DrBeaker

Has anybody got any links or resources for PowerPoints for Coronavirus resources e.g. showing on TVs around the school, student desktops etc? That they've used? Has anybody actually paid attention to them? Social distancing, 2m apart, hand washing etc?

Yeah until I got 2x 22" HD screens in my last place with VGA and DVI- I'd honestly never really noticed the difference until then. If 30+ year old technology is only now starting to show it's age, I'm happy with that.

We setup a mailbox for this and any needing IT action are forwarded to us. I reset the password, test it and let the pastoral/SLT member know by sending it back. Anything to do with their home system/network is outside of our remit and advised as such. Due to safeguarding and liabilty concerns etc.

This is a valid point. Obviously to certify network installs for 1Gbps networks etc everything has to be to standard/to code with bend radius etc. To be honest though I can't see I've ever seen a fully certified network with every cable run, edge and main cabs certified etc. You can likely get a signal past the 100m it but with the dropoffs/dropped packets/signal loss it will cause all kinds of issues with the kit and I can't see it running 1Gps. Personally if it was me I'd try to do conduit and run a fibre cable through to the location with a fibre switch/SFP port on the other end. Only because I'd don't want to be doing it again in the future or having to deal with issues like this again. Certainly an interesting problem though, keep us updated as to how you solve it.

I get that dude but you can't break the laws of physics and signal regeneration - that's just how it works. Copper cable, fibre optic cable, radio waves (Bluetooth, WiFi, 3/4/5G and satellite) and IR are the only methods of signal transmission. Each tech has their own pros/cons, power demands etc.

Wireless - point-to-point/directional maybe? New cable run of Ethernet or fibre installation really. Powerline could be an option but not for production networks.

Interesting ... as that's what most of ours are and would have been replaced with a newer model. Damm. Can't find anything online about this at the moment. Can you keep us all informed if you hear anything else?

Used to live them. Although programming the time was a bit of a faff. Didn't work when the students didn't connect the DC jack to the laptop though!

We started to look at this at another place but other things took precedence ans never quite finished it. It looked promising. We're a Microsoft/365 school. Not sure if MS PowerPoint online/365 has the same functionality? Hmmm. Out of interest how did you get Google Slides to pull things from different presentations? That sounds pretty nifty.

Hi All, Just after some some advice on digital signage around the school.I like Xibo which is what I'd prefer to implement having used it before, but the biggest problems I keep coming across is the issue of PowerPoints and Photos. PowerPoints PowerPoint is 9/10 the thing they use for updates, news etc and PowerPoints seem to be the easiest thing for staff to update. However I don't really want to be uploading PowerPoints to Xibo or converting them to video files all the time.Sometimes there's lots of changes to the same PowerPoint file in the same day. To that end I want to put it back where it should be - the content owners managing and updating the content, not the IT team. E.g. this puts back the responsibility to the content owners/admin to update the PowerPoint correctly as this isn't a technical task, but an admin. e.g. if I'm not there on that day, I don't want them to say they had to wait for me, they can update it themselves. Photos Photos is the other big one where everyone needs to be uploaded to Xibo before being shown on a layout etc. Sometimes there's a need to show lots of photos in a slideshow type setup. These 2x seem to be the biggest obstacles I've yet to fully solve. What have others done in this situation? Thanks

What was it then out of interest?

Thought they were going to make it mandatory to register the drone and have a licence for it last I heard? That would means only the registered person could operate it?

240/256GB SSDs are perfectly fine. That's what most of ours run/will be upgraded to. Still loads of room after being reimaged. Maybe 150GB or more. Only people who need more are maybe your IT team/graphics/video people. Everythng else is either on a large HDD, NAS or file server.

We're an RM school and use the console to schedule Wake-on-Lan (WoL) wake-up tasks. Only time I've ever seen it fail is when they're switched off at the mains sockets. I've got it scheduled for admin, teacher and IT suite stations. Once another project is finished I'm going to tidy them up a bit. Ideally so we don't have IT suites powering up on days they're not needed. Only teaching and admin stations.

Shocking!!!!! What are the Heath and Safety implications then with that? Isn't that discriminating against support staff? What about a risk assessment?

LapCaddy where the best ones I've worked with (the bigger + 20+ units) the smaller 10-20+ units with the Magazine-rack/File type holder were horrible to work with. The Ergotron ones we've had for iPads were OK and for the Ergotron laptops they're OK, but I prefer the Lapcaddy ones. I hate laptop trolleys with a passion.

Both sensible ideas. Especially @localzuk with You can use this to try and enforce creating a ticket rule. I'll say +1 that I've not been asked or consulted about anything either so @caffrey you're not alone there friend. It's disappointing but I've gotten used to it now.

That's sad to hear all that. I know supplies of all sorts of PPE are being ringfenced by companies but being told nothing is a poor show But at least with you being IT, YOU will have some common sense and logic!

Pretty much what you said. I've usually got a supply of face masks, gloves etc that sort of stuff anyway for when dusting out computers. However as I'd used my masks prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, I've had a real tough time ordering any since then. Some little darling staff or student also stole my last box of my gloves and I've got none left. No-one has bothered to tell me anything so I'm making the decision. For me, in my office, you can't be 2m away from me so AFAIC no-one is coming into my office and there's a sign going on the door to that affect. Any issues with computers they'll have to move rooms as you can't be 2m away from staff/students in some of our rooms.

Good Idea. I had similar to do some videos for the system etc but it's way way down the list I'm afraid. E.g. with ours as we're upgrading from 8.1 to Windows 10 and from Office 2013 to 2016 it would be cause double the work for me and only me so it's at the bottom of the list. Although we've had some issues come up from working at home I'd told them they need to build into next years induction with students.

Especially for IT and site teams who 1) have to take annual leave during the holidays and 2) busiest time of the year to get everything done. Otherwise it might end up waiting yet another year to get done. E.g. I know "temporary" fixes that have been in place 4x years. I know my workload hasn't just stopped. Surely if we have another wave all of this is for nought. They're SLT. It's their decision if you get me e.g. I can get you a brand new sofa delivered in 30x mins if you want... IF you have enough budget. Otherwise there's things called real world limitations that you have to work within (working hours, cost, opening ours etc) to meet that deadline and anybody in a position of leadership of others (if you know what I mean) should understand that.

They want it done. It's gonna cost them £££'s, end of. No notice/short notice means expensive and costly. That's not your fault if they've given you no notice.

This is always interesting as there's a bunch of other threads on Edgueek about similar things and it seems the same issues get raised time and time again * Laptops being lost * What if the teacher forgets it and who is expected to have a spare (if there's even any money for that). * What about if a teacher calls in sick - what's the supply teacher supposed to use? A PC in the classroom is more reliable, supports WoL etc, more powerful, more upgradeble, less likely to be damaged/left at home etc. My personal preference for me for IT people is a decent laptop with proper docking station but they're not made anymore like the old docks. For teachers, it's a PC due to the reasons above. But it's the same argument with IT people currently expected to work from home as it is with teachers and laptops - are we supposed to use our own equipment to do work stuff? I think that's a bit unfair. E.g. I've had to shell out £30 for a new laptop battery - are they going to pay for that? Especially in state schools where is the money coming from?

How do these work in general? Would you be specifying the spec of the device as to meet minimum standards?

Hi OP @Andy2789 how have you found the Vanilla network a year later? Pros/Cons, anything you miss? Anything you would have done different etc?