Yesurbius
Registered
I have three small boys and they love to get into the computer and play their games. Unfortunately most of these games require CD. I tried putting "Some Limits" on and customizing the system so that it was hard to get into anything sensitive, but I found they still managed to do it every time. I could get around this by enabling Simple Finder, but SimpleFinder doesn't allow them to eject the CDs, since all desktop items are hidden.
My solution was to create a mechanism for ejecting CDs without compromising the Simple Finder.
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Basic Procedure
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1. Turn on 'Some Limits' and customize the desktop and dock to how you'd like. My dock consists of their Movies, Documents, and Applications folder, all versions specific to their Home Directory (ie. Applications = /Users/kids/Applications).
2. Ensure that Terminal is an application they can run.
3. Add the eject app into the dock (Instructions to follow on creating this app)
4. Open up a Terminal Window and do the following commands:
defaults write com.apple.finder InterfaceLevel simple
defaults write com.apple.dock contents-immutable -bool true
5. Logout and Enjoy.
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Creating eject application.
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1. Create a text file called eject and put the following in it:
2. Add Execute Permissions
3. Optionally change the icon to that of a CD.
4. Run the application and ensure that Terminal is assigned to it.
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How it works
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The shell commands essentially run a command to eject the CD (runs it in the background), then immediately kills Terminal so that nobody can mess around in it. Because the application is running in the background, it will still eject the CD.
The first defaults command tell MacOS that even though we are in 'Some Limits' mode, we still want finder to behave in Simple Finder mode. This allows us to run the Dock in full mode, but allows us to lock the finder down.
The second defaults command locks the dock down so it can't be changed. Alternatively you can uncheck the 'Can Modify Dock' in the Users window.
Probably someone will come up with a better method - if so I'd love to hear it. I'd also be curious if there are any specific ways of changing the restrictions within Simple Finder mode. Hopefully in Leopard they'll change Simple Finder to a 'Locked Down' mode and allow you to fine tune parts of Finder / Dock behavior.
-Dan
My solution was to create a mechanism for ejecting CDs without compromising the Simple Finder.
=======
Basic Procedure
=======
1. Turn on 'Some Limits' and customize the desktop and dock to how you'd like. My dock consists of their Movies, Documents, and Applications folder, all versions specific to their Home Directory (ie. Applications = /Users/kids/Applications).
2. Ensure that Terminal is an application they can run.
3. Add the eject app into the dock (Instructions to follow on creating this app)
4. Open up a Terminal Window and do the following commands:
defaults write com.apple.finder InterfaceLevel simple
defaults write com.apple.dock contents-immutable -bool true
5. Logout and Enjoy.
=======
Creating eject application.
=======
1. Create a text file called eject and put the following in it:
Code:
#! /bin/sh
drutil eject &
killall -9 Terminal2. Add Execute Permissions
Code:
chmod u+x eject3. Optionally change the icon to that of a CD.
4. Run the application and ensure that Terminal is assigned to it.
=======
How it works
=======
The shell commands essentially run a command to eject the CD (runs it in the background), then immediately kills Terminal so that nobody can mess around in it. Because the application is running in the background, it will still eject the CD.
The first defaults command tell MacOS that even though we are in 'Some Limits' mode, we still want finder to behave in Simple Finder mode. This allows us to run the Dock in full mode, but allows us to lock the finder down.
The second defaults command locks the dock down so it can't be changed. Alternatively you can uncheck the 'Can Modify Dock' in the Users window.
Probably someone will come up with a better method - if so I'd love to hear it. I'd also be curious if there are any specific ways of changing the restrictions within Simple Finder mode. Hopefully in Leopard they'll change Simple Finder to a 'Locked Down' mode and allow you to fine tune parts of Finder / Dock behavior.
-Dan
