davethetekkie

Have you installed the RM Unify AD Sync software? I'm in the process of rolling out the RM UBF at a primary (for staff only in our case though; pupils will continue to use the basic proxy).

No recent driver updates to the Creative card?

I thought it was a massive improvement on the last series... I'm not sure if Matt Le Blanc will last beyond this season; still seems a little dry. I think bringing Chris Harris and Rory Reid forward a bit will pay dividends.

Hmmm... Not a Diamond V.90 56k Fax Modem is it? Those LEDs and the font look very familiar!

Take a look at the VeryPC Flex; they're the compromise between an all-in-one and a standard desktop.

On our way right now! [emoji1]

Would a Gyration Air Mouse and the PowerPoint laser pointer tick the boxes? Operation would be slightly different I imagine but other than that I can't say I've heard of any alternatives...

...I miss my Rover 414. That little K series engine turned out to be plucky and reliable after all the horror stories... but then I never ragged it! ...but I digress... it's not really a surprise. My dad used to be a Panasonic service engineer so I got to see it start... even when gear was built to be serviceable they gradually changed policy until next to nowt was considered worth repairing. Stands to reason that eventually they'd just stop considering how to make things repairable as part of the design process...

If these are the ones I think they are then they aren't standard TFX; there's a little extra notch at the IEC input end which makes them ever so slightly narrower. My last employer had built a whole load of P4 3GHz machines into those cases and I spent a good deal of my first 6 months with the company replacing those PSUs after they were murdered by the hungry CPUs and high temperatures. Not just rocking horse doodoo... Proprietary rocking horse doodoo. Might be easier to look at re-casing the machines frustrating though it is...

...Just one MacBook Pro of any description would do me fine... My 2009 iMac is getting long in the tooth and I need something mobile for my Ableton rig... Blast my tiny empty wallet!

Could you maybe mount at the top of the back kick plate on your desks where you could possibly mount the NUCs upright (I.E. In the orientation they're designed to be mounted)? They'd be a pain to get to but if you can set a wake and shutdown timer on the machines it could be a way around it? The only other alternative would be to see if anyone has created a secure cage-style mount for the NUCs; I know Colin at VeryPC was able to fix us up with some for their fanless miniature machines but I'm not sure if he's had similar requests for any NUCs that he's supplied...

I may be interested for one of our primaries (need to have a chat-ette with the school business manager first though). The school only needs around 15 active APs in total so ideally wouldn't be looking at the whole lot but would definitely want the controller. If you don't get any interest in the whole lot how much would you want for the controller, the 8x ZF7372 and 10x ZF7363? If I compare it to the pricing for a whole new system they may look at buying the lot and selling on the other APs separately if that's the only option on hand (also would need to figure out how to sort the mileage claim between the two business managers involved)! Cheers, Dave.

Steinberg are giving me a headache. I'll admit that Cubase 8.5 Pro is INFINITELY better than our outgoing Cubase Studio 4 software... it even looks like the .msi files provided for the main program and the included VST instruments behave themselves and install properly via GPO once you set it to ignore the language of the package... but that's where the good luck stops. The eLicenser dongle provided with Cubase only has a .exe installer with it... it's probably not the end of the world if I have to run it via Impero and do a run around the room for this one element (there are only 16 workstations in the room that will be running Cubase) but it's a loose end... and I'm not a fan of those. Has anyone had any success either getting hold of a .msi installer for the eLicensers or managed to get the thing to install via GPO via some other sorcerification? Cheers! D.

Looks like they just nicked the VR Roller Coaster from Alton Towers and stuck the logo on the end. Definite JJ-verse then!

For the primary school that started this thread eventually I went for VEEAM; I've installed it on its own Server 2012r2 VM with a single virtual CPU and 4GB of memory set as a static amount. Installer threatened performance issues but the end result is fantastic. Definitely 10 times better than the Backup Exec environments I've worked with before!

I used to work for a service company that took on a lot of DSG Panasonic returns for test and repair... The guys there were extremely experienced (most were actually former Panasonic service dept employees from Wakefield before that was closed) and they saw a lot of the big silver CRT TVs... While I was there (repairing vacuum cleaners and microwaves) one day the (properly experienced in a Mr Miyagi kind of a way) guy next to me was servicing a 32" TV and lost concentration for half a second and just caught the back of the bare CRT that hadn't yet been discharged. The guy nearly hit the ceiling with the belt it gave him. Very lucky indeed to come out of it as lightly as he did! Do NOT play with CRTs unless you're absolutely sure of what you're doing!

Wasn't that it's selling point? Seriously though... I'm too lazy to walk to the hub from Reception and I needed to drop a cable in for Mark on my way to site (so I suppose I did do your route backwards)... It's definitely doable... You having another go next time you come onsite? [emoji12]

Oh Col... Would this be a bad time to say that I took the mighty Maverick up that same route today and didn't (add) a single scratch to it! 20-year-old 4x4 for the win! #TeamColin benefits from advanced demolition derby skills... But when #TeamAnt pulls out the Ubiquiti-jitsu (a term coined by Col awkwardly) you quickly have a battle on your hands! I'd be interested to see which members of the VeryPC army are aligned with which... Al... Ever considered creating a VeryPC Top Trumps set?

