kingswood

Optical is great- a lot better than those round bouncy things...as long as staff are vigilant when in a room, they don't get stolen or damaged. Some staff aren't so helpful, and during one or two lessons in the same room with the same teacher this week students managed to vandalise four base-units, ten keyboards, and eight mice. And then Monday strikes and the complaint is: "I haven't enough computers in this room to teach" (there are still 22). I don't know why I bother... Paul

Tis done. Did I get the job? :-( Paul

Anyone us this? I installed Ubuntu with the hope of learning some (obviously) much needed Linux skills in the networking area this weekend. Install was far better than Mandriva and everything works very well (better than Mandriva actually- esp. package management). I noticed Edubuntu and have since been scouring the pages reading as much as possible on its components etc. It has (by default) LTSP for server and clients *it seems* auto configure; NFS is used for shares etc. Does anyone use Edubuntu and if so, how good is it? The server would be a Xeon based system with 1GB RAM initially while I test it, and probably have around 10 clients connecting at any one time (it's only a test remember). I'm looking for information on how easy it is to install and run, and also any books that could be used to bring myself up to speed quickly as far as Linux networking is concerned. Another question (sorry): how easy is it to integrate Linux clients (really) into an AD network such that the user has to authenticate against an AD server? Thanks! Paul

Yep- you should really place the shadow copies on a separate drive/volume (Just the same as RIS etc too). We tried shadow copies at the start of the year to replace our ailing "Recovery Manager" server (CSE supplied) and it didn't work. I'm guessing a policy somewhere was stopping it- but I can't find anything referencing it. Anyone have any ideas? Paul

Yes- this has been a real pain for us this last year. I'd be interested in any responses that show how to sack this one real good... Paul :-)

Just what I needed! Thanks Russ!!! Paul @Tony: I won't be getting it until the end of the month, but if you do get it please post your thoughts back here...

This is an eye-opener! We just upgraded our systems to an IP telephone system and were told that we wouldn't be getting the "roaming" phones. I too have to use my mobile phone. That's not all though. We also have to support the bloody things- and *that* wasn't in my job description either (I'm not a telecoms engineer but am fast learning the pitfalls of alcatel equipment). I would take the advice given here. I wish I had read this thread before giving out my own mobile number to staff!!! Paul :-(

I saw your responses Tony- did you know the admin is editing your posts (looks like he is taking your signature out!)? I joined. Posted some. It's crap. End of. Kudos (once again) to the forum admins on here that have given us a fantastic resource to come to and draw from when we need to. The difference between the sites isn't necessarily on a technical level (though the quality of technical help on here is far superior in my opinion)- no- the difference is in the sense of community found on here. You don't often get that on forums like this. Thanks guys. Paul

I would just ask them to set up a share as someone suggested; set permissions on it- and I think the one about DNS was a good one-- knock out DNS on the server and see how long it takes them to fix it. Remember that one might be better than another in an interview setting, but turn out to be a lemon in the real world. As to Tony's example: extreme. Paul :-)

Delegation of authority over an OU is a good start- give them change password for users rights, and printers too (like you said). I wouldn't (personally) make them part of backup operators until and unless they understand your backup system- it's too critical for the "have a go" types you can get (like me then ;-) Have fun! Paul

Yeah- Red Hat work very hard at making Linux acceptable to business (it seems to me), and balance the best of free software with a good business model that seems to make businesses feel good about working with them. I mean, their support model and training courses are industry recognised- and that's no small feat for a Linux company. I agree- though would change my order: Red Hat, SuSE, Mandriva (for Linux). But I still love Server 2003 and I will probably always be a Mac OS X advocate...sad, I know. Whats wrong with QNX anybody? lol Paul :-)

All valid points Tony. Thanks. Paul

I agree Russ- just because it says on the box "Open Source", doesn't mean it can't be part of an overall business that makes money. The thing about Eric Raymond's "Cathedral and Bazaar" book that buzzed for me was the idea that software companies should make very little profit from software, instead switching to charging for support. With Mandriva (and others) you are indeed paying for a distributed version of Linux- boxed, with disks (and perhaps a DVD), with support for three months and some good printed manuals. You're also paying for the distribution (or towards it in any case), and then the rest of the profit Mandriva will get (for example) is through their support system - Mandrake/Mandriva Gold etc etc. Nothing wrong with that at all, and nothing wrong with making money. The "Open" part has to do with the way you use code for your prjects- do you fold the changes and enhancements back in to the community so that everyone else can also use the code if they want etc. It's a self supportive and innovative system. But it doesn't mean economics don't factor in the whole... Paul

I got my latest copy this morning and it's another great issue. There's some great software on the DVD (Mandriva 2006- which I installed in 16 minutes exactly and am typing this entry on, and also Ubuntu 5.10) plus there are some good articles. The first is a piece on the Open Document format; the second on Perl 6; and the third focuses on an installation of Squid- which I find particularly interesting given some of the discussions on here lately regarding proxy servers etc. I don't work for LXF, so no commission (but if they want to give me some I'll take it). Just saying there are some good things in there that might interest some of you. On the Mandriva 2006 front- this thing is FAST. I'm running it on an HP nx9020 laptop and everything works fine (more than fine actually). Now all I need to do is try out that thin client deal and see what happens. I will not repent. I will not convert. "Penguins are psychotic" (Madagascar- The Movie)

I really like Gnome, but I also like KDE. I like eye candy OK? I admit it....

