crc-ict

Nice theory, but car parking brakes almost always act on the rear wheels only, not the front. He may have left the car in gear whilst parked though, which would lock the front wheels. On reading the article, and eyewitness said the car was resting on a pipe which was preventing it from falling right into the hole.

Thank you, but I'm going to have to hold out in the hopes I can score a free one somewhere - I'm not allowed to spend any money on this

Dear All Bit of a plea for help here - I'm trying to set up an old surplus ProLiant ML115 server as a CCTV machine here, but have hit a snag: the built-in graphics is totally useless and the software cannot display the camera images because it is so bad. It records OK though so obviously connecting. As we have pretty much zero budget, I was wondering if there was any kind Edugeek out there who might have a spare and unloved PCI-E graphics card of some sort that we could put into the machine to get it going. Doesn't need to be anything fancy at all, just PCI-E (only slots available) and ideally have Windows 10 drivers available. If anyone has anything that they would be willing to send our way, I'd be so grateful. Perhaps one of the edugeek sponsor companies might have something lying around in the depths of their stockrooms or workshops that they would be glad to be rid of? Many thanks in advance! Chris.

I would definitely say go for the electrical apprenticeship. It's a much safer bet. With the pace of change in IT, migration into the cloud, accessing with almost disposable consumer devices, it's hard to say what the long-term future of the 'IT guy' as we know it will be. I'm in the position now where I'm an IT Manager, mid 30s, have a good degree, coming up to 10 years service in edu IT and I'm getting tired of it. I'd love to make the jump to being an electrician, but at my age and with my life as it is, it's all but impossible. Go for it, get yourself the trade and you can always move on to IT later, but will always have your electrical quals to go back to. Good luck!

Hi All, Looking for recommendations of how other people have gone with providing webcams in ICT Suites. We are setting up a new suite in the coming weeks, and I know that there is going be a requirement from staff for access to webcams/usb cameras for things like stop-frame animation etc. Just looking for advice on the best way to go about this really! I don't want to leave webcams out and connected all the time, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on them - we are a primary, so money is tight and they will only get fairly light use. Any suggestions for models and decent priced suppliers? We'd be looking for 32 units, and really not paying much more per unit than the £3-4 of the ebay VGA cheapies honestly! Thanks.

I started off with a secondhand Atari 800XL, probably somewhere around 1989. Followed up shortly after with an Atari 512STE (which I still have). After that, moved on to an Advent PC with a 486 DX/2 50 processor, 4MB ram and a 170MB HD, about 1995. PCs all the way from that, going through a Cyrix 6x86, AMD K6/2 500, Celeron, Pentium 4, Core 2 Duo up to today's i5-2500K

It's pretty awful, but does make more sense in context of the animation.

+1 for ear plugs. Definitely needed. You might get away without in town, but anything over 30mph, the wind noise means you are going to want them. I use the 'spark plugs' linked by @arwen too and find them very good - comfortable and a good level of noise isolation. YMMV, though as ear plugs are subjective. Try a few until you find the ones that fit you best - I bought some Howard Leight Matrix plugs on the strength of an excellent review in Ride magazine, but they don't fit me at all - I can't get them in far enough to clear my helmet. Buy small quantities through eBay or Amazon and then stock up once you find the right ones.

No, I'm on CBT at the moment, so riding a Honda XL125V Varadero. I've done my off-road 'big bike conversion' which was basically Mod 1 exercises in a car park and starting proper training for the A licence soon.

Watching with interest here as I am starting DAS at the end of the month so will be in a similar position soon. I like the idea of touring or adventure style bikes, so thinking about maybe a Honda Deauville (heard they are dull, but super-reliable) or maybe a V-Strom 650 with panniers. I did my big bike conversion on a Diversion 600 (the older XJ600 version) which seemed OK, but they are a bit older than I wanted to be looking at really, and the newer XJ6 Diversion is quite different. I would also love to hear any other ideas. I'm not into sportsbikes or cruisers though, and although I'm 6' I have relatively short legs (29/30 trousers) so doubt I could manage anything super-high.

Not a smart board but we also had a problem with an interactive LCD screen that just simply would not work properly with a particular type of USB controller. Installed a PCIe card with a different chipset, and it worked fine??!

Or what about LizRail?

