ToyHeartsFan

Side note - Link2ict say that schools shouldn’t be using IE9 because the wonderful Birmingham HR Portal won’t work with it… Still on XP and IE8 but once had one teacher / the admin office complain that when they marked the register the results were not recorded. It turned out the teacher was marking the register late. I don’t know if there is a time frame set some where or if it was because the office had the registers open to check attendance. Also if they logged into eportal and left the session open too long that caused problems. I know you said you didn’t want to use firefox but there is an msi version with adm templates from these guys which I’ve used on a few admin machines in the past when we had problems with IE. I only used the basic template so it wasn’t really locked down so I had to be selective about whom I deployed it to. Trying an alternative browser is probably the only way you will confirm if it’s an IE issue or something else. Download FrontMotion Firefox CE I don't restart the services every night but I do run this scheduled task "run at system startup" because server reboots seem to upset eportal. ::------------------------------------------------------------------ :: This is just a trial startup script used to restart Eportal :: The eportal service doesnt always populate the user login detail after a server reboot :: Stopping then restarting the Eoptal services can fix this most times :: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- :: note using "net start" on its own will list running services :: :: Source of code MS-DOS/MSDOS Batch File Command Reference :: crude way of adding a pause using ping command to ping the computers local ip :: nul command stops the ping results being displayed (1 sec pasue between each ping) :: :: Note that the Facility Eportal service is dependent upon the Facility Data Server service ::-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @echo This will wait 4 mins for the server to load then stop and restart Eportal :: Insert delay of (4min = 300 Seconds) 300 = 300(+1) seconds ping -n 301 127.0.0.1 >NUL Net stop "Facility Eportal" Net stop "Facility Data Server" :: Insert delay of 20 = 20(+1) seconds ping -n 21 127.0.0.1 >NUL Net start "Facility Data Server" Net start "Facility Eportal" ::------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other thing to check - could the Eportal service be crashing?

“I've never had compatibility issues between Open and MS.” Basic stuff should be fine but I’ve seen a teacher try to open a word doc that had a fairly complex table in it and it just didn’t work correctly in the free software that had been preinstalled on his home laptop (don’t ask me what it was I cant remember!). I believe there is also an issue with some formulas if you are tying to use an open version of excel. “Actually, by April we may not have LEA support. No-one is quite sure what's happening... I heard the phrase "they're in meltdown" this morning.” If your council is stupid enough to close the LEA ICT support then I think you have got more to worry about than what OS you are going to use. In fact I would be looking at a supplier that could offer more support rather than going it alone. It might be that your LEA ICT doesn’t do much but ours provides our broadband connection, content filtering, antivirus software, esafety software, mail hosting, vle hosting, remote support, vpn connections etc, etc… they are not cheap and are far from perfect but if the plug got pulled on them … eeekk “Anyway... can we move away from the "Linux is teh hard... u gonna break it. Uze teh Windows". You have a working network and you want to replace it with a solution that your LEA doesn’t support, that you haven’t used before and that will introduce compatibility issues and a steep learning curve for both yourself and the schools users. Yes it could work out fine but if it doesn’t it will have an immediate negative effect upon the education of the children at your school and your head will be on the chopping block. A quick google reveals that RM is supporting cc3 until MS drop XP i.e. April 2014 so I would suggest sticking with CC3 until Summer 2013 which gives you plenty of time to look at solutions and test things if you do decide to go down the linux route.

I once had a microsoft driver update mess up an admin PC to the point where I gave up and reinstalled the PC - I've not used MS for driver updates since! (I think it was the onboard graphics that it borked)

Yes but you immediately have a compatability issue when trying to open old docs or if someone from outside the school sends you a file which is the problem with open office etc... It sounds like the school has not invested in software, if you can find free alternatives great but you will need to provide training for the staff / children and you wont be able to install SEN software etc... that is designed for a MS OS. How exactly do you deploy software on linux anyway? It takes about 5min when you have an msi on a MS network I wouldnt know where to start on a linux network. sorry but - lol So your LEA told the school they had to use CC3 because that is all they will support and your school is now going to log linux related issues with them... If you were a linux god I would still have some reservations but for a noob... By all means (as long as you have got some form of esafety system that works on linux) use your old PCs to run linux for web browsing or any other specific tasks you have identified but replacing a working CC3 network with linux is just...

No WSUS server? How do you push out microsoft updates? "Will having all users and shares on one server cause problems, should they be spread out?" - It's the disk access thats the killer if you are running a lot of apps / media from the server but you later say your using a SAN? so I cant see it making any difference.

EEEEK - you want to replace a managed cc3 network with linux when you are a linux noob I would stick with your cc3 network until RM kill it off... How much of the schools software will run on linux what about the schools mis solution? or are you = me Your LEA was a bit out of line forcing cc3 on you but I do understand their point a single system is a lot easier to support. "It's just the cost... So damn expensive" - What cost? The client licences? The cost of their hardware? The cost of RM support? The client licences are expensive because they include things like printer management software. You can buy hardware from any supplier you want it doesnt have to be RM. You can drop all RM support except the updates because you are already paying your LEA for support. Have your LEA said what their plans are for upgrading from cc3 to cc4 if its their recommended solution? When your linux network breaks and your school cant call the LEA tech and your at home in bed with the flu who is going to fix it for them?

