kingswood

Hi there. We were in the same position a couple of years ago. We have a son (now 16) who has cerebral palsy (hemiplegia with severe learning and behavioural problems). We were looking for some IT equipment for him and the Rowntree Trust stepped in and helped. We also opted for a tablet PC. We got a Toshiba at the time, but obviously there are much newer ones now. Even then it had a fairly robust "glass" front, and managed to survive tantrums and stuff that a normal laptop would die at. We were in PC World (yes- that place) last week and there is a great deal on a Toshiba Tablet right now (less than £800) that looks pretty good. Because our experience of tablet PCs is a little out of date you would be best going to somewhere like PC World and actually handling the equipment first, asking the staff to demonstrate etc and getting a feel for how robust the machine is. But yes. A tablet would be ideal. Good luck! Paul

I think it costs big bucks.

Sounds familiar. I spent yesterday re-imaging five systems and doing the things in-between that needed looking at, and then spent two hours waiting for WSUS to update the machines- meanwhile reading up before an important meeting tomorrow...and you get that *look* from teachers that says, "mmm...these techies have a really easy life..lazy B$%t&rd3" It's annoying. But then if you have to live your life in approximately one hour spoon fed discrete chunks each day with bells and corridors in-between I can see how they would think that ;-)

Another good one Tony. I actually bought the seminar on CD from Minasi and it's brialliant. Highly recommended for all of us Vista lovers ;-)

I can't get it to work, might just be me. Let me know if this can be done- otherwise the logical solution is to use a mouse. Paul

If you are using Server 2003 R2 use the File System Resource Manager MMC to set folder level quotas. All users underneath your Student folder will have the quotas apply, and can set them to automatically apply to all folders created underneath your main folder. So if you create a new user and put their home folder in, say, \\servername\Students\%username% their folder will have quotas applied. You need to install FSRM though, and to do that you should sepcify that you want you server to fill the role of "File Server". If you aren't running Server 2003 R2 then volumes are the safest bet. You could use Disk Management/Diskpart to create a separate volume for your student areas and then set quotas on the volume. It means re-jigging your setup perhaps but as far as I know folder quotas in pre-R2 days are a no-no without some kind of third-party support- like this: http://www.spaceguard.com/ Also, if you must put quotas on the Student area, and it is on the same drive as the staff areas, then staff will need a quota set on their areas too. They are on the same volume (I assume, since you mentioned they shared the same drive). HTH Paul

Apparently there is a contextual application setting for it too- if you look through some of the options in Remote Desktop Application it might be in there somewhere. I'm on my MBP currently and don't have it installed, but if you haven't found it by tomorrow morning I'll give it a try. Paul

That's pretty interesting. Must try. Paul

The side of me that has a degree in theology so wants to come down on you all with some very deep thoughts on your comments. But I think it would be coming down...;-)

Have you authorised your RIS server? 1. Open your DHCP console 2. Right click DHCP in the upper left portion of the console window, choose "Manage Authorised Servers". If your server isn't listed select "Authorise". It's straightforward from there. If you miss this step you probably won't get your clients to connect to the service properly. RIS *can* work on multihomed servers but you need to make sure that the following are true: (a) DHCP is installed on the RIS server (b) Scopes are defined on the DHCP server © The scopes are active http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891372 HTH Paul

Looks very cool. The FAQ is good: http://www.reactos.org/en/about_userfaq.html I don't understand why this is "mad"? Paul

Opendocument format, digital divide, cost of testing and deploying..they are all fairly good arguments against adopting the latest and greatest Office suite from MS. We still run Office 2000 and despite my protestations that 2003 is much better, probably won't be moving over to even that version this year. Eventually though schools will have to either invest time and resources into a new OS and Office suite, or look for alternatives that can maintain the way things have been done to date (i.e. OpenOffice 2x). Even so I have started training myself on Office 2007 in a serious way so that when staff come in with it or want training and advice on it I can give some answers to them. The same with Vista. You see the product doesn't cost that much in education, and the main problem is document format (cured by using the MS Compatibility tool) and training. There's where we as technicians can give additional value and work at helping staff and students adapt to new technology and tools by offering training and classroom support where needed. It isn't ever easy, but if we are preparing students for work where IT rarely stays static, then it shouldn't be that much of a deal. Perhaps a year or so down the road, but not a big deal. Might be pie-in-the-sky thinking, but it's where I'm headed right now. Paul

Now that looks very interesting- thanks for that!

Sorry Tony. We have high standards, ya know?

Anyone got any recommendation of supplier for two laptop trolleys of 24 systems each I could look at? Need to close this one within the next week, and I have already been to the usual suspects (Dell, Mesh and CSE). Any others I haven't thought of but that offer good deals on these kinds of things?

Well, closing date is approaching and we have had over 30 applicants! The quality of those applying on the whole is fantastic. I've had some pleasant meetings with prospectives and chats over the phone with people who I think will help me support ICT in the school. Thanks to those who have enquired and good luck to those who are (at this very moment) being selected for interview! Paul

Office 2007 is very nice. I want it :-)

NM = General dogs body with bigger dogs biting you constantly Technician = Small but growing dog usually nipped and kept contained by bigger dog (NM) NM + Technician = Utter dog hell. Rottweilers biting you, dobermans chasing you, and little nipping whiners constantly snapping at your heels I'm probably the third.

Yes. I think it's more of a strategic thing for us. Many of the KS3 lessons that are taking place aren't up to scratch as far as curriculum goes, and one way the head of KS3 thinks we can address this is by measuring just how the students perform against a test aimed at that level. So I guess the staff assessment element is being contemplated where we are more than anything. I can see the value in it there at least.

I have to agree Tony. My experience with Apple directly has been dismal. Great people work at Apple UK, but they really don't seem energised for the education market- neither do they really sound like they can be bothered. They speak with forked tongue I think. Interested to read your thoughts further on this though.

I went on the course. It's good, but if you work in IT and have access to the technologies you need to study you might be better building your own lab and getting some books. For me it seemed that the course (70-290 was the one I attended) was geared towards those with little or no previous experience and a good way to bring you up to speed. They do warn you at the course though that you really need at least 18 months experience before taking the test. Good luck! Paul

I agree with Budgester. Discounting the value of degrees *with* experience could be a dangerous career move.

First of all download a copy of the Dell PowerEdge Diagnostics- an up-to-date version is best. See what they pull up. That in conjunction with your OpenManage software is usually the first port of call. Also, check whether there is any software on the server called "Patrol Read", because if there is you need to update the firmware on the RAID card and then disable this. There have been issues with this software on some installs. It *sounds* like something is causing constant paging on this particular drive, but it could just mean the drive itself has a fault. Check the model number of the server (e.g. PE 2800 series) with Dell's site and look for the front panel LED error code document for the server. Usually there are three HDD LEDs- Online, Activity, and Failed for each disk. Certain combinations of these can mean different things when combined with a SCSI backplane. It might be nothing in the end, but it's worth looking at. Paul

We had the same problem some time ago (July 2006) and it is Personnel module that needs looking at first as far as I remember.