Next big thing? Full cloud migration, bring your own devices (maybe even bring your own connection with emerging 4G etc???) and the extinction of on-site technical staff? I very much hope I am wrong, but with finances going the way they are going, I can see it coming all to easily.

We are on a 50Mb leased line and don't consider it to be particularly fast for Google Apps access. This is with 70ish staff accessing and 200 pupil devices.

Hi All, I'm looking for some recommendations for compatible ink cartridges for HP OfficeJet Pro printers. I've got a fairly elderly but lightly used OfficeJet Pro 8000 printer which I'm shortly going to need ink for, but I am loathe to lay out £60-odd for a set of HP cartridges as I am not that confident that the printer will outlast the cartridges! I've had a bad experience years ago with compatible ink carts in an OfficeJet, but I wondered if anyone could recommend a make that have used that they know works properly and doesn't cause issues when mixing with the HP ink already in the system. Thanks!

From my experience, I'd avoid SanDisk SSDs. Out of two that I bought, I have had 5 failures! Unit 1: Failed, replaced. Replacement failed. Unit 2: Failed, Replaced. Replacement failed and replaced. Replacement failed. Admittedly, this is the earlier 'Ultra' drives (NOT Ultra II) in small capacities (60 and 120 GB) but still enough to put me off. Plus the fact that when one fails you have to send it Czech Republic at your own cost to get a replacement.

Dear All, I am looking to hear some opinions from fellow 'Geeks about parent communication platforms. We are currently using ParentMail, but are finding it quite clunky in some areas and find the support to be very lacking - hard to get hold of anyone, even harder to get an answer from them. We are thinking about changing platform. I spoke to Schoolcomms at BETT, which looks rather good. Interestingly, several companies at BETT said they were hearing a lot of complaints from schools about ParentMail, and I was also concerned that ParentMail didn't have a presence at BETT. So, interested in how other people are getting on with ParentMail and their support (to compare experiences!) and also how people find Schoolcomms (while we consider it). Thanks Chris.

We've got some of these. They are OK printers, but I find them really expensive to run on toner. We use compatibles, and the 4k yield toners for the Pro 400s costs us the same as 12k yield ones for the 3525dn's.

As if a dog isn't 'hard' enough being a Rottweiler or a Staffie!

My 5 and 7 year olds get on famously with the Amazon Fire 7 tablets. We got them for £50 back in November, but they sometimes have them on offer for £39.99. We have set them up with the 'Fire for Kids' subscription, which is £4.99 a month for both of them, and gives them all they can eat apps, books and video from a curated Amazon selection, plus secured internet access. They access this through a locked, kid-safe profile. Only thing I would say is get a big micro-sd card to go with it from the off - they will download any and all apps if they have the Fire for Kids and the space fills up fast. When it gets full, it turns off WiFi so then videos and web doesn't work and you have to clear space to reactivate it. Also beware if you are on a capped internet connection as they do burn through the bandwidth when streaming videos. Our two burned through about 20GB in a weekend when they first got theirs!

Big Grrrr to Switchshop from me then - spoke to them about switching, even gave them details for a call back and not even so much as a jelly bean came my way, nevermind the rest of the haul!!

We are on our second ComColor here now. The first one which was one of the original ComColor machines launched into the UK was replaced a few months short of the 5 year lease expiration. I was getting a bit temperamental and requiring a fair few engineer visits, but it had printed over 3 million copies in its lifetime with us. The new model we have now (ComColor 7150) is a much more capable machine. We have the document finisher attachment as well, so it can staple, punch and fold and staple booklets. It's very fast. We've had a few engineer call outs, but our local engineer is great. Overall, I'd recommend them. Nothing comes close on per copy prices thats for certain, although make sure your contracted page counts are accurate as 'overage' copies are much more expensive.

This stuff is quite good: Millers Diesel Power Ecomax 500ml I used it for a while in an old Mk3 Mondeo TDCi with injectors on their way out and it quietened things down and gave it clean out. It does stink though, so if you get it on your hands (or perish the though spill it in the boot) it will linger for days. Some people seem to recommend a bit of 2 stroke oil in the diesel to keep things clean and clear too - don't recommend this personally as it seems risky though. I'd go for an overdose of Millers and an 'Italian tune up'.

OT: Thank you! I've wondered for ages what that symbol meant.

Yep, it ain't Rush Hour without Jackie Chan.