Smartboard 9.5

I'm having 5 new smartboards installed and since V9.5 is available to download I thought I'd upgrade to it

I "ugraded" a 9.14 install and encounted a few problems.

The program seems to wants to connect to the internet but gives an error and says it can't.

The toolbar has changed a bit and I think it could throw some users (esp the more non-IT ones)

The Gallery seems (on first glance) to have shrunk considerably (can't find all the primary Eqyptions/Anglo Saxon/Romans stuff from prev version)

And it errored on exit 3 times and wanted to send error report.

I'm going to stay with 9.14 until Mr Smart gets back to me.

YMMV

regards
Simon

Hmmm something to look forward to in the new term.

Quote:

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The program seems to wants to connect to the internet but gives an error and says it can't.

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Wants to connect to the internet to check for updates. There's a snazzy auto update feature in v9. However there's no facilties for proxy servers. Thus it just sits there and hangs.

You're supposed to be able to point it to an alternative url (say an internal web server) but I've not took the time to figure that out yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geoff

Wants to connect to the internet to check for updates. There's a snazzy auto update feature in v9. However there's no facilties for proxy servers. Thus it just sits there and hangs.

You're supposed to be able to point it to an alternative url (say an internal web server) but I've not took the time to figure that out yet.

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I think the update module does download an update EXE but the progress bar doesn't ... err ....progress until the actual install. This coupled with bandwidth throttling by the SmartTech site gives the impression that nothing is happening during the download phase.

If you keep an eye under Temporary Internet files of the logged in user then you will see the patch being downloaded.

I haven't really played with it so I just presumed that was what was happening. I roll out Smartboard updates using AD + MSI files.

When was this launched? I downloaded the software on Thursday and I think it was 9.14 or what ever the last version was.

When I installed the new version it triggered the anti-virus program (NOD32) and aborted. The anti-virus reported a possible heuristic trojan. My guess is that the AV was being a little 'over zealous' and there was not actually a virus or trojan in the download. However, this may be a problem others encounter.

It is also worth noting that the new version uses new file extensions for notebook and gallery files (.notebook and .gallery). The 9.5 version will read old .xbk files but newly created files will not be compatible with old smartboard software installs. Also not sure if the new extensions will be accepted by Win98

A couple of reports have suggested the install program may abort when installing the Mac version.

Here is Smart's reply and my reply to them

Quote:

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BEFORE READING THIS MESSAGE PLEASE UNDERSTAND
THAT I AM A GREAT BELIEVER IN YOUR PRODUCT AND I AM JUST
TRYING TO GET IT WORK IN MY CLASSROOMS
WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEND UNREALISTIC AMOUNTS OF
TIME IN TRYING TO INSTALL THIS VERSION.

AND MAYBE THESE FAULTS ARE MINE BUT....

----- Original Message -----
From: "support@smarttech.com" <Support@smarttech.com>
To: "Simon Walters" <siwalters@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 11:24 PM
Subject: RE: V9.5


>Hello Simon,

>I would completely uninstall my old version of software first, and then
>download 9.5 again. Make sure you do not have any anti-virus software or
>a firewall blocking your internet connection.

1.
I'm at home at the moment at can't try this out till Friday (its Easter School
Holidays here) but ...

The computer is a 1 year old XP SP2 machine with Sophos antivirus and
normal XP firewall. It is not part of a domain and the teacher has
full administration rights.

No other programs seem to have difficulty with this configuration.

My understanding of your new product philosophy is that the program (V9.1 onwards)
calls home and trys to automatically update.

If this is true, can you imagine the chaos in the classrooms when a teacher clicks to
agree to do this and then finds themselves without a proper working system.

If I'm wrong in this assumption then please accept my apologies and point out
my error

If I am right, then please pull the download update until the product can upgrade
itself without technical intervention - as I've said -I 've got 50 boards in 9 schools
and there is only one of me.

Some of my fellow technicians in this country have suggested that your product
isn't managing to call home due to not knowing about the proxy servers that we connect to
to access the internet. I just pass this on for information.

2.
Although you didn't answer my other question

>The Gallery seems (on first glance) to have shrunk considerably (can't
>find
>all the primary school Eqyptions/Anglo Saxon/Romans stuff from prev
>version)

When I went to download V9.5 at home I noticed the instructions to
update the gallery online once I've installed the program.

The program installed fine at home and when I ran it - it asked what content
I wanted to install - I selected it all.

30 minutes later - it hadn't even got halfway through installing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am on 4Mbs cable broadband.

This is completely unrealistic to implement even on broadband sites and
I still have schools on dial-up internet (Assuming we can get around the
1st problem)

Is it possible to put a separate file that can be downloaded on a broadband
site once and then redistributed locally.

Would you please ensure that the contents of this email are distributed to an
executive with the authority to make changes and to do so quickly.


regards


Simon Walters

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As to the possible virus,
Here's the reply I received from SMARTTECH

"there is no virus in the SMART board software, but the SMART service does do some weird things that that some virus scanners may flag as a potential virus."

Hence, I assume, the reason they advise turning off your anti-virus when installing the program update.

There was a MSI you could download for 9.1.4.

Is one not avaliable for 9.5 as I can't find it at the moment?

Haven't got the time to mess and create my own at the moment.

Last reply from SMART (after re-sending the email again)

Quote:

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Hello. The gallery needs to be downloaded separately in 9.5
In the Notebook software, go to the Gallery. At the top to the right of the search box, there are two buttons, a magnifying glass and a wrench. Click on the second button (the wrench) and it will bring up an add/remove gallery content box. Select the galleries that you wish to download, or "All Galleries" at the top and click OK.

This download will take some time, as it is about 270MB.
If this doesn't work for you (it may give an error message that the software couldn't connect to the internet), we have now made the entire gallery available as a single download, which should resolve any problems you may encounter due to a local proxy server at your location.

For the Windows version of the software:
Please click on the following link: http://smarttech.com/support/software/sb_win.asp and scroll down to "download the Gallery as a separate file (274MB)" Save this file to your computer, and once it is finished installing, double click on it to install the gallery.

For MAC: Click on the following link: ftp://support.smarttech.com/techsupp...Mac%20Gallery/
Username: supportftp, password: yamaha
Copy the file to your computer and once it has finished downloading, double click on the file and follow the rest of the install process.

If you continue to encounter problems, please contact Technical support at the phone numbers/email address listed below.

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So one problem solved (if it works -I've yet to try it but I'm always an optimist :)


regards

Simon

Thanks for this Simon.

I found XP to be trial and error whether it connected or not, but Win98 never.

Currently talking with the 'chief SMART tester' at my LEA.....ok, so he's the ONLY tester - and I'm the only user !

But he has been saying that some of the new features (mainly to do with things that can be imported) don't work quite in the way that they should, a bit glitchy.


Early days yet, I suppose

col

also to disable auto update in old version info here http://www.russdev.com/edugeek/doku....board_software

not sure if same in new version ???

russ

@col214 and russdev
Thanks for info. (and I've updated the Wiki)

I've tried installing V9.5 and the gallery from a CD at it seems to install (if you ignore all the error msgs about not being able to update)

Given the trouble to just get it in, I'll get a very competent teacher to try it out for a while before rolling it out.

I think Mr/Ms SMART produces a good product but they could do with having someone a bit more competent doing the rollouts and/or better alpha/beta testing.

regards

Simon

I was part of the Beta testing for version 9, and none of the things I reported/was involved with......ie can't hyperlink if the web address contained a tilda (~), can't move solid shapes in Win98 - don't even get me started with text on Win98, none were fixed..............until this 9.5 version !!!

col