Currently Browsing Posts Tagged Ferris State University

Quiero Aprender El Idioma: Spanish Learning Resources

I want to learn Spanish.

For my bachelor’s degree, FSU requires two “cultural enrichment” classes. For mine, I chose Spanish 101 and 102. There were a few reasons why I chose Spanish: I’ve taken Spanish classes in High School, two years actually, but I never retained as much information as I would have liked, I’d like to understand a new culture and how they communicate, and I’d like to retain some of my family’s culture. Continue reading…

Blackboard Tip: Have Messages Delivered via Email

Ferris State University uses Blackboard (sadly) for its online classes. For a while, there were times that I didn’t know if I was receiving a message from a teacher or other student. After digging through the settings, I found an option to automatically forward all messages to my personal email account. Continue reading…

Cisco Clean Access + Mac OS X = Headache

At Ferris State University, the network implements a system called Cisco Clean Access (CCA). This is a system designed to keep all Windows-based computers up-to-date, secure, and authorized to use the network. On the Windows-side of things, it works decently. All that is truly required is the installation of Clean Access Manager, Norton Antivirus, and setting up your Windows Update settings to point to FSU’s Windows Update Server.

This is totally different if you use a Mac (or Linux, or any other OS). While there is technically a Mac client for CCA, it does not work as well as the Windows-based client. Luckily, there is still a backup plan for other operating systems: CCA will redirect you to a web-based login page, you fill in your user credentials, and bam! you’re on the network. Only a few caveats:

  • If you disconnect from the network for any reason (i.e. you’re using a laptop and you close the lid) for more than 5 minutes, you will have to re-login
  • Occasionally there are issues with computer identification and DHCP: I have run into issues where I was logged in, closed my laptop for 15 minutes, and was given an “IP in use” error. This has happened on more than one occasion, and not only to me, but a few of my classmates.
  • It’s just a hassle to have your web session interrupted by a Java app (and on that point, why is it a Java app? I’m pretty sure a standards-compliant web form would suffice) asking you to login

To get around most of these issues, I came up with a script to automatically login with my iMac. Essentially, it’s just a shell/bash script that is executed by launchd (you could use Cron on *NIX) every 5 minutes.

Continue reading…