“1)Get rid of RM. 2)Get rid of RM.” I sense a theme here… lol I can’t really comment on CC4 because I have never used it but CC3 worked well when I was supporting it at one school. I think CC4 had bugs and caused problems when they first rolled it out but it’s been around some time now and should be pretty stable. The client licenses are indeed quite expensive but everyone forgets that if they ditch it they then need to go out and buy separate programs for printer accounting, user management, netschool / netop (what ever teacher monitoring / control program is the current flavour of the month) etc… It sounds like you are a one man band so replacing the network in house although not impossible could be very taxing. In your situation I would get a number of the major suppliers in and tell them you want a new solution with W7, 2008R2 servers etc… and see what they can offer you. I’m in a similar boat as we are still XP (Vanilla) but as of yet I have no idea what next years ICT funding is going to be and we don’t have the licences in place to upgrade yet. If you are doing it in one go i.e. workstations, servers, software upgrade then you will probably need multiple quotes because of the cost. Yes you can go Vanilla but don’t rule out RM just yet give them a chance to quote with the others. I only support one school now because it got to the point were there wasn’t enough hours in the day, one was cc3 the other vanilla both had around 700 pupils on role. The networks were like chalk and cheese i.e. local install and next to no security on the vanilla and RMs package creator and everything pretty much locked down on the RM network by default. I’ve locked the vanilla network down, setup wsus etc, etc… but don’t expect it to all happen over night vanilla networks are a lot of work but work well once you have got them setup.

+1 ram test 1st then download hdd diags from hdd manufacturer and run extended hdd test +1 system restore you will probably have to reimage though...

So you want to replace their illegal file with an illegal Rick Astley track

Microsoft don't end extended support until April 2014: Microsoft Support Lifecycle So Summer 2013 is the last big hol you get to migrate, leaving an upgrade until summer 2014 would leave your network unsupported for 3 months so would be best avoided...

Not yet but we are in the process of getting wireless quotes and I'm not sure what devices we will end up with. The whole management and Esafety side of non-windows devices concerns me. We use policy central for ESafety which we wouldnt be able to install unless we stick with windows. It has also taken me years to get away from having unmanaged PCs / laptops. Everything is currently on the network and updates / applications get pushed out from the servers. Some of these devices seem a step backwards in so many ways when you need to manage them centrally. Ideally we need W8 sooner rather than later but then the devices will be more expensive which is why windows tablets never took off before in education. sorry to sound negative but its a problem I expect to be facing shortly...

I have used CC3 in the past and was quite happy with it but XP hasn’t got long left. If you are sticking with CC3 for now then you will need additional CC3 client licences which are quite expensive. If you are ditching CC3 either for Vanilla or CC4 then I would forget about XP altogether and go with W7 from the start. We are still using XP and I have not long purchased some refurbished PCs which came with 4GB of ram but we are still using 32bit XP. I don’t think you will notice much difference between a machine that shows 3GB and one with 4GB. If you are sticking with XP for 12 / 18 months then it might be easier to stick with 32bit unless you have already tested all of your drivers / software. RE: your PCs made with laptop parts – the hard drives in laptops are usually 5400rpm jobs and performance takes a big hit, have you thought about buying a few SSD’s and seeing if it gives them a second life? RE: beastly computers - custom built. Cutting edge always has a price premium attached. In most cases i7s are overkill and an i3 / i5 would be fine although I would give serious thought to ditching the hard drives and buying into ssd if I was ordering new PCs now. I also agree with the earlier post about having a plan in place and looking at upgrading the infrastructure but as long as its reasonable i.e. gig uplinks between switches and the servers on gig nics then I would sort the servers / workstations out first (assuming you do stick with fat clients).

A quick google suggests that Panasonic purchased a controlling stake in Sanyo back in 2009 and that they might kill off the Sanyo brand name in April. It's possible that some of their projector models will be killed off if there is a Panasonic equivalent but I doubt that anyone actually knows for sure. Projector models change quite frequently as it stands so it shouldn't have a major impact. The only additional problem you need to watch out for when replacing a Sanyo projector with something different is the lens position because Sanyo put it on the opposite side to almost all other makes so it can potentially increase installation costs because the pole might need moving. We have started using the Casio LED projectors instead of Sanyo and although its early days we are happy with them so far.

IEC (3core cable) to figure 8 (2core cable) = safe to use as figure 8 devices do not require an earth cable (double insulated) figure 8 (2core cable) to IEC (3core cable) = they shouldn't be available because you would effectively be cutting the earth connection on the IEC socket so your equipment is no longer earthed.

