JRA

Still boycotting LG from about 20 years ago when they "denied there was an issue" with one of their screens that used to turn off the backlight/some sort of insane brightness drop when images on the screen went too dark. Yes I do hold grudges. With any luck this buries them then.

It's been pretty rock-solid tbh since my last post in May. Had to re-do the networking when a load of builders came in and just started chopping random cables in the ceiling for no reason (yes really) but that's nothing to do with SignInApp. Happy with it tbh and looking to move forward with it this year.

Started binning that off a year and a half ago and I'm still sad. :(

Might be late but ABCD my go-to folks. Super guys: https://www.abcdtech.co.uk/

HAPPY SUMMER MR BOX! And to all of us - take it easy out there EduGeeks! Hobnobs and feet up where you can.

I have all of 1 machine running LTSC W10, which is going in the bin first week of summer. Not sure how valuable this will be to you but it's not having any of those issues.

Right then, little bit of cautious optimism. Plugged that all in, no more adapters, legit Apple cable and charger and ipad (wifi) and printer (cabled) on their own VLAN just for them. Just hit day 5 of ZERO issues. I can guarantee that'll all explode hourly now I've posted that, but just in case it doesn't, think this may be the solution! Thanks everyone and keep the good luck vibes coming!

Thanks all for the info on this one. MIS here is SIMS btw.

Yes - "twonk" is the word. It is surely twonking it. I can defo get a newer one in if I need to. What's the generation you've got in place that twonks less btw? I just found JRA's word of the week! Good to know this also cheers. Yep genuine Apple (2M) cable en route for the reception setup. Had it in the office on a charger on the wifi overnight and it's still on this morning, still aok, happily wifi linked to the cabled-in printer in reception and (as I watched it live on the CCTV) just printed a badge out. Will update with the thrills and spills as I go.

Okay, it upset me far too much today (off when I came in) so it's getting a bit of attention now. - Ipad now connects via wifi, printer is cabled in. Same VLAN, segregated from the "real" LAN completely, goes straight out. - Official apple cable going into official apple charger going into official Southern Electric electricity. Further mischief means another ipad might be worth a go, but that's another thing (adapter salad) eliminated at least.

Hello all, Just had a brief meeting with one provider and not outrageously impressed. Looking for something to (hopefully) replace the WorldPay card reader system currently, hopefully with SIMS integration, online portal for parents to make payments, pay for lunches/trips... the usual I guess! In a former life used Squid (if that's still even a thing) but had very little to do with the setup of that. I guess what I'm asking is what do you use, do you like it and how was the setup/how is living with it? Thanks all for any thoughts on that!

Could well be, next thing to try and eliminate.

I'm going to persist with it until half term, when I'll get two seconds of breathing space to address this. All the weird adapters can come out of it and it'll just be plugged into a charger in the wall. I'll bridge to that VLAN through the wifi (can even set up a dedicated AP for it as I've got some old Ruckus ones spare) and it can join that VLAN that way; same one as the printer, only two devices on it - the same way it's cabled in now just wifi-ing that and eliminating adapters. Honestly I'm at the end of my tether with this now. If it's not dramatically better after that it's not the solution for us.

...And with that, it died last night. Once or twice a week I can cope with, so let's hope it stays being once or twice a week.

Just by way of an update, we've had four solid days of it being on now since I changed the NIC+lightning adapter over. Now using the even more ropey (potentially) lightning+USB adapter with a USB NIC plugged into that which gets the network. Now I've typed this it'll blow up tomorrow but that's the long weekend gone and no issues. Tempted to say it was that plus single app mode now on and it's showing signs of cooperating nicely. For the moment...

So both the tech AND the NM left that organisation at the same time? Is that right? If so what happened?

Cheers, yeah certainly not that, slightly more randomness to the dropoffs - however at least one or more were the result of people turning the socket off in the early days!

Sounds like a nice setup tbh. How reliable have you found that? We also went with the video bg for that reason - nice/flashy feature.

Ipad is network cable and a charger in a socket, both into a combi charging + ethernet adapter --> lightning extension ----- (wall) -----> ipad in a case. Printer is just plugged into power and network cable goes into it. I have a couple of IoT VLANs set up here to keep "dumb-but-maybe-hackable-maybe" devices right off the LAN also and these two got one. Had a little review of the CCTV pointing at it over the times it's dropped these last couple of weeks and it does just look like the app kinda turns off and the ipad goes dark along with it - no signs of battery running out. Might just revisit this and give it the night off and get reception staff to plug it in of a morning.

Cheers everyone. Yep cabling it in seems to be the way to go. I wonder that something's designed into this that makes it unworkable if it's left on 24/7. I have our ipad mounted in a secure case on the wall; didn't want their mount on an arm left on a reception desk where it's visible (it'd get nicked around here, it just would) so we've had to do something slightly different. So ideally it'd always be powered on and charging and cabled in for network (via ethernet and charger > lightning adapter) with all the cables fed through the wall to ports on the other side - leftovers mostly from the previous signing in box setup. So, might just be a case of needing to bite the bullet and get reception staff plugging it in and putting the pin in and starting the app at the beginning of the day. Probably my next experiment tbh.

Thanks. Yes we've had that here and at previous places, multiple visits a week to it. Swapping out a label reel was also a full-on delete/re-add job too. I'd hoped the flakiness in the bluetooth setup had been ironed out in the intervening year or so but it hadn't. Had imagined we'd have either cabling it in or even USB-ing them together would be options but, whilst printing has certainly improved doing that, the app just tends to close and shut the ipad off now, mostly overnight, couple of times a week.

Think I'm the fourth one for Pugh now, good folks.

Morning everyone. We've had Sign In App here for a few months now. I've known from previous sites there have been reliability issues with the bluetooth printing setup (and we had the same here too) but resorted now to cabling in the ipad and printer for the sake of networking. Still getting issues with the app falling over and I've come in to a dark screen and unhappy reception staff one too many times now. Does anyone else have ongoing reliability issues with it or is it generally well-behaved out there in the world? On paper it's a great product and I'm reluctant to take any frustration out on them if it's a ropey adapter here or a loose cable letting it all down. If you've got any experience with it either way do let me know how you're finding it!

Exactly this here too.

FWIW I have not done this, but recently spoke to a friend of mine (also in education IT support) who has only recently gone with intune for ipads. I don't know what they used previously but he said intune was a breeze and worked brilliantly. I did mention that I'd heard there were reliability issues in years gone by but he said it was flawless and all very simple. I am tempted to consider it in the near future, although I do love Jamf. Interested to hear the thinking on this also.