DrBeaker

Hi All, What's the latest thinking of the hive mind for new projectors for classrooms? I haven't had to buy any for a couple of years now. Epson used to be our go-to brand in another job, for us the quick corner feature was a winning feature for us. Probably going to be looking soon for some new projectors as some seem to be dying now. Most current ones are Casio LED lamp-free ones but I believe these are going end-of-life from Casio from what I've heard here. We have a few that are normal bog-standard Epson projectors, some Epson Short-throws, few old/odd Hitachi's. All were here when I started so are at least 2x years old now. I have no records to go on except that, no asset register etc Most rooms with a projector still have a Smartboard in 4:3 ratio hence the need for a projector not a TV screen/flat panel. Currently flat-panels are still out of the question due to cost. Any particular brand of projector anybody recommends or are Epson still pretty good ones? The short-throw Epsons were good quality but the laser unit for interaction was very hit and miss we found. Thanks

Same, with our RM network. Except I did NOT know you could use it for photocopier screen viewing? How'd you manage that, that's kinda cool!

Ours are all standalone/"chubby" units as I call them. Normal APC Smart UPS 1000 and 1500. Are you looking for one big UPS to replace it or 2x separate ones maybe? What's the current thinking on this?

Today was the first day with partial years back in. Some support staff had to be reminded about the masks in the corridors, some teachers are not exactly giving good examples and I've told 3x staff off today for not being able to read the 2x A3 coloured signs on the IT support office door saying you will be turned away and asked to email (or ring) your issue.

Nobody has told me anything either and we've been back today. So you are NOT alone. Seeing how some of the staff acted today not maintaining social distancing and pulling up chairs next to their colleagues whilst not wearing any face masks I am lost for words.

Currently though my email, phone, walkups and any projects basically. Tickets get emailed through/phone through. Get done based on priority Tickets that are related to projects either wait or get added to that list for a holiday time/next maintenance time. Projects I use my Kanban board (only learnt about this last summer, but works for me). This method has definitely identified some areas of processes that block my work (ordering etc being a major pain in the bum) Another job we as a team used google docs/sheets for jobs and a helpdesk system. Tried this myself but it only adds more work to the process and doesn't help me I find being by myself. Long-term I want to implement a helpdesk system (Spiceworks or similar) but I'm still too busy firefighting issues at the moment. Being a one-man team means things always get changed and don't always get to do what I want to do right away. Happy to show/discuss my techniques if you want? No-way is mine perfect, but it works currently for me.

Upgraded and rebuilt all classroom and admin machines with SSD and extra RAM where needed. Originally planned - as staggered upgrades during school holidays before Covid hit. Had to push back the Windows 10 deployment I'd planned for the summer until Feb half-term 2021, as we've got old kit with no-time to properly test everything works with Windows 10 due to Covid. Multiple things, bits and bobs done, still loads left to do - priority changed every day during the holidays though, others got pushed down the list. 3rd parties letting me down from not delivering a PC to not having desks/carpet in areas etc, none of that my department to sort. 1x classroom to setup - room was being done by site team, PC in there ready to go. Another 3x in a new block to setup as there still wasn't any desks in there when I left for annual leave. Prepare for the onslaught come Tuesday/next week - Once more unto the breach, dear friends.

Yeah we renamed a bunch of machines over the summer and SOLUS kept doing weird stuff with DNS records.

True. But with all respect staggered start and finish times, staggered lunch times especially etc leaves few windows to actually move about the site, fix things, go to the loo etc. compared to normal times.

I've been thinking this myself, how am I supposed to leave my office to go to the loo or staff kitchen to make a drink with the bubbles setup and keep the bubbles intact? I've followed the advice of a fellow edugeeker here a few months ago and said this is what I'm doing, had no objections. Will be doing similar again from next week and locking the office door.

THAT.... Was pretty much the subsequent conversations and emails after I'd been told that. Bear in mind I had other IT projects I'd been working on all summer of mine, with other teams and companies etc that I wanted to get finished before leaving. As I was owed some TOIL it wasn't a normal finish time either. Bear in mind I'd told them this about 12x months ago, given then a rough price and cost with some options. 12x months later my research is outdated and prices have changed. [emoji33]

How long have the machines been off for? Is it possible they've lost the domain trust? Being powered off for months is the same as being off-site working at home for months

We're using a combination of both cloud (Office365) and local.This is to replace a NAS that was already out of warranty by about 3x years when I started and has already had the internal PSU fail. We still need some sort of local file storage system for the time being due to legacy stuff and procedures etc. We are and the money has come from them. It's to fix a lot of neglected systems and infrastructure from my predecessor. But for some reason our finance team only gave me less than 24x hours to decide on a replacement unit before going off on annual leave otherwise the money would have been gone. [emoji53]

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Does nobody adopt that anymore? Or with Microsoft break it even more?

Finished Tales from the Loop, a lot better than I was expecting. Started The Crossing.

Keyboard - The same wired Kensington keyboard I give out as standard to all. As it tends to be used and abused. So can be replaced easily and cheaply. Mouse - The wired Microsoft Classic Intellimouse. I caved in and decided to buy the Logitech MX Master AMZ Wireless mouse, but to be honest I was disappointed in it, so went back to the Intellimouse. Mouse mat is the Corsair wide mouse mat/desk pad thing.

Interesting... You learn something new every day in our jobs. Wonder how it actually works if they don't have an active SIMS install? Maybe some dummy data or something?

Have to say this is one of the better sync tools I've used over the past couple of years. One it's installed it just works and runs a job or two depending on the setup and will tell you if it's errorred in the console.. Interesting.... Ours has ALWAYS been installed on the SIMs server.

I know it's a really old app that looks really crap especially on a larger HD monitor. The staff use a a menu in SIMS and load it from there. It really looks like some 16-bit app from the 90s. I've never used it, only seen it being used. No-one I've ever worked with who uses it rates it, but I don't know what the alternatives are. It's better than nothing. Maybe give Capita a shout?

I don't have much to do with this, but I thought it was a module within SIMS and therefore to had to have SIMS to get it to work? Surely if you're contracting it out it's up to whoever's doing the work or approved the timetable work to make sure they deliver it i.e. the timetable is in a usable format for you if you use Bromcom?

Yes, it was. I believe you've since left, which is a loss to them.

Apart from issues with internet, exam officer's computer etc what exactly CAN you do if anything happens though? [emoji848] [emoji33] Especially if stuff is via an MSP or 3rd parties such as SIMS, Gmail, Office 365 etc? E.g. Another poster on the forums had a lighting strike last week at their site.

OMG what a day for this to happen. IT staff will unfairly get the blame for a failure in the cloud system.

We had similar experiences here in 2018 trying to get hold of any customer service to do our SIMs migration to a new server. Until a helpful member of staff here on edugeek helped me out. But direct contact didn't get me anywhere.

Could.... You log it as a change request and if it's not done within 12x months tell them you're looking to move to a competitor who DOES support that feature?