LabHand

Stop Press!
LabHand Final has finally arrived!!
Documentation

Download LabHand and LabHand Prefs Editor from here:
http://www.ugmedia.com.au/sw/files/

I haven't been able to test this version, as I don't currently have access to a Macintosh Manager system. Version 1.0 is just the last version (b11), but without the expiration date. So if b11 worked for you, 1.0 should work too. That's the theory anyway.

Please Note:
If you use some versions of Stuffit Expander to decode these files, you may get an error along the lines of "The ShrinkWrap engine reported an error". Just ignore this error, and double click on the "LabHand b5.img" file, and it should mount correctly. If you have any problems with this file, please contact me.

This is an application that should make the lives of people who have Macintosh Manager networks a bit easier. LabHand is still very much under development. I've set this page up to give you an idea of the kind of features I'm implementing. This way, if you think a feature is really cool, you can let me know. You can also give me ideas for other features.

LabHand is now the official name for this chunk of software.

LabHand works fine with MM 2.x.

LabHand is basically an extension that you install on your client machines. Currently, it has two main uses:

Client machine software updating
When the computer starts up, it connects to an AppleShare server, and downloads new files. This is kind of like a watered-down version of Stairways' Assimilator. Assimilator's great for setting up machines from scratch, whereas LabHand is great for small, incremental updates. For example, if you want to put a new Control Strip Module on all of your computers, you'd just put it on the server with the correct path:

System Folder:Control Strip Modules:LabHand CSM

LabHand will then copy this file into the right folder on the client machine. You could do this with something like Network Assistant, from Apple, but LabHand takes what I term the "Passive Approach". Instead of you having to make sure all the computers are turned on, and then selecting them, and then copying to them, and hoping that the copy succeeds, you just let LabHand do all the hard work.

This should work on Mac OS 8.0 to 9.2.2.

Macintosh Manager Integration
Macintosh Manager, from Apple, is a network management system that lets users "log in" to any configured computer on your network, and presents them with their documents and preferences, which are stored on a server. For the most part, MM is pretty good. But, seeing as it's only in its infant stages, there are still a few bugs/quirks/peculiarities/whatevers that need to be worked around. This is where LabHand comes in. See below for the features that LabHand currently has.

These features will ONLY work on Mac OS 9.0 to 9.2.2. This is due to the way Macintosh Manager interacts with the OS. It's something that I might be able to work around, but not in the near future.

 

Stewart Macdonald - stewart at ugmedia dot com dot au

 

Current Features
For a complete list of LabHand's current features, check out the Documentation.