Pete10141748

I don't mind paying for anti-virus software licences!

I have had this happen from time to time, mainly with Windows 7 builds. Earlier in the week I spent hours trying to create a new profile for a new member of staff on a new laptop with W7, and no matter what I did it just would not create a profile. Most of the time it gave a temporary profile once logged in, but created the folder structure "[name].V2" on the server with all the correct permissions. Finally I went to another machine, logged in as the user and bam! straight away it worked. Went back to the new laptop and logged in, and everything worked fine. Had this happen with XP machines too though, in our old office set-up me and the (ex)techie had a note reminding us not use to use a certain couple of machines to create profiles as they never worked. Very strange stuff!

Work: Logitech standard keyboard and Wacom Bamboo pen tablet (self-purchase, I prefer tablets to using mice for extended periods) Home: A wireless keyboard & mouse set (manufacturer's name escapes me right now), also have a wireless pen tablet, and have a device very similar to this http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Lenovo-Mini-Wireless-Keyboard_1.jpg (can't find the exact one I have). Lately though I just use my iPad2 for everything so I just need my finger!

Oh no! That sucks CHR1S Hopefully they will ship you another one

Any work staff do for the school belongs to the school, so any staff who leave here have their accounts deleted but their work kept for a minimum of 12 months (in case they came back and asked for something they did before) and if SLT asked for access I would ask a) for which files, and b) why they wanted them, then get those files for them and give them a copy either via email or on CD. I wouldn't let them just sit down and browse through the files on their own, but I would allow them to look through with me there to find what they wanted.

I can only speak from experience at this school, but the reasons the USER-END technology is 'so far behind the times' is the fact that; a) Funding: The school failed, every year for the past 4 years, to invest properly in ICT despite what I advise them to do, leading to me having to keep kit that is 7+ years old going in our ICT Suite / Classrooms (the new management has rectified this though ) b) Whenever things are brought in, there is never any allowance for me to do training, it doesn't get introduced properly, teachers don't get to see it in action and think about how it could be used and what they can change in their plans, so it sits in the store room un-used because 90% of people have forgotten (or didn't read) the email saying 'We have a new X in school" c) People don't like new and scary things forced upon them. I know that a good deal of the staff here are not going to be using the iPads they are being given soon. They just won't, either through 'fear of technology' or lack of training, not seeing how it can be used in the curriculum or just plain not wanting it. If they were *asked* if they wanted something new and only those who wanted were given, they could then introduce the new thing to the staff who didn't like the idea and gently bring them around to the idea of the new thing. d) Yes, a bit of a cop-out excuse but schools simply can't be at the forefront of technology all the time - it costs too much and changes too fast, and the hardware&services we provide to effectively enable teaching&learning have to be tried, tested, reliable and (without meaning offense to anyone) almost idiot-proof. New technology is none of these things!

This is what's wrong with education at the moment, management have NO idea when it comes to these things. Schools waste so much money on stuff that just doesn't matter, yet when we ask for things that do matter suddenly there are no funds available. Really gets my goat If it is for note-taking at a conference, why could he not get a netbook? Is smaller and weighs less to carry around, comes with Windows so it's easy to integrate to your network, does everything he/she is (hopefully) already familiar with, therefore will take less of your time to learn/train/problem-solve the staff who have them, and for probably at least 1/3rd the cost of a Macbook. The Governors / LEA should clamp down on this sort of moronic spending imo.

Having owned an iPad 2 for just over a week, I would say NO WAY are they full replacements for laptops, especially for teachers. The amount of resource creation and typing they have to do would drive them insane to do on a touch-screen, add in the fact that there isn't the same level of freedom of creation on an iPad compared to a Windows/Mac desktop/laptop, plus that you need expensive accessories to connect it to a display and dock it/get a hardware keyboard, and even then you can only use one of those at once. iPads are great for consuming information and creating little things like facebook/twitter posts, emails etc but for creating full-blown presentations/lesson plans/worksheets I personally would still go to a 'proper' computer running Office/SMART etc

Piece of advice, especially for the black model, get yourself a case/smart cover. Doesn't have to be the Apple one (although I have it and it is rather good) but just something to cover the screen when you are not using it, it attracts SO much dust and fingerprint marks. You can see them when you are using the pad, but when it's off it doesn't look very nice covered in swipe marks and dusty flecks......

