Butuz

*falls off chair* Well thats something to tell SMT about!!! Butuz

How many pupils Alan? Andrew

And there's me with £5k for this year :censored: Luckly lucky dabs!!!! Andrew

My last quote the cost saving was less than 10% for an Eco install so I didn't bother. Butuz

They don't provide instructions to do it they insist it should be done by RM. It's not impossible to do it yourself but RM will not support you or your school if you do. Andrew

I would suggest then that the bottleneck could be because your server is connected at 100 TX. I would reccomend you try upgrading the switch to 1000TX so that you can run the server 10x faster than it is currently. That may help. I don't have CC4 so I can not test! Also, out of interest - what is the specification of your CC4 server? Andrew

The fact that slow workstations take the same time to build as new workstations would indicate to me that there is either a Network bottleneck - or a Server bottleneck. When you say "switched 100mbit" do you mean this is the workstation speed or the server speed (or both?) Andrew

Thats such a good idea - I wonder if our excercise bikes, running machines etc etc could somehow be modified so as to harness the energy the kids expend when they excercise... hmmmmmm 1100 human batteries......... - just call me Agent Smith!!! Butuz

Yes I am wondering exactly what you meant about USB sound? I have to admit that however you get sound working - a standard 3.5mm jack would be of preference in my oppinion. Andrew

I've got a few different clients now (HP Windows, HP Unix, Axel) and this is something I wish to try! I am also planning to stress test the different server configurations (Dual Xeons, Dual Quad Core Xeons) to see what difference that makes. Should be interesting! Butuz

Still got a 380z The VDU interface gives me both uppercase and lowercase characters. It amazes me! Butuz

Pretty much all of them - but you have to buy the VESA mounts - they don't come as standard. Andrew

Fair enough Oh and mines a pint of Abbot/Spitfire/Pedigree please landlord Butuz

Congrats Tony! It sounds like a very good move to me, both for you and for your LA and LA Schools. I wish my LA had people like you involved at high levels! Here - have a cool smilie on me! I think maybe it's about time you left educational ICT Grommit - frankly your dissilousionment with the whole system and the way things are going is sad to see. Either embrace change and make the most of it (a'la Tony) or spend the rest of your life struggling to swim in a sea of bitterness and dissapointment - with no arm bands.... Butuz

Would be interested to learn your findings GrumbleDook - LEA are hoping to do this exact thing! Butuz

Thanks Gents - sorted now Butuz

Yeh gotta admit the Axel units have won me over, such a simple design and they do the exact job they need to do at minimal cost. Plug them in, point them towards your MS Terminal Server - job's a good 'un. Also - they are seriously undercutting the price of the Wyse and Igel units. you should be able to get sopme 50% more clients for your money... Butuz

Out of interest Chris - why are you wanting to move to vanilla? I would consider CC4 as an evolution of CC3, building on CC3's strong points and removing some of it's weak points. If you hate CC3 - i wouldnt imagine you would love CC4??? Butuz

Be aware that there are many other factors that can be in play though that you may not be aware of. Does your school have the approprate support contracts in place with said company? I've been to schools that had no support contracts at all yet would still expect said education supplier to jump (how high?) if anything goes wrong, only to be dissapointed - these schools will then rant and rave about how poor said supplier is.....when really the school was at fault all along. After all if they do not pay for support why should the middleware company help out when things go wrong? I have also been to schools where the "network manager" has done no network management for several years, backups not taken, security updates, hotfixes, support packs not installed, antivirus protection not enforced or kept up to date, workstations or servers not maintained, infact, servers shoved in a cuboard under a desk covered with cardboard boxes and paper.... in this case the school was also very quick to blame the middlweware company when the network went down.... I am not trying to defend what as happened in your school as I do not know the full details - I am just trying to make you aware that sometimes middeware companies supply you with goods and services but the school also needs to do it's part in order to keep these goods and services running like clockwork.... Either way - we here at Edugeek are passionate about Educational ICT and we will be happy to provide any help or advice we can. It has been known for members to actually visit other members to help out. I believe that the pupils should come first in a disaster situation - one should not be shy to ask for help - if we can help, we will. Your Network Manager should be made aware of this site, and this thread, and that offers of help are there if he/she needs it. Don't worry about treading on his/her toes - the kids come first. my 2 pence. Butuz

Turn the unit on. The very first time you booy it up it goes into a little set up screen where you can either specify a manual IP address, or set it to use DHCP, You also specify the IP address of a thin client sevrer for it to boot. Then when you boot it up it simply checks the network link, gets DHCP details, then boots to tyour thin client server: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel03.jpg http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel04.jpg http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel05.jpg http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel06.jpg You now have a fully working thin client. Total time it takes to unpack and set up initially? 5 minutes max. Total time it takes to boot to the log in screen? 30 seconds. (thats with DHCP, would be about 22 seconds if you specified an IP address manually). Only thing these current units are missing is a 3.5mil sound jack to pass sound back from the server to the clients. Hopefuly Axel will add this on to future clients as that would make them complete and 10/10. For now I give 9/10. Put it this way - I won't be buying any more HP 5xxx Thin clients. Butuz

I took some pictures. Open the box, take one Axel M70, one power adaptor and one VESA mount kit: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel11.jpg http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel10.jpg Take one TFT Screen with VESA compliant mounting holes: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel08.jpg Screw VESA mount to TFT with the suppled screws: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel07.jpg Slide thin client unit onto the VESA mount, and plug in all cables: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel02.jpg You now have one very neat and tidy and space saving design: http://www.lewisgirlsschool.com/images/reviews/axel01.jpg

My best was a 12.8 @ 110. It was my first time at the strip though so hope to improve next time! Butuz

http://www.stealth-performance.com/drag.jpg Vroom Voom on the drag strip!!! Was much fun :-) Butuz

Yep same here - no problems to report. Butuz

If so can i get in touch with you? Cheers Butuz