SimpleSi

Well - one is marked POE and "i think" iIve used them both in some cases but I'd better check! - I always wondered why the classroom teacher is always complaining about her internet speed As I said, all my previous APs have been buffalos with a 4 port switch so I've always though that was the norm - I though ruckus were just being cheap! I don't daisy chain them - I insert them between the existing class smartboard connected PC and the single CAT5 outlet to give wireless coverage in a class. Its a primary! - I still haven't got wired connections in all my classes in some schools! So one/class is luxury! And until I got these otherwise lovely Unifi - it wasn't an issue Si

I think the licensing language is meant to convey that you can't buy one machine with an OEM copy of Windows and then copy that to machines without WIndows OS to prevent wholescale loss of licensing revenue rather than restricting you from just cloning a batch of already licensced computers for a suite SI

JDI Si

Looks exactly what I wanted - except for the price And short of a internet facing server to run the Opensource one on Si

I buy Kodaks AIOs for headteachers and reception classes - (as they both need there own little printers) - cost around £70 - ink costs a bit lower than the others(well that's what Kodak say and I'm sure someone would have sued them if they were completely telling pork pies ) Si

In the past, if any videos needed going on our websites, I take the camera, copy the video off it, any video convertor it to flv- upload to the school joomla website and create a skeleton article with the video in it. Now with the increase in teachers taking videos instead of pictures, I'd like them to do all of this instead of me. But, I'm thinking that the best way to do this would be to use somesort of YouTube "type" site where they do all the hard work of converting and showing the video and that all the teacher would have to do after that is link to it from a simpel website article. But obviously, YouTube is almost always blocked in my schools, so is there a "safer" place to get the same sort of service? Si

Why not - I've never used them but I there are some installed in one school that I took over - have you used any? I should have mentioned time as well as cost - I go into this school 1/2 day a week for 3 hours - I've got 1 server/26 desktops and 20 netbooks to setup I've been working with cheap unmanaged switches for past 12 years - they do lock up occasionaly but since they normally only serve a small area - the risk is worth it. My normal network topology is 1 central 24port switch (unmanaged as well) with 1 run into each class/teaching area and 8port switch feeding 4/5 devices (or another 24 port in a suite) well ... it could ... but I'm trying to get 1 AP/class No - unless its just in the same room - I get people with ladders and drills to do that Ta -thats the sort of thing I was looking for Before discovering Unifi, I've always used Buffalo APs which have a built in 4 port switch (as they are basically routers running different firmware). Even my Ruckus APs have 2 ports on them Ta everyone Simon

The problem with Unifi APs is that they only come with one ethernet port (eg don't have built in switches) so if I want to add on to a classroom with a single port currently feeding the teachers PC I need to either A. Run another cable and install extra socket B. Use a CAT5 pair of splitters/combiners to feed PC and AP (£20) C. Add a 5 port switch (£10) plus needs an extra mains socket A - not going to happen due to cost So B or C - what do you think - what would you do based on your experience of combiner/splitters vs classroom 5 port switches. I've always gone down the 5 port switch front in the past personally Si

Great result for the motherland Si

One of my schools is co-sited (50metres from each other) with another school and both heads are wondering if they could save some serious dosh and dump the CLEO internet connection and go with someone else. Have any primary schools (particularly) in Lancs broken away and done their own thing and what was the experience like? regards Simon And before anyone (GD ) speaks - you can stick your NEN ....