Thanks for the feedback guys... much appreciated! Still slightly miffed that after a few years of well-behaved EB-X20s (even on extremely questionable wiring looms in some cases) the first of its replacement model we buy has turned out to be a temperamental little... Anyway, thanks again!

Is the cable rated for outdoor use? If it's not then you may find that there has been some ingress of moisture despite running it in the pipe potentially causing some oxidisation and in turn higher resistance?

So a few months ago our long-time preferred projector model (the Epson EB-X20) went end of life and was replaced with the EB-X27; a pretty much identical unit with an extra 100 lumens to give. A couple of weeks ago a cheap, nasty projector failed on one of our supported sites. We temporarily replaced it with one of our spare EB-X20 units (which worked BEAUTIFULLY) while obtaining quotations for a new EB-X27. We got a great price and placed the order. The new projector went up fine and all appeared well... ...or not. I received a call yesterday to say that the projector was showing half of the image and pushing it up (i.e. bottom half of the display showing on the top half of the board). I proceeded to attend the site and powered it on and all appeared well so I shut it all down and asked the user to show me how she'd powered it up. The difference in process was that I'd found the PC already running and providing signal. The user had powered both units up at the same time. When powering up the projector during boot the fault manifests. The stupid thing can't handle changing display resolutions on the fly! It packs its pants and takes its ball home to mummy. So I approached Epson and explained that another of their OWN PRODUCTS (the X20) previously did a fantastic job attached to exactly the same rig and explained that I had tried it with two different sources (the teacher workstation and my own laptop) and found the same issue... the answer I got back was "Did you try it with HDMI?"... No, I flippin' well didn't! There's no HDMI on the loom and the test is irrelevant! I have confirmed that the new projector is the culprit and very likely to be an issue that will only manifest on an analog signal anyway given the projector is perfectly capable of giving a full screen display and the issue seems to be an inability to deal with any changes to an analog signal! They'll be asking me to set up network projection and test it on that next! Epson were unwilling to assist further unless I got back in my car and went back to site with a ladder and a long HDMI cable. Has anyone else had similar issues with the EB-X27s or Epson's support a-lately?

Hi @Chrisbf1; Anthony's boys just did 3 installs at one of our primaries recently and did a belting job! We also use Millgate for a lot of different stuff and we've always been extremely happy with what they've had to offer (but not AV oddly... I don't know why; I'll definitely be asking for some quotes next time)!

This is a 250GB IDE Hitachi Deathstar that was the sole data drive in a server called "DATA-1"; a Pentium 4 PC pressed into service as a Server 2003 machine. Everyone at the company had ASSUMED that there were daily backups going to another server. At time of failure the server was 7 years old (approx 2004 build); the drive was not rated for 24 hour operation but had been pulling it anyway. All it took was a power cut (no UPS) and they were reduced to pulling together remnants of their data from individual workstations. When I did a post mortem on the server the main board was covered in failed caps and the fans hadn't seen compressed air in 7 years. I keep it on my desk at home as a reminder and a warning. Crazy that this stuff happens... sad but true.

So... So far the consensus is to go with the first instinct and go with VEEAM. Cost is not the deciding factor but certainly the first thing looked at by those making the final decision. I just like to give them information backed up by real world experience not best guess, hence my reason for asking the question! We like VEEAM, I ASKED for VEEAM but was given pricing on Altaro with a glowing reference from a supplier I trust not to supply the wrong thing. (For the record I've done the McDonald's thing twice... And I'd need a LOT more than £60 to entertain wearing the current uniforms!) Much appreciated all!

Hi all, I've been working on planning a better approach to backups for one of our primaries and have arrived at a system that will tick all of the boxes. We'll be running a NAS unit in a secure cabinet in a separate building and will also be taking a backup to a set of ruggedised 2.5" externals for offsite backups at least for the time being. The only question is... VEEAM or Altaro. When I first approached our suppliers I had VEEAM in mind; we use this on our main site alongside VMWare and for familiarity it seemed to make sense to use the same software to support the Hyper-V environment at the primary, however Altaro is coming in a bit cheaper (to the extent that it's going to catch the eye of the school BM even if it is realistically only about £60) and seems fairly straightforward looking at the demos I've watched so far... So the question is... back here on planet Earth and away from marketing land... Is anyone using Altaro and/or can tell me how it compares with VEEAM? For VEEAM: - Familiarity - The gaffer likes to stick with known software where possible For Altaro: - Price - The school head teacher likes to keep costs down where possible without compromising on capabilities (don't we all!) The environment will be a Hyper-V 2012r2 system running 4 virtuals (at least 2 support live and critical SQL databases) on a shiny new HP DL360 Gen9 running a single Xeon E5 (at this point it's seeming very unlikely that we'll be going for a second CPU in this unit during its lifetime). The backups are the last piece of the puzzle and the only thing stopping me from taking the nice new host into production and taking the creaking DL120 G7 out of service before it takes itself out! Thanks in advance for any advice!