superatticman

Personally I don't think 25 is the prime of your life but that's a different argument altogether.

Its something a myth that Apple Macs are 'better' than Windows based PC's. We've had numerous and vocal calls to kit the music labs out with Apple kit because apparently 'everyone' in the music industry uses apple. Absolute garbage. Maybe 10+ years ago when Apple was probably more stable than windows. However, these days, a decent Business range PC with Win 7 64 bit and plenty of RAM is at least equal to an Apple Mac.

Totally agree.

Hi all We have traditionally used 'clonezilla' for our imaging needs. This has involved creating a machine specific disk image with OS, major Applications and software tweaks. We then sysprep the PC, shut down and capture the image. Deployment is manual via booting the client pcs up with clonezilla CDRom, connecting to the share and then downloading the image onto the pc. Its a bit labour intensive but has been a reliable and fast solution. However we've now taken on Windows 8 tablets of which cannot be imaged using the above process. 'Apparently' they simply cannot be booted via CDROM or USB into a clonezilla environment. What process would you advise that we change to? Ideally we want to be able to image the OS and apps in one go like we currently do. We do use APPV for a number of apps but still locally install the likes of Office, Cs6 etc. Regards

Hopefully those staff who have been laid off will gain employment elsewhere. Have to feel for them. Our experience was Tribune was pretty painful to say the least. Easily the worst supplier we've had the displeasure of dealing with.

Chiswick School - IT Operations Manager IT Operations Manager Scale PO3: £33,845 - £36,669 per annum, dependent on experience Full time Chiswick School is looking for an experienced IT Operations Manager to take responsibility for the IT function of the Academy. For an application form please click here. Responsibilities will include the management and organisation of the day to day operations of IT Services ensuring a continuous service is provided to the organisation which meets the organisation’s strategic goals. The school has a clear safeguarding policy and will make appropriate Child Protection checks. All applicants must complete an application form. Closing date: Friday 14th February 2014 WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER AND AN INVESTOR IN PEOPLE Was interested myself but its a very much hands on role as well as Management. I'm sure this will appeal to those who want to remain hands on but have some influence in the decision making process

Yes good point and another reason why VDI hasn't been overly popular amongst support staff here. We more or less had to buy in a new SAN to cope with the extra strain that all those VM's put on it. Two classes were using photoshop after the original install and we saw a decrease in overall network performance. Once VDI was throttled somewhat to ensure the stability of the rest, its usability became less attractive and users complained about the performance in big hitting applications. These ran far smoother on even a 3 year old PC. However, another brand new and faster SAN later, it does seem to be up to a reasonable speed.

Just re read the article again. Total respect to you putting your hands up to an apparent error of judgement. Seems it all worked out well in the end I guess things have moved on since then. Xendesk 7 and a cutting edge SAN for example provide a near physical PC experience. However the fundamental issues with supporting it all remain. And all this to provide an experience that is close, but not quite up to a decent physical machine.

You are right, as far as supporting it goes what you are effectively doing is shifting one set of problems for another. Chances are you and your helpdesk already have the general skills required to maintain a traditional thick client environment. However, to be able to support a Citrix based VDI infrastructure takes a lot skill and can provide some extremely frustrating issues to deal with. Can't say I'm a real fan of VDI having been involved with it for around 4 years now. Fine in a huge office with 8000 clients, ability to work from home, hot desk etc. But in a School, really? Seem to recall there was an interesting thread on the subject a couple of years ago where someone 'owned up' to inflicting VDI on their customers because they had more of an interest in the technology than anything else.

Brave..........well lets say there's an ulterior motive as we want to retire as many printers as possible and only use the latest printers/copiers!! However..the 4200s are damn good and it would be good to get them working.

Hi Can anyone recommend a reliable combination of Laserjet 4200 drivers for: Printserver = 2012 R2 64 bit Clients = W7 32 bit Having some difficulties adding the 32 bit additional drivers.

That's because in Britain, you still have the ability to make change from within. However, I agree with the sentiments on here that we almost had it too good from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. John Prescott's utter stupidity in announcing that 'we're all middle class now' was typical of that regime. What he and a fair proportion of the electorate failed to realise was that all they'd actually done was borrow lots of money of which gave themselves a false sense of financial well being. Even better was to follow with the arrival of cheap labour from Eastern Europe. This was a massive positive for the middle class and above because it meant they could pay less for services such as building, driving and other manual trades as well as unskilled labour. However, what they failed to realise was that this very much opened the flood gates for the ruthless financially oriented employment market. This has also filtered across to Education where Universities are now taking in the more affluent from other countries rather than British youngsters. Why shouldn't they? The precedent has been set so why should there be any discrimination against foreign students willing to pay for their education?

So why isn't there a mass exodus to these countries?

The UK is still one of the best places to live in the World. Definitely in the top 5 all things considered. The 'race to the bottom' isn't just affecting the UK. Its a worldwide transition of the very rich cosying up to the poor to work for them for less than we would. The lower middle especially are the ones that get squeezed. As pointed out on here that's sadly the way its always been. The productive and aspiring need to be kept at a certain level to keep a certain political class at a safe distance from it all. For all the wrong that Mrs T did, she gave a section of the skilled working class to have a good go at usurping the established and smug quintessential middle class from their complacency. No wonder New Labour's champagne socialists spend 12 years getting their own back at Thatchers working class winners But as for emigrating, it all depends on your expectations from life. If you like warmer weather then obviously the UK isn't the country for you. If you like space and quality of life, then maybe rural Canada is your natural home. If you are hard working, well qualified and want a big house with a high standard of living then the USA may be of interest. All depends on your outlook.

