crc-ict

Any news on the winners yet, then? Or are/have you sent PM to the winners, and those of us that don't get one haven't won??

I'm using iTalc in a suite with my ICT Club - and it's working a treat. They still think it's cool though, so haven't started moaning about it... yet! Seriously, though, it seems to work quite well. Occasionally it won't pick up a machine (usually if has been booted but not logged on) but I'm pretty impressed

Have you tried removing ALL the usb devices from Device Manager, restarting, waiting for them to redetect and install the drivers, then have another go? I had a similar problem with the memory sticks on an HP laptop and this sorted it.

I'm currently struggling to install XP on it onto an SD card, without mucking up the standard OS...

Not from school, but on the strength of seeing and playing at BETT I bought one for myself. I ended up with the 2Gb Surf one (too impatient to wait for other stock!!) and I'm pleased. It's pretty nippy, does most of what you need. I work in Primary and I could see it being ideal for my schools. It comes pre-loaded with OpenOffice, Firefox etc. and even has couple of games and educational programs. And they are super-cool!

I stopped by, briefly, early on Friday to get a pen drive. Said a quick hi to Russ (we'd met before) and then got dragged away by my friend who was worrying about being late for our seminar. Meant to come back later for a chat, but didn't get the time. Good work on the stand guys, looked great. I saw Dos_Box walking around the show - recognised him from the picture - but I thought I'd not disturb his browsing!! Would have been good to have given him a big pat on the back for starting EduGeek though - maybe next time. Only one other thing to say about BETT - damn RM for having the Eee PCs out to play with. 30 seconds playing with one there meant I had to order one myself when I got home, so there goes another £200!! Cheers, Chris

Do you know if he is interested in monitors too? I've got a load (all working, just surplus) in Chichester I could do with being rid of!

You could still go - just register on http://www.bettshow.com, and pick up the ticket when you get there! I've done that before, and got in quicker than the so called 'fastrack' entry! All you need now is to get the time off...

Log in??? Log in??? A real techy is logged in ALL the time, surely?

Oi! Cheeky! I've got one of those.

Oh, God, yes.

Yeah, great idea if you like fines! Going into London, it certainly won't work at Euston, Kings Cross, Victoria, Paddington, Fenchurch Street and London Bridge because they have automatic barriers, and so probably do many others. And if you get caught on the train, they'll charge you the full open single fare, so you could be looking at major money!

Good Luck! Dazzle only works on XP with a patch, doesn't it? The version we've got certainly does anyway. Might be worth contacting the publishers I suppose - maybe there's a Vista patch too?

Just as long as they don't decide to install some of the RAM in their pockets... Not being mistrusting, but if some of them are prepared to punch in spare drive bays to nick the memory that way...

Situation is the same on Websense with West Sussex Grid for Learning. Exactly the same - worked for about half an hour this morning, then blocked. Also, old forums worked fine. You can indeed have unfiltered IPs, (well, 'Technician' filter which allows useful stuff but still keeps the more 'exotic' stuff at bay) which works fine if you only work in one school and have your own PC. I work in nine, and have to grab whatever computer I can!

Just a quick nudge on this - last chance to grab these before they go on eBay tonight! I'd rather they went to an EduGeek, so make me an offer if your interested! Cheers, Chris.

I'll second Novatech - they're still quite happy to do XP for you. Make sure you speak to them though - they always seem to offer us better prices than you see online.

I have the following certification books lying around at home doing nothing, and frankly I need the space! I'm not likely to work through the certifications at the moment, so if anyone is interested: All in One A+ Certification Exam Guide - 4th Edition, Michael Myers (ISBN 0-07-222274-3) Cover Price US$59.99 Absolute Beginners Guide to A+ Certification, Mark Soper (ISBN 0-7987-3062-6) Cover Price £25.50 Official Microsoft MCDST Self-Paced Training Kit 'Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System' (for Exam 70-271), 2nd Ed., Walter Glenn and Tony Northrup (ISBN 0-7356-2227-2) Cover Price US$59.99 All basically new and in great condition with CD-ROMs. They're all big, heavy books so I'm looking for £15 each via PayPal, to include post by the cheapest method. PM me if your interested. If you want more than one, get in touch and we can make a deal for one parcel. I've also got a new copy of Network+ Fast Pass, by Bill Ferguson (ISBN 0-7821-4407-1), also with a CD. This is a much smaller, lighter book so I'd take £7 posted (cover price is £20). If you're interested, PM me. I am open to offers, subject to the cost of postage and the PayPal fees. Chris.

Are you sure they're rivets and not Security Torx bolts? We got an RM One that came with these in the back panel which covers where the leads go in. Had to phone RM and ask them to send us the driver! These look a bit like rivets, but they are actually Torx heads (you know, the little star shaped hole in the top of the screw) but with a rod in the centre of the star so you need a hollow bit to undo it rather than a regular one. If it's those, RS and CPC both do sets of security torx bits for a couple of quid or so. HTH Chris

Petrol Strimmer?

Sorry, Joe, got to argue here. These things are almost always rated at 13A, which means 13A cable is used from the plug to the bar. And don't worry about the bar itself - I've seen inside enough of these, and the internal conductors are almost always solid metal busbars - a heck of a lot thicker than the cable conductors! To cause a problem, the total load on all the outlets would need to exceed 13A (assuming all adaptors are 13A rated). Granted, it's not the best of ideas, but it's not always a hideously dangerous thing to do. I wouldn't do it at work, but I wonder how many of us could run our technical home empires without using adaptors??

Typical. Now that we've ordered 2 they bring out a new one. From the picture at that link, I think I'd be happy to settle for the 1st Gen Model!!

Unfortunately, the display connections on these Acers seems to be really bad. I've lost count of the number of Acers that have had display problems across my various schools. I've actually started recommending people to steer well clear of Acer now - they build quality seems to have dropped of late. I'm always quite shocked how flimsy a lot of the parts of them actually are when I have them to pieces - it's a wonder they survive careful manoeuvering, let alone the battering many laptops take! I have 'decapitated' an Acer in the past (and boy was that satisfying! :twisted: ) which had a broken screen, and that has been working fine as a deskbound machine with a separate monitor for quite a while. Might be a way to avoid a total loss...

Why be tongue in cheek, it's true! How far do you think anyone would get with, for example, Yorkie Insurance for Men - It's not for girls! They'd be sued to kingdom come in no time. I can't see how they get away with it to be honest. Apologies to the recent Yorkie chocolate advert campaign!

To be honest, I haven't actually tried the EeePC's OS, so I am probably being unfair on it. I am simply basing my comments on earlier experiences with Linux. My main idea with wanting Windows rather than Linux would be program compatibility - I know there are usually Linux alternatives, but I prefer the program I want not a similar variant. I'm not prejudiced against Linux at all (I run a Debian server at home, fully text mode no GUI) but just prefer the Windows experience as a desktop OS - I know there is an opinion of Windows being unstable, but I don't have a problem personally with XP, perhaps I'm just lucky