Furan Posted October 20, 2005 Posted October 20, 2005 We could start a new thread here How about LEA White Elephants If I put mine up I will be identified far tooo quickly lol
SimpleSi Posted October 20, 2005 Posted October 20, 2005 Ecologs Our cluster bought some a few years ago and ran a project together. The hardware is the most unfriendly I've ever come across. One button does everthing and one red led is the only user feedback as to what is happening . Oh and the unit flattens the batteries when not being used so you have to take them out after each use They persevered through the project but now they languish on the shelves. regards Simon
Sirbendy Posted November 9, 2005 Posted November 9, 2005 I remember avantis...my previous school had a non avantis CD tower server, which was slow but solid. Then they bought an Avantis CDServe to supplement it...bag of...spanners. Oxford Childrens Encyclopedia hated it, and I learned to hate the entire setup. Wouldn't mind an old one now for a laugh though..can they be reused as cheap NAS style storage? As to videoconferencers...I know we have a polyspan unit sat in the old suite..used twice in 5 years. Nice unit..but nobody seems to use them anymore! Another one..flowgo's. We have several, unused. Yet. One day, maybe.
Guest Posted November 9, 2005 Posted November 9, 2005 VGA overlay things for using a PC on an OHP. WHY? lol
E1uSiV3 Posted November 10, 2005 Posted November 10, 2005 VGA overlay things for using a PC on an OHP. WHY? lol "cheap" (probably cost more than a projector tho... lol) alternative to a projector perhaps?
Dos_Box Posted November 10, 2005 Author Posted November 10, 2005 VGA overlay things for using a PC on an OHP. WHY? lol I found one still unpacked in its box at the back of a store room once. The drivers and software and instructions were for Windows 3.1. I think it's still there in the school I used to work in, and that was 5 years ago!
kevinmcaleer Posted December 7, 2005 Posted December 7, 2005 We had several: Intel Microscope thing Denford Project Micromill machine Video conferencing kit Lots of 'essential' curriculum software Wacom tablet heads laptop ICT coordinators Pocket PC 'this things will solve all my organisational problems' cashless catering system photocopying card system avansis cd server thing I could go on, seriously! -Kev
OverWorked Posted December 7, 2005 Posted December 7, 2005 Ooh, we have an Intel USB microscope. It's one of my favorite toys. Granted the picture quality isn't fantastic, but its easy to use. Ours is used quite a bit. We didn't pay for it though - it was donated. Lots of 'essential' curriculum software: we've got loads too. Hasn't everyone? They buy it with no idea of what it is and then jump up and down on me to install it urgently on all the machines, only to find out that either:- a) it's shit b) it's really good but they don't know how to use it. I've got loads of edu software that I know never gets used.
Sirbendy Posted December 7, 2005 Posted December 7, 2005 now I come to think on, yes, we ALSO have an MS Microscope. We use our cashless catering thing though. And our photocopy card system. Our wacom tablet exploded though. Oh dear. Still..musn't grumble..
sahmeepee Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 We get pretty good use out of our Denford, our microscope thingy and our cashless catering. A school I used to work at had laptops, tablet pcs AND pdas for the head and his 2 deputies. The head also had a PC in his office and a PC school bought him at home. In his last fortnight before retiring he tried to get a new PDA to replace the 2 year old one he had. The head's PA also had a PDA so that they could synchronise calendars. Argh. So glad to be free of that place.
indiegirl Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 VGA overlay things for using a PC on an OHP. WHY? lol Yep, we had one too. No power supply nor instructions, it went on eBay... made £30 8O We cleared out a couple of cupboards over the summer, and in between finding work and exam papers from the 1970s, I also unearthed: 1 PA system, boxed 2 electronic typewriters (remember them?! No, nor me either, I'm too young) 2 SIMS scanner things (still sat in my cupboard, I even doubt that they'd eBay well) a couple of really old Apple Macs with what look like 10" screens boxes of headphones, still in packaging Hundreds of ribbon cartridges for old dot matrix printers. A Wacom tablet - minus pen (surprise!) Oh, and the "Texas Instruments" (remember them?!) Windows 95 laptop that's still sat under the desk next to me... (it even has it's original Win95 sticker on) ... the list went on and on Far too much money wasted...
GrumbleDook Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 oooh ... old Macs ... if you have a piccie I might want them. I know someone who runs the Sunshine Sanctuary of Old Computers (formely of Bedford, now in South Wales) He would be very interested.
