crc-ict

Just about any Linux Live CD will do what you require, but the problem with an CD like this is an inability to save settings and a need to use something like a USB key drive for documents. One that I have used is Puppy Linux (http://www.puppyos.com), which in it's 'Chubby' version includes OpenOffice, and can store its settings in a file on a USB key drive so is user customisable. There is a hitch, though - it's a bit of an unusual desktop. There must be others out there which do a similar thing. Just a quick point about using Bart PE - you would have enormous licensing issues with it. Technically, every CD you create would have to have a dedicated Windows XP licence. Hope these points help. Chris.

Thanks for all the help and the good luck wishes I've been doing the technician role informally part-time for a small primary school for almost a year, but got that by knowing the head so I have a little experience, but not of interviews or the big world of the secondary school! One question that has sprung to mind - are they likely to expect me to take a toolkit with me for the test, or do they generally have tools there / want you to use things they provide? Just don't want to look a twit not having one, but equally don't want to haul one there on the train if I don't need to! @alan-d - would certainly use edugeek as a very valuable source of answers! Cheers Chris.

Hi all, I've just found out that I have an interview for my first 'proper' tech job! The interview is to be with the Head of ICT and the IT Services Manager, and will include a 'computer test' and an individual interview. Anyone got any tips on things to sharpen up on, and general technique things for the day? Never had a proper interview before, so I'm dead nervous! Would be very grateful for any tips. Cheers, Chris.

They are pretty cheap aren't they?! Just to add an opinion as a user of a Fujitsu Siemens desktop - I bought a Scaleo P on impulse as a Bank Holiday Special in PC World almost exactly a year ago. Overall, it hasn't been too bad but isn't brilliant. The case suffered from bad vibration noises, which I eventually tracked down to the hard disk being mounted in plastic runners and not actually screwed in - it's a Western Digital 250Gb 7500rpm SATA beast too - but moving it to a standard screwed bay solved the issue. The power management is a bit weird and it does have a tendency to wake from standby or hibernation of its own accord. And despite being a Pentium 4 3.2GHz HT with 1Gb RAM, it still somehow feels sluggish at times. And the CPU cooler makes a terrible racket when the processor is working hard. It's an OK machine, and hasn't suffered any failures in the first year, but I'm not sure I'd buy Fujitsu again.

No, you're meant to know how to touch type Seriously, though, how many of us here are able to touch type properly without cheating and peeping at the keys? I'm actually pretty good at it now, but I put that down to doing so much typing writing 3,000 word essays for my degree!

I actually get a similar problem - the noise is much the same, but happens when I minimise or restore a window! And no, it's not a sound effect, it is definately some sort of electrical noise from one component or another :? I also had a weird issue when I had my Mac Mini on the same desk as my Windows box - every time I plugged a device into my Windows front USB ports, my Mac woke from sleep?!!?! They had seperate monitors and everything - only physical connection between the machines was via the network switch and being powered from the same power strip. All that had to happen was the shield of the USB plug touch the shield of the PC port and away went the Mac!! Totally, totally bizarre!

I'll second that. That would be excellent. Absolutely. Well said! I'm intrigued - we've not got Bill Gates coming to talk to us have we?!! Sounds exciting though!

Definately Vista, I think. No, seriously I feel it's going to be a (potential) evil that we're not going to be able to avoid and it'd be good to see and hear about it 'from the horses mouth' so to speak rather than the hype and misinformation prevalent online and in the press. I know a lot of people have a downer on Vista already, but personally I don't feel well enough informed to make that judgement. It would also be interesting to hear about what's going to be new in Office 12

Cheers Norphy, PM is on its way

Hi All, I recently bought a second-user Compaq iPaq SFF PC for my own experimentation use at home (don't get that luxury at school being part time) - it's not great (PIII 500MHz, 64Mb RAM) but it was only about £25 and I've taken up to 733MHz and 128Mb with about £5 worth of bits from eBay. I have one problem with it though - it came pre-loaded with a legal (CoA OEM) version of Windows 2000 but not a CD. And I don't have a Windows 2000 CD. As I want it for experimentation, but don't want to lose the Windows 2000 preload, it's a bit of a pain. Just wondering if anyone had any idea where I could get hold of a Windows 2000 CD (I've got a reg key and everything), either free or very cheap?? I don't want to go down the eBay route (and pay more for it than the PC itself), or for some dodgy download off BitTorrent, though. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Chris

