Rydra

bump, I'm looking to order these today. Has noone here used one of these things in a proxy environment that can say if it can/cannot do proxies?

I'm looking to get a set of Apple TV gizmo's for the school to go with my Ipad 1's, and I've heard there's a problem with getting these things to work over a proxy. Anyone got any knowledge of this? Got wired and wireless networking, proxy is a non-authentication setup run by LEA/council, just an address and port number. Last thing I want to do is spend £100 per item on something that doesn't work because of stupid tech limitations.

Archaic idea, and I hate them. They are unreliable for period of time to cashin for both parties, the security on them is laughable, and the only way to cash them in is to find your way into a high street bank with a paying in slip and BLAH! I just hate them. I work with cheques a lot within scouting, and we are desperately trying to move parents towards Standing orders for subscription fee's. I'm looking into wheither we can setup online banking etc with my current charity bank account too, to help with the treasury/accounting side of things, at which point I will offer Bank transfers as an option for paying for things like trips/camps/events.

Ha! Glad this happens with Linux as well as windows. So I find a USB boot disc program, and dump on the Linpus OS ISO to it. Try booting the netbook with the USB in, select the new OS, and it gets 1% into the boot and just hangs. Reboot the laptop, forgot to hit the button to select boot option, and the netbook only goes and boots into the Old OS without an issue......... Used to do this with Windows, stick in XP disc, let it do it's rubbish, then reboot before installing. One happy teacher who hugged me in front of the class unexpectedly and has left with a happily working little netbook, and I have absolutely no clue whatsoever what I did to fix it.

The 400mb file is still downloading... Awful awful dl site and speed.

I don't exactly carry a pile of spare 1.8" 40GB drives with me, and I'd not use one for a teachers personal laptop..... in fact I don't own any 1.8" drives anywhere of anysize.

Bah. Useless Linpus. Product details state minimum 15gb Hard drive. Download page states 6gb/4gb free. And their download speed is terribad, 25-40k/s for a 400mb download.

Yes the original was Linpus, but newest Linpus doesn't run on that old a machine. It's hard drive space that could be the issue here, not sure how small it can go. I like the look of Mint, might give that a go.

As above, i've got an old model of AspireOne with a 6gb HDD, and 512mb of memory (Atom CPU). The current OS has an error where it sits with a black screen and a cursor and does nothing else, but I can get it into Command prompt, but with Linux there are 8 million things all of which require a different bit of coding to fix it. I attempted the internet search, and came up with lots of risky things from fiddling with config files I couldn't even find, to performing un-adviseable disk repairs, and even BIOS flashing. I'm not messing with any of that for a linux OS that finished support 3 1/2 years ago. I've decided just to wipe the thing and put a new OS on it, but been struggling to find a final build OS that will fit on that small a drive/memory. Only thing it really needs is to work, have Skype and go on the internet. I looked at DSL, it's too small/lacks the features I want. Fedora recent releases state 15gb of hard drive required, Ubuntu I gather has a netbook version but I cannot find a specific download for it unless the main one has a "Cutdown" install options. I've been told F14 might do it, but the guidenotes still said 15gb HDD space. Anyone got a suggestion for a Linux OS to put on this thing? I've got till next monday to find one.

May I say that I am disappoint at the sensibility of you all. I expect far more sarcastic answers to this!

I heard a member of staff say this as they wandered out of their classroom this afternoon, and it had me thinking..... Where CAN you find a piece of paper to write on? Your answers here!

I dunno, I love my media bookcase with 400 DVD's/blue rays in it. Same reason I like my bookcase. I have my book collections (mostly my entire works of Terry Pratchett) in a single row in publication order. It just looks good. Eventually I will go HDD based storage and that makes sense, but until then I love my bluerays. I use V+ to record TV, but tbh there isn't anything I'd want to keep on there after I watch it, and if I do, I'll buy the DVD/blue ray.

Amazon.com: AudioQuest K2 terminated speaker cable - UST plugs 8&#39 (2.44m) pair: Electronics Another one with some good reviews. I especially liked the customer submitted images for this one and the Denon cable.

I found this today, and thought it makes a pretty good guide to what is useable. High Definition Television (HDTV) FAQ for the UK (Sky BBC Telewest)

My ICT teacher has a sheet of static-stick dry wipe sheets she puts over the top of her IWB the few times we've had trouble with it. Her PC died last week (dead mobo, no display, no post, no keyboard, network but does power up), and while I find a replacement, she's been using her backup to write on the board, and uses a 23" monitor we have on the VI PC and calls the class round to look at it when needing demonstrations. The real bugger and why it took so long; dead machine used an 80gb SATA hard drive and used half of it. I have no SATA based PC's left, so it's rebuild a whole ICT image from scratch time.

