maniac

I've got some quite expensive audio gear, but it's all liked together using the really cheapo linkups - never had a problem, no hums or interfearance at all. I use mains cable for my speaker wire - low resistance and cheap as chips in long lengths so I can run it all over my lounge to the right places and it doesn't cost me a bomb. I can't tell the difference if I wire it up with some decent speaker cable I've got, it sounds the same to me. The quality of the cable does make some difference for video cables however. Cheapo short lengths are normally fine, but you do get interferance over longer lengths in my experience.

Small question of running the thing - they use a fortune in electricity, and I also don't have space for one in my kitchen - it's tiny! The only thing I ever iron is my work shirts anyway.

Having just got my first house I got lots of housey things like towels, kitchen bits and pieces, a new iron cos my old one packed up and I was too stubbon to go out and buy one, black and decker work mate thingy to help me with doing this place up and the usual socks and shirts and ties. All good Mike.

If the line is still physically connected to their network, they should re-activate it for free. If it needs a little bloke to come out in a van and physically connect it up or lay new cables to the house, then it may well cost you. DO NOT connect it through one operator, then change to another one for your calling package, as most will sign you into 12 month contract when you activate the line, and charge you a fee to move away before the end of the first 12 months. Get the line activated by the operator that you want to take your calling plan out with. I fell into this trap recently through naievity, thinking BT were always responsible for the line no matter who I had my calling plan with, I re-activated my line with BT straight away, then decided to go for Skys 3 in 1 package when I was looking for broadband and TV. BT charged be £89 for the priveledge of ending the contract early - I had no idea I had entered a contract when re-activating the line, should have read stuff more carefully - my own silly fault, but you may learn from my mistake. Mike.

Sorry, much as I hate to start a debate that's not really down to the government, that's down to the parents.

Ha ha, I'd forgotten about that and I was trying to find it again the other day as well, thanks for re-linking it! +rep. Mike.

The answer should have been yes - if the screen is high enough res, a decent bar code reader will read a barcode off it.

All you have to do is set the expiry date of the password to a date in the past, and it will prompt them to reset it at next login. Can't remember the AD propery name, but if you use an LDAP browser you should be able to see the property in question and change it in the same way as the password in the VBscript. Mike.

I've setup and use fog as my imaging solution, and it works very well. I found the best way was just to experiment - it's difficult to break linux beyond rescue, and if u do just start again. I experimented with FOG in a virtual environment first before starting fresh on a new server for the live version using the knowledge I gained in my research and experiments. If you field any specific questions here there's bound to be people who have had the same problem or know the answer to what you're trying to do. Mike.

Muggins here used to work for Halfrauds, and used to do the fitting on products like bulbs. Used to feel pretty bad taking money for a job which normally only took me a few seconds to do! Some cars can be right pains to do thou, normally find battery trays and washer bottles being in the way are pretty common!

Find a DVD player which has both composite out (yellow plug) and a SCART plug on it. Run one Projector from the composite out and the second projector from the Scart using one of those Scart-->Composite adapters. All you need is some long Composite video cables which are easy and cheap to buy. You can also split composite video signals using normal aerial splitters, although this can introduce interferance into the signal if you're not careful. Mike.

I've driven that road before in a very knackered 1983 VW golf which had virtually no clutch and brakes - now that's an adventure! Somehow we made it, never quite worked out how thou.

I remember when my parents got their first TV with Teletext - what a novalty that was in 1988. I was only thinking the other day I wonder how much longer the service would be with us - had no idea it would depart so soon thou.

I think it's that little bit inside us all that gets fed up with the same old predictable c**p every year, and it's a brillient example of the 'power' of social networking sites - I don't think anyone really cares where the profits from the sales go. There is also a just giving page linked to the facebook group setup to donate to the shelter charity which has raised £27,000 so far, so some good can come out of it whether or not they make it to number 1. Tracy Morter is fundraising for Shelter - JustGiving Mike.

True, RATM number 2 in the I-tunes download chart thou, muppets are number 45 so I brought both

Problem is there's 750,000 RATM fans well ahead of you. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2228594104&ref=mf Still, there's always the number 2 slot to aim for

Ahhhh, didn't realise it was for a M$ exam - sorry. Mike.

