Smart Notebook 10

[Bluetooth]

I've only read the first 3 pages of this thread and i can see a wonderful disdain for the smartboard software growing nicely lol.

 

In response to some of the posts about the install manager that no one seems to know what to do with, there IS a PDF file full of what to do how to do it etc on the smarttech website, you need to go into the knowledge base and then put administrative tools into the search box and youll find what you need, if need be ill host the file someplace for you all.

 

Also i have configured the 2 packages through the install manager, basically you need to have the 3 files first, the install manager, the notebook software, and the smartboard drives, you open each respective exe and save it to someplace (i just saved it to my MSI dir on the server) once extracted you can create the mst file to modify both packages, i did make one mistake and tell notebook to download the gallery while installing via MSI and it just didnt work for an hour.

 

After removing the gallery download choices from the MST file i republished the MSI's and MST's and it installed the drivers and notebook software in under 10 mins, granted, a fair old while for a peice of software that just draws some lines on a board etc but meh.

 

I can report that this method does work but i suppose deploying it via MSI is a bit poo for those people who dont have laptops or teaching machines on a domain with GPO's, apart from that the only choice is to run the install manually.

 

Hope this helped!

[enjay]

@Bluetooth - that could be where I'm going wrong; I've only been doing this on the Notebook software not the drivers too. I was trying to get one MSI (with or without MST) for the software, which I would put on all PCs, and a second for the drivers, which I would only put on the IWB-PCs. Your method puts application and drivers on all PCs, right? Not ideal, but if it works, it is better than nothing.

 

Where is your Gallery located?

[contink]

What can I say... my disdain for all the "we're listening to you honest" marketing spiel was bang on the money...

 

Since the plethora of issues came to light there's not been a peep from any of them...

 

On a more practical note, I'm not allowing any upgrades, nor deploying till the new academic year now... Just too much to do and if it ain't broke.. ?

[Flinders]

I've only read the first 3 pages of this thread and i can see a wonderful disdain for the smartboard software growing nicely lol.

 

In response to some of the posts about the install manager that no one seems to know what to do with, there IS a PDF file full of what to do how to do it etc on the smarttech website, you need to go into the knowledge base and then put administrative tools into the search box and youll find what you need, if need be ill host the file someplace for you all.

 

Also i have configured the 2 packages through the install manager, basically you need to have the 3 files first, the install manager, the notebook software, and the smartboard drives, you open each respective exe and save it to someplace (i just saved it to my MSI dir on the server) once extracted you can create the mst file to modify both packages, i did make one mistake and tell notebook to download the gallery while installing via MSI and it just didnt work for an hour.

 

After removing the gallery download choices from the MST file i republished the MSI's and MST's and it installed the drivers and notebook software in under 10 mins, granted, a fair old while for a peice of software that just draws some lines on a board etc but meh.

 

I can report that this method does work but i suppose deploying it via MSI is a bit poo for those people who dont have laptops or teaching machines on a domain with GPO's, apart from that the only choice is to run the install manually.

 

Hope this helped!

 

Ive tried pretty much everything ive read and can think of, including the documentation for the Smart Admin toolkit. You seem to be publishing this through AD, so my question remains, has anyone successfully managed to create a MST (or combine it into an MSI) than can be run from a non AD drive that will end up in an activated install? Im trying to get this running on a Zenworks lab, and whatever I try I cannot end up with an activated installation.

[Bluetooth]

As far as i understand it unless you use AD you cant use the MST file.

 

I wouldnt want to mess about using wininstall to make an msi from an msi as it could probably go horridly wrong.

 

Also about the board drivers and notebook software, again, as far as i understand it you only need the drivers on the machines with IWB's attached, the other standalone machines can have NB10 put onto them, this is something ill be trying since i have several ICT suites which are used for planning and for the kids to play with.

 

Gallery wise i havent done anything with this yet, i have an hour last friday to work on it at the school i wanted to work on it at but apart from that i havent done anything, i may download the gallery and such after the hollidays and try to host it on the server.

 

I really dont know if its worth putting laptops on the domain just so i can deploy software from them, i can see more problems than its worth

[enjay]

Also about the board drivers and notebook software, again, as far as i understand it you only need the drivers on the machines with IWB's attached, the other standalone machines can have NB10 put onto them, this is something ill be trying since i have several ICT suites which are used for planning and for the kids to play with.

 

That was my understanding too, so I'll hold off until I can get a working driver-less install. We have Notebook on every PC in the school and I'd rather not push the drivers out to all of them if I can help it.

[oliphanj]

I just talked to Smarttech and he said that if you don't include in the Gallery content in the notebook install that the mst file will work. I have yet to try this out but I will today and if I still have trouble I am calling them again to get to the bottom of this. Our district of 1200 teachers is going with 10 in the fall.

[Flinders]

I just talked to Smarttech and he said that if you don't include in the Gallery content in the notebook install that the mst file will work. I have yet to try this out but I will today and if I still have trouble I am calling them again to get to the bottom of this. Our district of 1200 teachers is going with 10 in the fall.

 

doesnt work for me, with or without the Gallery content.

 

And a slight rant, why on earth are they using such ridiculous copy protection for a piece of software that is useless without a massive hardware dongle?

[enjay]

doesnt work for me, with or without the Gallery content.

