dalsoth

Hi guys, installed a short while ago since the new version was released. There are a couple of little things i have noticed which i am not sure are to do with my particular site or the template in general. On the main page you have the fake data supplied on a fresh install. There are like 2 news items, one being a greybox gallery with 3 images and the other normal news item. There are actually 3 news items but you can only see the third on the news page. I have tried to change the order of those displayed but have had no luck. I just wanted to see if i could shift the 3rd news item onto the front page. Surely i should be able to reorder how they appear on the page from the admin area by moving them up or down the lists. I tried every single thing i could that mentioned them in the joomla admin area. It is so confusing though with things appearing in different sections in the admin area. Not how i would expect it to be grouped but then it's free and i'm thankful for that. The other thing i noticed is that when i submit new news and type something in the box provided, nothing happens. Is this normal? Is some module or plugin not enabled? I visit the news page and only see the 3 standard news items showing. One last thing, i replaced the Foundation Stage link from the curriculum drop down box at the top of the screen and replaced it with Business. Even on the demo site you will notice that the left hand menu does not appear when you visit this page. If you visit any of the other links the left hand menu will appear. This is true for the replacement page i created called Business. Any way of getting that menu back like the others? I searched for ages and ages trying to see if something was different on the other links for this to happen. As you can see though it happens on the demo site also. Any help would be appreciated as i am a bit stuck with exactly why these things are behaving this way.

User error always!!! Perhaps they clicked log off and then were forced to save it or the program end tasked because it could not log off causing some corruption. The time delay on the log may be just how long it took to log them out? Amazed at how you have taken such a minor problem to task! Kudos to you. We get so many staff lie about never clicking this or that and then finding out later what they told us was a load of rubbish i rarely bother to investigate things like this too deeply. Unless it's the headteachers excel file then of course i will have 5 student hackers lined up ready to be shot within 5 minutes.

Corner of the school playground is a good one. Some old badger will probably make his home out of em.

I like the picture on the BBC site. Especially the placard the woman is holding. Problem is all of the people that can't read it. Deduct 10% from teacher wages until there are easier ways to remove the crap teachers ruining schools with poor discipline and no ability. If you detect any grammar errors please see my former teachers.

If Karoshi does exactly what the members here are asking for then great. If it does not then why contribute unless you are interested in that? Someone earlier mentioned it was a server and not a client. I found out very little from the Karoshi site when i went there a week or so ago. Very little documentation and just an iso which basically says here you go!!! What happens after i install it? Is Karoshi an Edugeek project? I could not see it on the forums and don't recall seeing it on the projects page. If it is not Edugeek related why not just sign up to Edubuntu or something else instead? Why are the Karoshi developers not here asking for more help? Forgive me if they are but i have not seen them. Didn't even know they were related to Edugeek until Grumbledook mentioned someone. Perhaps they have a vision for Karoshi that does not involve what has been suggested here? Don't want others telling them what they want included etc? Perhaps get them on the forum to explain that they want help and what we are discussing is exactly what they are doing would be a start

As with anything, when you have a large group of people involved there will be differing opinions. Perhaps you should put a poll up for those interested in working on a project like this. I personally would suggest taking a version of Linux and customizing it rather than trying to do everything from scratch. I would think that there would be a need for Linux experts as well as those who are good at documentation and other things. Maybe let the poll thread show the ways that users could contribute and then let people post with their skills and offers. There may even be a need to assign someone the overall control of the project in order to stop squabbles. A poll to decide on the Linux image to use? It's ok to say Karoshi is already doing this or that but perhaps many members know nothing about Karoshi. A big Edugeek project with many members involved may ultimately go further? Maybe they are actually aiming at different things? Love to see where this goes Just hope it doesn't go down the pan!

As i said i would call some small IT companies and ask them to quote for the exact same service and i would determine how much to charge based on the quotes they provide and my own honest opinion of how much better or worse a service i would perform. Did some web design work once with PHP and creating a full site with management interface and databases for a company. Was not sure what to charge so asked for peanuts. Peanuts were supplied. Spoke to an expert in the industry who did something similar. He was shocked at what i charged and said he would have charged 20 times that. Guess who was left feeling like a silly monkey:D Live and learn. Make sure you do not sign up to anything you can not handle and make sure it is all legit with contracts. Good luck.

Call a few companies and get some quotes for the work then take a look at your level of service compared to theirs and adjust the price accordingly.

