Smart/Promethean Compatibility

[georgebush]

I was just wondering if anyone could enlighten me as the the current level of compatibility between the two products.

 

Due to circumstances beyond my control 4 Promethean boards have been put into a school that is currently entirely Smart. The teachers have gigabytes of lessons in Smart format and will want to use them on the Promethean boards should they have to move classrooms etc. I'm actually impressed really, almost everywhere I've been with whiteboards they only use them to move to the next PowerPoint slide.

 

I have noticed that there is a Smart Notebook viewer and that you can apparently covert to flipcharts with ActivInspire but what about using Promethean flipcharts on a Smartboard?

 

Am I looking too far into this and is it just a case of having the correct driver? I've been thrown right back in at the deep end here Haven't had to touch whiteboards in years and first step back in trying to sort out this. I can't even get onsite at the moment to test things.

[localzuk]

There is a conversion tool in Smart to convert Promethean files to Smart Notebook format, details here:- http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows/7741-promethean-smart-conversion-tool.html

 

One thing you're not allowed to do, without buying extra licenses, is use Smart Notebook whilst connected to a Promethean board, or use Promethean software on a Smartboard. Both companies offer extra licenses IIRC though - so it may be worth contacting some suppliers and asking them about it. Spending a few hundred quid now may save you much complaining and compatibility issues.

[Cache]

You could try using Smart Notebook Express which apparently (I say apparently, because I haven't used it, it was included in a licensing email I got) should run all the content without a problem. It's in beta and web based though.

 

http://express.smarttech.com/

[georgebush]

Thanks guys, in the end it seems they were happy with the Promethean Software anyway. Wouldn't be surprised if they end up using the Smart software now I'm gone though

 

Smart apparently stopped selling the licenses for other boards a few months back, otherwise that would have been perfect.