IMO, no tablet will replace the functionality of a PC. We've even tried replacing laptops in a couple of instances with netbooks, and they don't work well either. Typing on a tablet device is not as fluid as a normal keyboard, it's a smaller screen in general, and most are not designed for true multitasking, something that most headteachers and in fact all school staff have to do themselves an awful lot. The key purpose of the tablet is mobility and portability, but the more you move in the direction of that, the more you move away from power and versatility which comes with larger, less portable, more powerful devices.

Just painting a wall is something i've done and suggested elsewhere before, rather than messing with the costs and troubles of installing whiteboards, interactive or otherwise. Out of curiousity, how many have had teachers over time that have asked/insisted on having a traditional Whiteboard next to their IWB? I've come across too many to list, and just goes to highlight my views on IWB's; that the main culprits want IWB's because others have them, and often don't use them to the best of their abilities when they do have them. I've been with a teacher before that didn't realise a board was an IWB for 6 months, I've had others not notice their pens were missing for months at a time, others has dead batteries in the pens. The numbers are the minority, but more than I'd ever care to put a number to. Has anyone come across any "Non smart" Tablets for using with displays that they can recommend? And anyone recommend any decent wireless keyboard/mice sets? I've got to source one for the main hall this summer among a couple other rooms.

I've stuck with Win 7 on any new equipment here, despite being in 2k3 on the servers. I wouldn't rollout Win 7 to all desktops till I have the Server OS to support it properly, but a few machines will not hurt, and I've had very few troubles with them and running things. To me, it just doesn't make sense using a 8 year old operating system on a brand new one. It's like buying a huge high end HD 3D TV then watching nothing but VHS tapes on it.

I'm defending an idea that it seems some are dismissing as not going to work without looking at it. You suggest that you have tried something like this, and in your case it may not have worked. Not every system will work in every place every time. An 80" IWB and projector + PC in the 12ft square meeting room may be a waste of money, but a decent 50" TV with a wireless keyboard/mouse/tablet here would be a much better solution. As yet I haven't seen a single conclusive thing that makes an IWB way better than a TV in all/most aspects in all/most situations. My arguement on damage to equipment is i've seen just as much damage to IWB's and projectors as TV's. ceiling mounted projector provides a nice monkey swing for an aspiring child, what about older buildings with Asbestos ceilings, how do you mount one there? Compared to the 15 year old TV I moved out of a classroom a while back, as it was being replaced with a new flat screen TV. And at no point has anyone said to go out and buy 20 new class sets of TV's, ipads, mac's and Apple TV. I have simply suggested, as I am considering for 3 new classrooms where I currently work, that Projectors and IWB's are not used effectively in the current state, and another option that I believe could work cheaper would be the one listed above. Personally whenever I get a request for some new bit of kit, I take a look at the options old and new. When you replace a projector, or laptop do you immediately go out and buy the same make/model? Or do you go out and look to see if there is a better/cheaper option? Why not do this for anything you buy, and how many people, even here would think of this as an option when upgrading/replacing/furnishing a room for whatever reason? I have 36 ipads in my school now, which I did not want and did not recommend at the time. But now that I have them I will look at every and all options to use them to the best of it's abilities, and how i can utilise my budgets to the best effect. If I can save the school £2000 this summer by speccing an alternative for the 2-3 new classrooms that we are getting by this new option, then it's £2k i've got to spend elsewhere to make some other aspect better. This could go towards the MAC server I want to manage all my ipads, or a sync/dock case to store them in. Teachers always have to adapt, as do the technicians who support them. IWB's and computers provided a good step in dragging them away from the chalk/pen on the board while talking for 50 minutes. I don't know what we'll be using in 10 years time, but I'd like to think we're moving away from the static board with a virtual pen towards more fluid and flexible options, and of course effective use of it all.

The old system allowed students to get up and write on a board just like a teacher does. It allowed the teacher to turn off the projector and use the PC by themself while students did whatever, it provided a tie-over for teachers who were used to writing on boards, now they could use a laptop AND have an expensive whiteboard with virtual pens to write on the board with. Making the board you write with wireless and allowing the teacher to move across a classroom and still be able to manipulate the board is just the next step of evolution, and honestly it can be down with an IWB/projector OR a TV. The tablet function, the Computer used to operate the functions, and the Display used to display it are 3 distinct systems. I have seen over the years an insistence that teachers NEED a IWB and a projector to teach. IMO this is a sheltered approach of just doing what has always been done. I remember back to my youth, where being allowed to write on the blackboard was the holy grail of priviledges, along with taking the register back, Doing Bell duty (running around the school at turn of lesson ringing a bell as the outer buildings didn't have electronic bell systems installed), or cleaning the board rubbers. In 20 years what has changed from that? We went from a black(chalk)board, to a white(marker)board, and now to an IWB. We are still stuck with a teacher at the front of the class using a device to making writing appear on a board for people to read, and nowadays I see teachers using the pen very very rarely. They either have pretyped notebook/word/powerpoints, or just demonstrate/type as they go. The pen and the functionality of OCR and the many other tools are rarely used in the places i've seen and been to. Maybe others do use it, and here I see no reason why they SHOULD replace IWB's. But what I'm trying to convey, and what I believe Fraser has conveyed is we do not need to sheepishly and blindly buy them because everyone else has been saving we need them for 10 years. There are other options, now more than ever, and the options will increase as time and technology evolves.

