kingswood

Yep- sounds really good to me too. Paul

Sounds like Windows Media Services to me... Paul

A strike? lmao oh boy... Paul :-O

Shane won't be getting a pay "rise" ;-) Paul

Well, I agree with all that has been said. The cost of fixing smashed systems, abused systems, replacing stolen mice and keyboards etc has forced my head of ICT (Curric) to close off access to IT rooms when not attended by staff who are supervising at all times. I don't blame him one bit. I think in the past year we have ordered and replaced again about 300 mice, 100 keyboards, probably in the region of 200 mouse mats, at least 20 systems and endless floppy drives and CD drives... I'm not sure that there will ever be an end to it all really. Paul :-(

I think free4440273 (you're not a number, you're a name I'm sure) is right. But most of the time using GPSI will work too. Of course the other option is to use a network share and put the flash installer inside and do it manually (yuck- it's not nice). I prefer the idea of making a master image and then using ghost to take it up and push it out afterwards (or RIS). Paul :-)

There might be some truth in that Ric. I dread the (almost weekly) update routine with SIMS. After every one there are issues with lesson monitor and the whole thing... They might take it out of beta soon :-) Paul

You've taken a good thing and made it better. Kudos. Paul ;-)

I am running .net; so let me see if I got this clear- 1. Install a standalone version of SIMS on my laptop 2. Make a backup copy of SIMS from System Manager 3. Copy the backup file to the standalone machine 4. On the standalone machine open Sys. Man and choose to restore from backup. Did I get that right? Sounds good to me in any case- and very much appreciated! Thanks Bisk. Paul :-)

Sounds a great idea, and if I had the time I would definitely come along (esp. since you mentioned a meeting with women ;-) All the best with the project anyway- if you don't mind keep me informed- I'd like to see the results of this. Paul

That got your attention (all you gamers ;-) Basically I need to get down and dirty with SIMS without doing so on a production LAN. I know how to install SIMS etc., but what I'm wondering is how to use it when not connected to the network. Any ideas? Paul

I like it. Nice one. All networky and cably (is that a word?). Well done. Paul :-)

lol! tarquel. But you too if it makes ya feel better (what did you do anyway?)- lol! Paul :-)

Well done that man! Paul :-)

Just looked at the site, and it said I had a: "Asynchronous, illegal parameter halt" What is that, and how do I get rid of it???? Paul

You can grant administrators access to "My Docs" when redirected (or other folders too) by carrying out the following (now, this is off the top of my head so bear with me if there are errors- check it out on a test system first): 1. Clear the "Grant User exclusive rights to My Documents" setting (in the settings tab within folder redirection) 2. Set security on the subfolder you are sharing that will contain the redirected folder(s) To do (2), right click the folder and get to the security tab. Select "Advanced" and uncheck "allow inheritable permissions from parent to propogate to this object" check box and then remove the permissions; now add four groups and assign them permissions--like so: Admins- Full control, applying to "This folder, subfolders, and files" System- Full control, which applies to "This folder, subfolders and files" Creator Owner- Full control, which applies to "This folder, subfolder and files" Authenticated Users- Create folders/Append Data, Read Permissions, Read Extended Attributes which apply to "This folder" only. I think the KB article for all this is Q2888991. If you have *already* set up the redirected folders and need to gain admin rights after the fact, let me know and I can dig out the commands you can use to get those rights applied in any case. HTH Paul

@Tony: Education is making students conform? Surely not?? :-) Paul

Yes. I was told that roaming profiles are "evil" when I asked a question about it on here, and it very nearly put me off the forum. However, behind the rhetoric and testosterone-driven "I do it better" responses there were some points to the arguments. The good thing is that each of us can fit what we need with how we can achieve it. For me, I still prefer roaming profiles, redirected folders, and group policies to lock the rest down. We currently use locally stored profiles and redirected folders alongside group policies to do this. Does it work? Absolutely. Would it work for you? Perhaps not. For Tony and LPTC it's mandatory profiles; for others its roaming; for some its ANother way. Whatever. The big question is: does it decrease administrative time and increase usability and security on your network? How easy is it to implement? Can you enhance it when you need to? *sigh* It's a good topic though, and one that definitely deserves a Wiki of its own and a celebration of diversity ;-) Paul

