kennysarmy Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 I'm looking at this too. To anyone with AirServer set up: I assume you have passcodes installed on it. If so, if someone logs in with the passcode, how long does that device gain access for? i.e. if a teacher wanted to show a student's work on an iPad they had, could she connect it, then when the AirPlay session is over, does the password need to be re-entered, or does the session persist? If so, any idea how long? Thanks Just watch out for Airplay starting with the PC not the user! We had issues where one teacher who normally taught in a room set a password to secure it - but when another teacher logged on their profile did nt have a password assigned and 6th form students thought it amusing to airplay their personal devices to the rooms data project...!
Driftingashore Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Just watch out for Airplay starting with the PC not the user! We had issues where one teacher who normally taught in a room set a password to secure it - but when another teacher logged on their profile did nt have a password assigned and 6th form students thought it amusing to airplay their personal devices to the rooms data project...! Hah! I'll be sure to keep that in mind! I had thought that setting it up to start with the PC would be the most versatile way forward, but perhaps not! OK so had it connected for half an hour, didnt log me out or prompt for the password. Turned airplay off and back on and didn't ask for the password again from my iphone 4s. Hope this helps Thanks for testing. It's a bit of a shame there's not a setting for disconnecting to end the session. Maybe I'll send them an email and hope that they'll add an option. You never know! Not sure if there is a time limit. The teacher can very quickly and easily change the password if need be though, to stop kids from continually connecting to AirServer without being asked to. Fair point.. but I have to ask: does changing the password end the session for a user? You'd have hoped, but it's worth asking.
Darylrese Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Fair point.. but I have to ask: does changing the password end the session for a user? You'd have hoped, but it's worth asking. Unfortunatly not mate, i just tried changing the password does nothing until you turn airplay off then back on thenit asks for the new password. Devices already connected with old password continue to show their screen.
Driftingashore Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Thanks. If what I think you're saying is happening, it's not such a big deal. The teacher stops AirServer, changes the password, and restarts it for continued use. I'd say a misbehaving student with a previously authorised device is an edge case. Perhaps there's a bit of work to do in this regard, but I suppose it's time that I get off my butt and do some testing for myself. I just have to get over my hate of installing time limited demo software
Smed Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 i had a little mess with Airserver a few months ago, all went well until i tried to play videos on the ipad and Airserver crashed on the classroom laptop? pretty high spec laptop too.... don't know if there's been any updates to Airserver since, but since nobody as asked me ive not looked at it since...
Darylrese Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Plays video fine on my PC and the MAC we have in the office!
Vellocet Posted March 15, 2013 Author Posted March 15, 2013 Looks like majority of our schools will have to use Reflector as AirServer isnt compatible with Windows XP
Michael Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 I've tried AirServer and it's very good. Download/install the Windows version and it runs as a service. I successfully managed to get an iPod Touch to connect to a wired Windows 7 workstation on the same subnet without any issues at all. The fundamental flaw however is the App you're using must support mirroring or AirServer. All the popular Apps do, but the less popular educational Apps probably won't.
j224 Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 I've tried AirServer and it's very good. Download/install the Windows version and it runs as a service. I successfully managed to get an iPod Touch to connect to a wired Windows 7 workstation on the same subnet without any issues at all. The fundamental flaw however is the App you're using must support mirroring or AirServer. All the popular Apps do, but the less popular educational Apps probably won't. What do you mean about the fundamental flaw? You can access Airplay by double-clicking the home button and then scrolling to the right to reveal the Airplay button. Once it's hooked up to AirServer and mirroring the display on the computer, you can go into any app you'd like.
Michael Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 What do you mean about the fundamental flaw? You can access Airplay by double-clicking the home button and then scrolling to the right to reveal the Airplay button. Once it's hooked up to AirServer and mirroring the display on the computer, you can go into any app you'd like. Hmmm not in my testing you can't. Once you've enabled AirPlay it won't just automatically clone on a Windows screen for example. When running Safari for example, it'll only mirror when playing streaming video and not actual webpages which is sometimes useful.
j224 Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Hmmm not in my testing you can't. Once you've enabled AirPlay it won't just automatically clone on a Windows screen for example. When running Safari for example, it'll only mirror when playing streaming video and not actual webpages which is sometimes useful. Really? Works fine for me, I've just this second tested it. I'm using an iPad 2 connected to the school wifi and a Windows 7 PC wired to the same network. Check AirServer is running on the PC, double-tap home button on iPad, swipe right, hit Airplay button and it displays the whole iPad screen on the Windows monitor. I can then go into any app, even Safari and see the whole contents of it and the sound plays through the PC speakers at the same time.
Norphy Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Hmmm not in my testing you can't. Once you've enabled AirPlay it won't just automatically clone on a Windows screen for example. When running Safari for example, it'll only mirror when playing streaming video and not actual webpages which is sometimes useful. Airplay mirroring will only work on iPads from the iPad 2 onwards, the iPhone 4S onwards, the iPad Mini and I guess the last gen iPod touch, the last one I'm not so sure about. By the sounds of it, you have an earlier device which treated AirPlay like you describe. Otherwise you should be able to mirror anything. 1
j224 Posted March 15, 2013 Posted March 15, 2013 Yeah, need the iPod Touch 5th Gen (taller screen like the iPhone 5), says on the AirServer website.
Michael Posted March 22, 2013 Posted March 22, 2013 On further investigation mirroring works on an iPad 2 and iPad 3 running iOS 6. Even with an iPod Touch (not sure which gen) running iOS 6 (as I wrote above) will only mirror certain Apps. I have to say though it is brilliant and excellent value. Much better than Apple TV.
Driftingashore Posted March 25, 2013 Posted March 25, 2013 Just watch out for Airplay starting with the PC not the user! We had issues where one teacher who normally taught in a room set a password to secure it - but when another teacher logged on their profile did nt have a password assigned and 6th form students thought it amusing to airplay their personal devices to the rooms data project...! Just as a followup, I'm now testing Airserver, and the password is stored in plaintext in the "Password" key in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AirServer, so it makes sense that passwords weren't global. You should be able to set the password by setting that key through group policy though - not that I see much reason to have it start with the machine, but it may help set up some basic protection.. until someone leaks it.
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