crc-ict

I like coffee and really like the idea of the nice coffee machines etc. But unfortunately, I can't drink it any more as it gives me horrendous migraines. Even one cup of filter coffee is enough to set me off. I've even switched to decaff tea, but I'm not much of a hot drink person any more.

Nah, you gotta love a bit of the derv! I've only got a Mondeo, but I still love the shove you get when the turbo kicks in. And somehow get a childish pleasure from the puff of black smoke that says you mean business!

That's really how we ended up going with the caravan. I basically steered us into 'caravanning with a tent' - big tent, all mod cons etc. We were eventually scuppered by weather really - tent was too big for the garden, so ended up having to leave a couple of trips early to keep the tent dry as we had no way to dry it at home. After the second time, I declared enough was enough and found a caravan small enough to tow with the car we had at the time - it wasn't changing much about the camping, just we did it in a solid box which didn't need drying! Then after a couple of trips out I declared the car too gutless pulling the caravan and changed for a bigger car, so we could have had a bigger van.

As EduGeek houses such a cross-section of us from the world of Educational ICT, I was wondering how many of us are into caravanning, motorhoming or camping in our spare time? I went caravanning with my parents for many years in my childhood, and got back into it last spring with my wife and kids. Started gently in the spring with a tent and had bought a small caravan by the end of the season! Looking forward to getting back out there when the decent weather comes along (hopefully) later in the year. Hopefully there's a few of us here and we can get a community going - I've created a group, so if you are a camper at all, please pop on over and join! EduGeek Campers - EduGeek.net And don't forget to say hello in here.

That's not as bad as some of us who stumped up the £1.41 to get the package thinking it was something we had ordered... I heard rumour of recompense for those of us affected, but haven't heard any more about that in a while...

Check to make sure the board isn't being twisted by the mountings on the wall - behind the pen tray there are two brackets which should be screwed back to the wall. If the wall isn't perfect and these are too tight back they can twist the board across its surface which causes a similar effect. The 'step' in the lines part way up could also be caused by interference from cables running behind the board. I've seen similar effects from both of these causes. Unfortunately, I have also seen very much the same from a damaged board, when the membrane starts to come apart inside. This can sometimes be fixed for varying amounts of time by rubbing the surface of board firmly around the edges of the frame (with the board disconnected, and taking care not to scratch it). This can help to get the parts of the membrane back together, although this may or may not last.

Be prepared for some of the worst smells you can imagine when he's making beer. You have to boil this thick, treacle like stuff and then put in hops (looks like potpourri) and boil for a bit longer and it smells like burnt marmite! It is a fun pastime though and the beer can turn out rather good. EDIT: Second the decent capper tip - the very basic ones that you can get that are basically a metal cup you bang on with a mallet are awful (think broken bottles). You need a proper mechanical one, or easier is proper 'beer-grade' plastic bottles with screw tops.

Count me in please! Thanks :-)

+1 for this, working well here too. Simple for everyone and was quite easy to deploy.

Thanks for this - I've had a look at the ISA reporting and I can't see any per user log data I can access. But I will have a look at the link and dig a little further. Cheers!

That sounds promising. Our ISP is Exa Networks. We have a NetAsq firewall provided by the ISP with two 'internet' ports - one is connected directly to the network for the 'general' filter and the other (providing a more restricted filter) is connected via an ISA server acting as proxy which is enforced via group policy for pupil devices. Somehow, I need to set up logging for the internet traffic - at minimum on the proxied 'student' connection and preferably on all traffic.

Yes, it's just the logging we really need. Are there any good how-tos out there for those two? I'm not really familiar with Linux based tools.

Hello, I am looking for recommendations for an internet activity logging solution. We currently have our internet filtering provided by our ISP, but they do not provide access to logs of all internet activity. So, I am looking for a system we can implement locally which will provide me with full logging of all website visits made by network users. I don't need a filtering system because our connection does the filtering. The ISP has suggested Securus, but I would prefer a system which doesn't rely on client components, especially as we are considering a future move away from traditional Windows-based devices for pupils, and the possibility of BYOD. Just wondering what people are using? Thanks.

