Andie

Having a cupboard clearout at school and have found these unopened (still security sealed) and not needed: 2 x Quantam DLTtape VS1 80/160Gb for use in DLT VS160 drives (0.5" Data Cartridge) 1 x Tandberg Data DLT VS160/V4 Cleaning Tape Thought I'd ask on here just in case anyone needs some...!

We've changed the driver. The only PCL5 available is the universal print driver, so we had to go with that. We have also changed a setting to do with how the print is spooled: in the printer Properties>Advanced tab, in the middle section, we changed the button from Start printing after last page is spooled to Start printing immediately. So far so good. But only time will tell.

There are other folks having spooler stop issues with Win 7 and Server 2008: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/88471-local-computer-printer-spooler-service-crash.html May help...

Thanks. These are the TTS brand, yes? I would normally avoid those as the software for other stuff they produce can be a pain on a network, but you've obviously not had any problems...? Our staff laptops are standalone at the moment anyway, but may be networked in future.

I've been tasked to look into the purchase of some visualisers by a teacher who has used them successfully before (ie. not a "wow these look good let's buy some" request!). But I have never dealt with these before, and have no idea what features to look for, what brands are good, etc. We have SMARTboard 660 IWBs and laptops that are mostly XP Prof SP3, though we have a few Win 7. I can find companies who sell them, but don't know if they are any good. Anyone had to purchase these before? Help would be very much appreciated.

We've been using these. You do have to package the toner according to their instructions, and they only accept certain original cartridges, but they have reliably turned up to collect every time so far. Green Agenda Toner Recycling

Thanks, I'll give it a go. The fun part is finding a test group of laptops to use, without disrupting lessons or picking the ones that only get used once a week!

ICT Technician, Nene Valley Primary School, Sugar Way, Peterborough Salary: Grade 7, Point 22 (£10.17/hour pro rata) Hours: 15 hours per week, term time only (45 weeks) Required: Immediately ‘A well organised team-worker with excellent communication skills’ – If this is you and you can also ensure the smooth running of the ICT infrastructure, systems, services, computer peripherals and other digital resources employed by the school, then we would love to hear from you. We need you to join our ICT team in helping all staff and pupils to make effective use of ICT, with a particular emphasis on supporting the learning process. EPM - Educational Personnel Management Nene Valley Primary School - Vacancies

Thanks for clarifying the qualification and trainer issues. I've emailed the FITS people at XMA to try and get a price for their Nottingham course, and then I can put together an email for the Head with Nottingham and Duxford on. The TalbotHowe website is very helpful, and explains the qualification level, etc. Thanks for the offer of your local course too if I get stuck! Qualifications | Talbot Howe

Quick query about your issue, as we have a batch of Windows 7 machines that have just started failing to connect to the Internet. They can see the server (2003) but can't get out beyond. Strange IP address on wireless network connection, starting with 169 that I've been told is a default Windows 7 address, used when the network fails to get an address using DHCP. We appear to have enough free IP leases. The affected machines were fine up until a week ago. XP clients don't have the same problem. Wouldn't be a server update issue here though....? Is this similar to your problem...?

Anyone done a FITS practitioner course with the FITS Foundation (I know others have done XMA FITS courses)? There is one fairly near us that I may still get on to, and wondered if they are OK as trainers. You can pm me with info if you prefer! Also, can someone confirm that this does lead to a full qualification? I read the accreditation info, but it just talks about credits rather than a full qualification.

Can I just check whether I should increase the timeout or decrease the timeout? You say increase, but then talk about dropping the value...? I'm a bit confused!

There was nothing in BIOS, even after updating. I've fixed it by a step sideways. There was a wireless card port on the Versa (not sure why, as it obviously had onboard..). Disabled the onboard. Had some old but unused wireless cardbus cards, installed the drivers, inserted the card, various reboots, and away we go! Worth the climb to the top shelf of the IT cupboard.