Personally I would go for laptops / netbooks as your first 'mobile tech' as they will offer you the largest options for use (internet, office, any software you already own etc) and wont throw up compatibility issues (such as the iPad not running flash) but they will also come with a setup & maintenance burden - in this school I spend more time fixing laptops than I do all other forms of tech combined. If you are going to run 20+ of these in one classroom and they are all going to be viewing things like Espresso videos then make sure the wireless you get is a decent spec one - 'home' routers from manufacturers like DLink just won't cut it (trust me, I know from experience!) iPads are great at what they do, but management of them is trickier. Your school needs an iTunes account, purchases will have to be monitored (and if you are going to be legal about it, you'll need to pay for apps on each device you use), you wont be able to access anything that requires Flash Player (guessing that makes things like EducationCity not accessible?) and you'll probably want to purchase the larger docks that allow you to charge/synch 10-12 iPads to 1 PC at once. There is no File Browser on the iOS either so you won't be able to set up individually-named folders for different children to save their work in, unless you use something like the DropBox App for online storage and then you are limited to 2Gb total storage (unless you pay for more). I would avoid older tech like PDa's completely, we have a set of 24 here and they have never been used for anything, total waste of money and time trying to set them up and make them secure (which is nigh-on impossible!)

Oh Wolverine, what ARE you doing?

Have been using mine since 6pm on Friday, at least 5 hours each day for music, internet/email, games, camera/video recording, video call, drawing, (even did my census info on it! lol) and using it now to type this. It hasn't lost wifi connection once, and certainly no screen-bleed (yet), certainly don't think it's a 'beta test' scenario, just that with the amount of iPad2's out there already there are bound to be some faulty units just like any other product!

I doubt that it's illegal. It is racist, insulting and downright rude!

Sounds like a nightmare to me. Hundreds of different makes and models + who's supporting it, warranty restricts what you can do to fix it (if anything), what about chargers & they'll have to be PAT tested, lost/broken/stolen laptops - covered under warranty or insurance?, school responsible for replacement?, who's accountable for the safety of equipment, what happens when X pupil starts showing off their "Games for Windows" collection and playing Bioshock at lunchtime (or in class!), no restrictions on installations, bypassing of filtering with 3G dongles, who is installing anti-virus and checking it is up to date, what if the laptop has a "home" version of an OS and can't connect to your network properly, teacher teaching something in PowerPoint and pupil laptop only has Lotus Notes or 'MS Works' on it, what if a laptop 'bricks', who's re-installing the OS, will work be lost, backing up of work etc There's more but that'll make my point I think. If SLT here said they wanted to do this, I'd be brow-beating them until they agreed to either not do it, or let me write a policy that was so airtight I would never need to touch any of the computers that are not owned by the school, no matter what the implication, even if Little Johnny has lost his coursework I'd make damn sure it was nothing to do with me to sort it out.

Just in case anyone is getting these in, here's something I found that could produce a head-scratch moment if one of the kids managed to do it and you had to fix it; Go into settings, and the option for the rotation-lock or mute-lock switch is set to rotation lock. So, lock the screen by putting the switch in the down position. Now, change the setting in the menu so that the switch operates the mute/un-mute instead. Switch the switch on/off to toggle the mute, but whatever you do the screen stays in the locked position! If you do it the other way around, the sound stays muted (even if you use the volume control buttons in the side of the pad!) and you can lock/unlock the screen with the switch.

Bands from my iTunes/iPod/iPad getting most play-time at the moment are Zebrahead, Rise Against, and Reel Big Fish

Good luck, if you didn't get one on the day of release shortly after 5pm I doubt anywhere will have any stock for a good few weeks now. Personally I did get hold of one on day of release Wandered down into the town about 4.45pm, stood outside the shop (and only 3 more guys turned up to queue behind me), door opened at 5pm, went inside, was home by 6pm playing with my shiny new toy. Feel sorry for those who queued from 5am in placed like London!

