indiegirl

Budget is tighter than a duck's.... Anyway, £400 max is the limit y'see, otherwise I'd have Apple'd myself up eons ago...

Which of the three below would you choose? (answer in the poll above) Yes I am a cheapskate, and yes I only need a cheap 'n cheerful laptop - primarily for surfing & basic use; but FM2007 might be required (;-)). If anyone has any warnings about running Linux on any of them, do impart your information as I plan to dual-boot... #1 - Dell Inspiron 1501. clicky AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL50, 1024MB Memory, 120GB Hard Drive, 8X DVD Writer, 15.4" WXGA LCD... Windows Vista Business. #2 - Lenovo C200 clicky CoreDuo 1.73GHz 1GB 80GB DVDRW VistaHome. #3 - Dell 6400 clicky Intel Dual-Core T2080 1.73GHz, 1024MB, 120GB, 8x DVD Writer, 15.4" WXGA Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Vista Business

It's a nerve thing... I'm not keen on doing it without the assurance that the spare's built. Think I've found my answer though - the HP array config reports that the rebuild is still in process!! That's 36hrs since it was started... methinks I have a problem...

OK, quick question. Without physically being at the server, how does one know when a disk array- that's set to have the hot spare automatically rebuild when a disk fails- is complete? I want to pull (well, ask someone near the server) the failed disk but without confirmation that my rebuild on the hot spare is complete I'm a bit nervous to. However this is the first time I've had to do this and the first time I've worked with one of these (HP Proliant with a 6400 SCSI Raid controller and the HP array config utility). Any pointers as to how I know when that hot spare has completed the rebuild? (yes I know it would help if I knew where the hot spare was assigned to in the first place...) Any advice appreciated (I'm on my own today and scrabbling for ideas.. so I thought I'd raid (no pun intended) my favourite forum)

They piggyback on the T-Mobile network... (as far as I am aware, anyway!)

I think an Edugeek group is necessary... can we ex-pat Edugeekers join as well?! It was blocked at our old school, as any 'social networking' site was (when I was there, anyway). I prefer Facebook to MySpace as users feel no need to 'pimp' their spaces, one standard format seems to work well, for all. It's clean, simple and easy to manage (in my view).

I was an assistant network manager in the lofty SE, started on 17k in 2004, left on 19k in 2006. Have had a substantial payrise since leaving local govt and moving to the outside world; and don't regret leaving at all. Great stepping-stone and learning environment, schools are though

I've done it before, and I'll recommend Demon again. Been with them for over 2 years now at two houses (both too far from the blinking exchange for a decent speed ) and have never had a problem. Will be reconnecting to them when I move again (unless I can find a better deal). I don't have a static IP and am on the Home Office for £20 a month. (well, £31 if you include BT line rental). I don't get the random disconnections that jopijedd gets, in fact my connection is usually up for months on end before power cuts usually knock the router off.

Mmm, I appear to be up and running despite the ndis installation not going smoothly. However, and I don't know if anyone else suffers with this; my wireless connection randomly drops, but reconnects almost immediately. Otherwise, things are running smooth, fine and all happy

I've had problems with wireless too. It detects my onboard wireless (which is an old b style). However, although it detects and uses my 3com pcmcia card - it then proceeds to 'drop' the card every time it boots up, and happily forgets that I've disabled the onboard wireless!

It was a cack ending... anyway, who in their right mind would choose to stay in '73 when they'd spent the entire two series trying to get back to the modern day?? I was a bit disappointed, but like Mattx says, leaving it in 73 assists with the roll on to the 1980s with the next episode... although I've heard that it's a similar format, just a girl this time.

Well done Norphy... I shall wave as I drive through Newport in the mornings (I go through there every single day, and on the roads between the Olney and Newport sites!) It's not that bad around there actually, I can think of worse schools *whistles* ;-)

I know someone who might be interested in this.... I've forwarded it onto them....

Nope, it's not mine.... :-D (but every time a job comes up in MK you'll question it, won't you?!) Oakgrove is a newly built school not too far from where I live at the moment. There's ongoing work with a Leisure centre which is halfway to completion and is attached to the school (or is it open Matt?). The area itself is surrounded by what I'd describe as some of the 'better' areas in MK... and that's not just because I live nearby!! MK3 is the salary that SYSMAN quotes, about average (maybe a little less than average) for a junior techie in the wannabe city. Oakgrove's been open just over a year now - but that's all I know about it! I'm sure that Matt can tell you more about it though :-D

I had some custom cages made up for our towers in the music dept but I can't remember the company off the top of my head. IIRC the cages were about £25, but I'll check later. We have also used Wobbler Alarms in the past, which made my delicate ears bleed.....