I would use mp3 for now. Audacity and Garageband will work well for you. Have fun! Paul

Grrrrrr....lol! I actually use Linux- have since Caldera 1.2 (I think it was), and enjoy the freedom of it greatly. I helped get a business in the area set up with a SAMBA server and Linux clients (RedHat 7) and passed my HNC modules using Linux for just about everything (including assembly programming). My most-read book is "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", which you probably know a lot of. I use OpenOffice 2 at home on my Windows system, and sometimes the Neo version on Mac OS X. Open Source Software makes up some 80% of my installed applications on OS X (I use FINK and X11). I even have KDE running on OS X. I like it. In fact, what I know about networking OS X mainly came from Liux use- NIS/NFS, SAMBA, DNS, DHCP and IP addressing. My first little mail server was using Sendmail, and the first time I used Linux I had to edit printcap files. A big deal for someone who only ever used Windows 95 before then! And I also ran a BeOS system. Very nice too. For all that though, Mac OS X is a far superior offering. And that's why I changed in 2002 from using Linux as my primary OS to Mac OS X. I bought a G4 466 from eBay and loved every minute of it. The interface is surely good, but the melding of interface, Apple components (Quartz etc), and the hardware is simply stunning. Ease of use, power, stability, and a solid company behind it make it a good bet for business and home use. And oh- its Unix underpinnings mean that it comes with great security and stability by default. Its use of OSS projects means that the average user (although most is hidden from them) get a "Windows-like" experience but without the need (if they don't want to) to recompile software (or kernels;-), fight to get hardware working, worry about not being able to use the "industry standard" software (Office) and the ability to enable simple neworking and see it just work. Did I mention the creativity that Macs bring to the educational market? The media and rich tools that come with OS X (iLife and Final Cut to name two) seem to bring students alive a little with the concept of actually being able to create something valuable. Our two daughters spent their summer involved in the Apple Summer Camp at Birmingham and created movies, wrote music, and manipulated images---and their faces said it all. Linux is a fine OS for sure and every week I get excited by its advances in graphics, GUI, applications and core components. It's becoming a serious networking contender in the enterprise market (has been for some time), but in education I think it has a lot to do. Areas such as documentation, training, and support mean that although the circular argument of "TCO" can be played by both sides, in reality the difficulty of actually just using Linux at home tells people in honesty that it will probably be harder at work (when you have servers and so on to deal with too). That may not be the case (and I wonder whether it is), but that's the perception. Enjoy your Linux. If you have it in school (and I want to do that too), then more power to you and cost savings to boot. But seriously, saying that OS X is for the ignorant just isn't cutting it anymore. It is, at its heart, Unix. There's no escaping it at all. It makes a powerful development and sciprting environment; runs the leading web server software; handles MySQL extremely well; dishes out SMB services with SAMBA superbly; can be LDAP and PDC- all while looking good and having the support of Apple as a company behind it. The problems for Linux are perception for sure, but that is a difficult and subjective field to deal with. And we know what teachers are like with their Office apps.... Paul

We had this error for some time. The OS writes data to cache and then when it needs to read it goes hunting for it- but doesnt find it! But it can also be (as others have pointed out) hardware related (even though your drives are new it isn't unusual as you'll know to get a bad one). Also, check that your network connections between client and server aren't going down intermittently (we had students in sixth form turning off a switch between one area of the school and the server...till we found the key for the cupboard ;-) Apparently Windows XP SP2 should have fixed this error if it's client-side, so if you're running SP2 look elsewhere. And back up your server :-) Paul

Looking at both Exchange and Novell Groupwise 7- anyone using the latter and if so, how good is it? Getting an evaluation copy, but just wanted a heads-up. Paul

...there is a good replacement for Windows. It's called Mac OS X. :-) Paul

I'll download that and have a play over half term I think...but I can't see most schools changing to that solution if they have already heavily invested in a Windows-based network (with licensing, applications, teacher-training time etc etc). Looks good though... Paul

Liberum looks very interesting- as does the Sharepoint option. I have been thinking for a long time about SP as an intranet/collaboration solution for the school and I will look into both options. Thanks for that guys! Paul :-)