Good call on the solution, but heck that is expensive! Try this one from CPC: A-1095 - UNBRANDED - GROUND LOOP ISOLATOR. | CPC Much more bearable price :-)

Why not?! I might be on a winning roll after being the first stocktober winner!

We used to use a company at my old place (forget the name of the company now) and it was far from zero effort. They required every cartridge to be in the packaging, or wrapped in newspaper for protection and all had to be collected together and boxed up - with specific requirements on maximum size and weight of the boxes, which we had to find ourselves as they didn't provide them. Any toner without the orange plastic covers would be rejected. It often used to take my colleague the best part of a day to prepare each batch for collection, and we never really got any money back from it - certainly not enough to cover the cost of the time she spent sorting them. So in that instance, as bad as it is for the environment, putting them in the bin would have made better economic sense. I think you need to choose the company carefully if you are going down that route and not just assume that cash for the old toners equals free money.

I wouldn't say impossible... I not only managed to order one on release day, but I actually got it a few days later too!

I'm doing exactly what you want to achieve using some Asus EeeBox EB1035 units (these: Asus EB1035 B002M Eee Box Desktop PC / Intel Celeron 847 / 2GB / 320GB / Windows 8 / 1 Year Collect and Return Warranty (EB1035-B002M) - www.misco.co.uk) I 'downgraded' them to Windows 7, did some tweaks to prevent sleeping etc, installed Xibo client and its good to go. They have a useful BIOS 'power on time' setting which I use to put them on at 7.30 each morning and then kill them off at 6pm with a scheduled task. They come on every day, so at the weekends I have another scheduled task to kill them at 7.35. It works well for us so far.

Thank you Al and all at VeryPC - looks good to me. Good luck to all the other EduGeeks!

Thank you very much guys! I'll take box 22 please. Thanks :-)

I have been asked to come up with a solution for sending instant messages from our admin staff to specific class PCs. Now, the tricky part here is that messages need to go to a specific PC (ie Room) not a specific person. We are a fairly large First and Middle school and we need the admin staff to be able to get messages to whoever is teaching a particular class at that time - without needing to physically walk to the room and without knowledge of who is teaching the class at that time. So far, the best I have come up with is to install OpenFire server and the Spark clients, but use generic 'class' logins instead of individual logins, but I can see that being fraught with issues because people will log in with the wrong class or not log in at all etc. I almost want something like a modern version of NET SEND... Any ideas out there? Thanks all

Loving the idea of an EduGeek conference somewhere that isn't about 5 hours from the South Coast! Unfortunately, although I like the idea in principle, I had to vote no to the refundable deposit. I think that would cause some problems with the finance teams in a lot of schools - I for one know my finance people wouldn't be happy with that arrangement. Also, I wouldn't be happy to pay it out of my own pocket, because if the school decided at late notice that they couldn't allow the time, I would shoulder the loss. I think for those in schools a small fee (of the £15-£20 region) to attend would be easier to get approved than "I want to go to a free conference. Oh and by the way we have to pay £15 in case I don't go and then I'll get it back on the day".

Same here. I tried to join in a couple of years ago, and my effort was so pathetic I vowed never to try again!

My goodness Dell build that kit to last :-p

We have an Adastra 100V line PA amp here connected to a couple of sets of outdoor speakers. One of the sets of speakers here is on the field, and when they are the only speakers switched in, the speakers output can't be heard from the amp position. However, I have noticed today they the music appears to be emitted from the circuitry of the amplifier itself, similar to the sound you get from the stylus of a turntable?? It's not entirely recognisable as to what song is playing, but it is definitely a music sound - the rhythm/beat is recognisable. This seems strange to me - does anyone know if it is normal, and why it does it? Puzzled...