Robbocop

Sounds like a plan! Either that or take a chance with one on eBay! Best wishes, Rob

Hi James, It doesn't sound too hopeful, does it? Check if the iMac you have is one with a mini DVI output on it. If so, you might try connecting an external monitor to see if that works. If it does, the graphics chipset is working fine and the screen has failed (most likely explanation). You can phone an Apple service centre (edit: No pushing your warez! Ric_) and they'll give you a repair estimate, but I don't think replacement screens are particularly cheap, I'm afraid.

Same as Keith, I don't want to be accused of spamming, but we supply LanREV Home: LANrev - Automated Client Management for Mac and Windows Computers and Software which we partner with because it supports both Windows and Mac and is really powerful and flexible. Have a quick look at their site to see what you can do with it, and let me know if you need more info.

Talks a lot of sense that guy. The rest of them seem to be in a head spin

Just been watching James Quarles from Dell talking about Dell's vision of the connected Classroom Video: What a connected classroom looks like | IT PRO This is great, but slightly embarrassing for Dell, given that everyone in teaching is already using this stuff, and people like Microsoft, Apple, Frog, Smart, Promethean (honestly, I'd run out of space if I listed them all) have been talking about this sort of thing for years. Where on earth have they been? It's scary that the biggest name in education PCs seems to have only just realised where teaching is going... What does everyone else think?

Hi there. Well the CGSecurity link posted by abullett looks pretty good, although you're at your own risk I guess with that sort of thing. If you purchased Applecare with your Mac you might well already have Techtool Pro https://support.apple.com/techtooldeluxe/main?id=dl or know someone who does. In all events though please make absolutely sure the OS version you have is supported before running any recovery software. If you end up having to buy something, Micromat Techtool Pro, ProSoft Drive Genius and Data Rescue, and Alsoft Disk Warrior are the big boys. Hope that helps and sorry I can't think of anything else at the mo.

I think in the end we're all hoping that Apple will release a replacement for apple TV which would basically be a fully fledged Mac Mini, but with HDMI and even possibly a component break out. The above posts say it all. The Mini is quiet, capable and well behaved. As a media server combined with a browser/emalier it makes a great home computer with an HDTV attached. Have no fear about using DVI-D to HDMI cables, by the way. They work fine. If anyone out there wants to get either optical out from an older Mac that doesn't have it, or perhaps (my case) optical and analogue audio at the same time, I can recommend the cheap little M-Audio Transit usb interface. Dead simple.

There's very little around at that sort of price level I think. If you can budget in the 20 - 25 quid range these Audio Technicas are quite good They are a boundary mic which means you just plonk them on a flat surface like a desk or even blutac to a wall, and they pick up in a hemispherical (dome shaped) pattern. So they're great for recording discussions and conversations with several students sitting round a table. Should do what you're looking to do. They're good for music evidence and for voice overs (video diaries, podcasts and so on). They take a little LR44 coin battery, which I tend to buy in multi packs off eBay.

The email you received just refers to your membership of the CLP licencing scheme, and not to your ownership of the CS3 licences, so don't worry. When we sell CLP licences to a school we have to set up the school with a CLP account. At that point you are able to buy Adobe software are extremely good discounts. The licences you buy are permanent and won't expire, but the CLP contract will expire eventually. When it does you'll get one of these emails, and you need to follow the link and renew your membership if you want to have access to those discounts. Under CLP any software you buy, even single licences, is discounted, so it's a great scheme. The level at which you can renew depends on how much software you have bought, so when you fill out the online form, apply to renew at the level they have told you (in your case, level S) - which may or may not be the same level as you started on. There are 3 levels altogether, offering better discounts for bigger users. I hope that helps you, but please do ask if you need any info - I know it's complicated!

Sted: Agreed. However mostly we've found that people are reluctant to modify the schema. For a handful of Macs Centrify is really cheap. However, as it's a cost per client Mac, an XServe works out far cheaper on large numbers of Macs, and as XServes come with an unlimited SAL client count, you don't need to buy any more licences if you choose to add more Macs later. If you're happy to (or allowed to!) modify the schema, that's fine.

Sadly, there have been a raft of problems with batteries from several manufacturers over the last couple of years. Apple's white Macbook batteries have been affected. Although batteries do have a warranty, buying them second hand or from eBay doesn't generally give you that extra security. Take the Macbook and batteries to your local dealer or Apple Store and ask them to test them. My guess is that both batteries are faulty, but you should have the machine checked as well just in case the fault is within the Macbook. Batteries cost the best part of a hundred quid, but given the short (roughly 3 years?) lifespan I would never buy a second hand one. How could you tell how long it will last?

Good info on this thread already, so just to agree that you can bind your Macs to AD easily, and depending on what groups are using them that might do the job - ie if you don't need client lock down. If you want to lock them down you would either need an XServe or a Mac running as a server (with a licence for OSX Server software), or you can buy licences (one per client Mac required) for Centrify Active Directory Integration for Mac OS X which allows you to set Mac permissions for Mac clients directly on the windows server without changing your schema. The other thing you might want to investigate in Extreme Z-IP PC to Mac Issues? | Try Extreme-ZIP | Group Logic which allows the Windows server to talk to the Macs in their native AFP file format. This is quicker, and gets rid of the double files normally generated by the Macs. Both can be downloaded as trials and both are really good.

Given that the Mac works fine on mains power the problem must be battery related. The battery on many white Macbooks is underneath the bit you're pressing on, so I would guess that it's disconnecting when you press it. Yes, it could be an internal electrical problem. However, there were a few documented cases of Apple, sony and Toshiba batteries swelling slightly in use, so you could have a battery which has gone out of shape. If you know someone else with a similar model, you might want to ask if you can just try their battery in your Mac to see if a different battery cures the problem. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but it could be simply a case of replacing the battery. Your local Apple dealer or Apple Store might be able to help you by trying a different battery for you while you wait.

Screenshots would be good. I use MySpace all the time on Macbook, Macbook Pro and iMacs, from OSX 10.5 to 10.6 using Safari and it works absolutely fine. You might want to check that all the fonts are available to all log ins. I've seen display format anomolies caused by some fonts being disabled. Just a thought.

I notice Toshiba UK have yet another cash back offer going. These have been pretty much continuous for months now, reminding me of the furniture giant MFI with their permanent sale!

If your log ins seem reasonably quick then I suspect it's the caching problem mentioned above. We often set up suites of Macs using the portable home folder strategy, which syncs the user's home folder on log in, allows the user to work locally (very fast) and then syncs again on log off. This works really well where you can get students to use the same machine each time, but causes slow log ins if they switch to a different machine. Also, on Macbooks it's not so good because there's a danger of students shutting the lid before the sync has completed. Fundamentally, Macs are very "chatty" on the network, and if the home folder resides on your windows servers you'll notice that it balloons in size as soon as a user logs on from a Mac. Macs deposit a lot of Library (System) stuff in there and have to keep referring to it. So ALWAYS use gigabit E for Macs, and if it's still slow, redirect your scratch disks and temporary caches to the local drive. Anything using large files will benefit from this, and particularly video editing (iMovie for example) will be much more comfortable. I hope that helps you. I'm a consultant, not a technician, but this is the kind of thing our technical guys recommend when they install Mac suites.