I think the share permissions are largely ignored on most networks these days - I've certainly always been taught to share the folder so everyone has full control, and use NTFS permissions to control the folder security. In answer to one of your questions, yes write is more restrictive than read - if you think about it logically without read permissions you won't see or be able to access anything in the share, just simply be able to add new files to it - you can't even delete or see what you add. We use that permission to create 'drop boxes' for students work on our shared drive. Mike

It's added as a trusted site for us, and security is set at the lowest possible.

It does tend to chuck a fair few of those sort of errors up from time to time. Beginning to regret chosing its learning now, as it's been a headache from the start. Just irritates me when something as straightforward as this doesn't work properly, and there's no apparent reason why. Even more frustrating when there's no consistantcy with the problems. Looks like we could be in for fun times when the students start using the thing at home in the new year (Providing of course I can get it working in school before then)

Thanks a lot for that people. I think we can safely say it doesn't work properly from that, but a right old mixture of results - not what I was expecting, and surprised it doesn't work in opera. People that have got it loaded in IE7, if you've got the time you couldn't share with me what plugins, flash version and settings you've got the browser set to could you? It's driving me crazy getting this to work - it shouldn't be this difficult. I know it's nothing to do with our proxy or web filtering, as I can't get it to work at home either, or on 2 other machines at different houses - so I'm intrigued as to what is stopping it from loading in IE. edit: hmmmm, thanks for pointing out the http://files.itslearning.com site as potentially being the problem - I hadn't noticed that. Mike.

I Seem to have a problem with our learning platform loading flash content from some SCORM packages. The support people at pearson, who write the package, have said it works for them so it's a 'local browser issue' and there no more they can do to help me. I can't get it to work in internet explorer anywhere in this building, or at home on my desktop or laptop, or on a friends machine either so I'm really skeptical if it does actually work in IE, or if they're trying to fob me off with an excuse. (It works in Firefox by the way, but that's not the solution I'm after, as it must work in IE for it to be useful.) Anyway. If some of you kind people could visit https://spires.itslearning.com and login with temporary username: Support Password: spires11 This gives you access to just the one course called 'test area' which has the content in I can't get to work. If you try loading the Ed-Excel Active Teach package it just sits on the loading screen and does nothing for me, but according to Ed-Excel/Pearson software support it works perfectly at their end. (I haven't had a response from the team at Its learning yet) If some of you lovely people could try it out for me and report back your findings, that would be great! Edit: can you please include what browser and OS you tried it on as well please Many thanks, Mike.

The lighting is the key thing - if it's too patchy then the green screen will appear different shades of green to the camera because the lighting intensity across the scene isn't the same. We used to use a wall painted in a shade of green brought off the shelves of B&Q - did the trick for us. Also used to use 500w workshop floodlights to light it with because they're cheap and bright! Mike.

It's not a vauxhall or a Saab by any chance is it? Certain cars have a plug which looks like, and fits the 'Standard' ISO plugs which most car stereos use, but as stated above the permanent live and switched live are wired the other way round on some. These are ususally coloured Red (switched live) and Yellow (Permanent live) on the stereo loom, but could be any colour on the car loom. There's two ways round it - if the ISO plug from the car goes straight into the back of the stereo, then you'd have to start chopping your cars loom around - not a good idea so in that instance I'd recommend buying the Autoleads harness adapter, which will cost you about £12 - I know a total rip off just for the sake of two wires, but it will just plug together then. If the cars loom plugs into another short section of wire which then plugs into the stereo, then you can just chop and swap round the red and yellow wires on the short section of wiring, and it will solve the problem. Use some crimp connectors or soldier and shrink tubing if you do thou, as the last thing you want is it coming undone behind your dashboard. I used to fit car stereos, amps (and pratically anything else related) in a previous job, so I'm pretty familiar with them and all their quirks, and the problem you describe is pretty common. Mike.

I've been slowly evicting the planet switches from my network as well - only got one left now as far as I know, unless there's any hiding away in un-known locations anywhere. Mike.