Only thing similar is when we use our terminal server to log on with. Sometimes if you have not let it take it's time to log on it will not allow the log off. No error, just sits there. Try a minute or two later it allows it. I assume it is processing things from the log on attempt still. Are your laptops not allowing log off even after being online for a fair amount of time? Have you checked event logs ? Tried using just windows wireless zero config rather than 3rd party?

Anyone read this series by George RR Martin? Great books, not as good as the Peter Hamilton Sci Fi stuff though Noticed they are making a tv series about it. Others have also already started working on Terry Goodkind's stuff for a tv series but i only liked the first three books of the First Rule series. After that he became too preachy. Well i think the TV series of ASOIAF will be interesting but probably poor but that won't stop me watching when it comes out. I am a bit annoyed though how long i have been waiting for the next book in the series though. It's been like 3-4 years now and apparently he said it was nearly done when he finished the last one! Any fans of the series on here or of Peter Hamilton stuff? My favourite Peter Hamilton stuff A Song of Ice and Fire

Just need some enterprising souls to use their Linux smarts and gather all of these useful things into one set of guides and one set of packages for servers and clients:D EduGeekBuntuNixForSchoolsWhoKnowNaffAllBoutLinux project is born

Yes, it would be a great project but the administration guides and set up documentation would need to be immense and aimed at all technical levels. Remember we have those that are not too hot on Windows let alone Linux. There are also those that are highly skilled with Windows but would be left typing dos commands in terminal if it was placed in front of them. To be honest i think it would be very hard to put into practice. There are political and technical reasons why it would fail in many schools. It's a nice idea though. A real resource for real school techies based on school environments brought up on these forums a thousand times over. What antivirus would i need? Would i need any? How do i apply roaming profiles? How do i lock down Firefox from the Linux server? All these things would need to be addressed before a school with no Linux knowledge would be able to try this out. This is why i think it would be extremely difficult. Others have tried but then others did not have a community such as this with specialist knowledge on the problems that would need to be addressed and overcome.

I was aware of the certification for Linux but i don't think that is what i was hinting towards here. I was talking a Linux school system that could be applied anywhere by Edugeek users. Perhaps on test labs at first. Is Red Hat the best Linux flavour for schools to use? No idea. Would we all need to spend a long time getting certified on Linux before we would be able to roll out such as system? I hope not. I would expect the Red Hat certification would explain generic commands for all flavours but i really don't wish to learn tons and tons of programming code such as you get with many of the Linux courses and training manuals. I was talking more a transition route from a school network using purely Windows to Linux. I know some here have Linux certs and I'm sure they are invaluable. Some of us are certified on MS some are not. It helps but ultimately this could be done without going down that route provided the school specific needs and requirements were catered for. I have seen a few Linux for schools systems before. EduBuntu i think is one OS designed for education. How i would go about using that in my school with Linux servers or Windows servers i do not know. Seen Karoshi mentioned too. Even checked out the website and was hit with a wall of..... nothing. Could not even find a decent screenshot or guide or any real info on what it was about. Not a good start.

This is where i believe that there would need to be real technical manuals like the MS certification books as i mentioned earlier that would allow you to learn this stuff in a relatively easy format. Everything i see with Linux involves whipping out the terminal and typing sudo this apt get that blabla. I can go online find a fix for something in Linux and paste it into the terminal but i don't really know what i am doing. I have dabbled with Linux many times since RedHat 5 and forget everything each time i stop using it for a while. Ubuntu is fantastic but if you asked me how i could lock down a user on Linux i would wet myself. If you asked me to unlock some system settings i would wet myself We need a school network administrators guide for the complete planning, installation, maintenance of Linux servers and clients to make it work. How would i patch my systems? Like you guys mentioned, would i use a WSUS system if i wanted to preserve bandwidth? How do i actually set that up? Roll out software updates from the Linux server? Is there a GUI? I do avoid the terminal and command prompt whenever i can. I want to try these things and avoid a license model if i can but feel like i don't have the skill-set to try. So many things would stand in the way but that being said i would love it if something actually came of it. Linux has fantastic support around the world but it is like a black art to Windows administrators and the technical documentation would have to be geared towards moving from a Windows environment to a Linux one and the like for like differences that you would come across. I know i have picked Linux here and the focus as mentioned is not necessarily on Linux but on Open Source and particularly on Windows platforms but i could not resist as it is something i would love to see happen. Good ideas on the learning resources that could be used as an incentive to move staff towards OSS. I think we may all be guilty here though when we fail to get OSS in to regular use. I know that if i were to really put in supreme effort and give up some of my free time, be it after school or during break times i may be able to convert more people to OSS and teaching with it. Some would like help full stop but i am sometimes stubborn to work beyond my time. It could work but we, as much as the teachers would have to change some of our habits and start to mingle more with teaching staff and help out more in lessons. Some may do this already. I am rarely caught in a classroom unless it's empty of students. If i tried harder perhaps things would happen, maybe that is the same for others here. Just a thought.

