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CIT
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Lab
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What's New
IMPORTANT NEWS: On December 4, 2009, all CIT Lab services will cease as we prepare for the move to the temporary library computer lab space on the 5th floor. At that time, all CIT Lab door codes will be disabled and will no longer be needed. CIT services, including workstation access and equipment loans, will resume by January 12, 2010, on the 5th floor.
New equipment in the CIT Lab
Added: 23 February 2007
New 24" iMac in the A/V Production Room A new 24" iMac has been installed in the CIT's A/V Production Room (we call it Milhouse). This quiet, fast Macintosh can be used to support the development of podcasts -- Garageband, Keynote, PowerPoint, ProfCast, and Audacity are available. It also has all the latest video editing software (iMovie 6, Final Cut Pro 5.1). The dual G4 Macintosh (Apu) that had been in the A/V Production Room is now in the main CIT Lab. All user files that were on Apu are still on that Mac. Files can be moved from Apu to the new iMac, if desired. Please see CIT staff for help with this. Added: 20 November 2006
New Software in the CIT Lab Profcast -- Profcast is a tool for Macs that allows users to record narration for their Powerpoint or Keynote presentations and synchronize it with their slides. Profcast files can be uploaded directly to the web, or further edited in GarageBand for even more control over sequence and audio. Profcast is available on all CIT Macs running OS X. SoundSoap -- If your equipment's quality or recording location leads to your audio having hissing, clicks and crackles, buzzing and hum, rumbling, or other unwanted background noise, SoundSoap can help. It's easy to use, and can quickly improve the quality of your audio. SoundSoap is installed on all OS X CIT Macs. Camtasia -- Camtasia is a powerful application that can help you create narrated video files in a broad range of formats. Camtasia can be integrated with PowerPoint as a tool to build narrated presentations, but can also be used to create computer demonstrations, capturing any applications or activity on the computer screen. Camtasia can be used on the PC in the CIT A/V Production Room. Added: 17 August 2006
CIT Lab PCs can now read Mac-formatted drives All of the Windows workstations in the CIT Lab can now read Mac-formatted (HFS+) disks and hard drives. A utility program called MacDrive has been installed on all CIT Lab PCs, which enables them to read from and write to hard drives and disks formatted for the Macintosh. Knowing whether hard drives formatted for the Mac can be read on a PC, and visa versa, can be a bit difficult. In a nutshell, hard drives formatted for the Macintosh filesystem (HFS+) cannot be read from or written to Windows PCs (this is no longer an issue in the CIT Lab, with MacDrive installed on the PCs). A hard drive formatted on a Windows PC, using the FAT32 filesystem, can be read from and written to a Macintosh, but there is a serious file size limitation (4GB) that can cause problems when dealing with very large files, such as video. And a hard drive formatted on a Windows PC, using the more modern NTFS filesystem, can be read from a Mac, but it cannot be written to from a Mac. Confusing? Yes... but now with the flexibility that MacDrive provides, it should now be easier to share drives across the workstations in the CIT. For example, if you plan to use the CIT Lab Macintosh workstations for video projects, you can format your external hard drive (or the drive you borrow from the CIT) for the Mac, and still use the drive on a CIT Lab PC using the MacDrive utility. Added: 9 May 2006
More Hard Drive Space added to video workstations The CIT is pleased to announce that we have added a terabyte (that's 1000 gigabytes, folks) to each of the two Macintosh G5 video editing workstations in the CIT Lab, more than quadrupling the available hard drive space on these machines. The new hard drives are connected to the Macs through a serial ATA interface, which means they are very speedy. There is now much more room to support ongoing video projects. Please remember, however, that the hard drives on all CIT Lab workstations are meant for working projects; they should not serve as archives for your files. CIT staff will continue to monitor hard drive space and will alert CIT Lab users, whenever possible, that they need to remove old project files. Any files that have not been touched for over 2-3 months may be removed. Also, please keep in mind that the Lab's workstations are used by many people. Any number of things can happen that can cause your working project files to become inaccessible -- a hard disk crash, accidental deletions, etc. If your work is important to you, and you do not have the time to finish your project in one session, then you should consider backing it up. You may want to obtain your own external hard drives for your projects. The CIT also maintains a number external hard drives that can be loaned out for extended periods of time. Please consult with a CIT staff member if you have any questions about borrowing one of the CIT's hard drives for your project. Added: 3 May 2006
Dual-Layer DVD Burner The CIT Lab has acquired an external dual-layer DVD burner. It is now possible to burn up to 8GB (rather than 4.7GB) onto a single DVD disk (dual-layer). Added: 13 January2006
New versions of iMovie, iDVD, and more iLife '06 -- The latest version of Apple's digital media suite has been installed on the two Mac G5s in the CIT Lab. This includes new versions of iMovie and iDVD. A cool new feature of iMovie 6 is the ability to open multiple projects at one time. And with iDVD 6, one can burn finished projects to more DVD burners, including the new dual layer DVD burner we recently acquired. Also new in iLife '06 is GarageBand 3, which now includes new features that makes creating podcasts a snap. Please note: The Mac in the AV Room still has the previous version of iMovie and iDVD. We will update this workstation in the coming weeks. iWork '06 -- We also installed the latest version of iWork, which includes Keynote 3 and Pages 2, on the lab's G5 Macs. Added: 2 February 2006
New Windows PC -- During the past year, we upgraded our scanning PC workstation ("Scratchy"). The new PC is a fast Windows XP machine with lots of hard drive space. Three popular scanners are connected to it: (1) the Nikon slide scanner, (2) the Microtek large size transparency scanner (for radiographs), and (3) the easy-to-use Epson Perfection scanner. We have also installed new software on this PC:
Articulate Presenter -- In the CIT Lab's AV Room, we have installed the latest version of Articulate Presenter, which allows faculty to convert their PowerPoint presentations high-quality web-based versions, with narration (if desired). Articulate Presenter replaces RoboPresenter, the previous software we used for this purpose. Presenter works just like RoboPresenter, but with more features (and fewer bugs). Captivate -- Also on the AV Room PC, we have installed Macromedia's Captivate, which permits you to create Flash-based interactive demonstations and tutorials. New DV Deck -- We recently acquired a new Panasonic digital video recorder that can handle miniDV, standard DV and DVCAM tapes. It can also play tapes recorded in the PAL standard. The new deck is connected to the "Uter" Mac G5 workstation. Final Cut Studio 5 -- Also on "Uter,' we have installed the latest version in Apple's professional digital video editing suite. Final Cut Studio includes Final Cut Pro 5 and DVD Studio Pro 4. The two other Mac editing workstations still have the previous version of Final Cut Pro (4.5). Users need to be careful about which version they use since you can't go back to 4.5 if you created your project in version 5. Digitize Audio Cassettes -- On "Apu" (Mac G4) you can convert your audio cassettes to digital files (e.g., MP3s), which can be burned onto CDs and/or uploaded to your WebCT courses (or anywhere else). Sorenson Squeeze -- All Mac video editing workstations, and the new PC ("Scratchy") now have Sorenson Squeeze installed. This is an excellent program for encoding digital video in many different formats (QuickTime, Real, Windows Media, Flash Video). New Equipment for Loan -- The CIT has acquired some new equipment now available for loan (for academic instructional purposes):
Added: November 2005
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