Students all over campus are heading home for the summer. Here at Champ Support our staff numbers will be reduced, but we’ll still be available for IT support, filming events, and preparing the campus for a new school year.
The Rowell office will also be switching to its summer hours next week: Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm.
Keeping checking back to our blog for more updates about what’s happening at Champ Support this summer!
Tonight is a big night for Champlain College. The game majors–Game Art & Animation, Game Design, and Game Programming–embody a particular point of pride and uniqueness here, and tonight the seniors within those majors will present their final games.
One of the posters around campus promoting the big event.
The event starts at 5:00PM. Employees in our Media Services department will be there to film and, working with Professor Joe Manly, broadcast the live event online.
If you didn’t get a ticket to the show and want to see your friends present, there will be a live stream. Click here to access the feed! (The video will just be off-air until the event begins.) If you’d like to share the link with others, here’s the full URL: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-game-studio-at-champlain-college
This event is important for the school, certainly, but even more so for our student presenters. They spent many late nights working on these games (coming from a selective, competitive process where nine game concepts were started and only five made it to tonight) and are about to showcase the results of all that hard work. Game industry recruiters will be there to assess the games and students, offering interviews for the following morning.
So go support them either at the Alumni Auditorium or online tonight at 5:00PM!
Finals week is almost upon us and that means late nights, final projects, and stressful tests. As you already know, thinking ahead is the best way to save yourself from headaches and last-minute technical issues. Our Helpdesk and Media Services teams will be operating at regular capacities next week, so feel free to call us if you have any problems or questions.
Here are a few tips for making your finals week flow smoothly with Champ Support:
Good luck this week! Finish strong.
Situation #1
Customer: My laptop freezes when I get to my log in screen. I have a paper due in 30 minutes and it’s on there!
Technician: Well, I can’t guarantee anything, but we might be able to pull it out of your computer and possibly fix the computer itself, but it will take a few days. Do you have the paper anywhere else?
Customer (pulling hair out of own head): No! What am I going to do?! (falls to knees) How can I possibly get by?!
Situation #2
Customer: My laptop is not turning on! It just dies before the log-in screen. I need to get my final paper to class in 30 minutes! Can you get it for me?
Technician: I can’t guarantee anything. Did you back up the paper anywhere else? On a flash drive?
Customer (relieved): Actually, I do use Dropbox. I think it automatically syncs to my School Work folder so maybe it is up there. (smacks forehead lightly) I totally forgot!
Technician: You can access your Dropbox from any computer, so the library should work for now. Or one of the labs. We will do our best with your laptop.
Recently, we’ve had several customers come in to our office in a panic. The one place they have saved their big projects is failing them. Often that place will be in the drive of a broken laptop or within an unresponsive external hard drive.
But guess what? You can store projects on the internet as well. They can live in the digital ether, ready to be retrieved by you from pretty much any device.
The best program for that is Dropbox. It has a simple purpose: you can upload your files (documents, videos, pictures, etc.) to the space reserved for you on the Dropbox servers (where all of these files that are seemingly floating in digital space actually live–in physical server boxes).
Dropbox’s website is simple. You can watch a video introduction or just download the program immediately. Once downloaded, the program essentially creates a Dropbox folder (you pick the location) in your computer where you can drop files and they will sync to your digital Dropbox. You get 2 gigabytes of space for free and can purchase more. Two gigabytes is likely more than you’ll ever need when it comes to essays and word documents. For videos, 2 gigabytes isn’t very much (a standard quality movie can be over 1 gigabyte) but for photos it’s still quite a lot.
And it’s free. All it takes is going to the site, downloading the program, registering and then actively maintaining the Dropbox foler. You can then rest easy because we’re at the point where these kinds of services are reliable. It’s unlikely that Dropbox will one day say “Oh, you can’t get your stuff for like three days.”
Drop Box is easy to use and can be a life saver when something goes wrong. Their slogan is Simplify your life. It makes sense, huh?
The debate continues between Mac and Windows at Rowell Annex, but this week we thought we’d look at the question a little more practically. First of all, what exactly do we mean by Mac vs. Windows? And secondly, are Macs or Windows better in different situations?
What’s the Debate?
If you’ve ever seen those Mac vs. PC ads on tv (with the “mac guy” young and hip and the “PC guy” in a frumpy suit) then you are very familiar with the debate. By Mac, we are talking about any Apple computer using an Apple operating system.
When we say Windows, we’re talking about computers that use one of the Windows operating systems. We’ve referred to them as PCs, even though we understand that even a Mac is a personal computer. (Mac vs. PC just rolls off the tongue a little smoother.)
We’re striving to be as fair as we can in our analysis of these different brands of computer. The most basic Macs tend to cost around $1,000, so it’s not equal to compare a MacBook Air with a $300 Dell Inspiron. Macs can lean towards the more expensive side, but it’s all about what you’re looking for. You can buy a $2,000 Windows computer just as easily as you can buy a $2,000 Mac.
And of course, there are some operating systems that didn’t even make it into our debate. In our Mac vs. PC poster in the waiting room of Rowell Annex, one customer cleverly wrote Linux in between the both sides. Linux is an open source operating system that is such a niche preference it didn’t make into our debate arena.