Calling all maths teachers!! We love you really, come back we need help:p Even trying to add 2+2 makes my noggin hurt.

Love open source and to be honest most of the software on my windows computer is open source. I also dual boot Ubuntu. To use open source operating systems in education though is very difficult without plenty of knowledge to back it up. I would dare to say we have quite a few linux experts on these forums but most will be used to windows. Like you pointed out, the hard part is getting the damn stuff to the stage where you can just deploy it all without problems. I know there are various projects out there that try to make open source in schools more viable to the majority but we are not there yet. I do let students use things such as open office but that is about it really. I would love all of the linux experts to concentrate on a few focused linux projects aimed at reaching critical mass rather than shooting off in thousands of different directions never really getting to where we all hope they should be. I guess it would be nice to go to a site that has produced a solution for schools that has detailed documentation (not linux speak and millions of lines of sudo judo) for server installation and initial set up, details to configure and deploy clients remotely and locally, deploy packages across the network and troubleshoot the types of issues we currently face on our windows systems. We would also need some sort of training manuals ala the MS Press certification books on how to manage and configure these systems I guess it would have to be massive. Perhaps this is one for Edugeek and the Linux Geekers out there to work on as a project ? Now that would really change education as we know it. Until those things happen i think i will stick with my windows boxes at work and my dual setup at home Will check out the flashmeeting if it becomes available as it sounds interesting.

Ahem.... we heard about global warming the other day so we put ours on a bonfire and tried to do our bit to aid global warming.

"downloads Edugeek before everyone emigrates to monkey island"

I think i just created a package and rolled it out through group policy for Xvid. Seemed to do the trick.

No, take the MCSE 2003 and then upgrade as necessary. If you work on 2008 stuff then fair enough do those new exams. If you work with 2003 i would do that. Server 2003 will be around for a long time to come and it would look better on your CV if you had both the 2003 and then the 2008 later. Remember folks you can also self study if you don't want or can't afford to pay for courses. Great forum for help with self study for all sorts of certs is certforums. Many members here also post there. Hope that was some help.

Not sure what gewgaws is but that made me laugh too:D It made me picture the guy from Inspector Gadget with his cat on the chair and his clawed hand supping champagne and laughing evilly. I think there are some great ideas on here. Not sure about the advertising or the companies on here all the time as i think there are a lot of members who see this place as respite from the gnashing of sales peoples teeth. I very much doubt that the forums will end up full of sales people though but it is something to watch out for. There seem to be a few nice guys on the forums who are sponsors who are always on hand to help with quotes but too many and it will put some off. Perhaps if the site needs cash and i am assuming that things are fine at the moment from reading above, some of the ideas about premium services should be looked at. I know that if this place had policies and video guides and scripts which were something that were available to those that subscribed i would consider it. I know you have many of these things on the wiki now but if someone really put in the time and effort to polish and improve these with training guides and videos i think you would be on to a winner. Policies are such a problem in all schools and to have everything organised in one place guaranteed up to date with the latest legislation it would make lives easier. Anyroad, back to the studies. Don't take my earlier comments as complaints or accusations they were not intended that way. As i said, great job, hope things work out for the better.