I have been *this* close to caving and getting a cheaper iPad1 for days now!!! Hoping to get my mitts on an iPad2 on Friday!

Buy something new > get it home > unbox it > test it > take it apart > modify if wanted > put it back together > frown in frustration as something now doesn't work > take apart again > put back together > smile in elation that it all works again > start the process again with the software......... ....and after 4 days finally use the thing for what I bought it for in the first place

I'm not surprised. With the ongoing costs involved in running a shop, being able to leave after 90 days if it's not working out seems a good idea.

I'd be intrigued to know what the IT Director job starts to involve Soulfish, and if it is indeed based on the higher-up management side of things and doesn't involve doing much on the support side. As I'm the only IT guy at this place (job title: ICT Manager) I do everything from replacing waste toner bottles / projector lamps to giving staff training to lesson support to installing new kit to writing policies to liasing with management each week about the progression of ICT within the school and (currently) am looking over the building plans and working with the contractors to sort out what data points / electrical cabling needs to go where, source furniture for the IT rooms, etc. Also responsible for budgets / purchasing, and I am certainly the 'accountable' one for anything with a plug one it! Only thing I don't do is speak directly to Governors about things, but I think that management just like to keep me out of that loop and so I often have prepare written things which the BURSAR or Head then pass to Governors to save them from trying to explain something they don't understand anyway! So I think, really, that I cover most aspects of IT Technician, IT Manager, Network Manager, and ICT Director to boot.......

Have to agree with others, at the current time I think an actual shop would be a risky thing to do. It's something I have thought about occasionally in the past few years, there are a few nice locations in town that seemed to always be up for rent and good-sized too. But in these times of simple Ebay shops running out of someone's living room, being able to post free ads online, Facebook groups, Twitter and creating your own web presence all while working at home, a brick-and-mortar store is probably always going to be more difficult to maintain as time goes on. If it were me, my idea would be to create it as something bigger than just a repair shop, even something bigger than just a computer shop - I would try to appeal to all niches of the 'computer / gamer / geek' culture. Offer repairs and upgrades, but also LAN gaming / Internet Cafe, sell comic books & trading card games, xbox/ps3/pc games, hold events like Friday Night Magic (MTG card game weekly event) and gaming tournaments on the kit..... basically trying to make it appeal to people beyond the service they need from you now and then and turn it into a place they would want to come regularly for things that appeal to them. I reckon such a shop would go over quite well in my town, but only because we have no Comic Book / Games Workshop type stores (and the club where we used to hold our weekyl gaming club closed down forcing us to close our group too sadly), and the only PC repair shop I know of besides PC World is a small stall in the market in town which, in all honesty, I personally wouldn't use because as good as they may be it just looks dodgy.

The pole idea works, but only for those places that keep all their trolleys inside the shop. Most of the big supermarkets around here store their trolleys outside, so bang goes that idea. What they need to to implement electric-fence into the trolleys. Walk off site with it, and BAM! tons of volts through the handles to shock you, and keeps happening every few minutes at random intervals until you take it back I have been told before that my ideas for 'conditioning' people to do things properly are a bit extreme

Ah sorry, i should have clarified that by saying that (reportedly) Windows 7 on a touchscreen tablet/slate device is not so good - general problems with not being able to touch the edges of the screen, dragging&dropping not working properly (a fault of the touchscreen perhaps not W7), and remember reading someone's comments about it not looking good on a 7" screen and having resizing issues with the 800x600-something resolution. Main thing for me too was W7 wasn't designed exactly for a touchscreen, whereas the iPad OS and Android both are. There was a lot more to it that I can't recall right now, but it was off-putting enough to make me remember not to go down that route!

It's been discussed before (and I don't want to hijak this thread into yet another iPadvsXOOMvsAndroid / ilove-hate-Apple thread) but from what I have seen & heard/read on here, Windows 7 on a touchscreen is quite awful to work with and to be avoided. I have a HTC phone with Android on it and love it, but the iPad2 is just too much for me (personally) to resist now; the iPad1 I managed to talk myself out of getting, I can't do it with this new version though!!