PDA s for registration

[Hecate]

Does anyone use PDAs for registration and if so which. Also which would you avoid

[pete]

We have iPAQ HX2490's, using PARS / PocketPARS. Early days (few months) but haven't had any problems.

[acb_]

We use Dell Axim x51s.

 

They are OK - they do what they need to do, they need rebooting a lot because of roaming issues but I'm not sure that's an issue with the units themselves...

[Norphy]

We've got a mixture of cheap iPaqs (forget the model number but they were the cheapest with built in wifi) and Dell x50vs.

 

For the purpose, I prefer the iPaqs. Yes, they're slower and have lower resolution screens. However they are also significantly smaller and lighter and have much better battery life.

 

We use Bromcom Winfolder PK on them.

[Midget]

norphy>probably the rx1950

 

we have a couple of hx2490s for the PE dept. using a web based registration proggy

[bossman]

pete: is this using Sims as i am looking for a solution to PE registration?

[pete]

@bossman

Yes. We have 5 cradles connected to a workstation and one of the PE staff fires up PDA Manager (in PARS version 1.42, possibly earlier) and dumps the days registers to all 5 ipaqs in the morning. When they're passing, PE staff just re-dunk and it uploads automatically.

 

We don't have wireless, but people who do (on here IIRC) have it working fine.

 

Just remember that the PDA has to survive / be comfortable when in the track bottom pockets of a running PE Teacher. Anyone who's ever been jogging knows how annoying it is to have things in your pockets.

[Midget]

on pete's note. how have the people with the hx2490's found them to fair? should I look into spending extra to get some rugged cases for them?

[pete]

@Midget

A number of ipaqs may have fallen off my desk (uncased) while setting them up. They still work ok. Look for neoprene cases - waterproof, but not hard-edged (pockets). Making them is also pretty easy, but if you're using wetsuit glue use gloves (contains tuolene (sp?)), your local dive shop will have neoprene cut-offs.

[Domino]

bossman,

 

if you've got a terminal server, then you can use the terminal services client built into windows mobile to connect and use sims, etc.

 

We've got PE and Drama doing this, works cool.

[CyberNerd]

@pete

(contains tuolene (sp?))

 

Toluene - aka MethylBenzene

commonly used as a solvent and replacement for Benzene.

[webman]

Domino, the problem we'd have using terminal services (I work with bossman) is that our workstations are XP and the servers are still Win 2000; so there would be a problem with user profile differences between 2000 and XP.

[CyberNerd]

Domino, the problem we'd have using terminal services (I work with bossman) is that our workstations are XP and the servers are still Win 2000; so there would be a problem with user profile differences between 2000 and XP.

 

You can work around this because a terminal services profile and a workstation profile are different things. In AD (2000 with Citrix Win2000 servers) we set the TS profile to point to a mandatory profile path and the 'profile' points somewhere else - for XP.

[webman]

Ah right, didn't know that...

[Chafftech]

@bossman

Yes. We have 5 cradles connected to a workstation and one of the PE staff fires up PDA Manager (in PARS version 1.42, possibly earlier) and dumps the days registers to all 5 ipaqs in the morning. When they're passing, PE staff just re-dunk and it uploads automatically.

 

We don't have wireless, but people who do (on here IIRC) have it working fine.

 

Just remember that the PDA has to survive / be comfortable when in the track bottom pockets of a running PE Teacher. Anyone who's ever been jogging knows how annoying it is to have things in your pockets.

 

@pete

We are looking at getting PE to register wireless. How does SIM.net install onto a PDA? Is there is special client?

[dezt]

We use pars as well for the PE staff. They are currently running a peer to peer wireless connection between 1 laptop and 3 PDA's. same thing as pete, get someone to start the listening service and the staff just download their registers.

 

I have a 802.11b access point that i've been testing with my own PDA and we are looking at putting one in the sports hall behind a metal cage so the staff can take their registers and download them without having to go to a certain office to get to the peer to peer network.

 

When using Pars on the PDA's there is a setup file called pocketpars, this is what you transfer to the PDA and run. You don't need anything else, except maybe .net compact framework 1.1 I think that is only needed if you are running ppc2003.

[pete]

@Chafftech

PARS / PocketPARS is an add-on for SIMS, we use it for electronic registration for all staff (there's more to it than that, but all we currently use). It's _not_ cheap and wouldn't be cost effective just for your PE Dept (£6K initial for a school with ~830 kids, £1K yearly). It is rather good though, _all_ of my staff commented on how easy it is to use - that is unheard of here.

 

http://www.tascsoftware.co.uk

 

@Cybernerd

yeah, didn't think I'd spelt that correctly.

[MkII]

bossman,

 

if you've got a terminal server, then you can use the terminal services client built into windows mobile to connect and use sims, etc.

 

We've got PE and Drama doing this, works cool.

That's very interesting - so no need to buy the extortionate SIMS Mobile S/W = £200 for each PDA + maintenance + setup (if you don't do it yourself).

I'd like to know more details on that.

[jumpinjamez]

bossman,

 

if you've got a terminal server, then you can use the terminal services client built into windows mobile to connect and use sims, etc.

 

We've got PE and Drama doing this, works cool.

That's very interesting - so no need to buy the extortionate SIMS Mobile S/W = £200 for each PDA + maintenance + setup (if you don't do it yourself).

I'd like to know more details on that.

 

I would also be very intrested in more details on this.