IrritableTech

We're currently doing the same. Thinking about replacing our LEA email with one of these for either our school, or our trust. We're at the start of our journey, but so far it seems Google is easier to manage 'out of the box' but live@edu is more customisable once you've got your head around powershell. I like skydrive, it's space and excellent office web apps, and outlook would be the easier option for staff training (we already use owa). Google apps seems to hold more opportunity for development (sites, blogs, youtube, Piccasa etc.). GA seems to be a more exciting tool, and has been around a lot longer. LDAP integration seems better documented on GA. I posted the same question on twitter a couple of days ago. I'm waiting to talk to someone from Norfolk who have now moved over to GA. 150,000 accounts I'm told. One of my questions to this person will be what assurances from google did you get that this service will be maintained and continue to be free? There are a number of posts on here discussing the merits and migrations of schools. Do a search to kick you off...

I deal with one high school and nine primary. Most are now on an EES agreement. Schools know where they stand with regard to costs, legality and upgrades. Within that three year agreement, I bet you you'll upgrade office. Look at the costs of this (per machine) and do the maths. Then you start looking at a move to w7? Then take a look at the other advantages - Security essentials and massively discounted MS System centre stuff.

Xen server from citrix is another option. Running it here without ever paying a penny to them. The free version allows live migration, as long as you're running the VMs on shared storage as ChrisH points out.

Some automated tools such as spiceworks and the dude will try, but I find them completely useless. I generally use Dia, which is similar to visio.

I've never used an AppleTV but could it be a proxy issue? Apple TV: Connections through proxy servers are not supported

I think they are the SAMSUNG 320MX-3 but the label is on the back of the screen...

We use Samsung generally.... Samsung For Business | Products | Public Displays | SM400DXN & SM460DXN

Last time I tried we got 25cm from FruityCables.Co.Uk and ended up cutting them in half and crimping a new end on. Half the work, but still too much to bother with again.

I'd leave all your switches in one vlan. I doubt you'll see much of an advantage keeping printers in two seporate vlans either. I'd go for Switch VLAN Servers VLAN Printer VLAN Building A Client VLAN Building B Client VLAN Because you are using HP, you'll need to tag VLANs on links, and untag end devices. Decide on your core switch, and configure it with IP addresses and ip-helpers. It is a hard subject to get your head around at first, but it soon becomes fairly easy once you've got the terminology.

I've assisted the move from laptops to desktops in a number of the schools my team provide support to. I always think that desktop machines give a much higher standard of service for teaching and learning (that's the aim right?). Usually as a sweetener, the teacher gets to keep their old laptop to take home and use. Many, after a reinstall with the basics are more than capable for the basics the teacher wants to do from home. Edit: Sorry for double post oddity.

I've assisted the move from laptops to desktops in a number of the schools my team provide support to. I always think that desktop machines give a much higher standard of service for teaching and learning (that's the aim right?). Usually as a sweetener, the teacher gets to keep their old laptop to take home and use. Many, after a reinstall with the basics are more than capable for the basics the teacher wants to do from home.

We used KRCS for most of our macs. They delivered the stock from our local store. Would recommend.

I'll be there on Wednesday. Might drop by G89 if you're lucky!

You needed to opt out of the 'go green' scheme to have a badge sent through the post. My email said...

Yep, it's a T11. They are expensive I'm afraid. Around the £10 mark I should expect.

Superb!

I'm in this morning. There are a few rough edges (well it is in beta). I like the thinking behind unthink, it has to be said. I've requested friendship with Stephen Fry on the basis that I have nobody else, and he'll feel sorry for me.

I've met a few. In the last couple of weeks I've met Janet Street Porter, Mark Radcliffe, Mark Thomas, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (third time now), Andy Kershaw, Adam Hart-Davis, Simon Callow and others. As always, it depends on your definition of famous! I've also met quite a lot of musicians and vocalists on the British festival scene. Had breakfast with Seasick Steve a few weeks ago, and spent half an hour with Noah and the Whale. Had a brief chat with Tom Jones last year, and said hello to Florence (of the machine). There are lots of other meetings too.

Yep, as stated you'll need a proxy pac file or a wpad file. I used this website when setting up mine... FindProxyForURL.com - PAC & WPAD Resource It's fairly straight forward on a laptop, most browsers will work with wpad. Smart phones are the trickier area! My current wpad/pac file looks like this... function FindProxyForURL(url, host) { if ((host=="localhost") || shExpMatch(host, "*localhost.*") || shExpMatch(host, "*10.0.0.1/20*") || shExpMatch(host, "*bypass.this.url*") || isPlainHostName(host) || (host == "127.0.0.1")) { return "DIRECT"; } return "PROXY A.B.C.D:P" }

It's not really intended to be a comedy song, but it is the lighter (more accessible?) track on a fairly complicated album I'd suggest.

This is a blatant plug for a hard working musician friend, but also I believe of interest to us all, so do read on... This week saw the release of the album 'COMM' by The Tangent. Track four is the story of a day in the life of a computer technician and is well worth a listen. I should point out, that The Tech Support Guy is based upon me! Go on... buy it, it'll bring a smile to your face! You could even buy the album... itunes 99p - Amazon 89p

Does your 2008 server sync with a time server? It sounds to me like that server is four minutes fast (or your watch is four minutes slow!). You can set the NTP server your 2008 server syncs with using the following commands... Net stop w32time W32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:"x.x.x.x y.y.y.y" W32tm /config /reliable:yes Net start w32time W32tm /config /update W32tm /resync

It's always nice to get a gift from grateful staff, but it's nearly always chocolate, and I don't eat chocolate!!

We support nine local primary schools. Six of which are our trust schools. Our SLA is a large legal document prepared with professional advise, however we tend to go above and beyond the service which it promises. Charges cover our technician costs, cover for that technician now absent from our school, and the first hour has a small premium to cover travel. To fulfill our SLAs we have a technician out four and a half days out of five. We have built up our business almost entirely on word of mouth. We have a very close relationship within our trust, and this has led to other schools coming to speak to us!

Yeah FTA channels such as... BBC, ITV, but if memory serves not 4 or 5 as they use the card. If you can find the signal meter on your sky box, you can probably adjust the dish yourself. I've put up quite a few on that meter alone. I can't remember where it is exactly on the HD box, otherwise I'd tell you.