech's try to avoid them you stick out a bit better if you've got that in addition of knowledge of windows based networks.

 

as above really i dont particularly like em but it gives you the opportunity to try stuff and see what you can do with them

[sidewinder]

I guess my first question would be how good are they? Whats the spec? Doesn't seem a particularly useful donation if you have no need for them!

 

I can understand you'll want to use free equipment but if there is nothing which requires Mac specific software, it's a lot* of work setting them up for AD etc and you lose a lot of management, plus almost all of your software, just for the sake of having 10 extra machines.

 

I love Macs, absolutely love them, but using them on a Windows network never has been, and still isn't, ideal, unless they are required. Personally I'd bootcamp them if you desperately need extra machines. Or sell them and buy PCs as someone else suggested. If you want to keep them to learn OS X then cool, but 10 iMacs sitting around for playing with would take up a lot of space

 

* No, isn't a lot of work to get them bound to AD and let people log in. But there always ends up being more to it than that

Edited February 24, 2016 by sidewinder

[abillybob]

But using them on a Windows network never has been, and still isn't, ideal, unless they are required. Personally I'd bootcamp them if you desperately need extra machines. Or sell them and buy PCs as someone else suggested. If you want to keep them to learn OS X then cool, but 10 iMacs sitting around for playing with would take up a lot of space

 

* No, isn't a lot of work to get them bound to AD and let people log in. But there always ends up being more to it than that

 

I'd disagree personally. I had a lot of issues with them initially due to my lack of understanding of how they work and still have the odd problem like I do with Windows machines. But they've integrated with our network here very well and as long as you know where to turn so you're able to deploy apps remotely and what tools to use to manage them properly, you'll find they don't require much maintenance at all. We have some Macs here that where made in 2007 (9 Years Old) I've recently upgraded them to El Capitan and they still run just as fast, they do last a long time.

[sidewinder]

I'd disagree personally. I had a lot of issues with them initially due to my lack of understanding of how they work and still have the odd problem like I do with Windows machines. But they've integrated with our network here very well and as long as you know where to turn so you're able to deploy apps remotely and what tools to use to manage them properly, you'll find they don't require much maintenance at all. We have some Macs here that where made in 2007 (9 Years Old) I've recently upgraded them to El Capitan and they still run just as fast, they do last a long time.

 

The key part of what I said - unless they are required. If they are required then the work and knowledge needed to get them going is worth doing, and they integrate fairly well. Things have definitely improved over when I first started using them. However introducing them just because you happen to have some lying around and want to use them as general use machines just adds a needless extra layer of complexity to your network.

 

I'll agree they do last a long time....as long as you replace the dog slow 5400RPM drives.

[twin--turbo]

My old place decommissioned most of theirs from one location and had no real need for MACS, they offered no technical advantage. 90% of the time pupils used them to connect to remote desktop anyway!

 

The decommissioned ones were to be sold off, but other events lead to them being scrapped.

 

I am guessing the donation is on an understanding that you don't sell them on.

 

 

TT

[MrKJLS]

Sell them, buy Windows

 

#PCMasterrace

 

Gaben and PCMR community would be proud.

 

[bald_pig]

Gaben and PCMR community would be proud.

 

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[MrKJLS]

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Glorious. May your temperatures be low and your framerates be high!