Brief scenario: We have two domains. Domain A is staff. Domain B is student. Domain A has a one way trust to domain B. Providing you can ping from Domain A server to Domain B server you can browse shared contents providing you have the permissions. However. Machine on the A domain can ping a new 2012 R2 server on domain B. However, it cannot browse to any shares on there even though the permissions are set. We've never had this problem with a 2008R2 server. Any ideas?

Despite the negative (but sadly true) statements regarding IT in schools, they can be a decent starting ground for someone wanting a career in IT. Expectation is high but you will get hands on experience and will certainly get to play with things normally considered above scope for junior technicians. There is a lack of appreciation but the fact is your CV will soon be bulging with various aspects of IT. Only thing I can think of, is that the level of qualifications and experience to work as even a Junior IT tech in a school can be pretty high. I wouldn't discount getting qualifications too much though. It shows that you have the motivation and application to want to succeed in your field. Whilst some will disagree with me here as being unethical. I'd 'braindump' maybe the Windows 7 or 8 Microsoft Exam simply to get something on your CV that will look good. Providing you are familiar with both of these operating systems and know the basics of how to configure and troubleshoot them, then you will be fine. Remember, sometimes you need to do what it takes to get your foot in the door. Feel free to PM me if you need any advice on the above.

I have a fantastic Business Inkjet 2300 of which has proved to be the best printer I've ever owned all things considered. Extremely reliable, low cost per page and networkable. Far better than the Officejet K5400 and 8000 series that replaced it. Poorly built buckets of mediocrity. Only problem is theres no official 2300 support for Windows 7 or 8. Can force through the XP driver but some programs simply refuse to print with this driver. Has anyone managed to get this combination working with a uni driver?

Teachers just love those iPhones don't they? Anything to convince their pupils that they are somehow cool and trendy!

If you are going to go down the route of enhancing the loading gauge, then you may as well go the full distance and implement the Western USA gauge. True double decker and enhanced width. Of course this would mean having to expand a 4 track mainline by about 12 foot sideways, of which would require nearby properties to be bulldozed and bridges and tunnels modified for starters.

Absolutely agree with the capacity statement. The West Coast line, despite having 4 tracks over large parts of the route to Birmingham and Manchester is at full capacity now. In fact some stations such as Watford Junction have actually seen a reduction in Intercity services so as to allow for more robust pathing on the southern section. If you are going to build a brand new line, then it needs to be a 200mph+ modern high speed route. There is little or no point in building a brand new line for 125mph traffic. Its almost like digging up a huge trench to the local phone exchange at huge expense and putting a 10mbps Ethernet Line in rather then a Fibre link. You cannot have double decker trains in this country because the loading gauge is fairly unique and very restrictive. To enhance the loading gauge would cost an absolute fortune and would be as expensive as a new build. You could argue the British loading gauge is the biggest problem facing our railways in general as it also means we cannot simply run proven continental designs on our network. Everything has to be downsized slightly and built to a different spec and incurring a higher cost as a result. The real answer to the problems facing Britain? Population management. Now if anyone has any answers to this then I'd be interested in hearing them! As for simply spending billions on 'social' housing instead, it depends on what kind of country you want to live in in 20-30 years time. All very well having millions of new homes but never mind how you are actually going to get from A to B.

Agree strongly with that. A lot of the newer stuff seems pretty poorly built in my opinion. Maybe just a sign of the throwaway society we have become. We have tried to rationalise our printer fleet to laserjets and colour laser MFDs. Those inkjets cost a fortune over the long run. Currently we have: Laser Mono HP 4100 A4 HP 4200 A4 HP 8150 A3 These have all been excellent and we continue to buy in the 4200's second hand. Inkjet Colour Officejet 5400 and 8000 A4 printers. Not really impressed. Poor build quality and have suffered failures. Not a patch on the previous Business Inkjet 1100s and 22xx series. Rapidly being replaced by Colour MFD's. Colour MFD's Currently using Ricoh Aficio SP C242SF of which are proving stable and reliable. These are being put out to replace the inkjets. We also have a number of large heavy duty Ricoh photocopiers which can print and scan too. These, as well as the MFD's are under support which has proved to be far more effective than 'in house' support spending hours trying to work out what is wrong and then calling in the 3rd party.

Yep, the 'Fives' were great machines. Probably the best mono laser all things considered. We managed to get them working from 2008 R2 with the uni driver. But there were some problems with certain fonts printing, this may have even been after we upgraded to Office 2010. To be honest, getting ink carts for them now is proving to be uneconomical, so we are tending to standardise our mono fleet with 4200's. These are getting on a bit too, but have proved to be excellent servants through the years.

Thanks for the advice on here. Next challenge is to get the Laserjet 5's working with R2 AND Office 2010. No....bad idea. Time to retire the 5's with dignity.

Was talking about the improved quality of photos from phone cameras earlier with a few people from work. So how about a gallery of photos taken strictly from mobile phones? Took this earlier during a lunchtime stroll down the park and must say my Nokia N8 does capture lighting and colour superbly for a mobile phone camera. Really captures the early 'Autumn Glow' alongside the greenery in the sun. And that's the beauty of mobile phone photography. Whilst dedicated cameras will always get better results in the right hands. The chances are you won't have your camera when you 'see' a photograph!

Sounds like nonsense to me. However, if any mug nation would rush out and implement such a thing it would be us. The rest of those who embrace the idea of an integrated Europe would probably agree to it but never actually apply it.