Oh yes. I know about the "exploit" that wasn't- one guy had it online and testable before a lot of people got their heads around what it was and more followed: http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~aaron/files/widgets/ Apple's response was to release security updates within the 10.4.1 stream that stopped the issue by prompting the user for permission/acknowledgment that they wanted to download and install said widget. Quote: " * CVE-ID: CAN-2005-1474 Available for: Mac OS X v10.4, Mac OS X Server v10.4 Impact: Malicious websites can download and install widgets via Safari without the Safe Download Validation warning Description: This update blocks the automatic installation of Dashboard widgets. Mac OS X's Safe Download Validation warning is enabled, requiring user approval before a Dashboard widget is installed by Safari. This issue does not affect Mac OS X versions prior to 10.4. Further information on removing Dashboard widgets that you have installed is available here." What the guy did at the Genius bar in Birmingham (they're good over there aren't they?) is log in with the priveleges needed to do what he did and because he had all of that access he did what he did and scared people. He had to know what he was doing, and he had to know his system and its security. You are right though- out of the box you have "admin" rights, but you *don't* have root access to the OS. That's off out of the box by default.Admin rights on OS X aren't the same as the Windows alternative (as you'l know). In any case Apple responded very quickly to the *possibility* of this kind of thing happening, and patched it in the sense of blocking *automatic* installation of widgets. Not a big deal, because it didn't affect any systems that I know of. Not knocking what you are saying by the way, just have a different perspective on it. Och- I'm a zealot already! Paul

Without most processes running under authority- i.e. as administrator (in Windows speak) it would be *very* difficult to run something that malicious inside OS X that would damage the entire system. It can be done (of course), but I doubt an automator script not running with heightened priveleges could do it... Paul

When she sees it, she will want it ;-) Paul

Never had a problem with connecting to a CRT here... Like I said, enjoy! Paul

No fast answer here tosca- I have had to do that several times in the past year and need to upgrade to ISA 2004 myself (apparently it's a doddle by the way- stick the disk in and let it work its magic). Go to the site below and see if you can find the answer there if there isn't one here soon: http://www.isaserver.org/faq/errors/ Hope you get it sorted! Paul

The Mac Mini is a great little machine Russ- you will enjoy it. Don't listen to the negative hype- it's small, quiet, and pretty good at the things people expect of a Mac Mini. Get a bigger HDD if you can afford it though- RAM is easier to fit than the hard drive (trust me). And yes- the cable comes with it for VGA connection (it's obviously a DVI to VGA adapter). Enjoy it! Paul

Good point Declan. I can't tell you the amount of times a certain member of staff has sent me pieces of paper declaring that "the computers in [whatever room] don't work" (when all that's wrong is an errant mouse on ONE machine) but who then leave their admin system unlocked ALL DAY! Or there are the staff members who allow sixth formers to log in to the admin systems and take the register (of course letting them surf and stuff while they do it). And oh yes- last week one told me that he had forgotten his password so couldn't unlock the machine; a helpful student told him, "no problem- I'll log in with [enter staff member's name here] and you can use lesson monitor through their account"! Help! Paul :-P

The 2x.com link looks very promising, I'll give you that. What I will do is test it this weekend at home and let you know how it goes- as a kind of live experiment ;-) Time will tell... Paul

Again Geoff, if we were going to do this (and we are with some 80 systems in the next year) it would be 2003 Server running Terminal Services. Reason? We need the same experience across the board- the same applications, the same interface- the whole thing. It would take too long to move from Windows to Linux at this point taking into consideration my earlier thoughts (training blah blah blah). I really understand what you mean about phased installs- but like the good doctor said, I *like* Windows 2003; I *like* Active Directory. It works- and pretty well. MS haven't done a bad job with this one at all. So for now it's Windows and Mac OS X. In the future- who knows? I will keep on subscribing to those Linux magazines and keep on testing it. One day it might surprise me and come fully working without the need for me to sign up for one of those bloody OU Computer Science degrees!! Paul :?

lol- a "sonic screwdriver" will fix that sir! Paul :-)