DrBeaker

Isn't this what usually happens when IT are not consulted in the planning and R&D phases? Only consulted after the purchase and told to implement it? This seems to be common across all private and public sector businesses it seems. I've had it when it's actually cost them more money to implement something than they've saved by buying the new system to "save money". Go figure that logic out.

I've seen this truth so many times it's unreal. Same with pet projects techs have. When they leave, it just dies off.

Does that include 11/11.4 out of interest do you know?

I did buy a Freeview card off eBay to try something like this but not had chance this summer to even look at it due to other projects.

I had an Stone PC with an Intel Core 2 Duo Dual-Core CPU, HDD, that I'd upgraded from 2GB to 4GB RAM. This was running digital signage software and ran for well over a year with no issues before I had to shut it down. That was purely to clean it.

Hi All, Been advised we can finally replace the old NAS boxes that are from 2012 that the teaching staff/departments use with multiple file shares to store various things on there. Typical file server stuff that we don't have space for on our RM file server - it's mainly for storage, PPTs, word and Excel docs etc. So we can buy a new one, yay!! Anybody got any recommendations for a replacement NAS for this usage scenario? Currently they are a 4-bay 2012 QNAP way out of warranty with only a few TB of space total. Looking for ideally a minimum of 4-bay so we can RAID 10 the HDDs. I've no experience of the 5-bay or more models. Are they really worth it for nearly a grand or more? Is it worth the extra price for the potential extra storage space and features with redundancy? Any advice appreciated. I need the hive mind to bounce some ideas around as no-one else at work to do that with. All ideas appreciated. Thanks guys and gals.

This is a project I'd like to try at ours sometime. How did you find it at yours? Pros/Cons?

Separate AD versus SIMS logon - always been that way in every school I've worked in. I can see the pros of the AD auth/SSO though.

I saw this one, wasn't sure to be honest but might be worth a punt for that price. Will ask if we can try this or buy it and claim it back on expenses otherwise. These cables seem as rare as hen's teeth! It's an old APC Smart UPS 1000 with serial and USB. The UPS itself works fine. The USB works fine on a PC, don't have a serial cable for it and won't bother to be honest,. But it's the port on the NMC I don't have a cable for. There's a few options left at the moment to try. Not given up just yet!

It's an older card I found in a drawer, with no records etc. Plugs into the UPS but doesn't connect, doesn't seem to get an IP/connection. The DHCP was my first thought, but as we're an RM school we don't have direct access to the DHCP server itself. This is something I wanted to see if we could get using for an older server and UPS if it works. The console cable seemed a nice easy way to connect to it directly as with some old Netgear switches in the past using Serial-USB. I will give the Wizard a try though - good call.

Hi All, I have an APC AP9630 Network Management Card 2 Network NIC for an APC UPS I need to get running again. I'm struggling to find a console cable for the Network Management card though to configure the initial settings in the UK. According to https://www.apc.com/us/en/faqs/FA156064/ it's a 940-0299 cable. A "940-0299 Tip, Ring Sleeve (TRS) to DB9 cable and connect it directly to the NMC2 into the 2.5mm jack labeled "console"We don't have a cable for this. I've looked in all the usual places online, but I'm struggling to find one. Has anybody got any joy in finding one of these cables anywhere in the UK? Or does anyone have one they no longer need? Thanks

I thought it was basically for the "electrical safety" aspect of UK employment law? i.e. the electrical safety - HSE they must ensure that the electrical installation and equipment is safe Concerning thing is I've had plugs for whiteboards "pass" a PAT test, then a few days later to go and remove it from the mains socket to find the plastic crumbles away in my hand, it's gone that brittle.

Did you swap out the HDD for an SSD? If so the cached profile will be on the HDD still?

Ask them how much the data is worth when it gets corrupted to a underpowered UPS and incomplete shutdown, when they want to cheap out on the UPS.

Ours is an email from the Head approving the access. If anything happens it's their issue.

Honestly this is something I do struggle with. Getting people to listen to the rationale. I've brought books on communication and presenting, given them PowerPoints, Excel facts and figures on things and I still struggle to get the point across. Sometimes I get a response, a lot of times I don't. Sometimes I wonder if it's me.

We've replaced our old RM PCs in our music IT suite with some Dell i5 4th gens, 8GB and upgraded with an SSD. Taken from other locations on the site/refurbs. Then for a new music person to come in and say "oh I'd like a suite of Macs in here". After all our hard work testing them and getting them ready. [emoji34] So yeah I'd be interested in the opinion of someone else that these Windows PCs can do anything a Mac can do and for cheaper. Because I can see that request coming and need some figures to give them that the TCO is higher.

Interesting angle....the more expensive devices in a remote access situation have reduced functionality. That's the kicker right there surely?

True and valid points. But... above my pay grade to decide that to be honest. I've still got a lot of stuff to fix here and that RDS/SIMS/Mac thing was just one of them I inherited, but never made much sense to me. Login to the network, to go outside the network, to come back into the network. Doesn't make sense.

What's that out of interest then? [emoji848]

We have a few Macs that are getting on in age. One of the biggest issues is SIMS access. They have to access it via RDS. Then we have supply teachers who have a computer login, have SIMS access, but won't have access to SIMs on RDS - so can't take a register. With a Windows device that problem is eliminated. For a lower cost. From a cost view I can't see how they can be justified in a school nowadays. We've had other places we removed the Macs and replaced them with Windows AIOs, most problems reported as a result of using the Macs went away. Teachers using the Macs in classrooms have told me they prefer using a Windows PC. The other side is students and affordability of the Mac devices versus a Windows device.

I really really REALLY want to like Windows 10, but sorry it's basic stuff like this that is broken, faulty, missing or simply a great big pain in the ass to configure is what gets me with Windows 10. It's like it's still in beta but has mad a major public release.

Check the OOO or autoreply on both the sender and IT mailbox. Make sure they only send it once. Disable the users account for the time being to see if this stops it.

I've got some Macbooks (can't remember the exact models), but they're ones that don't support the 2x latest versions of MacOS. I priced up some possible SSD upgrades and RAM upgrades but was something like over £2.5K just for upgrades. Then I read about issues with doing this on the Macs? These ones are about 7-8x years old (the Chunky macs). I know Adobe Photoshop CC doesn't support the Mac OS version they have (even though we don't have Adobe CC) so for me in our situation, they're simply too old.