Is One Better? Or Are They Just Different?
So now that we’ve decided what each side means, the real question is whether one is superior, or if they’re just different? First of all, when matters of personal preference are involved, it’s tough to say that something is “better.” For someone who has never used a Mac, their experience using Windows is probably always going to be better compared to using an Apple OS.
Judging by the amount of stickers you see pasted on the back of MacBooks, it’s not hard to be convinced that Mac users are more art and design-oriented. Some people are just going to be more interested in customizing their desktop than customizing their hardware. Macs are still the choice computers for designers, which seems to be based on their speed, reliability, and user-friendly nature. However, Adobe design programs are not exclusive to Mac, so there is no reason a designer wouldn’t have just as much luck with a quality PC that had similar specifications.
The same can be said for gaming. Obviously a Macbook Pro isn’t going to hold up against a high end custom PC, but unless a game simply isn’t Mac-compatible, there’s no reason a Mac won’t work for casual gaming.
Our Advice
The one, conclusive difference that we can point out, is that Apple works on a system of having highly-integrated hardware and software. That potentially can lead to more expensive repairs and less customization, but is typically more reliable and user-friendly.
Windows operating systems do have lower prices. Kevin Andrews, a senior analyst in the IS department, explained, ”Apple hardware is manufactured by one company, unlike hardware for Windows. This competition between [Windows] hardware vendors drives the price down.” PCs can sometimes be a better value on the dollar, but customers should put research into a product before they invest, because there is a range of quality across brands.
For students looking to purchase a new computer, Matt Suprenant, an Academic Server Administrator for the IS department, said to think about of software you’ll be using in order to make an informed choice. “Look up the names of the software you want to use, browse forums and get feedback from users as to why they use what they use.” Of course, if you’re torn between the two operating systems, there are options like Bootcamp, which allow you to run Windows on a Mac.
If you’d like more information, check out this informative article that gives another comparison between the types of machines. And if you’ve got other points in the Mac vs. Windows debate, comment below!
You would be hard pressed to find stronger opinions on campus than the ones people have about Mac versus Windows.
Being a technologically-aware school, nearly every student here has a personal laptop. Some are Mac and some are Windows. Our student population (and sometimes faculty and staff) love to get fired up defending their brand loyalty, so this week we thought we’d take on the big question.
Our goal is to find out why people choose Macs or Windows and what the best choices are for people–depending on their needs. Is it truly as simple as ‘artistic people’ get Macs and ‘techy people’ get Windows? Maybe. Maybe not.
To start, we asked some of our student employees and customers for their opinions.
On the Mac side, there were arguments made about reliability, ease of use, photo and video editing, and compatibility with the iPhone and iPod.
One the PC side, people said they liked the prices, flexibility, gaming options, and being able to use programs such as Maya.
You’ve probably heard some of these arguments before, but you may have your own opinions. We want to hear from you! Vote in our poll, comment on the post, and stop by our table outside the cafeteria next week between 12pm and 1pm on Monday and Thursday. Add fuel to the fire of the Mac versus Window debate at Champlain!
We’ll also be introducing folks to our new website and helping people get acquainted with the services we offer at Champ Support. Stop by and say hi at our table next week!
Whether you’re a frequent flier with the Media Services loaning pool, or you only rent equipment every once and a while, you may have had a few questions about your rental process. Take a look for some solutions and simple answers to our most common FAQs:
Q. How do I look at the windows of availability of resources when building my reservation?
A. Use the “Toggle Availability” button above the list of resources for a graphical view of availability.
Q. Can I look at an inventory list of loaning pool equipment?
A. There is a complete list on our blog.
Q. Can I rent over long weekends or mid-semester breaks?
Yes! Read our recent blog post for more details.
Q. What if I am running late to pickup/return my equipment?
A. Call us at 860-2710 prior to the scheduled pickup/return time. In many cases we can work with you over the phone to avoid reservation cancellations and late return fines.
Q. What if I need to keep my rental equipment an extra day?
A. Call us at 860-2710 prior to your scheduled return time and we can attempt to renew your rental for an additional 24 hours. Only one 24-hour renewal is allowed per rental and it will depend on whether the equipment in question is available. We do not accept renewal requests via e-mail –you must call during our normal business hours.
Q. What happens if I return my equipment late?
A. The rental system will record a $50 fine per day a rental is late. You are given a one hour grace period after your scheduled return time before the fine is applied. After five calendar days a rental is considered lost and you will be billed for the replacement cost of the equipment you rented. Recorded fines are billed to you through Student Accounts typically once per semester. Late fines can be appealed through the CCM division dean’s office – read our rental policies for more details.
Q. Are there tutorials about any other questions I may have about renting equipment of using Champ Support resources?
We have an ever-growing list of tutorials on our blog for quick fixes that you may want to do on your own. You can “like” our page on Facebook to get updates on our most recent tutorials as well as Champ Support updates on campus. And of course, don’t hesitate to call us at 860-2710.
Do you have additional questions that haven’t been answered here or in our rental policy document? Let us know! E-mail champsupport@champlain.edu or call us at 860-2710.
