Networking Problem on OSX

[jcchurch]

FIRST POST!

Guess what? I am a total MacOSX newbie. Maybe a Networking Newbie as well, which is a bad combination for what I am about to ask. I am playing around with an iMac where I did a clean install of OSX. I'm not a computer newbie. I did dual-boot my PC with RedHat 6.0 and WinME. I work in a computer lab at my college with about 20 iMacs running 9.2. I am proficient in several programming langages, with my favorite being Perl. I've written lots of code for windows and linux, and I've even written a few things in AppleScript. I'm just getting you prepared to read my wonderfully idiotic words of wisdom. I promise: what I'm about to ask will sound like a weird homework assignment.

My PHB comes up to me in the lab and says, "James, you know that we are finally going to get that MacOSX G4 server in use in the lab next week. Get me something that will reset all of the icons on all of the screens of every computer in the lab to a preset list, say, on every hour."

That's a tall order. I know that it will involve some network programming. The server is going to run 24/7, and I will be the only person using it. All of the iMacs get turned on in the morning and off at the end of the day. Every computer is hooked into the University's main ethernet system.

My primary question is, "Is it possible?" From there, I can do some more research and solve the problem on my own. If it is possible, maybe you could point me in the direction of how to handle such a problem, but that isn't necessary.

James, the rookie.

 

[Excalibur]

Applescript should be able to do this no problem. Technically I'd have to look into the details for it, but I know it is possible because Applescript is a networkable technology even across the internet.

You can create one script to network to each machine to run or even create a local script to each machine to run and have the script run at certain time intervals you need. That might be the most secure way to do it.

I remember Apple doing a demo of a script grabbing data from Illustrator on a machine in San Francisco, then Photoshop data from New York, then text data from Paris, and then merge all the data into Indesign at the Macworld expo into a Magazine article.

 

[jcchurch]

Thanks! Now, where is the nearest library with a good collection of applescript books.... Maybe O'Reilly has got something for me.