Projector Calculations [1]

Well, I am working up some numbers for the school gym’s proposed projector installation. Projection can be quite a tricky business because you have to try to work out an optimum screen size for a venue and then with big installation projectors you are looking for the right lens as well for a long throw or short throw or whatever situation you have.

I started with the projection calculator here: http://www.elitescreens.com/index.php/component/content/article?id=264

• The projector model being Epson EB-G6350 but as this model is not listed the similar Powerlite Pro G6150NL was instead selected.
• Setting a custom aspect ratio of 16:10 (1.6:1) to begin with.
• Screen Gain 1.0
• Throw distance 20 metres
• Calculator lists 8 lenses but only 6 of these are current with the G6350 model. Of these only three have the range required to work at 20 metres.
• Long Throw Lens ELPLL06
  • 2.1 metres high, 3.9 metres diagonal, 3.3 metres wide.
  • Throw range 17-23 metres.
  • Seating distance range 4.3-19.9 metres.
  • Image brightness 159 nits.
• Middle Throw Lens ELPLM04
  • 4.4 metres high, 8.4 metres diagonal, 7.1 metres wide.
  • Throw range 17-25 metres.
  • Seating distance range 9.2-45 metres.
  • Image brightness 33 nits.
• Middle Throw Lens ELPLM05
  • 3 metres high, 5.6 metres diagonal, 4.7 metres wide.
  • Throw range 17-25 metres.
  • Seating distance range 6.2-28.5 metres.
  • Image brightness 71 nits.

Based on the above data the recommended choice of lens would be the ELPLL06. If we run the numbers again with a 4:3 screen which is the native aspect ratio for the G6350 (its resolution is 1024x768) then it comes up to a screen that is 2.5 metres high instead.

Using PowerShell with Active Directory

Our next little jaunt in PowerShell will be to learn how to use it to configure Active Directory accounts. For example, you may have a need to change a particular property of a group of Active Directory users, such as the logon script or profile path, when you need to stage a rollout of a new script or profile. Again, this is something I have done a lot of work with in the past using VBScript, but of course I want to extend my knowledge in PowerShell to achieve the same thing.

Over here we have a list of Active Directory cmdlets:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee617195.aspx

Well, that is quite a list (see below) and I suspect with my growing knowledge of general capabilities of PowerShell that it won't take long for me to figure out how to process a group of accounts all at once in a script. It looks like the sort of kludges or difficult procedures that have required fairly complex code that didn't always work as expected in VBScript could be a thing of the past.

Essentially it looks like I would be using Get-ADUser to retrieve a group of users and then iterating through them calling Set-ADObject each time in order to change the desired property of each user object.

Generally, we would run this script on a domain controller. However, we can run it on a desktop or some other computer provided it has the RSAT installed, as described in this blog article:

blogs.msdn.com/b/rkramesh/archive/2012/01/17/how-to-add-active-directory-module-in-powershell-in-windows-7.aspx

 

