tarquel

hehe Tell me about it - we havent had any special funding for anything IT for over 3 years I dont think. Anyone have any ideas on how to get some? 20,000 sheep for the school is only good for one thing.... school dinners lol 20,000 pounds on the other hand... Regards, N.

Just to add a two cents, Powys CC favour Slackware. Its fairly straight-forward to setup and works nicely (cant get the soddin' thing to install properly on my old SCSI-based HP NetServer ) Cheers, N.

Is there something similar with Exchange 2k3? Obviously (to anyone thats used Outlook 2003), it has the email & calander side of things - and a whole lot more I believe - but can it be setup for this sort of thing? If the pupils can log onto their email from home, if there is a feature or add-on to it to allow this, that would be awesome (if it works hehe) Regards, N.

Yep - this is what I've heard of...except I havent been able to do it lol and its probably more hassle to do it anyhow (or is it?) Excellent - thats music to my ears Few small questions: - Does it use much resources? - Can the space it uses be on a different HD to the installed dir in C? [i plan on whacking in a ATA drive just for "image" purposes hehe] - Is there any problems to encounter if you run it on a DC server? (cost & space lol are too big an issue atm to warrant getting another server besides the email one we should be getting before the end of term - I'll use the email box mayb) - Any other info you can think of that would be handy to remember would be helpful ta *goes to find the 2k3 vol cd's* Regards, N.

That's a very good point some sort of filtering would be neccessary - maybe a holding folder - and manually letting files through would be a pain. I believe theres a way of filtering what you can upload with one of those [browse] buttons and with php etc, tho dont ask me what it is ...yet lol You could always have a filtering batch script on your file server to remove mp3, exe's, etc. each night lol Anyone know what open source stuff/commercial stuff is best? Suggestions? @mark: wonder whether we'd be able to do it with powys lol Regards, N.

Is there licensing needed to use RIS? (probably a silly question) I'd luv the no-floppies-needed option - I've heard you can do something like that for ghostcasting, but it was a while ago i heard it. And I use Ghost (ghostcasting method) on the main bulk of the machines and custom created apps/installs to "prep" a syste to image. Regards, N.

Can you tell us (me lol) a bit more about it? Sounds interesting but what is it exactly? Ta, N

You can install it to a shared folder cant you? They are looking into a .msi version so u can deploy it if needed via GP. Its pretty good overall tho, tho indeed, some of the modules are a bit of a con and dont do everything you'd expect them to do. Think we are going for the markbook instead of the old EGB. Not sure exactly as I like a hands-off approach to it lol and just do certain things regarding it - dont actually *use* the system really. Cheers and keep the comments coming ppl Nath.

ah - will do. Thanks again N.

Cool - thanks for the headsup there Is there a msi ver of the client setup per chance? *rubs hands together expectantly* Cheers, N.

I'm thinking of creating something (to flex and recall my php/sql - or lack of - skills) that also will double up as a asset database. Gonna revive my old NT4 DC and wipe it and put linux on it - we have (powys has) a in-house customised version which sets up all the relevent stuff like MySql, apache, etc. but if there is some open source thing that'll do all this on this linux box, please point a nice link in my direction Cheers, N.

Hi there. Just wondering how many of you all out there use the Bromcom system and what you think of it, any problems with it, etc. http://www.bromcom.com/ We have it and one other school in Powys (who we dont hear from in our discussion email group) so I'm just wondering what the actual techies think of it, etc. Due to cost were gonna have to go down the Winfolder route as the main use for registering, with the wireless folders we have been using primarily now becoming as a secondary option. Any thoughts about this and other aspects of it? Cheers, N.

mark has a 2000 server/domain setup so it should be available to 2000 - maybe mark can answer tjis one lol Regards, N.

Havent been at work today to try it out further but.... 1. Do you have to install the client part of the proggy on the machines on the domain? (sorry if that is a silly question hehe) 2. I currently have a mixture of UltraVNC & RealVNC on the machines at the moment - do I *have* to use tightvnc or will it use any that is on the pc? 3. ....um...sure there was something else but my mind is a tad forgetful sometimes Regards, N.

