[ANSWERED] Stand-alone Installation Control

[jtoenjes]

@montana I've set up several installations from dance theater works. Here are some things I've learned:

1. Plug your system into an uninterruptible power supply. And use a wired mouse and keyboard.

2. If there are children involved, I've discovered that their one mission in life is to break things. So make sure everything physical is as bullet proof as possible; even if you think they won't be able to break it, think again!

3. Disable energy saving, except maybe for turning off the display on the main Mac.

4. Train gallery staff in basic troubleshooting of/rebooting the system, and create a "how to" document for them. It most likely will fail at some point. Can the installation be rebooted automatically when the Mac is rebooted? Or can it be rebooted from a large, easy-to-see icon on the desktop? Make sure the staff has your contact information.

John Toenjes https://sites.google.com/jtoen...
 

[n.jones]

@woland WOW unbelievable , amazing work !! You've probably heard of this ,but think it would be really useful tool for you https://logseq.com/ in terms of your immense amount of knowledge. 

[Skulpture]

@montana It's VERY old but I did a lot of this in my last job. I wrote about it in my blog. There might be one or two things still relevant here: https://vjskulpture.wordpress.... 

[Woland]

@n-jones

I haven't used that before. Maybe I'll check it out soon, thanks :)

[Woland]

@jtoenjes said:

use a wired mouse and keyboard.

 I usually have at least two mice and keyboards because I'm paranoid 

[montana]

@woland Hey there. I've been setting up the mac mini for installation and all is going well except--how do I get Izzy to automatically Start Live Capture and Show Stages?

[Juriaan]

@montana

We have the following two actors for this:

- Show & Hide Stages

- Capture Control

[montana]

@juriaan Of course. So strange how many actors I don't know because I've simply never needed them.  Thanks.

[timeg]

@Woland 

Thanks so much for this.

I am a Mac user but have to set up some Windows stand alone Laptops for an education component of an exhibition.

I don't suppose you or any other kind person has done a list like this for windows (11 in my instance)

[Fred]

@timeg For windows installations I love to use Always up: https://www.coretechnologies.c... it makes sure you installation is always running even after a crash- it will also handle the start at boot process and run the application as a service. Always up has proven to be amazing and handles machines for me that have run 24/7 for years.

Here are some achieved and old instructions for preparing windows machines for installations: https://web.archive.org/web/20... there is still some useful and relevant information there.

For installations (and any win install for me), I like to run a de-bloater to remove all the stuff you dont need that comes pre-installed on windows Here are a few options 

https://github.com/ChrisTitusT...

https://github.com/Raphire/Win...

https://github.com/LeDragoX/Wi...

There are many more, use these carefully - I have noticed that things run smoother and I can remove so many annoying things with tools like this (especially stopping upgrades).

You can also look into kiosk mode tools, these are designed to stop anyone navigating away to a different app.

Between Always up (above) and integrating into an existing control system (like in a theme park or institution) you can do great things - sending commands to shut down the computer via UPD at the end of each day is great, and wake on lan commands to start a machine from off (I wish OSX had this!!! WOL is so useful).

For a installations I have also created an emergency back-up scenario - I have used windows machines with pull out hard disk trays. I setup the installation test it and run it for a few days. When everything is all running smooth I use a bootable version of this https://clonezilla.org/ to block clone the hard drive - this means that the copy is exactly the same as the original and can be booted. Using pull out hard drives, if there is an issue that escapes the simple debugging steps, then the machine gets shut down, the drives trays are swapped and then on startup it boots from the clone.

Fred

[timeg]

@fred Thanks you so much for this wealth of information. I have succeeded in most of this on the Mac OS but not being used to Windows find it harder to navigate. These tools will shone a light on the way forward

[montana]

@juriaan  And... now that everything  is starting  up  beautifully, how can I lose the monitor on my stand-alone installation- running compute ( the Mac Mini)? I want to have  no monitor attached to it and simply work on it from Team Server  which is on my  laptop and  communicates great with the Mac Mini, but if  I don't have  a monitor connected to the it, it doesn't have a Display 1 for the  computer desktop. Can I assign a virtual stage to it somehow?  

[Juriaan]

@montana

Sorry, but guide my thru your setup here? You have a Mac Mini with Team server installed on it. That you control / login with the your laptop on.

What is your out / output here?

[Fred]

@montana you can use a cheap edid emulator to fake a display. 

Or you can try this software (paid) that can make virtual displays:

https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

[montana]

@juriaan Output is two projectors through an FX4-HDR and two television sets through a Matrox triple head. The computer is a new Mac mini. They are the two stages. As the earlier posts get at I’m trying to get this all to run on its own and thought I would be able to leave all physical computer monitor outputs behind when it’s installed in the gallery. I thought the team server on the laptop would substitute for that monitor but of course Isadora or the computer needs a display for its desktop. So whenever I try to run the installation with no attached monitor to the Mac mini either the projectors or the tv’s become the desktop. When I try to change that from team server I get my error message about losing my desktop and how to retrieve it with Apple G. So I thought maybe there was an actor that would trick Isadora into having some virtual version of the monitor. 

[montana]

@fred Well, I just ordered one. Truly cheap in terms of price.  Will  give  that a go. Am also checking out  the software. Much there I won't need I'm  thinkng.

Thanks much.

[CitizenJoe]

@montana

As another POV, I always leave the monitor attached, because it's very difficult for to troubleshoot without one.

Cheers,

Hugh

[Woland]

@citizenjoe said:

I always leave the monitor attached, because it's very difficult for to troubleshoot without one.

 Excellent point