Nibiru

That is so cool

All classroom network pc's upgraded to win7. Theres a handful of machines built as xp sp3 standalones that dont go anywhere near the network which I'll keep going for depts as long as the hardware keeps running. They are only use for word processing or for some music software and dont cause me any issues past an occasional blown power supply (Dodgy capacitors - and theres a pile of scrap base units in store for parts donors so the fix is zero cost)

At 55% you wont care what the bottle looks like after a couple of sips!

Ppft - a lightweights drink. Mines a Sink The Bismark or The End Of History (both from Brewdog.......)

Ouch. The last time I looked the epson ones we use were about 20.

Oh yes I recognise "the remote has gone missing" game. It soon stops when I tell them I will not replace them, its a departmental responsibility and Im quite willing to do the order form which will be billed to them. For a genuine loss I do sometime have a few spares in from old projectors that have been withdrawn, but they dont need to know that

Its not the 11 year olds you need to worry about - its the staff

Oh Gove has resurrected this old chestnut has he. Must be all of 12 months since he was spouting off similar stuff.

Cheap n cheerful & nice and bright, we have started buying the Optoma DX325. I doubt they will last as long as some of the ancient Epson we have dotted around but if we get 4 or 5 years out of them I'll be satisfied.

Hmm a common one is to unclip the ethernet cable at the wall and pull it back a couple of mm. Then you get a nice intermittent connection.

Oh & whilst I remember - twice over the years Ive had to replace a cable in the cabinet that had gone bad for some reason when nothing else fixed a problem

We have had occasional problems like this in the past. Deactivating any power management on the ethernet port normally fixes it (Another good one is the rear mounted usb ports deactivating and stopping the keyboard & mouse working mid lesson!) Another possibility is a damaged ethernet cable or the wiring inside the socket leading to an intermittent connection

Nasty! BBC News - Boulder smashes through Italian farm

The only issue we have had with Smartboards is the rear mounted controller boards failing after a couple of years. So far they have been replaced under warranty but Im going to have to find a supplier soon.

Our oldest projectors are getting on for 10 years old, most of these elderly relics are slated for replacement as soon as possible.

Freeview = through the aerial Freesat = Sky without the subscription element Both have pvr models available For the Freesat boxes avoid the cheaper end of the market eg Bush models. They are cheaply made and can be problematical. The Humax HDR boxes from 2-3 years ago have a good reputation and if you care to can have modified firmware applied so you can tinker more fully with the box. Freetime is new and as far as Im aware only one manufacturer atm. All Freetime adss really is on demand stuff. Joinfreesat.co.uk has a decent selection of reviews on it.

You wont be able to record at all once you cancel - the recording function is tied to part of the subscription. If you are keen to ditch sky - and with todays prices who isnt looking at saving some money - have a look at a Freesat or Freetime box. (Freetime just being the newest generation of Freesat receiver with added functionality from the internet connection Freesat give you full recording capability with no subscription and a reasonable selection of entertainment channels.

Something Ive done here is kept hold of some of the old 17" 4x3 monitors that were going to be junked after our last refit and set up most of the projector equipped computers with dual monitors. Monitor 1 is the teachers "private monitor" connected via the dvi cable and is widescreen Monitor 2 is connected via a splitter to the projector (vga). These are all 4x3 due to the projectors all being 4x3. The desktop is then extended via the win7 display control panel. The teachers soon get used to dragging stuff over to the right which they want to project. This has been a HUGE success here and got me many brownie points, and favourable comments from visiting teachers. There are a few technophobes who dont want to know but fair enough I leave them as is with their odd looking aspect ratios on their cloned screens. As they leave their rooms will be done as well. There are a few minor gotchas you have to watch out for but if theres any interest I'll start a separate thread about that. Ive now equipped my office computer with 3 19" monitors and use all of them via the 3x dvi outputs on the mobo

I can only dream of 11 meg at home. Im stuck on sub 2 meg - about 1.8 on a good day! Half the town has been FTTC'd but no sign of us being done. We had a major line fault a few years back - 100k down & 350k up! That was a hellish 3 weeks

1.5 miles along a lovely country road that runs through farmland 5 minutes in the car or 35 minutes if I decide to walk it

Same here - win7 turning the usb ports off & disabling the keyboards & mice! Turn off power saving and the problems go away.

On our SMART boards just click the two buttons on the pentray and tap the spacebar to send the smartboard s/w to monitor #2. It did cause major confusion here until we cottoned onto this!