Finally, Unix Does Something Useful!

I am not at all comfortable with Terminal commands.

Sure, the commands always work, and can help you to achieve exactly what you want efficiently and effectively, but... where are all the pretty colours?

If you have Remote Desktop at your school, which you almost certainly do, open Remote Desktop, select the computers in your classroom or lab, and then under the "Manage" category in the Toolbar select "Send Unix Command".

Copy and paste the following commands into the window, one each time, and then click "Send" just prior to your class coming in... or during class, if you like to live on the edge. Your students will be amazed. Or, at the least, a little bit freaked out.

(If you have tray-loading machines, like eMacs, the last command is particularly fun!)

Computer Speaks Current Date

osascript <<EOF
say (current date) as string using "Cellos"
EOF

Machines sing the list of software updates.

osascript <<EOF
set suList to (do shell script "softwareupdate -l") as string
say suList using "Cellos"
EOF

Make Computer Speak

Say "Your Text Here"

Optical Tray Wave Script

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
drutil tray open
sleep 1
drutil tray close
sleep 1
done