carmeruk

I wouldn't. Sorry capita if you're listening, but why is Solus so dns horrid? As a rule nothing that can deploy goes anywhere near an image. What's the point? For me image building these days is an exercise in default Account management rather than wholesale software installs. Maybe the odd driver but that's about it. Certainly not Solus. That's my two penneth and I'm sticking to it!

We generally have one account for all the tablets. They won't authenticate against ldap or active directory, so to save pain I've found this to be best. I did write this guide to dealing with awkward Chinese tablets if it's any help http://www.edugeek.net/forums/o-s-deployment/116803-how-image-deploy-rk3066-based-android-tablet.html?highlight=Android i've recently ditched OwnCloud as the best way of implementing network storage and switched to Bittorent Sync which is ace at auto syncing files to the existing network and vice versa. We now have an M: drive, the mobile drive that the tablets sync to and from. Due to the limitations android places on us we've tackled this from another direction. We're going to be training the children to administer the file management aspect of the tablets. They are going to be responsible for keeping everything neat and tidy. Let's face it they could hardly do a worse job than the adults have managed thus far in our Windows environment! Personal account based stuff we do on the Classmate laptops and iPads. Horses for courses. Hope this helps.

Yeah I did try this, but there were a few problems. Firstly the tablet is an absolute bugger to get into recovery using the buttons. I could only manage it once in maybe 30 times of trying. Secondly none of the update.zips I tried would work. Brute force installation of CWM was the only reliable method I could get to work. I've been experimenting with ilauncher which gives the tablet the look and feel of an iPad and its rather good. I've written to te author about licensing. I have to say for the money these tablets are turning out to be a bit of a bargain.

Just a thought Presumably if they all have the same id and are logged into the same gmail account, if I were to get a Play store app, I would then be able to automatically update every tablet with the new app as long as I set the sync setting correctly prior to deployment. Licences permitting of course I'll do some testing next week.

MordyT Thanks for your comments. The thread I started here is specifically about cheap Chinese tablets. We don't have unlimited budgets in our school. I wanted a way of being able to put as many tablets in as many childrens hands with as little cost to the school as possible. What I needed to do was build a parallel infrastructure to our existing Windows deployment. These aren't expensive phones or tablets. They cost £60 each. I needed a way to standardise the environment and deploy it across a large number of devices quickly and efficiently. The process I've described above does exactly that, in a way which I hope won't scare Windows admins. It doesn't matter that they all have the same ID (this will deal with that if you really need to change the ID https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=adaptive.cogid&hl=en) They aren't joining a phone network or connecting to the Play store. APK's are going to be placed onto our OwnCloud server and added that way if necessary. They can all connect to the internet with no problem. What this has done is open up a really cheap device for us to use across the school without the massive investment iPads would require. I'm sure there will be other issues, but that is what I'm there for.

Hi all. I recently bought 32 Nurvo tablets for use in our junior school. They were very cheap and well featured but I only had half an idea that I might be able to build and successfully deploy an Android image. I haven't seen any other documentation detailing the procedure so I thought I'd give it a go and write up the steps. I put this post here rather than in the Netbooks, PDA and Phones thread as this is actually an o/s deployment and not a configuration issue. This guide is tailored to devices using the RockChip rk3066 chipset. That's quite a lot of devices but almost any Android device could use a similar procedure. The most difficult part is tracking down what's inside your device. (Thanks to Nurvo for their help with this and thanks to all the people whose tools made this possible). So here we go then, here are the instructions that will allow you to root, image and deploy the image to your Android tablet. Configure your Android device (this is the technician device). Then to deploy the configured image... On the technician device... Step 1 Connect your device via USB. Get this and run it. http://adbdriver.com/upload/AdbDriverInstaller.exe ADBDriverInstaller should find it. Click Install. Step 2 Whilst your device is still connected to your PC, Download and run this on your PC. Dev-Host - Rootx_Setup.exe - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service Filename: Rootx_Setup.exe Size: 2.09 MB (2195203 bytes) Uploaded By: paltrickontpb Uploaded On: 2013-04-18 07:56:32 Downloaded: 454 MD5 Sum: 295db98647e269d2e249390b8504c1d8 File Desc: Rootx app Extract the archive and run Rootx_start.bat. Follow the onscreen instructions. You now have a rooted Device. Step 3. To back up. Install a Terminal Emulator. This is a good one Download Android Terminal Emulator 1.0.52.apk Android app Whilst still attached to the PC you rooted the device on install the apk. Handily ADBDriverInstaller you downloaded to help Root the device in the first place, also contains a link to an excellent APK Installer. Failing that get a terminal emulator from the Play store. Install the Terminal Emulator. Step 4. Download ClockworkMod (CWM) for rk3066 (the generic version is the correct one for the Nurvo) Here is the general page CWM-based Recovery images for RK3066 devices | androtab.info And here is the direct link to the generic CWM for rk3066. http://files.androtab.info/rockchip/rk3066/20130427/RK30GENERIC_CWM.zip Step 5 Install CWM. Connect the device to a pc and...Extract flash_image and recovery.img from CWM.zip. Copy flash_image and recovery.img onto your device,. You may need to install a file explorer that allows root access. I used this one. Install from the Play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.fx&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsIm5leHRhcHAuZngiXQ.. also install the root explorer add on https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.fx.rr. You will need to ensure that you have write access in order to copy these files over. FX Explorer should give you some help on this front. Copy flash_image from the CWM archive to /dev/ on the device and copy recovery.img to /dev/ Disconnect the device from the PC. On the device open a terminal window and get Super User permissions, usually by typing su (return) at the command prompt. Allow any prompt\warnings about permissions. Now type chmod 755 /dev/flash_image /dev/flash_image recovery /dev/recovery.img you may need to disable install-recovery.sh which restores stock recovery on every boot type chmod 644 /system/etc/install-recovery.sh Now in the terminal window type reboot recovery This should put you into recovery mode. Step 6. When in CWM recovery mode; use the volume buttons to move up and down through the menus. The power button will select. Navigate to 'backup and restore' Assuming you have placed an sdcard into the appropriate slot, navigate to 'backup to external sdcard' and select it. Once the backup has finished remove the SDCard. On the target device Step 7. To deploy the image to this device... Insert the sdcard with the fresh CWM backup on it into the target device. Root the target device. (Repeat steps 1 and 2 on this device) Install CWM and put the target device into recovery mode.. (Repeat step 3-5 on this device) Step 8. Select 'backup and restore' Select 'restore from external sdcard'. Scroll down to the backup you wish to restore and select. Wait for the restore to complete. Reboot. That's it! You should now have an imaged Android device. Repeat 32 times Subsequent re-images should be substantially easier as all the rooting and software is now on the device. I hope this helps someone. P.S. You might find it easier to put all the files and apks etc you'll need on the same sdcard as the CWM backup.

