Re: [Tuxpaint-users] Windows 2000 Server Install question

[John P. <jo...@jo...>]

On Fri, Jan 20, 2006 at 11:38:36AM -0800, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> 
> I received the following question from a fellow who handles IT support
> for a school that would like to use Tux Paint.
> 
>   The teachers would like to start using your program but due to the way
>   their network is configured it would be labor intensive to install it
>   on 160+ machines.  Because they have over 650 users we block them from
>   downloading to the local drive.
> 
>   Is there a way to do a server install and allow access to that or is
>   it limited to 1 user at a time?  They are running Win 2000 server and
>   all the machines run XP Pro.
> 
> I have no clue as to whether this is possible (and if not, why it wouldn't
> work).  I've told him to give it a try, but in the meantime thought I'd
> ask around these lists.  Has anyone done this, or know if it's possible?
> Is there anything specific one has to do to get it to work???
> 

Unfortunately, I've no idea either. I've no access to any Windows
server setups, and almost no experience with them.

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work though. As long as each user
gets their own place to create the lock-file and save images it should
'just work'.

For example, if I unpack the zip version to a read-only shared drive on
a simple peer-to-peer network, then I can run Tux Paint on my other
Windows machines by launching it from the shared drive. The lock-file,
image files and optional configuration file are stored on the local
machine.  Presumably, on a setup with a server that the user logs onto,
the 'roaming profile' registry monkey-business can arrange for these
files to be stored on the server with the rest of the users data and
application settings ...

The main improvement with the latest version is that Tux Paint no longer
writes to the application directory by default :-)

If Tux Paint is started from a shortcut, the location where it does write
can be specified by the --savedir command-line parameter. Otherwise, it
uses the registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\AppData

to obtain a user-relative path and then appends 'tuxpaint' and creates
that directory if it doesn't exist. This path is usually of the form:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\TuxPaint\


A few years back, I saw an impressive demonstration of a Novell Netware
setup that 'watched' a program install, monitored its behaviour when run
and then replicated the required registry stuff for each user account.

Tux Paint doesn't do anything weird (I don't think - it barely knows
it's running on Windows :-) so it should be easy to setup.

The installer-less zip version would minimise the potential for
confusion when experimenting.

I can make an offer: I live in Manchester, UK if there are any local
school IT departments (say) that fancy a Tux Paint install party one
weekend ... :-)

> 
> PS - This is something we should have listed in the FAQ, since it's
> been asked a few times. :^)  (It should probably go in the Windows
> installation guide for Tux Paint, too!).
> 
Unless someone who knows what they are doing Windows network-wise (I
don't) can write this up, it's going to have to be figured-out, done,
tested and then written up.

Would be very useful,

cheers,
John.