@russ: Not yet... As I have two domains on seperate IP ranges (admin & curriculum), I was thinking about setting up two WSUS servers i.e. so that the admin systems using sims .net dont get all the updates from MS - only critical ones (to prevent supposed sims' problems etc). The DC on the admin domain is the only "server" running the domain, and has the server-side stuff of SIMS .net setup up on it. Not a problem as there are only 6-8 workstations connected to it. I might give it a whirl to see what happens (*gulps*) but not sure whether I will as I notice in WSUS that you can setup groups of computers so I could assign the admin workstations to the curriculum WSUS and limit the updates that way At least, if I setup two WSUS servers, at least there's less of a load on the curriculum DC (which is where WSUS is setup at the moment - will be on the Exchange server that I'll be setting up in the summer hols). Not sure that any of this ranting helps but I hope to get into the WSUS server as much as poss so will be able to help better in the future, tho it seems a pretty simple setup - tho at the moment, if I put the server name into the web browser, I get the IIS error message (thought that WSUS's install sets it up for me? answers on a postcard pls... ) Cheers, N.

I find strange that they cant find £400 on a basic system for home - i.e. for the kids - but what do I know? lol We bought 3 laptop's about 4 years ago that were *meant* to be for any teacher to use and then bring back. Amazing how only 4 teachers seem to have them continually when they are meant to be for all tachers "when they need them" but there I go again (digressing) Regards, N.

I can certainly provide some customised freeware apps - tailored for IT Tech's use - either by me hosting them - have tons of space or however. Just let me know if you are interested Regards, N. PS Need some help learning .msi creating tho ...and time to learn it lol

Dont site owners get miffed or state not to include direct download links tho? Not having a go, tis just my two cents Cheers (and good work btw ) Nath

Grudgingly, I have to agree with mark - tho i have only seen it from a "surfers" point of view - i.e. not seen the admin of it. Regards, N.

Had a play with WSUS today - seems to be really good. Just need some HD space on the server *uh oh* Should be a decent way on keeping tabs on the client pc's and whether they have been updating hotfixes ...or not The new MBSA tool (ver 2) should be a decent addition to helping with this too The current ver aint bad, and I'm beta testing the new version at the moment, tho i had to remove it the other day - think it was making the system behave "oddly" Regards, N.

did i hear my name mentioned? 10M connection to all schools? Yeah, maybe a switch connection but its faster on my 2M broadband connection at home lmao *sighs* I'll sort the VPN solution if its the last thing i do - aint paying PCC for the pleasure - no sir-ee ...plus the extra benefits of the kit is gonna be well handy I dont think we actually *have* a relationship with the central IT - but popular, we are not, no doubt. *giggles at people in the know* Mark is used to my usual ranting by the way folks - as always, no disrespect at him Regards all, N.

*many winks at mark* Don't get me started on sims... *physches himself up to speak on it* Managed to install a standalone version of NovaT today - oddly enough - and by god, it works! hehe Say if you want it on a laptop as a standalone, You have to run the SataliteSetupInst and not the normal setup. This basically unpacks some install files to C:\Program Files\SIMS\\ and there you have 4 folders - one of which is NovaT install. Theres a pointless script there so just start the install.exe and untick the SIMS link - theres two check boxes - and just install it to C:\NovaT. You should be able to take it from there if you know novat... Regards, N.

Didnt seem to get anything out of LanView when I had a blast earlier but gonna give it a go again. As I'm looking into a vpn/firewall solution, other than the complex (and costly) CISCO route, some of these hardware systems have enabling/disabling the internet in their web interface/setup. I hear some are easier to use than others. FYI I've been currently looking up Zyxel products - in particular, the ZyWall 70. Any suggestions on this or alternatives would be good - tho the primary use for the system is VPN (endpoint) from a external IP thru the county network to our schools subnet....but i digress sorry [not interested in a linux sol but thanks] regards Nath.

You think they'd have the sense not to do that on school equipment but still... 'thought' does bypass them sometimes lol anything "real" bad should be reported to the police you know - the school cant shout at you for it, nor should they try to either. IMO that is Regards, N.

I install Spywareblaster and Spybot on them all. Although the "Immunize" bit will (in XP) only give you protection for the local machine settings i.e. if another user logs on, they need to immunize also, etc., I haven't had any real trouble with spyware. That being said, we do have our internet feed from the county feed which (at last fair play hehe) now recognises Spyware and blocks certain websites - not that it is fool proof by any means One not to install is the MS AntiSpyware Beta if you are using GP on your Domain as it will pop up stuff all the time - keeps thinking everything is spyware or asking the user what to do..... definately not as god intended there lol --- EDIT: link to my private site where you can currently get various repacked apps from if in my sig - if user/pass if leaked, they will be changed. Pls no posting of it elsewhere. Cheers. --- Regards, N.