Let me be slightly negative about this for a moment and post a few of my thoughts that came up when reading this... no really... hopefully replies will alleviate any fears that some members may have with all of these changes proposed. Love what Edugeek is about here so please take these comments without offense intended. Just trying to work out what all the focus on money is about. I "thought" Edugeek was an online forum/community where like minded individuals working in education could meet up, chat and help each other out with problems. All of this focus on cash cash cash seems to be about conferences and pushing Edugeek's reputation with big business. The vast majority of users i would expect do not attend these conferences and see Edugeek as a website community and resource. Some of the comments on here almost appear to be "selling" the technical support skills of the members here to the highest bidder. Just because you have some fantastic members who help solve others problems on the forum is not really a valid reason to sub contract those skills out to the highest commercial bidder. Are the members going to be paid for solutions to problems? After all they are the ones pulling in all the cash and for many of them they only use the forum and don't see the goodies that are on offer other than the forums themselves. Those last few statements may be exaggeration but with ACER man and other outlets suggested, along with "buy through our amazon link so we can get cash" being more or less posted it almost looks as though someone has had a lightbulb moment and realised the cash potential of the site. I suppose regulars and mods will see what i have said as heresy and try to put me up on a stake but i don't mean to offend i am just saying what things kind of look like at the moment from another stand point. Perhaps it is something to bear in mind when investigating new ideas. After all, a community is just that. Push them too far and they go elsewhere. Perhaps with schools being taken over by the BSF process many of the regulars here will slowly fade away as they are shifted into corporate helpdesks. Maybe that is why the focus is now to branch out to ensure Edugeek lives on. Fair play. I think some of the suggestions on here are great though. Including the stuff about a book or article about how to set up and run a schools IT system from scratch. Other ideas i have seen that i think are great are the Edugeek magazine idea and things such as video tutorials for training of staff in education. Think CBT nuggets by forum members on how to do stuff such as add new intakes to the school using batch files etc... Anyhoo, hope i have not enraged anyone as it was not the intention. Keep up the good work.

Agree it would be a great loss, never said otherwise. Explain how my position is poor though. Should i concern myself about every site on the internet and how i can support them? Nope. I'm just an internet user and won't be forced into feeling sorry for that. I pay for my internet connection, perhaps i should pay for every site that i visit. I also have strong views on net neutrality . I replied originally as i thought it was strange that peoples personal data was being brought into the thread. As a low poster, i was a bit worried that it was mentioned as my email details etc are stored here. I do feel though that Dos_Box would not do such a thing. More so after seeing his reply. I never click or buy anything from popups or adverts placed in websites i visit. If i wish to buy a computer i will go to a computer website. I don't need to be brainwashed into buying a coca cola because i am looking at a recipe site. I think you will find millions will agree with me there. Live your life your way, i will live mine my way. I'm happy, i hope you are too. If the site requires me to visit the adverts or quit i will quit. Please let me know if that is the case. I do not read newspapers, i read a few online papers such as the Times, Telegraph, etc... Perhaps i should worry that they will go under as i am not paying them anything.... . I live in a country where it will be soon impossible to breath without being taxed. How i choose to live my life is not really your concern and i hope you have better things to do than to worry about me. It's silly to not read adverts? Do you actually believe that? Just because i do not live my life the way you do does not make me "wrong" in any way. I am not a dalek. Your opinion of me matters little as i am happy. I do not intend to argue with anyone on here, just stating my own outlook on things. If that is not allowed let me know i will skidaddle off no hard feelings. The world is a better place when people of different views can discuss things in a sensible manner without things turning ugly:D

I agree, there are many times i have signed up to a site which claims my details will not be passed on only to find my mailbox spammed to hell the next day for similar products. Never said you would do such a thing just thought it strange that you should mention it. I can agree though that with so many users of the site you may feel the need to point out your integrity. It's sad that you should have to. As i said there was no offense intended but can understand that on the internet it is sometimes hard to gauge the way something comes across. If i had said this person to person we would probably be having a joke about it. Ah well nm. Hey i never said running a site and balancing the books was easy, total respect to you and your team for doing that. I would not do it myself as i would not want the hassle and problems that come with it. If i used the site 24/7 and mined it for information on a daily basis i would definitely pay a membership subscription to help out. I have done that on Certforums because i feel i have gained so much valuable help just lurking there. I won't apologise for blocking adverts on the internet as i dislike them. I am being honest and at least you are getting that from me. I could just post how wonderful the site is and pretend i click the banners every day to help generate cash but that would be silly. I don't have a solution really for the problem of running sites such as these and still managing to keep everything afloat. As i said, respect to you for doing it for so long. Perhaps give Roman Abramovic a call? If i was a 10,000 poster perhaps i would care more about the people behind the sites i visit on the internet. It doesn't really keep me up at night worrying if yahoo or googlemail will be able to stay afloat because i use adblock. The internet is a great resource and where one site dies another will come along. You may take offense at that statement because you have a personal investment in this site but i am just an internet user who visits this site now and again. More so lately because i am studying and when bored, come and look on here at any interesting or funny posts. Sorry if this annoys you. I don't intend to wind up the site owner, just stating how i feel on a public forum. Answered this above and i won't take offense at the remarks as i can see your point of view.

We use specific software to do this sort of thing on school machines. You can find many proxy or cache box machines that will do this. Also things like Securus and Impero and RM Smartcache/Auditor can monitor what websites a user visits in great detail. Not sure how good internet explorer or firefox history logs are.