A lady should never reveal her age... (I'm in the [currently] most popular group) I've been in IT for nearly 6 years, was in Education for two and a half of those years, but my experience is varied, only three years of my 6 have been in a Windows environment...

All I can suggest is what we sourced for our Exams Officer.... that was a HP all-in-one printer/fax/scanner/doodah. All singing, all dancing and not too heavy on consumables, or rather it wasn't in the time she abused it up until my departure (about 9mths). Fax alone, I'd hazard a guess at Brother, but you might want to research the consumable costs first before choosing one!

Demon Net here. The only problem I have with them is their overseas callcentre, but the actual ADSL is top notch. There appears to be no throttling and my connection has *touches wood* never gone down in the year I've been with them at my current address, and for a year previous at my old address. £20/mth and no download limits - perfect for a heavy-user like me...

All schools in MK closed as well... ... now I'm gutted that I don't work in a school any more... I'm in work today (although not many people are). The joys of working in a remote location... (and yes, it's really remote...)

Reverting back to the OP's thread, if I may (and then digressing slightly later)... for any student I spoke to in our school who wanted to work in the field of IT, I said the same thing: don't go to uni... get yourself an apprenticeship or a techie job in a school or small business and work your way up. As has been debated on here experience counts as much for, if not more than, qualifications. My personal belief is that it would be much more useful to gain the knowledge and experience whilst studying for the formal quals. I went down the university route, in fact I have a degree in English and the extent of my knowledge about IT was how to use MS Office when I left uni. I have been very fortunate so far in that my first job was a graduate job with a large bank, who put me through eons of IBM training to qualify me as a Sys Admin in AIX. I was late to Windows, not starting on the server side until I was 23 and got bored of the UNIX stuff. I dropped a silly amount of money and went to work for a solicitors as a 2nd/3rd line helpdesk bod in an environment completely foreign. Needless to say, I have no idea why I got that job and why they employed me. However, I started to learn and was just finding my feet when I got the job in a school... they weren't bothered by my lack of qualifications but were happier with my enthusiasm to learn. The same with my current job - I still have no formal IT qualifications which are useful to my current role; they have already told me that they aren't bothered by qualifications as long as the experience is there. That said, in order to bring me up to the same standard as everyone else they are going to pay for me to do my MCSE etc etc (basically I've been told: "do what courses you think is required"). Then a BCS nomination come July... and I start wondering why I ever left industry... But yes, back to my original point - any hands-on 'earn as you learn' style courses or jobs for students these days are, in my opinon, worth more than studying for degrees and exams which provide no practical experience. One of the lads in my old sixth form has just landed himself a role with Zenos. he's only getting EMA allowance whilst he learns but will walk out with experience and an MCSA, which he can at least build on for the future... with no student loan debts to speak of... lucky thing! I personally think it's a fantastic route and wish I'd had the same thing available to me ten years ago...

;-) (ish) But not because of my exposés... I understand DB's reluctance to step into the limelight, however. I'm also impressed that his hair is longer (and in better condition) than mine. Tsk...

TM... so, so SO tempting...

Needless to say, whilst my sinful side was tempted, my saintly side shone through and I sent him the greatest email he's ever had. It contained what is literally a walkthrough on how to do everything (and will stop him from misinforming my eventual replacement) that I've ever had to do there (thus entitled: The IT Bible). It also reminded him to run the backups (we do a monthly Friday backup - I wrote the numbered tapes he'll need to use onto the yearly calendar until NEXT December!) and this email also included a link to an asset database I'd started. Not so much as a 'thank you' from him. Anyway, my thoughts were that he will probably do something to bring the network down himself at some point... something trivial that he'll spend a few hours flapping over; then the truth will come out (and I will be able to say "told you so") For now, I will be enjoying my last two weeks of freedom, before my service "to the Crown" commences...

*curses MK for not having an O'Neills* I don't care what they say about this 'brewed in Dublin' stuff, it still doesn't taste as good over here as it does over there...

Exactly... I might not like him much, but there's rules and ethics that I will abide by. I'm still a professional at the end of the day... I think I will adopt a comment that GD made, which is to do diddly squat - he will show himself up soon enough!