alan-d

Nope - we are removing Ranger this summer which was causing some delay logging on over wireless, but we found that if the students staggered the logon in the classroom to 3 or 4 at a time it worked fine. We are hoping to get 32 on in September May be pushing our luck there but going to try it anyway

Same kit as ours but without the Dell laptops. We have Rock and HP laptops. Most are centrino but some of the older ones use a standard buffalo card.

We trialed this kit for our LEA. It was very effective, unfortunately too effective for our 6th formers in biology and physcology with no way to adjust some settings. May be different now, our LEA are going to use something else . Mainly due to cost issues I think.

You must have duff kit we run 16+ on a single point on a regular basis. Granted it can sometimes be a little slow but once logged in there are no problems

Just make sure you have an external smoothwall or something - the chip is programable - a hackers delight

We went down the wireless route (against my advice) and over 200 laptops later the facts are sinking into the SMT that it will be expensive to maintain them. Hence future budgets will have a larger maintenance pot than previously. You have to consider the long term school development plan too when planning future replacements and upgrades. Where does the school want to be in 5 years as far as ICT is concerned and what other school developments will have an impact on IT. eg - if not already - will there be a 6th form, are more classrooms planned, that sort of thing.

GrumbleDook has hit the nails on the head there, but I think it should be emphasised that the greatest stumbling block faced by most schools is financing. Not just for equipment but for training staff and support. A lot of the time the plans are in place, the ideas how to use facilities are there but the finances are not. I've been fortunate in that funding over the last 3 years has been forthcoming which has taken us from very poor ICT practitioners to one of the best in the country and we still have goals to aim for over the next 3 years. Most of what we have done has been achieved by ourselves in-house and not relied on the LEA/ISP. This enabled us to keep the playing field small, ensuring that communication between the relevant parties is over the shortest distance possible, only involving outside authorities when absolutly necessary, for example opening ports or taking advantage of reduced costs for Anti-Virus software etc. However, that is not to say we ignore the LEA, in fact we often help by piloting software whenever possible and discuss ideas. We just find that the LEA is usually too slow to react sometimes to a need required by staff or students. This is understandable in that they have to consider the ramifications across the whole area. It's not so much that organisations are obstructive, just that either the financial support isn't there or other schools in the area are unable to cope with new ideas due to a lack of training or experienced staff. (I think I rambled on a bit there - sorry)

That explains it Breast feeding can do strange things to a man

I bet he has a big white furry cat on his lap too

We use the GPO method too, as well as the signed AUP and posters in every room there is no let-out clause. SMT have clearly stated that excuses such as I didn't know, didn't read it etc etc are not grounds for any form of defence

You really do have too much time on your hands

Good luck Keep in touch

All servers run 24/7 unless we need to reboot for any reason.

There is a thread somewhere here showing that computer manufacturers are making PCs run quieter and use less electricity. Can't find it at the mo, but they weren't cheap.

Thanks Ric - it has all just dropped into place Makes sense now I must be getting too old for this study lark! Just one more thing - Am I right in saying that on an internal network the multicast scope is only valid for the period you set it for and after that you have to reactivate it? It seems odd that it would need to be set everytime a video conference took place, assuming it was set for 30 days and each conference was monthly. Does that make sense?

If they use office I'd suggest they use the file protection options available to them. Otherwise - as per Tony's post

I'm studying for MCSA/MCSE and currently going over DHCP. I seem to be having problems getting my head around Multicasting I know how to set up a multicast group etc but can't seem to get to grips on why it should be used. Any pointers to sites etc that may explain it in laymans terms? I've tried googling but I just seem to find the MS textbook explainations.

We have sold some to staff already under the guise of buy a 15" monitor for £5 and get a PC free Apart from the monitors the rest is more or less a pile of spare parts. I already have another stack of about 30 PCs put to one side for emergencies etc but I have no space for the rest. We could break them all down and make a few decent PCs ourselves but we can't justify the manhours it would take to do this just to have them put back in storage. I have a list of charities and recyclers I could use, but if another school could use them then that is the preference. (btw I also have some old hubs if anyone is interested ) Thanks for the link - could be useful - not just for PCs but other kit the school wants to be rid of

Was it the Sing when your swinging or something like that. The one he does old time tunes on?

We have a peer listeng group which is overseen by a member of staff. It has it's own email account and web page. Is this the sort of thing you meant? http://www.suttoncoldfieldgrammar.org.uk/activities_and_clubs/peer_listening_service.asp

Wait till you get the 'Electrics need upgrading due to higher demand of the new PCs and it will have to come out the IT Budget ' Yes it did happen here New kit installed but only half could be switched on before the trip went Needed a quick rewire job as the sockets were also out of date

Reduce his quota and tell him it's because of the silly backgrounds taking up all his space

Apart from the Monitors most of the kit is only suitable for spares. I'm just trying to avoid a £700 bill to have them recycled

Our kids are being let off a day early so Teaching Staff can help clear up rooms that are to be decorated or have building work carried out. All support staff are bringing in ear plugs so we don't have to listen to the constant whining that is bound to happen

lol - system currently unavailable If you can get it working - u got the job