Now you having a laugh Who'd trust a user report on how fast things are Si

I'm just wondering if anyone has seen something that shows what sort beneifts/bottlenecks each part of a network provides. e.g (Very simple one ) 30 Win7 laptops running into an 11g AP into 100MBs Switch connected to a XEON Quad 8GB fast server. Replace switch or AP? What sort of performance benefit could be acheived? Are their tools for predicting this sort of thing or is it still up to us geek gods to decide based on our knowledge/guess? Si I've seen stuff from Ruckus that suggests that due to all the wireless stuff going on - the 100MBs

My point is that lots of people give advice on using X tech against Y tech (ISCSI vs SAN vs Fibre Channel etc etc 100000Gps to each desktop ) but I'm doubting very much if they've ever actually compared a like for like setup and know what the differences are (and whether they are truely significant )

But you've got to give him EduGeek credit Si

So - with what dear henry, do you measure your normal and 70% loads - temp gauge on the CPU?, stopwatch to see how long office takes to load? Si

I've a few simple HP Proliant machines and a few normal desktops running as file/print/dns/printer servers in my primary schools which seem to do the job of normal worst case of 35 netbooks wanting to save a word file at the same time ...but maybe I need to wire the server up using a 100GB Fibre Card with a SCSI SAN FlashRAM super duper thingy and see them fly! But ,my question is - do you big boys and girls measure the traffic on your servers or the speed of data/app load save times or do you just buy as fast as you can afford and assume it miles better than a 10BaseT connection to a Pentium II running NEtware? If you do measure - what with what dear henry - with what? Simon

Yep - spot on Si

I can't find any free/open source branching database progs for KS1 and therefore I'm going to try and code one up (in 4 days!) I'd like some ideas as to development tool to use. It can end up as an exe or as a web app Spec is Input/Load/Save a descision tree. Run a question/answer session to use it. The more graphical the better. Ideas please (or existing code/app would be even better Simon

Si

Sorry - used "cloud" when I should have used "whatzit thingy" Not really practical to have all plugins installed (and uptodate) on all the computers I want to go to a computer, simply logon to a "whatzit thingy" (I'm thinking browse to a website for that) and then it all magically appears in front of me Probably want I want is some sort of "cloud" !!!! machine running in the Amazon S3forest that I can access from anywhere but with ability to download files from to my local machine/device I'm working on - like dropbox but a whole computer (but I'd be happy with a browser at first ) Si Do people

BBC News - Ofsted: Literacy progress has stalled, chief inspector says Sometimes I think that the Sun front page and the BBC education website employ someone with the same mentality. Just because someone at the top open their mouth doesn't mean its a good idea to: A. Repeat what they say, especially "statistics" (which in 94.8% of cases have been interpreted to fit the words used) B. Do a nice pix and mix on quotes Progress has stalled - of course its bloody stalled - if you put a gun to the head of the childrens favourite pet and threatened to shoot if they didn't do better, it wouldn't get you anywhere as as we've reached the end of the road in terms of results at KS2 - everyone is getting the best score that they can. [/rant] Si

Unless there is some compelling reason (financial or otherwise) then simple fat clients are still the way to go in primaries. The range of software is just too vast to get it to run easily inside any type of thin client setup - thin clients are great for enviroments that just need to use standard software (office/email etc) and can even work in more complex setups if someone goes to great lengths to get it all working. When the teachers/head arrive back from somewhere with a CD in their hand - they won't want to wait a month while you try and get it working on the setup. And more and more, primary pupils are using video and animation where they just simply used to draw a picture or write a word/powerpoint/textease document and that's always going to be a problem until we have fibre to the desktop and a cray in server room Si

... I have taken an offer of a "free" printer in exchange for buying some of their compatible cartridges I know I shouldn't have done it but the school made me They wouldn't stump up the capital cost of a new printer and I told them that this way - it wouldn't cost them anything (but I reckon its about £80 as I could get compatibles from my normal supplier for that much less) I promise I won't do it again (this fiscal year anyway!) - what is my punishment??? Simon

I want to be able to setup a bunch of tabs on a browser on a computer in a school and then when I go onto another machine or smartphone or tablet, log on - and see the same screens as I had on the first one. I don't want/need to simply keep remote control of the 1st machine - I want a cloud/vm thingy instance dedicated to me and just use any available computing device as a client access thingy. Is this available to me now (at reasonable cost) or do I have to build a time machine and go forward into the future first? Si

@sysman You've spoilt the game- you and your fancy vector thinghy :) Ta Simon PS But I still want to know a good subsitute for having it re-drawn by a Jedi Master