DrBeaker

Been fairy stable in recent years. Had one PC at another place running with it as a client for over a solid year of uptime. Admittedly that practice of max uptime has changed with Windows 10 now and the constant stream of ruddy updates. Easier to fix, no real proprietary equipment like Brightsign units etc. Fairly powerful for older hardware. Can be easily managed from AD, using GPOs etc. One PC in an old place was an old core 2 Duo with HDD (no SDD at that time) upgraded to 4GB RAM. Purely as otherwise it would have been eWaste and did the job at the time. I looked at NUCs and could get the USFF cheaper than the NUCs though. They would be ideal though. Do they need power at one end like the Kramer units, or both ends? I do like this idea as the cab would normally have power/PDU and network anyway and could always (reluctantly) sit on top of the cab with a converted running to the display and easier to hide.

Out of the ones I've tried over the years, the Windows PCs are just far easier and more reliable for what I needed. Had some old full-fat PCs running as clients as they were fine for that, just not much else. When they failed I had loads spare. Others like side-loaded Firesticks just crashed out.

Just seeking some ideas and pointers here - I have some small USFF PCs I want to use for digital signage (Xibo). We have nothing working at the moment (long story as it's what I inherited) but these are ideal units. The TVs are old, but support VGA at least and are already in place and mounted on the walls. But what's the best approach or tips to hide the computer/display player unit out-of-sight/away from prying eyes, out-of-reach of people/students etc so it can't be messed with? I'd like it to look as neat as possible but struggling to find someone to bounce some ideas off. Thanks

We had some Ergotron-branded Dell Laptop units. HORRIBLE units. Some of the worst I've worked with. Door only slides from side to side and can't be removed or opened. Lapcaddy - Highly recommended, chunky units but tough as boots. Biggest issue is students and staff taking responsibility for sticking the charger lead INTO the charging port on the laptop. That's not a tech issue however, but one I've yet to solve. However if they don't charge it they can't use it and that's the only way they're gonna learn.

As bad as 3rd party contractor staff openly smoking a ciggie on a school site?

It seems everyone else gets the same problem then, staff not willing to update the content so it falls down to IT to do it. e.g. if the office admin person does the school newsletter, would it not be logical they do the content for the school screens as well? We found being given duff information then bad IT look bad which wasn't exactly fair.

Getting the signage running from an IT point is relatively easy. The HARD part is actually getting the staff who should be updating the content to update it. It always falls down to IT to do it which isn't right. It should be marketing or admin. So Google slides, PowerPoint etc are the easiest ways from my experience to get them to do that

Interesting I DID NOT know that.

How well does that work for you? Kiosk mode? What sort of camera software do you use?

I remember years ago we had a similar problem with Canon scanners that only supported Windows XP (I think) and nothing newer. Struggled to get them to work in Windows 7 at all. Eventually after some research someone else had the same issue and apparently Canon's answer was "We don't support products ad infinitum". In the end we had to junk them and buy new scanners which solved the problem. Not saying it's right but I can't blame SMART for not wanting to support what is a legacy version, which is why a lot of people have moved away from them now due to this attitude and don't want to be locked into a proprietary platform anymore.

Did you go in-house Xibo or Cloud Xibo? How do you publish content/who does it?

IT provision and systems has been and had such a big impact during covid and lockdown - yet even now, Ofsted never seem bothered to ask about it? e.g. How can school systems and safeguarding apps run effectively on equipment that's obsolete? Very strange.

Yep - the amount of times I've seen large amounts of money wasted simply because it had to be spent otherwise next year they don't get the money is so stupid. Kit purchased just for that reason, to then sit in cupboards for years. If IT had it instead we could spend it wisely and improve every system within the schools.

With the exception of a couple of machines - I finally managed to get everything over to the same version of Windows 10 and Office during the summer. So not going to be anytime soon with Windows 11.

If anyone is interested - we're STILL waiting for a phone call and email to be returned from over 3x weeks ago from WONDE. Not impressed, seem be doing a Groupcall and not bothering to contact end users.

This is a human problem not a tech problem - Likely to void the warranty with ViewSonic. Costly repair or more likely a replacement. Plus downtime, disruption and time to sort and install costs for replacement. All because someone was too stubborn to listen to the people who know more than her? If the policy is not to write on them and they do, well that's no longer an IT issue to solve especially when it comes to money.

#Jealous Still have kit that doesn't have UEFI support or if it does, it's a shoddy earlier bug-ridden implementation that doesn't work.

Yep I had that thought at the time too. Like what???? lol

No but recently got told by a Year 7 student they "didn't know how to use a computer keyboard as they've only used a tablet" when asked to enter their logon on the PC. Heard it before, but didn't believe it until I heard it with my own ears.

Used to use some others back in the days of Windows 7 and had to install their software from the manufacturer. Some of it was so clunky and horrible to use, some many dependencies etc. I think it just treats it as a webcam really. For what staff need it works really well. We brought enough for the whole school during 2020. The feedback has been really positive from staff as they just work. Don't need a separate PSU (unlike some other brands). All of our Hues are 720 HD which is good enough for a 1400x900 screen and even the full HD screens. Would definitely buy more and in fact we did during the summer lol We found the same with Teams etc. Just reminded staff to plug it in THEN open the app OR close down any other apps and then load the camera. No issues since then.

My god....people will actually have to talk to one another and have a conversation for a change [emoji12]

Nope. As I've only just spent the summer rolling out Windows 10.

This is EXACTLY..... what we use. It...just....WORKS!

Yep same as above. To be honest if I'm renaming I'll rebuild it as well to give it a fresh build. DNS is the issue with SOLUS3 as I've found myself too - still thinks newly renamed computers are the original ones.

But how can you guarantee that fix or workaround within 60 mins? e.g. we had a major leak from the roof that knocked out lots of IT kit, no way that would have been fixed in a day, let alone the time it took them to actually fix it.