Hi folks:

I'm looking to get a bit of feedback from folks that frequently (or infrequently) use the various computer labs on campus. Specifically, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about the use of CD and DVD drives in lab machines. What are you folks using them for? Are you required to use any CDs or DVDs for any of your classes? Do you use optical drives in lab machines for transferring files, listening to music, etc.?

This is an informal poll for information, so please feel free to ask questions as well.

Thanks! Ed

7/5/2007 8:54:17 PM

someone is looking to save some cash

[Edited on July 5, 2007 at 9:04 PM. Reason : 

7/5/2007 9:03:36 PM

who uses optical drives anymore?

ps, plz install folding@home on some of those lab computers...or just give me the admin password and i'll have my cronies take care of the grunt work. thx.
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7/5/2007 9:06:17 PM

^^ cost savings are always possible when you remove hardware, but there's very little cost savings to be had by specifically removing the optical drive.

^ ain't happenin'

7/5/2007 9:30:27 PM

are failures an issue then?

oh and throughout my 5 years at nc state, i never used the optical drive

[Edited on July 5, 2007 at 9:44 PM. Reason : 

7/5/2007 9:44:15 PM

Some computer labs on campus haven't seen updates in quite some time, and some machines are out of their warranty periods.

We're not looking at making any changes in the immediate future, though it's logical to assume that optical drives would likely disappear at some point in the future, given the increasing availability of cheap removable USB storage devices. But that's not anytime right away.

The info I'm collecting here is for our reference. There's really no easy way for us to collect data on this sort of topic, besides focus groups and sites like TWW.

7/5/2007 10:27:01 PM

If anything, the usefulness of burners in lab machines is being phased out. If I want to save a file, i want to do it quick. I'll e-mail it to myself, FTP/SCP it to my afs (or web) space, or put it on my flash drive.

Actually, you can go ahead and add me to the list of "never had to use an optical drive". The only thing an optical drive could possibly be useful for is for the IT guy to re-image the machine.

7/5/2007 10:31:31 PM

you dont need a optical drive if you have a tftp server for network booting to reimage

[Edited on July 5, 2007 at 10:36 PM. Reason : pxe and all that

7/5/2007 10:33:26 PM

Quote :

"ou can go ahead and add me to the list of "never had to use an optical drive"."

and i'll assume they image via the network

7/5/2007 10:53:53 PM

I doubt all labs get installed via network images. However, I know the Eos Labs do, for example.

7/5/2007 10:56:56 PM

well not every single lab on campus, but I bet most/all of the larger ones do. who wants to deploy images one at a time in an environment like that?

7/5/2007 11:20:17 PM

I used a burner pretty often unfortunately. I had several classes where we were required to turn in a CD/DVD of our project/course work/presentation. Specifically on a CD/DVD.

Granted most of the time I just used my computer at home, but there have been several times I was glad the labs had them in a pinch.

I really think it would be worth pulling them campus-wide, and redistributing the funds to give every incoming freshman a "free" 2-4gb thumbdrive.

7/6/2007 1:36:04 AM

Quote :

"I used a burner pretty often unfortunately. I had several classes where we were required to turn in a CD/DVD of our project/course work/presentation. Specifically on a CD/DVD. "

Ahh yeah , forgot about that. I had a BUS class require that once (though I just used my home PC)

7/6/2007 2:15:17 AM

I use them to run Eclipse on campus, which becomes painfully slow. Is there a reason why we can't get probably the most popular free java IDE on the distributed apps list?

7/6/2007 9:19:13 AM

^ Eclipse is on Linux lab machines.

add eclipse

7/6/2007 10:02:40 AM

Quote :

"oh and throughout my 5 4 years at nc state, i never used the optical drive"

7/6/2007 10:23:58 AM

I wouldn't phase them out entirely.
I had to use them several times in pinches to get CDs/DVDs burned off for presentations or classes etc etc etc.


I think making optical drives dissapear is kind of a bad move, especially given that adding one in to any machine isn't going to cost you much at all.

7/6/2007 11:34:09 PM

Again, no one is looking at removing anything. I'm asking because it's not easy for us to collect data on usage of this sort of thing.

7/7/2007 12:13:42 AM

Quote :

" and i'll assume they image via the network"

yes

7/7/2007 1:32:25 AM

eh, i mainly use the afs and usb drive.

its a shame folding@home or seti@home can't be included on the disk image.

7/7/2007 2:08:06 AM