Ric_ Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 You can turn those Macs into fishbowls and loo-roll holders!
indiegirl Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I think there's possibly two (maybe one if the sixthformer who's been helping us has taken one)... I think it's one of these Mac Plus machines Hmmmmmmm.... although I think ours is missing a mouse... will have to go and hunt it down.
plexer Posted January 10, 2006 Posted January 10, 2006 Most of ours is mainly old machines that have been replaced some old monitors. In fact a whole ICT Suite's worth of machines some of which are going to be repaired and used the rest kept for parts as they are the most unreliable beige boxes I have ever seen. A few odd and sods of mac stuff and a dozen+ imacs that I will be looking to sell fairly soon. Did have a mac xserver that sat unused until I recently flogged it. Some old switches displaced after upgrading. Think thats about it don't have any lemons that were bought and never used. We have a tablet pc that's being used and we use our polycom vc unit for meetings etc... Ben
E1uSiV3 Posted January 10, 2006 Posted January 10, 2006 oooh ... old Macs ... if you have a piccie I might want them. I know someone who runs the Sunshine Sanctuary of Old Computers (formely of Bedford, now in South Wales) He would be very interested. Ill fight you for it!
plexer Posted January 10, 2006 Posted January 10, 2006 If anyone might be interested in them send me a PM and I'll put together a list of what I have and the spec of them and some piccies too. Ben
john Posted January 10, 2006 Posted January 10, 2006 I won't even start with my list, it takes 4 huuuuge store rooms and endless sets of shelves, as well as a basement and even more storage space than we have got for our stuff
Guest richard Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 A few NS Optimum machines that are sat in a cupboard and how can I forget virtually all the teachers and office staff.
pete Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Hmm, do I contribute.... if I do, I can probably never reveal my identity. What the hell..... 1) managed website providers 2) A parallel port webcam I discovered amongst some old crap 3) Intel Microscope - quite cool, but doesn't really get used. 4) CD servers, got two in a cupboard. 5) Laptops for Teachers, when given to teachers who _never_ use them. 6) LEA managed portals that are the laughing stock of other portal providers. 7) LEA mail forwarding / filtering - where the _hell_ does it go? We lose, on average 10-15% of our mail - doesn't bounce, not blocked and not user stupidity, just enters the LEA and disappears. 8) Apart from a few really good pieces, most curriculum software.
Disease Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Last summer the Head wanted a display in the hall to play movies and music, display powerpoints and other such things during lunch times. So we bought a 50" top of the line Sony Plasma Screen, decent seperates sound system a video and DVD and a Mediacentre pc to connect it all up. We had to build a custom cabinet to house all this. Toal cost of the job around 7k Times used since summer last year 3. Utter utter utter pointless waste of time and money. A teacher used it the other day and complained that he did not like the wireless mouse.
theshirt Posted January 11, 2006 Posted January 11, 2006 Bromcom electronic registration, we did try to use it for 1/2 a term and did manage to sell it to someone else though ! he he he SIMS ? on its way out, more updates than Windows XP
Norphy Posted January 14, 2006 Posted January 14, 2006 For my school there are two things. First was the Macromedia Studio suite. OK, I know in the grand scheme of things its hardly a white elephant but anyway.... About two years ago the school spent £2000 on a Studio MX v6 site licence. The head of ICT demanded it. So ok, we ordered it, received it, got it installed on the majority of PCs and then the bloody ICT Department went straight back to Frontpage! For two years the primary use of the whole suite was for year 9 students drawing animated knobs in Flash! When challenged about it, the ICT head said it was so she could "get to know it and get trained in it". You can download a bloody trail version of it you know missus, try that. To cap it all off, we had a new ICT teacher join us this year who does actually know how to use the software. The first thing she did? Demand an upgrade to the latest version. Another £2k gone from our ELCs, Studio 8 installed on PCs which can't take it (and on ones that can) and the new teacher now demanding we replace the PCs in her room ahead of schedule. Second thing is a VLE called Digital Brain. I don't know if anyone else has come across it. In my opinion it is the most cumbersome, unfriendly useless, expensive POS on the planet. Every teacher in the school loathes it with a passion and its costing us more than £4000 a year. For that kind of money I could build an extremely powerful server and stick Moodle on it and still have at least £1000 change. As for Bromcom and SIMS.net, I don't like them but they're necessary evils and now that teachers are getting used to them they're starting to get OK.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now