DrBeaker

On 11.4 there's a diagnostic option in the software. It will tell you if the Pena are working etc. We had loads of 600 series where the pen tray had simply failed. Replaced with a new one and was fine. This was nearly 4x years ago though. What cable are you using? USB directly or USB-Serial cable?

I've struggled to get our 600 series SMARTboards working as is with Windows 10. Not sure about the 500 series. Have you checked the driver and SMART notebook app themselves?

No it was a valid question. We're here to share experiences and different ways of doing things after-all. But your time isn't free. Your time spent doing that for them isn't free. It was mainly for internal recharging of cost questions for operational purposes.

It's to do with internal recharging of support costs which some schools do - especially with the most demanding/time-consuming departments or those that damage kit.

Jitbit is one I've heard of recently and lokls really good. Anybody use that or got any experience in using it?

Interestingly...would you charge them any kind of maintenance fee/internal fee for maintaining their system?

Really depends what you want to do with them. i3, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD should be the MINIMUM schools really buy and I mean MINIMUM. It's a false economy buying anything less than that. Some we have either purchased or from DFe don't meet the minimum specs for some software - I didn't buy them and certainly didn't recommend them. The amount of wasted time I've spent chasing "performance ghosts" when it's down to a cheap CPU etc causing the issue is ridiculous. The cheap ones are a pain, or nigh-on impossible to repair (they're designed to be replaced, not repaired) Think they've stopped the HP Stream but the 32GB eMMC drive was stupid. Don't buy them. Chromebooks are kind-of pointless unless you're a Chrome shop. Check out VeryPC or ICT Direct for supplies. What's your equipment lifespan/lifecycle policy?

Hi All, Like many schools did - we have some of the DFe HP 250 G7 Laptop's, issued from the DFe during Covid lockdowns. It now appears some of them now have broken keyboards since being issued and will need to look have keyboard replacements looked at. First glance seems it's going to be a right pain. Has anyone else come across this yet? How difficult is the repair on this particular model? It doesn't look like it's going to be a cheap repair for parts either. Thanks

As above - any companies generally want something they can sell on and make a profit on. Seeing as some of most schools run their kit into the ground well out of any warranty .. You'll likely get nothing and be wasting your time, sorry.

Synology have SHR and SHR2 RAID where if you pop in a new drive, it will rebuild/expand the array to that capacity. Rinse and repeat until you've increased capacity.

If I'd have known they did this I'd have recommended they go with these ones for ours as well.

Not buying new, no. Keeping the ones running, unfortunately yes. Gradually replacing with interactive screens. Replacing old Projectors where badly needed. Old boards have literally been put in the skips in the past (not my doing). Otherwise I'd quite happily donate them to another school.

Happy Birthday Very PC!

Think Microsoft is gonna have issues with that

That's pathetic really. Escalate to management and ask them to sort. IF... they're doing their job, regular PAT testing should flag up any failings of electrical equipment.

Yep. Have a few of these on interactive whiteboards due to the cable run length. Works with no issues. They will quite happily sit there for years doing their job until one day, they decide not to.

Updated my test Xibo server to 3.0.7 today and works OK. BUT this is only for internal testing. I already have enough to look after as it is. I did break it a few times before I figured everything out.

Been called to a couple of classrooms where the site and PAT testers team have failed plugs for VGA splitters etc and I've not been told about it. Only found out when I visited the classroom so it's not like they have a good history of being particularly competent in this area.

I've used Xibo in the past and want to do so again. But it will be the cloud version. My experience of side-loaded dongles etc wasn't postive (was done by someone else though). However my Windows-based clients worked flawlessly for months, if not years. Biggest problem is getting the people responsible for making content - actually making the content and updating it. They want the system show no interest in participating in it's success by managing the content. I'm STILL trying to solve this problem to date. But alas that's a human problem not a tech problem.

2x 22" TFTs at full HD should be adequate. Our admin have 24" Iiyama TFTs brought years before I was there which would not have been cheap. Especially given they support VGA, DVI, USB3 and have USB3 hubs on them. So for them, IMHO there's no justification at current for them having upgrades as they actually have the best kit onsite.

How well does it work for Android tablets?

You've answered your own question there really. Tell SLT that it's too late to do right now, or risk having a partially-working network otherwise.

Coat hook? What do you mean?

Well you don't need it when the school is empty. So turn it off to save power. [emoji23]

How ridiculous. Demonstrating a key lack of understanding there of what things do. Do they turn off the burglar alarm when the building is empty? Comply and then charge the damage to his department for overtime, damage, downtime etc.