hallb15

That's amazing - is it a real bear though? Remember this:

I've not said Hi to any new users for a while, so HI everyone...

Which pub? I'm looking for a decent pint of ale in Leeds!

Definitely increase the RAM. We recently bought a new server with 64GB of RAM thinking that would be plenty but I'm already looking to upgrade it. I've got 4 2012 R2 VMs running, one of which is SIMs, and a Foldr VM. At times its maxing out the RAM. Do also carefully consider your storage as its harder to increase later...

I've just got a Sinclair C5 to tinker with and hopefully use for travelling to work. Needs a bit of TLC after being stored for over 10 years, but it works! Other than that, my family takes up the rest of my 'spare' time.

My go to supplier for Tosh spares is CBC Computers in Sheffield. My contact is Luke Goodwin - Give him a call, he'll sort you out. CBC Computers | Sheffield | UK

When one particular member of staff opens a previously created SMARTNotebook file, two random folders appear in the same location as the notebook file that she opened. One folder has a sub folder called SMART Technologies which has an empty logs folder in it, the other has a folder called SMART Notebook which has a toolsmenu.xml file in it which doesn't yield much info, it just seems to be setting parameters for the tools. It only happens to one member of staff, and it doesn't matter which PC she logs into, the same thing happens. It appears to only be on notebook files that were created with version 11. She can open v10 files and the issue does not occur. I can't find anything specific about this issue on the SMART knowledgebase. We use roaming profiles, but I can't see anything in her profile that gives any clues as to why this is happening. Has anyone else has this problem?

VeryPC support is brilliant - they've sorted me out over the phone/via email several times. I've never had to send anything back for repair as its all performed flawlessly so I can't comment on turnaround time, but I'm confident it would be quick based on previous experience. I'm slowly replacing all the RM and Fujitsu desktops that remain from before I worked here with VeryPC desktops - as budget allows. Same with laptops - we've started using their ThinBooks and staff love them - especially the custom printed skin... Give @VeryPC_Colin_M a PM to ask for a quote. He'll sort you out.

Not so far. I use the shiny white film label roll, DK-22211. Because its thermal, the 'ink' is inside the label (under the shiny outer layer) and is activated by heat from the printhead, so there's nothing to rub off unless the whole label is picked off by little fingers! Hasn't happened yet though...

I use a Brother QL-570 thermal label printer and a Phoenix II barcode scanner. Works pretty well - the labels are very sticky and take some picking to get off once they've had a few hours to settle but they're not what I would consider permanent.

Does anyone have any pricing information they could share? The link above doesn't work anymore. I've requested a free trial this morning but am waiting to hear back from them... (Yes I am impatient, but I've got stuff to do you know!)

I've got two Buffalo NAS boxes. One 3TB rackmounted Terrastation and one smaller Link Station. No major issues with either other than the quirky web interface... I think we are in a minority though - on edugeek there doesn't seem to be much love for Buffalo!

We use Office 365 for staff on the sch.uk domain but for the children we use PupilMail from Exa on a schoolname.co.uk domain. Its restricted so they can only email within the domain. The children don't have to type in the domain everytime, just their username. Its content filtered and inappropriate word filtered. Staff and children seem to like it.

Brilliant work as usual! Mine and Josh's also have arrived today. Thanks @VeryPC

One of the benefits of doing it yourself is that you will know how its been done and it could save you loads of time fault finding in the future. Beware of getting someone else in as they will do it their own way and this may or may not be how you would like it. Before I worked at one school, they had a new ICT suite and the 'professional' company that did the wiring took all the possible shortcuts you can imagine including only putting 28 of the requested 32 cables in, not labelling any of the 28 cables at the patch panel end, not patching ANYTHING in to a switch etc... On the other hand, the electrician who did the wiring in our extension here was brilliant. Unfortunately he was from a local company contracted via the building firm so I don't have his details to give to you. My point is though, if you are getting someone in, make sure you get a few references from previous customers and don't be frightened to ring them up and speak to them to get real opinions.

