ICT_GUY

What changes? I am in the final stages of deploying 50 ipads and if there is something big coming along then please do tell! :-D

I have a small air compressor, 120psi = no more dust. Does not matter much where you aim it.

Thanks, good documentation is very helpful and much appreciated.

Thank you,

Please :-)

I have a mac mini, I need to install OSX Server and apple configurator. I have set up VPP and DEP and will have miraki online soon. DEP and VPP are just waiting on the two stage verification to be completed. I did log in using the VPP account to the mac mini but can't access the app store with that account, it asks for a different apple ID, then for credit card info. There is a work flow for this I am sure, but I am new to apple and although things are starting to make sense, apple ID's and how they are set up I am having problems with. What should I be doing? :-D All help appreciated.

Very Interesting information. I have tried to avoid mobile devices purely because of cost of ownership / life span issues. Laptops in my experience (which is limited) seem to develop physical issues that on a desktop PC would be minor fixes but on a laptop are a pain. Keyboards, track pads, broken hinges or connectors. I am concerned that with the current trend to spend a lot on mobile devices which is seen as an investment is incompatible with budgets and the predicted lifespan of the devices.

Anyone got any experience with battery life expectancy?

I had a recent conversation which highlighted a huge disparity on perceived life cycles of mobile tech. SMT thought that Ipads had a useful life of 10 years. I have always held the belief that PC's End of life was approx 5 years, Laptops 3 - 4 years and Tablets, netbooks other highly mobile tech 3 years ish. My reasoning being that PC's are easy to repair and upgrade but 5 years hooked up to the mains and things start to blow / die and an accelerated rate. Laptops are harder and less economically viable to repair and upgrade but what kills them is wear and tear / battery issues. Tablets and netbooks are throwaway tech that has rapid obsolescence built in. Questionable battery longevity, rapid upgrades to the new ishinny, OS updates that tax the older hardware. Parts that take a hard knock such as charging ports ECT. The reason I am really interested in some feedback about your experiences is that total cost of ownership in a primary school is a major factor but unfortunately it seems the race for mobile tech is ignoring the sustainability of spending in our already stretch budgets. All thoughts appreciated.

Nope, both just as bad. In fact the above was in active studio mode. Most use the primary. :-/

We are still having this problem. This is across two sites on the latest software. The issue can be seen in the picture fairly clearly. It even occurred on the Hugh Symons trainers laptop. We are also having an issue with two pages turning over instead of one when clicked. Any ideas?

Just tested with MS paint and we have none of the issues that the promethean software has. Writing is smooth and responsive.

Nope, it just seems to be very laggy. It also seems way less precise than the old boards. At £3k I am pretty disappointed so far :-/

This is how hand writing is coming out. This is a teachers effort whose handwriting is pretty decent.

Pentium g630 2.7GHz 8 gigs of ram. I tried it on a Laptop with nothing apart from the active software installed and it's just as bad. No mirroring software is installed. The pen point as you drag your finger across the screen is lagging about 5cm behind. Handwriting is problematic and teachers are complaining. This is most troublesome considering how much these screens cost. :-/

We have just had new 70" Active panel displays put in our school. We seem to have an issue where the cursor \ pen lags by at least 1/10th of a second behind where the teacher is writing. We did not have this issue with the interactive whiteboards before and it is very noticeable and causing issue when writing on the board. Is this normal? Is there anything we can do to speed things up? PC has 4 gigs of ram and a dual core processor running 64 windows 7

Our ICT Coordinator has been talking to techies and has been hard pressed to find anyone who says that they are the way forward. My argument for MS based computing is that they are a mature business orientated device, cheap as chips with a long life span. They are not sexy or exciting but they get they job done with minimal fuss. (Apart from the normal headaches from keeping a large network running).

The old adage "Macs are great for people who can't use computers" comes to mind. A very high percentage of people don't need or don't want a PC. They need basic computing power that doesn't need maintenance. The downside is a loss of flexibility. I recently had two conversations, both about Ipads. One was why they could not plug their Ipod into their Ipad and the other was why couldn't they add an SD card to an Ipad (and an Iphone). Because apple wants to rinse you, that's why. (Sigh, end of rant)

I have just had an interesting conversation with a member of SMT that seems to suggest that their thinking is that IPADS don't need support. ???? Am I going to be looking for another job or have they got the wrong end of the stick?

This is my biggest fear. The dilution of my skill set to that of an Ipad baby sitter. :-/

I was told at a recent conference that it didn't matter that you could not lock down IPADS properly as it's purely a teaching issue and it's up to teachers to manage their classes properly. My mouth dropped to the floor.

I have server 2012 and I have been using server back up. If this is good enough then I am happy :-)

I have a single domain controller that I need to back up. I want full bare metal recovery than can be restored with the minimal amount of fuss. Any recommendations? All replies welcome. :-)

Reading the forums, talking to people who have set them up in schools I am dreading the acquisition of Ipads in our school. Has anyone got experiences deploying Ipads and how it went? How long do they last? Long term costs? I am not an apple fan and I am not a fan of Tablets in general. My general feeling is that they are toys that are being shoehorned into education because they are shinny and more fun than a boring old work horse PC. I can see the advantages of using them in the classroom but the cost implications, lifespan and durability seriously worry me. A £200 pc will easily last 5 years and if there is a hardware issue it is easy and cheap to fix. I don't know how this will compare with an Ipad. Unfortunately those firmly in the Apple fan boy camp seem to gloss over the major implications with using a consumer product in an enterprise/educational setting. So please share your views and experiences. I don't have that warm fuzzy feeling that I normally get in anticipation of new shinny kit is coming my way. :-(

It is trying to find the right balance. The current solution is suboptimal but works most of the time. However it can easily become bogged down and at least one switch is causing issues enough to be noticeable. Also we have dead ports and no spare capacity. I would rather invest in something that will work well rather than something that works most of the time. :-/