Achandler

We have been through 4 different firmwares now, so I don't think that is the cause. I just think it is purely down to the WiFi cards. @itgeek, have you tried streaming a video that is saved on the device to a projector (with the wifi no connected to the school network). If not they try that, we have seen 1 or 2 dodgy dongles as well. Another solution I was going to try was to get an android Tv box or similar to see if the issue the a weak wifi signal from the adapter as well, or if the adapter was particularly fussy. However, the extra wifi adapters are proving out most reliable so far.

The problem is down to cheap wireless adapters or maybe poor aerials in the devices, we can sucessfully use laptops with Mircast all day almost flawlessly. The 2nd dongle improves the connection, which means everything points to the adapter not being up to scratch. Miracast over ethernet sounds like a step forward, but one advantage of Miracast being direct was the video packets didn't go over the network infrastructure in anyway so didn't effect traffic

As a school who seems to have engaged in this more then most, we have 14 surfaces here that teachers use to stream. I say use, they can use to stream, a lot don't because it is to unrealiable. Basically, the way the devices work is they create a direct connection between the dongle and the device, no wifi needed. However, this then means the built in WiFi is connecting to both devices, aka flicking packets to each one (sometimes on different channels), what then happens is a few dropped packets and the stream to the projector dies. It really is as simple as that, other things like powerpoint changing presentation mode etc don't help, as they cause a brief interruption that they causes a drop sometimes. Anyways moving on, your solutions are: Stronger WiFi in the classrooms, preferably Dual band WiFi points, it definitely limits the number of drops. We have had limited success using a nano dongle in the surfaces as well as the built in WiFi. We remove the school wireless from the tablet, disconnect it and forget it, then put in the wifi dongle. The WiFi 2 dongle is then using to conenct to the school WiFi, and the inbuilt WiFi is used for the miracast streaming. I have proved that this happens by unplugging the dongle to see what dies (just the network connection) and ofcourse disabling the inbuilt to prove jsut the stream dies. We have managed to get the surfaces to work for a day using the dongle and stronger wifi if possible, go for dual band wifi points and dongles to get the best results. The issue around disabling Bluetooth is the pen you get using Bluetooth to make the buttons work (won't be an issue if teachers don't use it)

Bring back the iron! We have a gold plated Monopoly set already from the olden days! Mahogany board and everything, its all the old school pieces, which is good because I only play as the iron!

I understand that and most vendors put you in contact to a reseller which is fine. My relationship with Smoothwall means I always get a reply from them within a day, that is all direct. iBoss were very quick to reply and answer questions before putting me in contact with a reseller who again was helpful. Sophos kept arranging calls that never happened hence I gave up, I appreciate they are busy but there is a limit to the amount of work I can put into something when someone seems disinterested.

Thats what the website says: Our Staff BSM has small classes taught by excellent and enthusiastic teachers. We employ 96 teachers (including SEN and EAL specialists), 34 inclusion assistants and a large number of support staff including a careers advisor, examinations officer, school nurse and a number of adminstrative, maintenance and security staff. For staff recruited internationally our remuneration package includes: Tax Free Salary Management Allowances Remuneration of Threshold End of Service Gratuity Continuing Professional Development Fully Furnished Accommodation Utilities Allowance Flight Allowance Freight Allowance International Medical Insurance Free Tuition For Up to Three Children (depending on personal circumstances) http://www.britishschoolmuscat.com/files/vacancies/bsm_jd_whole_is-manager.pdf

We had a similar problem because of Internet Explorer, Chrome worked/ works fine.

In my most recent review, I looked at Smoothwall (current provider), iBoss and Sophos. I had a mixture of success with each company. Smoothwall started off at frankly shocking prices, so I invested a lot of time looking at the two chosen alternatives. I can't comment much on Sophos because they were awful at getting back to me, took 2 weeks after the initial contact, then they went silent again despite me requesting a demo, didn't give pricing so frankly I gave up. This was enough for me to realise they weren't a good choice, if the sale people aren't much good at getting back to you, what chance did I have with support. iBoss, I liked it, I have seen it before and the price was competitive and I went to see it in use at another school, it was only when I went to this other school that I had missed a fairly fundamental issue, that was it needed a seperate firewall, which for me meant more expense, which in turn made it cost more then Smoothwall (now bashed down pricing). That said it had a lot of very good features in there and I would recommend seeing it in use, if you already have a firewall in place then even more so!

Much clearer, I would put Touch Rugy is a mixed non-contact sport as oppose to men and women can play on the same team. Bit on centering and playing with font sizes maybe. Now off to deal with Cunninghams doing some remote work!

Realistically your posters are up for 2-4 weeks in the shops, so I would just have two versions. I assume you will try a bigger recruit during one point of the year (pre-season) then accept others as they come. I always thought you should be going for soemthing line, Logo and Club Title (espeically if your logo doesnt say it), then What (2-3 lines), Where (1 line), When (1 line) and How to get involved (2-3 lines again), put your facebook details etc as you have already at the bottom. With where and when on seperate lines, even a summer and winter if you really want. You want it to catch people's eye over other posters.

My other half helps runs a sports club (not Rugby) that is mixed to and has similar issues. They did a massive recruitment drive a few years ago, and got 20-30 new people for taster sessiosn then about 5-10 stayed on. She said "This Girl Can" campaign is where a lot of people spotted it, on the Facebook page for it etc. However, they have also got new players from old fashioned methods, such as a poster in Tesco (other supermarkets are available) on that free notice board they have. Your poster is way to wordy for that though, you need to get people to look at it then contact you or go on the website etc, jsut tell them its touched rugby and is a mixed fun sport. They have the internet they can check if touch rugby is for them, I know you are advertising locally, but you don't say when or where you play or train, people might need to get a bus or might have other commitments so they usually need/ want instant information!

