dgsmith

We're looking to do some simple/basic game making with our year 7 classes (and get that familiar with using simple programming) and just wanted to gather some input on this. Does anyone use either gamemaker (yoyo games) or scratch (or both?) and could say whether these are suitable for year 7 students? Scratch does seem to be alot easier to get familar with and use, whereas with gamemaker, it appears to be a steeper learning curve and the interface doesn't come across as being as "user friendly" as scratch. What are the thoughts on this? Do some schools use gamemaker with their year 7 classes without any problem, or is it just a little bit too difficult for students of that age?

They look suitable (and slightly more appealing), though I can't find reference to them on the website? Is there a discount for buying in bulk? Do you happen to know what the chair model is to see if any other local suppliers to us can stock it?

Any luck with that?

That's a blessing in itself! I don't know our's will react with going from padded chairs that have wheels and the occasional game of bumper-cars (or bumper-chairs) to cold, plastic chairs that are going nowhere! Good stuff! I take it they don't get much of a hammering then and they still look reasonably the same as they were when you bought them?

Explains why we can't get outlook web access from outside too then! Out of curiosity, what is wwwcache.cleo.net.uk? We always thought the lancsngfl.ac.uk proxy address was the only one you could use?

One of our IT rooms has some really, really tatty chairs in (got them from argos 3 and a half years ago for less than a tenner each), and they literally are "falling to bits" (with the bits scattered across the room). So, where can we find solid, height-adjustable chairs for a good price? I have seen mention of remploy and their Polypropylene Chair for £24.50 each (30+), and wondered if anyone else has these and if they work ok/are solid enough? Alternatively, any other suggestions?

I just searched google with the model number and get alot of results showing that. We're not really bothered about "genuine" or "non-genuine" as we'll be selling the laptops very shortly and just wanted to sell it with a working screen, and given the screen seems generic in alot of different laptops, I wouldn't really know how to define genuine in this instance!

We were quoted £179 to have it sent away with one fitted (price all inclusive) so for £10 less just for the screen is a bit much! A quick google search shows them for sub £100 for a new one which seems more affordable I guess..

Quite a rarity then?

Fair enough, but you need to make that clear, as this is a site frequented by school techies and usually prices quoted on here would reflect that (therefore not inclduing VAT).

Price too high. We can get them on dabs for £113 brand new!

Your script queries for an existing installation, and if it finds one, then just halts. That isn't really avoiding or working around the problem of wanting to install additional components via the deployment method without coming unstuck as described above, unless I have overlooked something? When this happens for me, I get an exe file related error with code 7 - I don't think any script could fix that if it's built in to the adobe software. MSIs for adobe cs just don't work, and the concept of using a script for each xml component in theory should work, but as proven it doesn't quite do it fully.

We've got this exact issue on CS4, as I have split our's up to be able to assign the individual applications (like some machines we just want flash and dreamweaver, and others just photoshop and indesign). It will usually install any 2 ok, but if we want say 3 (maybe illustrator) then the 3rd fails. I think the alternative may be to create an xml file with a "package" of the few we want together, and try installing them in 1 go, rather than one by one.

dhicks, are you saying that you need to logon as an admin user and run these install jobs on CS3/4, or just generally speaking that you do this anyway, even though it may work without the need? I'm sure logging in and running as an admin must alter a registry key or maybe a few, which we may be able to do via GP, but knowing if that is the cae and which ones would go beyond what I know.

I saw those as well! Was an excellent price for 2 Axis megapixel cameras, although don't know if I could have got the funding that quick! Do they work ok? We also use dabs as our primary supplier of bits 'n bobs (except printer consumables - too much competition with cheaper prices everywhere).

Looking for a price on an AU Optronics 15" LCD Screen (model B150XG01), which fits the RM nBook 4000 series of laptops (although I think the screen is used on many different laptops), seems to be generic. Any who can provide that and at what price?

Not with the recent price increases it isn't, although not as bad as the 2600n costs. Even using compat cartridges, you can't get anywhere close to the economy of a kyocera or konica minolta (the latter of which we have several, one in each main IT suite). With LnL, we pay £90 for a 12k page black and £145 for a 12k colour (or £413 for 12k on all colours), and that price includes the imaging drum costs, plus warranty etc. With the CP3505n, OEM cart prices are nearly £100 for each colour on 6k, so certainly not as economical, but I suppose not terribly bad either. In fact, we're retiring an old 5430DL due to it being too much to run, which in itself is close in price to the HP printer on OEM cart prices. Compats are a different story, but I don't think it's fair to compare with them here.

Noone seen it with CS3 either? Are we really the only ones to suffer with this?!

We have smoothwall express 3 hanging off the network (ie: attached like a normal client computer) and are using it purely for its web filtering capability (dansguardian addon). We just amend the proxy settings on the client computers to point to it, which are locked down, and it works fine. We are using red and green interfaces, both of which are just connected into the switch (ie: it isn't acting as a "via" route for traffic, rather a "go over there" instead). Didn't work when we just used 1 network interface, which is weird, as we're not using the firewall/routing on it, so no idea if our setup is recommended, but has worked fine for the best part of 6 months.

Using CC4, however we are able to copy the contents of the disks to to our packages area and use command line syntax to execute installation of specific parts of it, so essentially using the deployment quite method. Are you referring to registration and activation the same or differently? We have been able to supress settings such as registration, however as I say logging on and running as admin then activates the software (we don't need to enter anything further). When we go to the "About" area in the software and check deactivate, it gives us the option to do so, suggesting it has actually activated it properly for use.

Quite a unique issue then?

Each school will value themselves and their network differently to others, equally as much as each school has had a unique experience of issues related to CC4 (even though some of those issues have affected everyone). We didn't enquire from other schools, simply because our difficulties are OUR difficulties and our bad experiences, and that we may have paid a completely different sum than others initially. I'm don't think it would frowned upon as much to reveal a rough % figure claimed back from the total cost of buying the product, however you may want to aim for at least double the starting figure (during negotiation) if your investment in CC4 was rather substantial. As Tallwood_6 said, you may want to get some proper information and feedback from departments as to their views (it's obvious what they'll say, but no harm in using whatever you can to put a good case across). I'm sure RM will have heard it many times already so it wont be anything new to them.

To be honest, I don't think RM would want any specific figures discussed amongst any schools. We for one (as many have and will be) have previously negotiated what we feel was a satisfactory compensation figure for what we spent on CC4 and taking in to account our troubles up to that point (and then some). RM are a business and I am sure they have been hit very hard with alot of compensation claims (through complete fault of their own), so I guess they would want to offer you the lowest sum they feel they may get away with. It's worth having to hand how much you have spent and how much disruption the upgrade has caused (for us, it was detrimental, and very much still is in areas).

Poundland sell 8 packs of Sony and 12 packs of Kodak? Suppose it depends if you have one local and if you would "dare" to be seen in one!

A bit bizarre, but with our Adobe CS4 Design Premium (any part), it asks for the licence key if used by a limited account first, whereas if an admin logs on to the machine and launches it, then any users logging on thereafter can use it fine; it's as if an admin account running the program "unlocks" it, but this is terribly inconvenient going around each machine we install it on and just running it! Am I missing something obvious? Is there a way this should be automated (well I guess there is, but no idea why it's doing what it is doing). Even failing that, is there some reg key we can change to make it run through the actions it does when an admin logs on?