We also struggle with this. Some teachers are more patient than others. I've seen the word Ruckus banded about for wireless, and it looks like a managed solution. I'm going to investigate the costs. We are moving to a new build in 18 months, apparently with no suite and lots of wireless, so we are going to need something reliable. I'll also experiment with the timeouts and password change settings suggested above. We use windows config and I've got the main GP settings suggested apart from timeout and password change.

1. Physically an RJ45 to a Netgear switch that is linked back to the main Netgear switch and the server. Server 2003, XP clients. Laptop connecting wirelessly to the server and printing through that. Printers installed using a VB login script. 2. My secondary school support installed it, from new last term, so probably the driver that came with the disc. 3. Need to check and 4. Need to check.

I am having problems with a brand new HP 2055dn printer. Intermittently, it is printing oddly from PowerPoint. We get wide black bands on the page instead of the slide, or a wide unprinted margin. I have checked the documents, and they have printed fine elsewhere. Then yesterday I went to check this issue out, printed a document and something different came out (nothing showing in queue before). Then printed again, and my document came out; I then changed document and printed again, and my previous document came out again, then printed again to get the last one sent. Writing this, it sounds like there should be a logical explanation, but I was right next to the printer and the only time it printed seemed to be in response to what I'd sent, rather than there being someone else printing too. Any ideas?

Well I was definitely wrong about the presenter! Managed to track down the man who ran the seminar at the conference, and he very promptly replied with the YouTube URL for the video. However, we def didn't see all of it in the seminar. It turns out to be a trailer for an opera. I may need to think again for our younger audience...but I really like the first half or so. Anyway, it may be of use to someone out there.

I saw a video at a conference over the summer that I would like to use as a "think about this" starter. But I didn't get the details at the time! Wondered if anyone had come across it: features a man walking around city streets going up to random strangers and asking them to be his friend, and asking shopkeepers if he can write on his wall. The aim being to show that you wouldn't do this is real life, so should you be doing it online.... I think the man was a celebrity, and possibly Jake Humphrey, the sports presenter, but my memory is probably rubbish. Tried Googling but search too vague to be of use. If anyone knows what it is.... Thanks.

We have what seems to be an intermittent issue with printing PowerPoint 2003 slides to an HP 2050. This is a new printer (purchased last month). The printout is just broad bands of black lines, or we get it printed minus a wide border of about 2 inches. I've had a look at the documents and printed them elsewhere fine. Printing from Word seems OK. Anyone else had this or can suggest how to track this down?

Anyone??

Can I just run this past you, to check my reading of this is correct? If we just want to use YouTube for Schools to watch the videos without commencts etc., instead of watching through YouTube, we don't need a Google account and we can ask our Internet Provider to set filtering so that all YouTube content comes from EDU? Is that correct?

Issue: NEC Versa P550 (old laptop!) being recommissioned as a spare, with Intel mini-PCIcard PRO/Wirelss 2200BG, op sys XP Professional. When powered up and logged in, wireless hardware switch is off by default. No physical switch. Have to use Fn+F2. Would like wireless hardware switch on by default. Have tried: BIOS update and Intel PRO update from NEC, and extensive internet search for this issue. All documentation says use the hardware switch! Nothing in BIOS that automatically enables wireless card to be on, unless I can see anything. Am I stuck with putting a sticker on for teachers saying please hold down Fn and press F2 to connect to wireless? This may cause issues with the running of the login script anyway if the wireless isn't on in time.

I agree. I started with computers in the days of DOS commands, and even BBC Basic. Taught myself the rudiments of scripting and Basic programming. It still really helps to know command syntax and structure and processes. Even if you don't fully know the language, you can usually have a stab at something when you understand the principles.

Ah, I really need the test run with the latest Flash (Flash 11 active x) deployed with GP, ideally to XP SP3 clients (a lot to ask I know, sorry!). I am trying to establish if the GP install of this version works properly for other people. When I installed it with GP, the machines all say they have the latest version installed but they won't display any .swf files. To fix this, I am having to manually uninstall flash, then manually reinstall. I would like to know if our setup/my install is the problem, or if this happens to other folks. Thanks.

OK, have done. Let's hope the elephants have finally gone!