The smallest IWB I have in my school is 46" with a 1024x768 projector. An IWB will start at about £650 for this size, and the cheapest projector your going to get that doesn't suck is going to be £400. Also consider that you will need to buy a ceiling mount, cabling kit, and in some cases pay an electrician to fit power to the projector, or someone to fit it all for you, or spend 1-2 hours fitting it all yourself, messy trunking, and then troubles of silhouttes on the board when you stand in front of it. I can buy a 46" Plasma TV at 1080p and contrast/brightness well above anything a projector can put out, for £800. As to sound, well that's down to choice. With a IWB/Projector you HAVE to buy an external sound system. The TV might not be suitable, but it does provide a sound option does it not? If it doesn't meet your requirements, you can buy an external option. As to the 80" options, well they are somewhat more expensive anyway, closer to £1300, and for that money you can buy a 60 inch plasma screen, and a half decent one at that, with higher resolutions, brightness and contrast than any projector is unlikely to put out for less than £1000. -Less installation time required -Less maintenance (cleaning projector filters/replacing bulbs) -Longer life of the unit -Potentially cheaper -Better quality. And that's without looking at the mac options. As to useability, how about looking at the tablet options for controlling the display remotely? Or just stick with wireless keyboard/mouse, and hand them to a child to demonstrate with. Within my school I am looking at having 3 new classrooms this summer. For a projector install I will need: a new projector at £4-700 with a mounting kit (we have been going for higher quality/longer life projector options recently instead of £400 options where the bulbs die within 9 months) a new whiteboard at £650-1300 depending on size (undecided by SMT yet) new cabling and box on the wall: £100 electrician to install power: unknown, but guess £40-50 per room? Sound system: variable according to system used, but call it £100 3 hours of my time and site agent to install it all and get the mount set right etc. PER ROOM.... £1300-2300 cost. and that's without any computer options to power it with. Now consider the alternative above... I can buy A TV for £400-1200 depending on size Cable set maybe £40 including HDMI/VGA/Sound leads A unit or wall mount to sit it on for £100 A good wireless keyboard/mouse/tablet option £100 And I don't initially NEED a sound system, but that could be £100 And I can have it all fully running in one hour, by myself, without any trunking/drilling/mess. So a potential base cost of £700, up to £1600 for a high end room. This has got to be worth considering

I could not say 100% for sure, but with the current setup of iOS under Apple's insistence nothing can access the root of the device, I somehow doubt it. BUT, I gather you can do it via Apple TV and a MAC server, but not sure on the exact hardware/software requirements in doing this, eg you might just need Apple TV to do it, or you might need some sort of Alice in wonderland arrangement to achieve what you want. I will say that until they have this ability nailed down, I do not see it taking off all too well as fully functional teaching aid. Why would you want a mobile device that you can only use the way you want by connecting a 3 foot long cable tethered to the wall for?

I wanted to big up this blog and the person behind it here today. I have found his articles very honest, helpful, and eye opening to the capabilities, and chances of pushing the boundaries of technology in education. Fraser Speirs - Blog In particular, I'd like to highlight this entry: Fraser Speirs - Blog - The Next-Generation Classroom AV*System I love the idea of this, as I have grown to hate and dislike projectors and the myriad of problems they ensue with them, and how Smartboards/IWB's have become the "Must have" waste of money in many situations where they are simply not used. If you have, might have, have thought of getting Ipads into schools then this is an excellent place to visit.

But a service not everyone wants. The only show I have watched in a while on BBC is Doctor Who, and recently, I watched Mrs Browns Boys. I tend to listen to local radio in the mornings for traffic reporting. I do occasionally put on Radio 1 in the car or at work, but it's rare. I want to listen to music not people waffle on for hours about what they ate for dinner or watched on TV.... Listening to someone talk about watching something I didn't want to watch or care about just doesn't appeal, and there's too much of it for my liking. I don't watch much if any sport, except for the odd England football game, and that's usually at someone else's house or a pub and not always on BBC. So what am I paying £120 a year for again?

I'd sooner see them dump TV rights to football, as those people don't need any more damned money.