gumbygaz

We went through this in the summer, and it's gone pretty well. We needed to update all the old PCs in classrooms so SLT thought now was the best time to look at this project. Ended up buying the HP x360 G1 - £480 each then we got £100 back with the cashback scheme HP are running. These had USB-C so with the HP G4 dock it's just one cable for charging, projector, LAN. So dead easy for the teachers to swap rooms. We left the old PCs monitor/Keyboard/mouse so they get full desktop with dual screen setup (first couple weeks was repeating "Windows Key+P" to duplicate/extend issues) We've got Directaccess, so seamless use of the laptops from home etc We needed to buy a few more as we underestimated the additional teaching needs. English/Maths Mentors covering lessons, teachers going off on maternity after being given the laptop and the bank of supply laptops we had (older ones that didn't support USB-C) have proved a headache for us support wise. Setting them up by manually removing cables from the dock and then going to the lesson after because the cover teacher forgot to put them back. SIMS updates, I need to schedule at the right time when they're all here on site or they'll not get the update in time. Some of the older monitors disliked the resolutions but thankfully the projectors have been fairly forgiving. Sure it'll be even better once rooms get a 1080p monitor and touchscreen panel (a long time off though!) Personally I would have preferred staying with desktops. Much easier for me to maintain, and cheaper in the long term. We'll see if we can get the laptops to last the warranty, I suspect the USBC port will be the first things to go. However, teachers love them, SLT love them. Means teachers can be more flexible & productive, e.g. can prepare a lesson in the dept office, close lid and open in the lesson and off they go. No delays in logging in, launching the number of ppts, website resources etc. Meetings/CPD they can all be online in the meetings so less paper needed etc We shall see how it pans out! Nobody's dropped one yet and only 1 teacher has forgotten to bring it with them (they get one of the awkward old laptops as punishment!)

Thanks for the input all, going to go with Cambium after comparisons. 5 year warranty/support and full enterprise features gives us that extra confidence in the product.

Thanks @Bev! I've looked at Unifi and I yes I probably put it in the back of my mind because of the warranty. But yup really should have another look at it now I've got all the comparable quotes.

Morning, Just to drag this thread back again, we're also looking at Cambium. Product and price do look very good, and @wright-fi comments sound good, just wondering if you @DavidYoung or @Bev go with them in the end? Cheers

Pointless in the regards very clunky/slow and difficult to get the information I need, even then it's incomplete. The safeguarding report comes through daily, and on the whole that's fine, a lot of false positives but I don't mind that. Main reports I find much quicker for me to use Netsupport DNA and pull the information off there.

Our Smoothwall is up for renewal end of November, are people still recommending them or are there better/cheaper options out there? Searching the forum Sophos XG (Or is that just a firewall) and Lightspeed We've got RM Broadband & Unify, so could very easily implement the RM Safetynet which from the bumpf looks like its improved a lot, but no hardware firewall on site so assuming that would leave me requesting changes. Smoothwall is ticking along ok on the whole, never really had much issue with the Smoothwall system. The GUI is a touch basic these days, and he reporting section is pointless. Would like something that had better reporting system. Any thoughts appreciated! Gaz

Sorry, half term etc got in the way of looking into it further. Was put off with the simplistic nature of the software - but think for the money it'll be worth a go as a trial. Already got on site backups in 2 buildings. Just wanting that little more resilience off site and seemed very reasonable.

We had to do this a couple times, but they were devices for home use. So set them up, kept them off the network and the only software I'd put on was office but purchased a separate home licence for it as part of the LAC money. I have the same train of thought as you. The software is the schools, the laptops are effectively the Student's device. So any software the needing putting on for ease I would buy a separate licence (again would add to the LAC quote) or recommend an alternative open source. That saying, never saw them again after being handed out, I hope they're used at home for the right reasons and not sold at local carboot but that's out of my hands I guess.

We've had a Chromebook scheme for the 6th form run for the past 4 years, Stone winning the deal the last couple years. They use a company called Freedom tech, who deal with all the payment chasing etc. We get about 90% buy in, those who don't buy can borrow a device from the library during the school hours. The chromebooks (Acer 14 FHD) scheme we do is over 12months - paid in 10 installments though due to Year 12 not getting officially offered a place until a set date and they could leave at the end of year 12 so want to ensure we've had the money before they leave. Works out around the £30pm - £360 (they can pay all upfront for a discount too) - includes Case, Google Admin Licence, Insurance, Warranty for a year. Which is fine, but when in Year 13 we have pursuade them to insure or claim under house insurance. Not ideal, but this year we're able to offer 3years for no additional costs so will make that much better. We get the odd grumble from Parents saying they can get them cheaper from Amazon etc. I wouldn't mind them buying a Chromebook themselves as long as they agree for us to put the management licence on to push out settings etc, we remove them once they finish at the school, but SLT would rather everyone has the same device etc and as said before we get such a high buy in it seems to work.

hummm, client software from the help guide looks pretty basic and more geared up for Businesses backing up NAS drives etc.

