Jamman960

Normal cable will last a few years but then it'll start to break down due to moisture and excess UV, as you've suggested I'd get it replaced when you can.

Sounds interesting, whats the location? James

We've had it a few times, I got the impression it happened when they get too many hits from a single IP in a certain timeframe.

We've just had our website converted to Drupal by our web developer as we're moving towards providing year group specific info for parents(we currently have a static site with very little other than marketing info), one of the per year group pages will be a letters page which will display any letters for that year group. Initially the idea was to update each page as and when however thats obviously going to become unworkable pretty quickly especially when putting up a letter to the whole school would mean editing 10 different pages. I've decided instead to try and use PHP/XML so that all letters get entered into an XML file and then each letters page simply outputs a filtered version of the XML file into a table where the year group matches. I've managed to cobble togeather the output code so far and have started this morning to try and figure out the code for putting the data into the XML file from a form, I only code when I have to so generally end up butchering code examples to do what I want them to do. So far I've found some music playlist code that looks as though it'll do the trick with a little playing. I guess my questions are - 1. Am I going about this the right way? does anyone know of a module for Drupal or even Joomla(presuming that most modules have equivelents in both) that'll do this more elegantly? 2. Am I better off doing this with XML or making use of MySQL? 3. Has anyone already done this and feel like sharing their code? Cheers, James

As above I wouldn't waste much time trying to get pop to exchange setup, once exchange is up and running all you'd need to do to move the mail flow is get port 25 forwarded from a static public IP straight to your exchange box(with SMTP running on it) and then get your MX records changed to point to that IP. Then it'd be a case of importing the mail from your external provider and advising them that you no longer require their services beware though that exchange is a rather hungry bit of software on the memory front. If you have a large number of teachers I'd make sure the server spec is up to the job whether you're going for POP-Exchange or just Exchange. James

I appear to be experiencing the same after sticking in some brand new W7 pc's this weekend just gone. Upon boot the boards aren't detected but once unplugged and plugged back in again they spring to life. I'm going to try and see if there are any USB related bios settings at some point but haven't had the time as yet. Also - are you're pc's running W7 64bit or 32? James

I think once you reach 16 you should have the choice of going off to work or carry on at school/college. I enjoyed college because I wanted to be there and was more or less surrounded by people that also wanted to be there and learn, there were a few people who were only there to collect the EMA money each week along with the bonus for being there enough - I really feel sorry for anyone who actually wants to go into further education but ends up being surrounded by these dropouts who really don't want to be there.

I'm not so sure... isn't 14 a little too early? most kids don't know what they want to do at 16 let alone 14. If they can be forced into college to learn a trade and still get limited exposure to maths and english then it may work, it can't be seen as an easy way out though. I can't see work placements working - very few people would be willing to spend their time training a 14 year old along with all the issues that generally go with that age.

If schools are going to start using minecraft hopefully they'll provide a better licensing model, we'd either need to purchase 1 licence per pupil or have pupils sharing logins between classes which isn't ideal especially as they could go home and start using it if they wished which I guess will break the license conditions. I'm not sure that having a teacher(or one of us!) run around a room logging everyone on before a class starts is the best use of their time either. Really we could do with being able to buy internal/lan only computer licences or site licences that allow us to create as many users as we want or allow pupils to connect without a password. I would love to start using it in the school but I think it'd be a lot of hastle with the current licencing. £19/pc or £600(31pcs+) odd per site wouldn't be too bad, I can't see schools paying much more for what is essentially a game

Counting pc's within each ou would work fine in most cases unless your using group memberships or wmi queries to target further in which case counting pc's would be very hard to automate.

We've had our pupils building pc's a couple of times, we mostly had our Y7's doing it but it might be ok with Y6's towards the end of a year. We basically set aside around 1k for parts & licences(3 pcs) and got them to choose the cases then ordered all the bits in and gradually had them building the whole thing in 2's or 3's. We had them using anti-static wrist bands and generaly being very careful with the bits. In the end the school had 3 additional pc's that'd be put into teachers classrooms and the kids knew a little more about how computers worked and how they're assembled. you could also get them re-assembling retired pc's if funds don't allow for new parts to be brought or you don't need the extra pc's James

I've got a pair of Senheiser IE6's, they're on the upper end of your budget but sound very good - they come with about 4 different rubber bits for your ears so at least one of those should be comfortable enough to use for a few hours. James

We've gone for a QNAP system along with Sony SNC-DH160 cameras

Our lowest is currently P4 2.8 with 512mb, they're on the list for immediate replacement though... currently awaiting quotes for their replacements As for how to define the lowest spec its basically down to what you and the school decide is acceptable, our minimum this year is P4 2.8, next year it'll be C2D 2.2(our next lowest spec machines). I'm aiming for a 4-5 year cycle, I'm on the brink of getting rid of every machine that was here before I started 3.5 years ago so seem to be on target.

We usually use Pugh for licences

I tend to end up doing sims reports, a few people have been on the courses and have the manuals but it appears to have gone in one ear and out the other as usual.

Hopefully they'll never go further than messing with DNS... places like newzbin have just started giving out IP's instead so access continues its either that or its time to start using something like VyprVPN for everything

The Terms of Service on the youtube site itself dosen't mention those bits - YouTube - Broadcast Yourself However there are other versions of ther TOS on other sites for some reason that do include the terms you mention... very strange. James

I had a quick look a while back into re-programming the panic buttons, I think someone had managed it but can't remember how now...all they do is send key strokes ie WinKey+R, w,w,w,.,e,d,u,g,e,e,k,.,n,e,t,Enter

Wouldn't have thought it was against the DPA as I assume they all have a good reason to be accessing the data unless they are using other accounts because they hold more access rights than their own accounts. This sort of thing would should probably be dealt with via AUP's etc really

Have been using it for ages without realising, I wonder if most non-tech users are aware of it

If I remember correctly if your doing 21 or less mph over the limit you get a fixed penalty, anything over is a court summons. The fine is based on the drivers financial status. I got done for doing 98 on the M25 back when I was a little less careful than I am now... 4 points and a £170 fine. Had a court summons - didn't have to appear unless I wanted to plead innocent & fight it and had to detail my income, savings and expenditure along with any statement I wanted to make to help my case. James

If there is line of sight between the two sites and they're close enough I'd consider going for a laser(FSO) or a direct cable, it might work out cheaper over several years. Ours cost 12k initially(1gbit fso+radio backup) plus 1.4k/year maintenance but then we don't need to pay 5k+ each year for an inferior connection via an ISP. Another option we looked at was fibre via the sewer, this didn't work out too badly however it still required 4k+ rental for the first 10 years

I brought something similar to this one: Cable Wire Phone Network RJ Toner Tracer Tester Tracker | eBay a while back. It came with an RJ11 plug on it along with croc clips, I just crimped some bare wires into an RJ45 connector and used the croc clips. Toners are great for tracing cables when your not quite sure what path they take etc, very handy for tracing pairs in phone systems. Something like this: Peak Atlas IT Network Cable Analyser Free Delivery : Component Analyser : Maplin or the fluke equiv is probably better for labeling purposes though. You'd just need to stick the terminators into sockets then go back the patch panel and match them up.

Wouldn't mind the speed but paying BT for it.... no thanks once we move BT aren't going to see another penny I'm waiting for it to be availible via O2, BeThere etc