Scratch

[SGL]

I would like to have Scratch installed on our school network. It is a RM CC3 network and there have been issues regarding the fact that students are able to save to the C:\ drives. Does anyone know if there is a solution for this as it is preventing installation. Thanks.

[witch]

Do you mean they arent able to save to their C drives?

[SGL]

No, it appears that they can see all the other drives including the on the network as well as the local c: drive and this is not wanted. Is there a way to block this? Thanks.

[CyberNerd]

No, it appears that they can see all the other drives including the on the network as well as the local c: drive and this is not wanted. Is there a way to block this? Thanks.

 

The problem isn't with scratch, the problem is that the permissions on C: are set incorrectly. If you don't want students saving to C: or any other drives then set the permissions so that they cannot save.

[sted]

iirc just edit an ini file n the scratch program folder and point it at u: h: or wherever

[TechSupp]

If I remember correctly you can specify what drives can be seen in the ini file, SimpleSi on here enlightened me on that and other options. Do a search on here for them.

[Edu-IT]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/78884-scratch-1-4-visible-drives-image-file.html

 

Here.

[SGL]

Thanks for your replies. Can anyone confirm that Scratch runs securely without showing hidden drive issues on a RM CC3 network?

[sparkeh]

Thanks for your replies. Can anyone confirm that Scratch runs securely without showing hidden drive issues on a RM CC3 network?

Yeah I had it running on CC3/CC4/Vanilla for years with no probs - Its not the CC3-iness that causes the issue but Scratch, the ini solves the problem.

[AJWhite1970]

As reported by the others, the drive access is controlled by the scratch.ini file. You can extract Scratch and run it from a read only network share with the scratch.ini file in the same location.

 

My scratch.ini file for example is as follows:-

 

[Global]

DeferUpdate=1

ShowConsole=0

DynamicConsole=0

ReduceCPUUsage=0

ReduceCPUInBackground=0

3ButtonMouse=0

1ButtonMouse=0

UseDirectSound=1

PriorityBoost=1

B3DXUsesOpenGL=1

CaseSensitiveFileMode=0

EnableAltF4Quit=0

Home=R:\

VisibleDrives=r:,q:,o:,e:

ProxyServer=proxy.xxxxx.wilts.sch.uk

ProxyPort=8080

Language=en

 

For us, r: is the home drive, q and o are the student share areas and e: is any usb stick. Takes two minutes max to set it all up and get it working.

Andrew

[SGL]

We are installing it centrally and this would require the ini file on each machine to be edited after installation. Is it possible to do this centrally?

[sted]

batch file to overwrite

gpp to overwrite

i think you can edit it in the installer dir

[Arthur]

Scratch is really easy to deploy. All you need to do is edit the INI file, save it and then allocate the MSI to your computers. As long as the INI file is in the same folder as the MSI, it will get copied to the installation folder on each PC (and removed when the package is deallocated).

[SGL]

Thanks, will this work on an RM cc3 system? I understand RM have created an installation package but this has the problem of making the c: drive visible.

[Arthur]

Here's a link to the Scratch package I use on our CC3 network if you want to give it a try? Make sure you deallocate the Scratch package from RM first however.

 

Scratch v1.4.0 (CC3).exe (32.5 MB)

 

 

1. Download the file above on a CC3 PC (make sure you are logged on as a user with administrator rights).
    
    
   
2. Double-click the EXE and click the Extract button. This will copy the Scratch MSI to Q:\Applications\Scratch v1.4.0\v1.0.0.0.
    
   http://i.imgur.com/CyAWbx7.png
    
    
   
3. Go to the folder listed in the step above on the Q:\ drive, open the Scratch.ini file in Notepad (not to be confused with Scratch v1.4.0.ini ) and modify the preferences to your liking e.g. proxy server / visible drives etc. Once you have done this, save the file.
    
    
   
4. In the RMMC, expand Workstations, right-click Main Site and select Update Package List.
    
    
   
5. Finally, add the Scratch shortcut to your Start Menu through Resources » Program Sets (using the same process you use for other packages).
   

Edited February 14, 2013 by Arthur

[Arthur]

If you are using RM's BluePrint package for Scratch v1.4 (DWN1525253) then the reason students are able to view the contents of the C:\ drive is because the Scratch.ini file in the installation folder is missing the relevant setting to hide it.

[SGL]

Thanks for this, does this need to be done by logging into each machine at a time or can it be done centrally? That is the main stumbling block.

[tmcd35]

Not sure if things have changed in recent versions of Scratch, not even sure which version we are running at the moment, but I'm sure I copied the install folder from the C: drive on one machine on to a SMB share on our Appserver and it just run's from there for all students. No need to install on every machine.

[Arthur]

Thanks for this, does this need to be done by logging into each machine at a time or can it be done centrally? That is the main stumbling block.

Just once on one machine. The package will show up in the RMMC which allows you to allocate it to a room full of PCs or even at 'Main Site' level if you wanted to do that.

[Arthur]

@tmcd35's suggestion would also work if you copied the Scratch folder to a suitable place on your P:\ drive (a.k.a RMPublic) and then added a shortcut to your Shortcut Bank.

[SGL]

Thanks for all your replies. Does this mean that there is no need to install it one each machine separately? Is there any benefit to individual installations?

[AJWhite1970]

I've always run it from a network share, never had a problem with it and it's only one copy of the scratch.ini file you have to edit if you ever want to make global changes.