Cmdlet	Description
Add-ADComputerServiceAccount	Adds one or more service accounts to an Active Directory computer.
Add-ADDomainControllerPasswordReplicationPolicy	Adds users, computers, and groups to the Allowed List or the Denied List of the read-only domain controller (RODC) Password Replication Policy (PRP).
Add-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicySubject	Applies a fine-grained password policy to one more users and groups.
Add-ADGroupMember	Adds one or more members to an Active Directory group.
Add-ADPrincipalGroupMembership	Adds a member to one or more Active Directory groups.
Clear-ADAccountExpiration	Clears the expiration date for an Active Directory account.
Disable-ADAccount	Disables an Active Directory account.
Disable-ADOptionalFeature	Disables an Active Directory optional feature.
Enable-ADAccount	Enables an Active Directory account.
Enable-ADOptionalFeature	Enables an Active Directory optional feature.
Get-ADAccountAuthorizationGroup	Gets the Active Directory security groups that contain an account.
Get-ADAccountResultantPasswordReplicationPolicy	Gets the resultant password replication policy for an Active Directory account.
Get-ADComputer	Gets one or more Active Directory computers.
Get-ADComputerServiceAccount	Gets the service accounts that are hosted by an Active Directory computer.
Get-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy	Gets the default password policy for an Active Directory domain.
Get-ADDomain	Gets an Active Directory domain.
Get-ADDomainController	Gets one or more Active Directory domain controllers, based on discoverable services criteria, search parameters, or by providing a domain controller identifier, such as the NetBIOS name.
Get-ADDomainControllerPasswordReplicationPolicy	Gets the members of the Allowed List or the Denied List of the RODC PRP.
Get-ADDomainControllerPasswordReplicationPolicyUsage	Gets the resultant password policy of the specified ADAccount on the specified RODC.
Get-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy	Gets one or more Active Directory fine-grained password policies.
Get-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicySubject	Gets the users and groups to which a fine-grained password policy is applied.
Get-ADForest	Gets an Active Directory forest.
Get-ADGroup	Gets one or more Active Directory groups.
Get-ADGroupMember	Gets the members of an Active Directory group.
Get-ADObject	Gets one or more Active Directory objects.
Get-ADOptionalFeature	Gets one or more Active Directory optional features.
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit	Gets one or more Active Directory OUs.
Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership	Gets the Active Directory groups that have a specified user, computer, or group.
Get-ADRootDSE	Gets the root of a domain controller information tree.
Get-ADServiceAccount	Gets one or more Active Directory service accounts.
Get-ADUser	Gets one or more Active Directory users.
Get-ADUserResultantPasswordPolicy	Gets the resultant password policy for a user.
Install-ADServiceAccount	Installs an Active Directory service account on a computer.
Move-ADDirectoryServer	Moves a domain controller in AD DS to a new site.
Move-ADDirectoryServerOperationMasterRole	Moves operation master (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO) roles to an Active Directory domain controller.
Move-ADObject	Moves an Active Directory object or a container of objects to a different container or domain.
New-ADComputer	Creates a new Active Directory computer.
New-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy	Creates a new Active Directory fine-grained password policy.
New-ADGroup	Creates an Active Directory group.
New-ADObject	Creates an Active Directory object.
New-ADOrganizationalUnit	Creates a new Active Directory OU.
New-ADServiceAccount	Creates a new Active Directory service account.
New-ADUser	Creates a new Active Directory user.
Remove-ADComputer	Removes an Active Directory computer.
Remove-ADComputerServiceAccount	Removes one or more service accounts from a computer.
Remove-ADDomainControllerPasswordReplicationPolicy	Removes users, computers, and groups from the Allowed List or the Denied List of the RODC PRP.
Remove-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy	Removes an Active Directory fine-grained password policy.
Remove-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicySubject	Removes one or more users from a fine-grained password policy.
Remove-ADGroup	Removes an Active Directory group.
Remove-ADGroupMember	Removes one or more members from an Active Directory group.
Remove-ADObject	Removes an Active Directory object.
Remove-ADOrganizationalUnit	Removes an Active Directory OU.
Remove-ADPrincipalGroupMembership	Removes a member from one or more Active Directory groups.
Remove-ADServiceAccount	Removes an Active Directory service account.
Remove-ADUser	Removes an Active Directory user.
Rename-ADObject	Changes the name of an Active Directory object.
Reset-ADServiceAccountPassword	Resets the service account password for a computer.
Restore-ADObject	Restores an Active Directory object.
Search-ADAccount	Gets Active Directory user, computer, and service accounts.
Set-ADAccountControl	Modifies user account control (UAC) values for an Active Directory account.
Set-ADAccountExpiration	Sets the expiration date for an Active Directory account.
Set-ADAccountPassword	Modifies the password of an Active Directory account.
Set-ADComputer	Modifies an Active Directory computer.
Set-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy	Modifies the default password policy for an Active Directory domain.
Set-ADDomain	Modifies an Active Directory domain.
Set-ADDomainMode	Sets the domain functional level for an Active Directory domain.
Set-ADFineGrainedPasswordPolicy	Modifies an Active Directory fine-grained password policy.
Set-ADForest	Modifies an Active Directory forest.
Set-ADForestMode	Sets the forest mode for an Active Directory forest.
Set-ADGroup	Modifies an Active Directory group.
Set-ADObject	Modifies an Active Directory object.
Set-ADOrganizationalUnit	Modifies an Active Directory OU.
Set-ADServiceAccount	Modifies an Active Directory service account.
Set-ADUser	Modifies an Active Directory user.
Uninstall-ADServiceAccount	Uninstalls an Active Directory service account from a computer.
Unlock-ADAccount	Unlocks an Active Directory account.

Tablets holding back kids in classrooms

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/63695412/Tablets-holding-students-back

This is a pretty good example of why a tablet is not really suitable for a learning environment. Due to the lack of a keyboard :)