Programming on the lab machines

Introduction

There are good reasons why our team tend to use the club’s purchased laptops and avoid the computers in the robotics lab.

1. We don’t have administrative access to those machines, so we are restricted to installing applications that don’t require administrative privileges to install.

   Only the ESHS IT department has the authority to install those sorts of applications, and because they are always busy turn-around times can be slow.

2. The desktops are locked down. For instance, on most lab machines, right-clicking in Windows Explorer is disabled.

But on the other hand:

1. The lab machines are standard Windows 10 installations, complete with PowerShell, Google Chrome, and ROBOT C.
2. Apart from the restrictions, using the machines is straightforward.

This leads us to a few guiding principles:

1. All applications we install on the lab machines must be either:
   • Installable within the current user’s directory hierarchy (%HOME%); or
   • Portable (the application is self-contained within a single folder, and can be run in-place.)

   This document will indicate which applications are installable and which are portable.

2. Prefer shell access to using Windows Explorer.
   • The shell always works; Windows Explorer only sometimes works.
3. Between cmd and PowerShell, favor PowerShell.
   • But between those and Cmder, favor Cmder!

List of applications

Notepad++ [portable]

Purpose

A programming text editor with decent functionality for beginning coders.

How to install

1. Download the Notepad++ portable installer from PortableApps.com.
   • If you don’t choose a download location, in will download into your Downloads folder (%USERPROFILE%\Downloads).
2. Run the installer.
   • If you have trouble double-clicking on the installer to activate it due to Explorer restrictions, open PowerShell, navigate to the download directory, and run the installer directly.

     PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> pushd $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads
     PS C:\Users\FRC1\Downloads> dir
     
         Directory: C:\Users\FRC1\Downloads
     
     Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
     ----                -------------         ------ ----
     -a----        10/2/2019   8:06 PM        3825792 NotepadPlusPlusPortable_7.7.1.paf.exe
     
     PS C:\Users\FRC1\Downloads> .\NotepadPlusPlusPortable_7.7.1.paf.exe
                 

   1. Run Notepad++ for the first time, and then pin its icon to the taskbar so that you don’t lose track of it.