Every now and again one of our servers stops talking to the APC UPS its plugged into and I have to pull the usb cable out and plug it back it so they talk to each other again. The Servers that are connected with a good old fashioned serial cable actually cause less problems luckily it doesnt happen very often. It's been a while since I checked for updates but the cds they supply with the software on are usually out of date and you will probably find a newer version you can download from APC's website.

Hardware faults can sometimes show up during an install even though XP was working ok before I'm afraid it doesn't mean much! I would also think about running hdd diags if mem diags pass ok. You could also use one of the free disk tools to wipe the drive so you know there isn't any junk left on there from the old installs. Is your copy of XP upto date i.e. with the SP3 on it? Don't you need at least SP2 for drives over 137GB?

Not one I've heard of before - thanks I might send them an email if I dont get any joy from the companies I've already asked. Oh and when I say high the caretaker reckons the cage is approx 20 feet and there is another 6 feet or so to the ceiling Tempus installed them originally and they now need replacing but Tempus went into Administration before Xmas

Stick in google "hp 48 port gigabit poe switch" eg: = HP E2910-48G-PoE+ 48 Port Gigabit PoE Switch with Gb fiber (J9148A) - www.misco.co.uk Don't expect to find a cheap HP managed 48 port poe gigabit switch! I thought switches either provided poe on all ports or not at all so I don't think you will find a 48 port HP with poe on just 8 of the ports. You could get a couple of small say - 16 port poe switches and get a normal 48 port as the core, also check what injectors the access points manufacturer recommends short term it would be cheaper to use injectors it depends if they are going to expand the wireless network any time soon. One thing to be careful of is the size of your cabs as some of these switches might be too deep for old cabs!

Yes - I've had a handful of the casio led projectors and a few brackets from them and have not had any problems with the service. They accept official purchase orders from schools. They offer an installation service as well (I haven't used it yet) and I asked them for a quote but they haven't got back to me with one yet but to be fair its not a simple installation due to the height of the ceilings in our halls (i'ts a scaffold job) and I'm having problems getting quotes from anyone, one company just said no and the others are dragging their feet...

I’ve had a look at the terms and this is where you need a lawyer… My best guess would be that your use would not be classed as commercial but don’t quote me on that! E.you agree not to use the Service (including the YouTube Player) for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain YouTube's prior written approval: i.the sale of access to the Service ii.the sale of advertising, sponsorships or promotions placed on or within the Service, or Content; iii.the sale of advertising, sponsorships or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website containing Content delivered via the Service unless other material not obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value to be the basis for such sales F.prohibited commercial uses shall not include (i) uploading an original video to YouTube, (ii) maintaining an original channel on the Website in order to promote a business or artistic enterprise, (iii) showing YouTube videos through the YouTube Player or otherwise on an ad-enabled blog or website, subject to those advertising restrictions set out in 5.1(E)(iii) above; and (iv) any use that is expressly authorised by YouTube in writing; Edit: Google own youtube and I believe they are planning on re-writting a number of the terms so they are the same across all of the services they provide so they might change the T&C's. If they do hopefully they will make them some what clearer!

Well school use is non-commercial (unless it’s a fee paying school?) and if you give the kids the link and tell them to watch it they are using it for “personal” use are they not? You did ask if it was OK to download clips from youtube and they clearly say that it is not allowed, although as I’m sure you are aware there is software on the net that can capture / download streaming content from youtube. But using such software is against youtubes terms and conditions. If you ignore the terms and download videos you could come unstuck if any of them turn out to be under copyright and are found on your servers. Just a thought but it might not just be due to lost revenue from ad clicks although they do have to pay for the site somehow. If they said people could download content then they could be classed as a file sharing site and potentially be sued / closed down if material that was under copyright was shared on the site. If they don’t let people download files and they remove any content that is reported they are a lot less likely to get sued / closed down.

No you can't: Nutzungsbedingungen - YouTube L.you agree not to access Content or any reason other than your personal, non-commercial use solely as intended through and permitted by the normal functionality of the Service, and solely for Streaming. "Streaming" means a contemporaneous digital transmission of the material by YouTube via the Internet to a user operated Internet enabled device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be downloaded (either permanently or temporarily), copied, stored, or redistributed by the user.

^This I think I once read 30c was about the max after that RM said it voided the warranty. Running components hot stresses them and reduces their lifespan. Ours sits around the 20c mark unless I'm working in there and feeling cold then it might get turned up a few degrees. ^And the noise it makes will send you deaf!

I haven't heard anything about Sanyo pulling out of projectors but being a school that uses Promethean boards we have a lot of them. The older Sanyos have worked ok but they were never really bright enough, 2 out of 3 of the old XP50's we have in our halls have died despite not being used enough to require a lamp change and we have had problems with 3 out of 4 Sanyos from the last batch we purchased. I purchased a number of the Casios M150s and so far I'm very happy with them. What ever you pick as a replacement remember the lens is on the opposite side on a Sanyo to almost all other makes so even if the throw distance is ok you might need to move the pole.

Fume extraction cupboard in science lab? Shame I work in primary now - lol