A-65 Classroom Software

Software is installed on the PCs in the Mitchell A-65 classroom to support instruction and course work. The computers may be used for research or individual projects when not needed for courses, but software will not be purchased or installed for those non-course purposes. The School's G.R.I.D. lab computers have additional software for research use.

Because the iMac computers in the lab can run either the Windows XP operating system (default) or the Mac OS X 10.5 operating system (hold down OPTION key while restarting to select the desired operating system), they can use software designed for either Windows or Mac OS X, plus most open-source programs written for Unix or Linux.

Major programs with potential for wide use are purchased by the School. Instructors can also request installation of free programs or licensed software that they provide for their own courses. Software will not be installed mid-quarter! A "build image" of all software is created and tested before each quarter begins, and then copied to all the PCs in the lab.

Any new software that needs to be installed for a course must be provided three weeks before the quarter begins, except four weeks before winter quarter (due to the winter closure). Instructors are warned to test the software they will use when the build image is ready (usually during the week just before the quarter begins), even if that software worked previously. There have been several cases when installation of a new software program interfered with previously installed programs.