[Shu-cdromlan] Re: Children's software

[Joy Butler]

Tom,

I recently spoke at Tech Connections on a similar topic.  In our system, we
have over 50 PCs dedicated to Children's software.  While we do not network
the software at this time because of the obvious bandwidth crunch, I do a
lot of work in fooling the software into thinking it is running from the
local drive.

I hate CD-ROM disc-changers and jukeboxes for the simple reason that they
break, and when they break, they usually physically damage the CD.  I found
the simplest method to use with educational software is to copy all the data
from the CD onto the hard drive (for 10 discs, I've never gone over 3.5
Gig's worth of drive space).  I name the folder whatever the name of the CD
was (the name from the properties of the disc).

Then comes the fun part.  Some programs run beautifully from the hard drive.
Just remember to run setup from the copied folder, not the CD. Titles from
Humongous Entertainment (Pajama Sam, Freddie the Fish, Putt Putt all run
well this way).  Other programs need a little more coaxing.  I usually run
Quarterdeck's Clean Sweep when I install a program and then save the log
file to see just what the program does in the install.  I may have to change
several *.ini files or change registry settings.  This usually involves
putting the path to the copied folder in place of the drive letter.

If you decide to network your software, these principles will still hold
true.  Just put the networked path in in place of the local CD drive letter.
As long as your operating system recognizes where the CD is, you usually
have a way to get the program to find its data.  This does not hold true for
all CDs, however.  Some will not work from anything but the local drive no
matter what you do.  Kicking and screaming doesn't even help.

I've worked with well over 300 Children's titles in the past three years and
the common denominator is that they are all programmed differently.  A
solution that works for one CD may or may not work for another.  The Dorling
Kindersley products are my favorite programs, however they are a bear to
install in this manner.  For Pinball Science, I actually had to copy the
data onto the hard drive, burn a CD from the copied data and image the data
into CD-Quickshare (the utility we use to image many of our problem CDs).

Welcome to the wild and wonderful world of Children's multimedia in the
library.

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I have a
great list of CD titles I have tested ~ what works and what doesn't, staff
and users guides, cute pictures of PC Pals (although I'm not quite sure who
drew them), advice on headphones, anecdotal stories...

Good luck,
Joy

Joy Butler
PC Applications Specialist, Information Systems
Email: jbutler@plch.lib.oh.us
Phone: 513-369-3182
Fax: 513-369-3188
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
800 Vine Street, Cincinnati OH 45202-2071


-----Original Message-----
From: CDROMLAN - USE OF CDROM PRODUCTS IN LAN ENVIRONMENTS
[mailto:CDROMLAN@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Tom Edelblute
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 11:04 AM
To: CDROMLAN@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Children's software


I would like to know what the latest people are using in CD-ROM
networking technology.  We have some educational software that we would
like to network throughout the system but are having problems getting
some of the software to run on anything but the local CD-ROM drive.  We
need a way around this problem.

Are CD-ROM disc-changers still being made?  Is anyone running them with
Windows NT or 2000?
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Edelblute
Public Access Systems Coordinator
Anaheim Public Library   phone: (714) 765-1759
500 West Broadway        fax:   (714) 765-1730
Anaheim CA 92805         e-mail: thomas@anaheim.lib.ca.us