Maybe change the thread title, an ITV Show with a BBC iPlayer link.

The celeb special was total garbage, I mean I expected it was going to be poor and it was. The robots were predictable who would win. I did liek the fact it highlighted how difficult the driving of the robots actually is though! That and some of the "celebs" seemingly getting really into wanting to win!

There probably won't be a pension by the time a lot of us get there! Your money today gets used to support todays pensioners, pension schemes (especially government ones) change at the will of the paymasters, are raided for funds when they need extra cash and are in a surplus, then we are all told how the same pension scheme is making everything worse for everyone and in now unaffordable. I'm of the personal belief that the new fandango of enforced "saving" for retirement is a farce as well, making people opt out every year if they don't want to save. If the government really gives two hoots about the problem they would have not made promises that now cause us more issues (e.g we won't raise VAT, won't raise this tax etc but we will definitely raise pensions for people, going for the "grey vote"). Then suddenly realising ooooo, we have no money. They should just increase tax, not try and dress it up as some fantastic saving opportunity and make the state pension something you can live off. All the above is assuming that the retirement age actually still exists in the future, you can retire with a pension pot that is empty, no savings and a house you could never afford to buy so still pay huge rent on! And despite being a remainer, the one real benefit I see is soon the government can't blame the EU for everything, although I predict a decade of it is just the readjustment after Brexit and it will be fantastic soon. Apologies for going off topic, but seriously I think nowdays you are better off if you realisitically can, saving up and buying houses to rent out as a future pension pot. Pensions seem to be getting worse over time and not better, I can't see them being a huge draw in 5-10 years.

The problem schools and businesses now face are naturally due to the increased in "needed" Internet. I know this is slightly off-topic. Lessons are based on resources being available, email are all online now a lot of the time, there are people with online MIS systems (Progresso). There is a real question to be asked as to what value you place on having access to them all, and how much not having access to the Internet is actually an issue. It is a question I have raised here for our SLT to decide (as our leased line is up soon, not with schools broadband). We have had downtime, even 25 minutes of downtime recently caused much unnecessary chaos and moaning but still actually affects a lot of things. The question I posed to them was simple, can the school cope without the Internet (unplanned loss) for the 6 hours in our SLA to get it fixed, should something happen. If it can't then we need to look at 2nd backup conenctions and not just an ADSL backup. If it can then we need to keep 1 line (probabaly boost the speed), if they don't think it can then we need to consider secondary lines, more and more things are ending up online now, in the last 3 years (during our current leased line agreement) we now have more things moved online from parental messaging, the setting of homework, parents evening bookings. The trend is one way and we have to try and plan for what's going to happen in the next 3 years, its a difficult task but I cna virtually guarantee people will want the Internet to be faster and never fail!

I don't think so, login to the slave and reboot it is the best method then label them

Hi All With the on-going increase with Microsoft producing hardware, it is a real shame that there warranty procedures are so poor and so slow. I wonder why when they are almost directly competing with Apple for a lot of this market, that they haven't got a nearly equivalent offering for support. To give you two examples: Surface Pro 4, faulty screen (it started flickering), stated time to replace the item was 10 working days. Wireless Display Dongle, faulty again, stated time to replace upto 12 working days after spendign 45 minutes speaking to someone who had no idea what I was talking about). This then get processed as a US return, so now I have to wait a further 48 hours for the correct team to process the replacement. I like the Surface Pro 4, they are decent enough for school use, the wireless projecting issue I have solved myself so far but I am now loathed to actually buy anymore because I dread the process if one is faulty! Just my two pence, I know Microsoft won't care, we are a pretty insignificant buyer but I thought everyone else might like to know about issues.

You get 2 years warranty on them remember, so don't dismay yet. get it fixed Also you can buy cables especially for them, I have 2 cables for my Wileyfox due tot he stupid recessed USB ports, it jsut makes life easier.

Sadly intentional or not, it still needs to be taken seriosuly until deemed otherwise, just in case.

Block the device and tell your boss. Might be nothing to serious and they might be genuinely mortified about it, but it could have been worse and it could be a piece of a larger jigsaw you might be unaware of. Doing nothing is hardly an option. But be honest with your boss, about why you think it has happened, e.g. not deliberate etc.

Bathroom taps always seem to last pretty well (maybe a washer needed) whereas Kitchen taps get more of a battering. If you are replacing taps already drilled through a bath you need to check the width of them so they actually fit in the same spot.

No they don't, still haven't had a chance to investigate the coin mech yet.

You have to buy a DA2 cable, and you also need a power (borrow one from science) that gives out 10V (I think) and about 1.2Amps. The cable is £30 or so. We followed the instructions on the website but our note reader kept flashing us an error, and it was because the power supply we had only had 1amp of power. We did in the end send ours off to Innovative Tech to do, its taken 2 weeks which is annoying but cost us £20, we dropped it off in eprson but obviously you can post it to them. Either way, if you have multiple revals get a cable and power supply, if you only have 1 note reader reval then the choice is yours, £60 total for 3 reflashes from Innovtive or buy a cable and do them yourself (about £30-£50)

We clean the filters every holiday, so it had been about 5-6 weeks since it was last cleaned before the bulb failed. Can I make this very clear, the bulb is not blown, it still turns on and will light up just very dimly because of what appears to be some form of delamination of a layer of something that was on the glass.

The bulb isn't cracked, it is almost that there is a layer of plastic over the end fo it that has delaminated itself, the bulb has obviosuly gone dark because this is stopping the light passing through properly. I am well ware that compatible bulbs might not be as bright or last as long but I have never seen a bulb go like this usually the glass around the filament goes or the filament itself breaks. I suspect I coudl actually clean the glass and the bulb would be bright again.