@Sephiroth You've just solved a problem I didn't know I had until I read it! Brilliant!

That sounds like a great idea, but I'm sorry I don't have any ready made checklists. - I use spiceworks but the hardest part I find is getting staff to submit tickets rather than phoning/emailing or coming to see me directly. We use the spiceworks portal as our homepage so its really simple for staff to submit a ticket, but they still don't do it... Now that I have an apprentice, it would really help if all jobs were on spiceworks so I can assign stuff to him and keep an eye on what is/isn't getting done.

I've never used it, but the 7 reviews on Amazon were mostly favourable - I guess at that price you can't expect the best. I'd rather take the advice of an edugeeker any day though!

You could get everything from Amazon: 24 port gigabit smart switch - £119 http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS724T-400EUS-ProSAFE-Lifetime-Warranty/dp/B00GZNAHOA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426088843&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+gs724 6U 450mm wall mount cabinet with 24 port cat5e patch panel, 6 way PSU and brush bar cable tidy - £113 http://www.amazon.co.uk/450mm-Black-Cabinet-Patch-Network/dp/B0087HOSLK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1426088958&sr=8-3&keywords=6u+wall+cabinet 305M external cat5e cable reel - £34 http://www.amazon.co.uk/1000ft-OUTDOOR-Network-Cable-External/dp/B008ILBASO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426089142&sr=8-1&keywords=external+cat5e+cable Network tool kit (with crimpers and punch down tool - the cable tester looks cheap but hopefully you won't need to use it much!) - £17 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vktech-Professional-Network-Computer-Maintenance-as-shown/dp/B00FXLPJKW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426089216&sr=8-1&keywords=network+cable+kit 100x RJ45 plugs - £2.07 http://www.amazon.co.uk/RJ45-Crimps-Cat5E-Connectors-Plugs/dp/B001D2IJLG/ref=pd_bxgy_ce_text_y Less than £300 inc VAT and delivery! I just noticed you mentioned Power over Ethernet - this hikes the price up a bit, depending on what port density you require but you could go for this 8 port gigabit smart switch for £127 http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS110TP-200EUS-ProSAFE-Lifetime-Warranty/dp/B003GOFIBS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1426089937&sr=8-3&keywords=netgear+poe+switch

iPhone: TwoDots BubbleWitch2 iPad: World of Tanks

I'd agree with @IrritableTech it does depend on your school size and the number of simultaneous users. For our school we have just over 700 pupils and 85 staff, but only 10 admin users who have access to SIMS. I'm about to virtualise our SIMS server and have been advised by our SIMS support company to give it 16GB RAM and 4 cores. Its currently running (crawling) on an old single core Xeon with 4GB RAM which is woefully inadequate.

Welcome along! Always good to have more Yorkshire folk on the forums and you cover South and West!

Have to agree with the above. Not cleaning them now is only going to lead to trouble later when they do overheat. Its not just the servers either as most switches have fans in them too. Plan an emergency shutdown with SLT so that it is at an agreed time when people can be warned that it is going to happen. Once you've got everything shutdown, open up the servers and you'll get a better idea of how extensive the damage is. It would be a good idea to ring a specialist cleaning company too so you have an idea what the cost is likely to be. You may be bringing SLT some bad news, but its far better to get it sorted now than pay the price later...

Wow - that reminds me of when I used to do the lighting when I was in the 6th form at school. I'd love to get my hands on that kind of project but my experience with LEDs is limited to the handful of LEDJ performers we have in our primary school. Most of the LED stage lighting I've seen has a standard 13amp mains plug, not the traditional 15amp round plugs you have there. They also have the DMX built in to each unit, rather than using a dimmer pack for several lights. My go to place for lighting is astounded.com but it might pay you to get in touch with a local company for and idea of installation costs.

I loved Tomorrow's World too! I wonder if there's a place for it in today's TV schedule?