Devices End of Life

[argosanti]

Hi All,

 

What do you guys recommend to schools with devices that are end of life? Do you remove from schools or do you keep? If so, how do protect them. We have several schools who have iPads (e.g. Ipad 2's) but don't have the money to replace them so it's tough situatution if we were to mandate removing them.

[tmoon-mint]

The main thing you have to consider here is risk. If the devices are iPad 2s and are running iOS 9.3.5 then they havent had security updates since 2016. The number of apps no longer supported on iOS 9 will only get larger over time too.

[dhicks]

What do you guys recommend to schools with devices that are end of life? Do you remove from schools or do you keep?

 

If "devices" means things you can't upgrade the OS on (the iPads in your example, we have older Chromebooks that have a similar problem) then it's probably time for those devices to be retired. You could, maybe, put them on their own isolated network segment and use for whitelisted-only sites / apps for junior pupils, maybe, but having them capable of general web browsing is probably not a good idea.

 

If these are devices that you can change the OS on, then ChromeOS / CloudReady might be a good option, turning older (Intel) devices into Chromebooks, complete with manageability. We've found you sometimes need to add a USB wireless dongle with older devices if the on-board wireless isn't supported - the one sold by Raspberry Pi seems to work well.

 

If you don't want ChromeOS (maybe you don't use Google Workspace so you don't have Google logins), I find Raspberry Pi OS (for Intel devices) works quite well as a light-weight OS to make a device into a just-turn-on-and-start web browsing device. I have a script to configure a base install of Raspberry Pi OS as a kiosk device:

 

https://www.sansay.co.uk/device-config

[Oaktech]

We've been blocking the oldest ipads from the internet on the filtering, but allowing the kids to use them as cameras. Everything else that is EOL just goes in the bin, because the time we judge it to be EOL it's actual scrap!

[kingoranks]

Dont waste time on EOL devices, recycle it. Save your precious time for other things.