Me either :-(

 

And a slight rant, why on earth are they using such ridiculous copy protection for a piece of software that is useless without a massive hardware dongle?

What massive hardware dongle? Notebook works on any PC, no additional hardware needed...

[Flinders]

Im just making the point that the notebook software is pretty useless without the smart board itself, which makes having copy protection on the software a bit short sighted.

[TimJing]

Im just making the point that the notebook software is pretty useless without the smart board itself, which makes having copy protection on the software a bit short sighted.

 

 

It's good for planning lessons. We have alot of teachers that uses it without the Smartboard.

 

As for the installer, no good news right now even with a beta copy of the SmartNotebook installer. Everything installs fine except the additional Gallery items. Pretty much everytime you specify a network location for the gallery items, you end up with only 206 items total after the install completes.

 

Looks like a long process to get this fixed.

[oliphanj]

I just was able to get a new verison from SmartTech to try to see if this fixes the MST issue.

 

I also got Essential11CD.

 

Hoping for the best!!

[oliphanj]

The new install 10.0.126.0 worked. It takes the Transforms the way intended. I really like the way to add the gallery items too, very nice.

 

Just so you know the only place .126 shows up in the app is in Product update.

 

Jason

[enjay]

the notebook software is pretty useless without the smart board itself

 

That is not true at all. Our teachers frequently prepare resources in the staff room - or on their personal computers - for use in lessons. One teacher here also books the ICT Suite out, the students prepare presentations/activities in Notebook which they then present to the class on the IWB. We even have a few teachers who just have projectors in their rooms, no boards, and they project Notebook and control it with the mouse.

[enjay]

The new install 10.0.126.0 worked.

I've just tried, and my SMART Product Updater doesn't connect, probably can't get out through our proxy - I'll try downloaing .126 from home tonight and see how I get on. Thanks for the advice, Jason.

[SimpleSi]

Just so you know the only place .126 shows up in the app is in Product update.

 

Could you supply a link please?

 

regards

 

Simon

[oliphanj]

Hey Nick,

I have notified Smart Tech of the Product update proxy bug. What I have found out is that the product update does not pass proxy authentication. We use Websense and ISA and it will not authenticate. It also uses the machine set proxy not the users proxy. This is in the registry and also set by group policy.

When I set it to our proxy with no authentication and at the machine level it works just fine. No work arounds I have played with everything in the registry for the product update and talked to Smart Tech.

 

Jason

[enjay]

Thanks Jason, I'll try downloading it from home tonight. If the updater can't get out our site, though, it makes it disabling it for the users less of an issue - I was trying to avoid them getting "nags" whenever a newer version is released, but if the updater doesn't connect,they won't know about any newer releases.

 

Are you guys making your licence keys available to staff so they can download the software to their home computers, and if so, how?

[oliphanj]

Nick,

All of our teachers have laptops that we have provided. I will not be providing keys for them to take home but if they figure out how to get the serial number and then register it more power to them. Each key is good for 1000 computers. That is my issue right now. So I am going to deploy it very carefully.

 

Jason

[TimJing]

Nick,

Each key is good for 1000 computers.

 

 

Thats not exactly true.

 

Smart Tech team are still working on the Gallery issues as of today. Also if you extract the MSI and install, you might want to

 

A: install from a share the users will have rights to.

 

or

B: copy the msi files locally so it's available for self healing.

[oliphanj]

Just found out if you put Smart board 10 on computer image and then deploy that image, Notebook with deactivate. Here is the reactivation string.

 

Here is the command for manual activation.:

“C:\Program Files\Common Files\SMART Technologies\SMART Product Update\activationwizard.exe” --suid clash_notebook --m=6 --pk NB-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX –a

 

 

Please replace the NB-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx with the volume NB10 Product Key.

 

 

Jason

[richierich]

Okay, so stretching past bashing the registration process, what do people think of the application itself?

 

I've just been playing with it, and it seems to have some nice additions - most notably tables finally (!), although I don't see how to delete them. You still can't easily draw a perfect circle or square, though (I know about the autoshapes, before anyone says anything, but these are ellipses and rectangles, not circles and squares). The Magic Pen or whatever it is called looks fun, but is limited in what I can do without being attached to a board.

 

I'll probably put it on my personal laptop and test it on a board, then maybe ask one of the tech-savvy teachers to trial it for me in the classroom.

 

What do other people think of it?

If you hold the shift key while dragging the shape out to size it, you will get a perfect square or circle.

[enjay]

If you hold the shift key while dragging the shape out to size it, you will get a perfect square or circle.

 

So you do (and about time too!!) - thanks Rich.

[contink]

Can anyone provide an update on this...

 

I've just had a "request" dropped on my list to get this on the system and whilst I've argued successfully to retain 9.7 I was wondering if the issues had been resolved so I could pull a rabbit out of the hat.

 

Thanks in advance..

[Hackert]

We are out for summer, the perfect time to push out updates. I went to Smart's website to download the latest version of Notebook, but all I can get is an exe. I need a msi to deploy through my AD. I have read that I can copy it from the CD, but Smart tells me I will be waiting up to 4 weeks for the CD. I tried to unpack the exe, but so far I have had no luck. Smart's install manager also cannot open the exe. So, does anyone know of a faster way for me to get the latest version of Notebook (and drivers) as an MSI or how to convert it?

 

Thanks!