Just looking around a different Offsite backup options and found https://backupintelligence.com/uk-pricing-plans/ (CeeJay Software) which seems very cheap. Almost too cheap, unless I'm missing something? Messaged them and they'll backup servers for £7.50 pm unlimited data per server. Just wondering if anybody has used them. A search in edugeek brings up posts from 4/5 years ago so nothing recent regarding them. Thanks,

We're always at 80-90% full, I just thought it was a limitation of DNA Will have a look at getting a full SQL licence then Cheers for the info.

Morning Direct Access experts! Trying to get our finance director working via direct access and it's been working fine on her Virgin broadband and phone hotspot until the weekend. Now just sticks on 'Connecting' When the laptop is connected with her phone, she can search the internet and access the Directaccess server via the browser so it's not a proxy/signal/connection issue. However, If I use my phone hotspot direct access works?! If I log in with a test account on the same laptop or different laptop, and connect with her phone it works. Used the Direct Access troubleshooting tool and that all comes back ok. And the server is all up ok, but the fact it's working for others means it's not the server? All devices rebooted (bar the server) etc So ruled out the phone connection, the laptop and the server.... what the ? Seems it's almost black flagged her phone if used on that laptop, but how or where?. Anybody got any amazing powershell scripts or clues to look for to help? Willing to clutch any straws!

Exactly the plan their wanting. I may have to PM you if that's ok when we're closer to going ahead to pick your brain if that's ok?

Humm, certainly food for thought. As expected, it's a route with many pitfalls. Still with SLT to discuss with the teaching staff, so be interesting to get their perspective - once the initial "ooh free shiny laptop" phase wears off do they want the additional potential issues of connecting etc I am more of a Desktop fan, but can see their arguments. Perhaps look to investing a bit more in systems like Work Folders or Foldr for remote working. Or making better use of Onedrive.

Afternoon All, Currently all classrooms have a desktops, however, these are now 5yrs old and needing investment. We looked at replacing all Desktops, however, we'd like the staff to be able to work more flexibly from home, in meetings etc. We've got Directaccess setup and working, so wondering if the time to provide all staff laptops is now? Do away with desktops and just have a USB-C dock, one cable to connect and away they go. SLT are realistic about the additional costs required - e.g. surplus for emergency loans & Supply staff etc, batteries, even getting an apprentice in to aid with the additional support needed. So at least they realise that it needs this sort of backing. I've always preferred the desktop solution, and no laptops for teachers - RDS available for them on personal devices at home. But SLT are trying to encourage staff to have a better work life balance e.g. letting them leave the school if they've got a free last lesson to try be more flexible working hours. So in turn thinking how best to enable that. Any thoughts, I've read a few other posts about schools doing this and what to look out for? And also, heard a lot about Intune, could this be the best way to go with these as well? Gaz

They've got some on Stone's refurb side: https://www.encore-pc.co.uk/desktops/apple

Trying to use Unity in a sandbox without network access. Anybody else doing that, or am I just making things harder for myself. Thought I could have 1 programming virtual box and all would be well. Sadly, although I can activate Unity as soon as I disable the network it doesn't let me launch the software. I've both manual offline activation process and the online way. Both same result, loads fine with internet activated etc. But dead end offline. Unity support hasn't been much help either.

We are, to be honest It's slightly quicker that it used to be. But in essence the same system, I personally haven't really noticed that much of a difference. It still looks pretty basic looking unengaging website with a HTML5 version of the Silverlight management backend that you're possibly using now, which again looks the same. I'm not sure our current Librarian (new to the role) is really using it that much, bar scanning in and out of the books. We don't use the reviews, student logging in etc - So it's not that fully utilised. We would have jumped shipped had the last librarian been still here, but she left so they decided to keep MLS to save too much change. So stuck with it for the moment.

Thanks all, does seems most likely to be the TNC one. Cheers, will give https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/telemetry-antennas/1336554/ a go and see what happens!

Our sports hall scoreboard controller antenna has been broken off So seeing what replacements I can cobble together, but no idea what connector it is to find the right antenna. I've emailed the company but it's so old I'm not sure they'll be able to help. Anybody else know what this is? SMA? RF? Thanks!

We have one teacher who continuously sprays herself with perfume which results in the id badge gets a coating and dissolves the picture/writing. She's had quite a few replacements now, should really be charging for them!

We went for https://www.avpartsmaster.co.uk/p-65985-epson-eb-695wi-projector.aspx and teacher loving it. Got other teachers now wanting them in their rooms. They never liked the 65" LCDs we were trying to put in and we couldn't afford the 75"

We don't supply laptops to Staff, so that's not really an option sadly. Will speak to SLT, but think we'll go with disabling Offline files option also - just need to see if this will have a knock effect for the Chromebooks we have for 6th form.

Those that use it, how do you deal with Offline files being stored on Staff PCs at home? I'm assuming this isn't encrypted on the PC so in theory a lost/stolen or compromised PC we'd have a data breach. Putting the ol GDPR hat on and wondering how best to configure. Disable Offline files ability?