An excellent day indeed. Can I just echo Tony and Russ's thanks to all involved in setting up such an informative and inspiring day. I found Task-IT to be extremely welcoming and professional, and was particularly impressed with their approach. I have been to similar events where the aim of those running it was clearly to sell something, but Task-IT had no element of that. They simply wanted to show what was possible, inform us all and let us make our own decisions. I didn't feel at any point that I was on the receiving end of a sales pitch and that was refreshing. Once again a big thank you to all involved and I look forward to similar events in the future. (Bit closer to the South Coast would be nice if possible at some point !!!) Chris.

Is there a way of doing this legally? Presumably this can only be done legally with a 'home-made' DVD, in which case you would have the source material - unless it was from a DVD-R deck, but then you're not allowed to keep TV recordings anyway. Not judging what anyone wants to do, but just curious about the answer that that question.

I hope someone can help me. We run a mobile set of 15 iBooks here, each with a user set up for each class. I need to install some software for 4 of the classes. The software is installing OK, but think there must be a better way of making desktop aliases for these 4 users than to log in as each one and create them. It won't let me copy the alias in to the desktop folder from the admin log on. Any ideas guys. Cheers, Chris.

I reckon the pen idea is one of the best. I have tried using both a PDA and a laptop to take lecture notes in the past and found them both to be a somewhat clunky way of doing it. If you're going down the laptop route, you better hope all staff are good at typing fast and accurately. Also, taking notes with a word processor or the like is rather limiting when it comes to diagrams, flowcharts etc. Unfortunately, when it comes to doing something quickly and 'live' so to speak, the humble pen and paper is hard to beat! Just my tuppence worth Chris.

Woo Hoo! Fabulous! What wonderful news. I shall look forward to that very much. Thanks to all for their hard work setting up these great opportunities for us.

I was thinking about going, but not really sure if its worth it. Anyone been before and got any opinions to share? Cheers

And I'm going to agree with Russ too! I actually did a very similar thing - started out training as a teacher then realised it wasn't right for me. I'm still finishing my (modified) course, but work part-time as a techie in a primary school and I love it. So much so that I'm going against all the advice of my tutors (much the same as the other posters re: pay and prospects) and intending to pursue a career in educational ICT. For me, it's the whole job satisfaction angle. And the benefits of the working environment that Russ mentioned. All the best

not really as at national conf we arrange this we hosting school... but this is being hosted by third party (task-it) sorry but we will have others which might be closer to you russ Not to worry, it doesn't look too far on streetmap - I'm sure I can find a taxi or something! Just need to get the day off now...

I'd like to come, but it's a long trip from here, so I'll be coming by train - is there any possibility of transport from the local station like at the conferences?

Because Windows 98 is crap? I have frequent problems with Windows Me machines deciding they no longer like the printer driver. Have you checked the proper HP drivers are installed on all the machines and all other drivers have been removed? IIRC, unidrv.dll is something to do with a Microsoft generic printer driver. HTH

Sky Three did a similar thing recently and annoyed me by replacing my weekly Monday evening fix of Brainiac: Science Abuse with the less entertaining History version! Switched in the middle of a series too! Not at all pleased! Maybe its time for an Edugeek TV Channel!

And of course the joys of student loans! Thanks to an earlier aborted course I did, by the time I finish my course - in June, Yay!! - I shall owe his Tonyness and friends (a.k.a Student Loans Company) nearly 20k!! That's gonna take a while to clear on an entry-level tech's wages

Well, this is me... Regretting this already - this is all your fault, indiegirl! But your pic certainly dispels the myth that all IT people are geeky, unattractive blokes - we could do with a few more young, pretty, blondes (no offence to my fellow blokes!)

I've got an earlier, slightly less feature-packed version of the Targus one and I find it pretty good. Decent radio range, pretty responsive. I think you'll like it, Sysman!

I have a Konica Minolta Dynax 5D that can take RAW images in the .mrw format - ICBW, but I think that manual intervention will always be needed. Because no processing has been applied to the image data, I think you have to give it some input in order to interpret the data into a usable picture. Do you have the Dimage Master Lite software from the camera? I guess this may be able to batch process RAW files to jpgs. HTH