If like me you were tempted by these cheap Android tablets and were wondering how to get them into recovery mode when they (ahem) broke. Here's how. Turn the tablet on (it doesn't matter if they hang, like mine did) and do a warm reboot. There’s a reset hole on the back of the tablet; insert an unfolded paperclip whilst holding down the volume down button. Continue to hold until the dead Android with the red triangle graphic appears. Whilst holding down the power button press the volume down button. Recovery mode should now appear. To Root the device do the following; Get this and run it. http://adbdriver.com/upload/AdbDriverInstaller.exe Download and run this Dev-Host - Rootx_Setup.exe - The Ultimate Free File Hosting / File Sharing Service Filename: Rootx_Setup.exe Size: 2.09 MB (2195203 bytes) Uploaded By: paltrickontpb Uploaded On: 2013-04-18 07:56:32 Downloaded: 454 MD5 Sum: 295db98647e269d2e249390b8504c1d8 File Desc: Rootx app Now I've just got to figure out how to install clockworkmod onto it and we're ready to start deploying Android images.

I'm also having problems with the tray and pens. On some machines everything works as expected. On others the tray doesn't work at all but the pen does. On others the pen doesn't register as a pen but as a left click. This happens seemingly arbitrarily on XP and Win 7 machines. I'm running 11 with all patches applied on 800 series boards. The pen acting as a left click is the one that's vexing me at the moment. You have to go into the pen settings and select the pen in order for it to work. This is on Win 7 and an 800 series board. Does anyone else have this problem? Why can't Smart ever get this right?

I've manged to break my original VE200 usb connector (a not uncommon problem) I'd like this new to last a little longer so would like a decent zip up leather case that can hold the enclosure and usb cable. The dimensions in case you're not familiar with the unit are 135.3(L) x 78.6(W) x 13.1(H) mm. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Byzantine is the word I'd use to describe the licencing arrangements. I know there's a healthy discount for schools, which I reckon is a fair exchange as we are educating the next generation of Microsoft users, but the cost and complexity of the licenses inhibit what I'd like to be able to do. I'd virtualise a lot more of the infrastructure if I could afford it. But it seems I am going to end up paying twice for the same thing. There's a fair amount of this in the licencing. Or at least there's the perception there is. It's hard to tell without spending half a day on the phone, checking. So I'd say to Microsoft please rationalise your licencing agreements. Perhaps have pre-built licence packages for a fixed cost. Also could you ask them to sort Win 8 out for desktop users please. At the moment even looking at Metro invokes a special world of pain reserved for my worst support nightmares. Either that or bundle a touch pad with every copy. Thanks

I can't see how Win 8 is going to work without a more traditional desktop experience. It's just too much work for me let alone the average user. I can't see MS shooting themselves in the foot this way. Left unaddressed this will wipe them off the desktop. Paradoxically, I'm liking 2012. It's got a some neat features I'd like to use. However the rationale for migration is diminished by the fact that 8 is basically unusable as a desktop at the moment. Shame really as 8 would be ok if there was a Start menu.

I've just tried to install it on an XP machine with Sp3 on and it fails with the error message that it requires a newer version of Windows Installer. It doesn't say which one, so I'm assuming 4.5. I installed this version and the installation went through with no problems. The documentation doesn't mention this directly in the Notebook docs. It does mention it in the Ink docs and says that the installer is in the Support folder in the Education Installer files. It isn't. Win installer 4.5 isn't pushed out through WSUS and isn't going to be. The 4.5 installer for XP is an exe and can't be deployed through Gpol. So 11 is nixed for XP. Unless someone can be bothered to find a workround, which, frankly, I cant. Good old Smart, when will they learn? *edit* I should mention that we are done with XP but I still have a fair few teacher laptops that are using it. These will be gone as soon as we can afford it, but until then....