LTC Expands Laptop Fleets - October 2, 2008

James Keys images multiple laptops with the new laptop imaging system.

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) has updated and expanded its laptop fleets to meet the growing demand for classroom use of computers.

The LTC has replaced the laptops in its oldest Mobile Computer Lab cart, and acquired enough of the new machines to create an additional fleet. The forty new computers are 13” MacBooks with 2.4 GHz Intel Core Duo processors and 2GB memory. They are capable of running either the Mac or PC platform and of signing on to UT’s restricted wireless network. In the Sánchez Building, there are now four laptop fleets, three with dual-platform laptops, and there is one dual-platform fleet in Belmont Hall.

Because the older G3 iBook laptop workstations in the Advanced Applications Lab, the LTC’s large computer classroom in SZB 324, were not capable of using the restricted wireless network, they have been removed and will not be replaced with permanently installed computers. Instead, those reserving this room will specify whether computers are needed, and if so, a laptop fleet will be delivered and set up in the room for the appointed time. This provides a more efficient response to the growing demand, since a mobile fleet can be used more often than computers stationed only in one room.

To handle the increased number of laptop fleets, Technical and Network Services created a laptop imaging station. This system can update the operating system or other software on an entire cart of laptops in about two hours. Previously, each laptop was imaged separately, taking many more hours to update an entire fleet. “There is just no way we could manage this many fleets of laptops without the imaging station,” says James Keys, LTC Computer User Services Specialist. The system uses older PowerMacs that were replaced in the Multimedia Lab in the spring with Mac Pros.

The laptop fleets may be reserved for classroom delivery via the LTC online reservation system. For more information about the laptops, contact James Keys.

—Laurie Caldwell, LTC Communications Coordinator