TableTalk/Azuran

Adventures in Azuran – Part 0

Posted by iamsupergeek on

On August 24, we had our Zero Session for a new D&D 5e campaign set in a homebrew land called Azuran.

What is a “Zero Session”, you may ask?  Well, it’s basically the player group getting together to talk about the campaign in preparation for the actual gaming sessions.  The DM will lay out the campaign concept, talk about the setting, explain what races/classes/alignments are within scope, etc.  It also gives the players a chance to chat with each other, meet everyone (if they don’t know each other already), discuss character options, and roll up characters.

Geekspeak

Software Uninstalls – How I Do It

Posted by iamsupergeek on

As a follow-up to my previous post on installing software via MSI, I thought it would be good to dive into uninstalling software.

There are a multitude of methods to install and uninstall software, and just as many (if not more) methods of automating this task. Going into “Programs and Features” or “Add/Remove Programs”, selecting the software, then clicking the uninstall button is very easy. But having the user do this can require permissions that they probably should not have, and the wrong item can be selected and removed. Automating the removal of software can have many pitfalls and unforeseen consequences. Sometimes, when you install a piece of software, it doesn’t always update a previous version of itself that may be on the device, then you’re left with two versions that can often conflict with each other. In this case, administrators will uninstall the old version during the installation process of the new version. It is important that the correct software be uninstalled the correct way.

Geekspeak

Software Deployment via MSI – How I Do It

Posted by iamsupergeek on

Part of my job is to deploy software to our fleet of Windows computers via SCCM.  This involves PowerShell scripts to automate the process and capture logs. So, I decided to make a post showing how I do it.

Anyone can double-click an MSI file to launch it and proceed through the GUI to eventually have the program install (as long as they have sufficient rights on the device to do so). In a business environment, it is best to not let the average user have this level of access – it often leads to malware and other problems. So, administrators use utilities like Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) to wrap up programs in a cute little bow to be either automatically deployed to devices, or to be made available for the user to install at their convenience. Either way, the installations usually need to be “silent” (no GUI or user interaction) so they can be installed in the background, or to prevent the user from pressing a button you may not want them to. This can be challenging at times because every company is different, every programmer is different, and even if industry standards are followed, there is enough wiggle-room to make things crazy.

Miscellaneous

Hello, world!

Posted by iamsupergeek on

It seems like whenever someone is learning a programming or scripting language, the first thing the tutorials have them do is create some code that, when executed, displays the phrase “Hello, world!” on the screen.

Thus, the title of this post.