alan-d

Just waiting for the go ahead from budget holder Hopefully there will be 3 or 4 of us

I'm hoping to go The cost is always going to prevent a lot of people going for whatever reason. If it was free then oversubscription would be an issue

Well if we are going to use Edugeek as a political soapbox I may as well chip in Why did you not mention the far left? Afterall communism is seen as the scurge of the earth in what we call the Western World. The fact that you specifically mentioned the far right leads me to believe that you have fallen into the political trap of believing that anything outside of centre is a bad thing and I must admit the perception of most people would tally with that due to one man, 'Hitler' (The Italian guy was a twit btw). Can I remind you that this one man pulled Germany out of the depths of ruin and starvation to make Germany a powerful nation, a legacy that the German people still enjoy today. OK so he completely lost the plot and was responsible for millions of deaths and deserved what he got but the fact remains that his early policies worked and were supported by the people. What I'm trying to say is; by all means encourage people to vote, but lets not highlight any particular preferences. *Hides in bunker*

A monday morning question! How does this work with laptops that are used in more than one location, or in our case, any classroom? What happens if 2 banks of laptops are used in a classroom which won't necessarily be the classroom they are normally located?

We are installing Ruckus over the summer break which will leave us with around 35 Buffalo G54 Airstations doing nothing in storage. They all work, but we have outgrown them. They will be available from Sept so if you or anyone else is interested make me an offer (by 'me', I mean the school)

Speak to Simon at CPLtd, he's just given me a quote for some toshibas

From watching others doing this I've come to the conclusion that it is a very expensive and logistical nightmare. Even if you allow the units to be taken home the cost in time and replacement parts will be never ending. I know of one school that had around 5 technicians just to administer the scheme and repair the units. It wasn't enough and the scheme was scrapped. If parents are paying for the units then damage etc is reduced somewhat, but if the school retains ownership then less care is taken to lessen damages.

As well as the above suggestions, walk around and talk to staff about what they like and what gripes they have. This also gives you the opportunity to put faces to names and for them to get to know you. Just remember - DO NOT PROMISE TO DO ANYTHING! there will always be one that will hold you to it It may be worth paying a visit to other vanilla schools in the area and see what they are doing and make some contacts etc.

Ideally as a minimum we are looking for; Processor 1 x Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.0GHz, 800MHz - Centrino if possible Cache 2MB - L2 Cache Hard Drive 120 - 160GB - 5400 rpm Networking Ethernet Wireless IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n (draft) Wireless LAN aerial built in RAM 2GB DDR2 SDRAM (installed) / 4GB (max) 384MB Shared Graphics Memory as a minimum Display 15.4" WXGA BV TFT (1280 x 800) Optical Storage DVD+/–RW USB Ports Minimum 2-3 hour battery life Windows XP Pro or vista with downgrade rights Manufacturer Warranty 3 year warranty Max Cost £450 at a stretch and we need quite a few

Prices range from £365 for a 1 year warranty to £449 with a 3 year warranty.

Just to be difficult, how do you rate Samsung? I've been offered this one with a 3 year warranty Samsung R510. Processor - Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 / 2 GHz ( Dual-Core ) RAM - 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM - 800 MHz ( 1 x 2 GB ) Hard Drive - 120 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Screen - 15.4' TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) Optical Drive - DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM Graphics - Intel GMA X4500 Bluetooth - No Notebook Camera - Integrated - 1.3 Megapixel Warranty - 3 year warranty

I was emailed this info a few weeks ago - I've been asked not to carry out the upgrade in case it messes up the grades already entered which is a fair point at this time of year.

Slow down - I'm still discussing the spec I'll ring a bell when it's time to scrap over prices

Need to get more laptops Which one of these would you go for? (The links are for reference only not the supplier) Doceo 510 Notebook Windows Vista Home Basic Replicated COA Rock Doceo 510 15.4 inch Notebook Chassis 3 Year On site notebook warranty (Including Battery) Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 2.0GHz, 667MHz, 1MB Cache, Socket P CPU Samsung Optical Slim DVDRW Sata Drive Doceo 510 802.11b/g/n WLAN Card Samsung 160Gb sata 5400RPM 2.5 inch hard drive 2Gb Kingston 667Mhz DDR 2 PC5300 200 Pin,SO DIMM Memory Module (2 x 1Gb) http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=339677&CatId=602 http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=333653&CatId=602 Any other options?

I think you will find that the curriculum states that the principles of word processing etc are to be taught, not that they should be taught how to use MS Office specifically. (And that is a whole topic on it's own )

OK - How are you expected to implement Mandatory profiles without using GPO? The only option I see is to edit the Local Profile manually on each laptop which would be easy enough on one then image the remainder but what happens if something needs changing? You will either have to amend each laptop individually or reimage the lot!

Currently we have MS Office 2003 throughout and I can't see any real benefits to moving to MS Office 2007. During the Summer we will be installing Open Office as well. This is to allow students who cannot afford MS Office at home to still be able to produce work and bring it into school without the bother of converting it. Also it is hoped we can wean users away from MS Office but I may be stretching it there

Welcome to the madhouse

By all means - It's a slow news period due to it being the exam season Some like em round and some like em square so we decided on both I've only one thing to say to you!

Thanks - you just reminded me that link was a temporary setup, it should actually link to the Intranet page

Part 2 is now complete with the Intranet and Specialist college sites up and running Just the linking of SIMs to Moodle over half term now and that's the end of the project I still can't find a cure for the odd 'mapped image' problem on the top menu when using FF so if anyone has any pointers I'd be grateful

Moving to laptops over wireless is never a good idea in a school, we have over 400 of them. But if like me you have to do it then mandatory profiles would ease the pain if you cut costs in the wireless network. Spend money on decent wireless kit and well specced laptops and you should be able to keep the roaming profiles. In addition - you will find that the maintenance costs of laptops is far higher than PCs, you'll spend thousands replacing keyboards, batteries and screens. No matter how good the kit or wireless network you will never get the same performance than you get from a suite of PCs.

Just started to work normally for me. Been a mare all day

It's a compaq proliant ML370 G3

Can anyone give me a quote for a Server Hard Drive (Hot swap SCSI) 36.4GB 10K RPM ULTRA320 SCSI HOT-SWAP HDD The 36.4 GB isn’t critical as long as it’s over that figure. The 10K RPM SCSI is essential though, it’s an old server and I’m not sure if a 15K will work. Thanks