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Hi, I'm looking at resource booking (mostly ipads and a projector) and room booking (our main theatre) and was interested in whether anyone uses the room/equipment booking facility in Office 365/Outlook. I've had a quick look and it seems workable but if anyone has found limitations it would be good to know before I invest more time into trying it out. Thanks, Richard

Hi - we haven’t had any problems so far. Sounds like it could be a real pain though as I’m sure you’re finding.

Hi folks - any ideas how we can stop guided access being set on our ipads by one (but maybe more) of our students? Basically they go into settings, enable it, sets up a pass code and then lock the device. I can only seem to recover them by completely resetting the device. I've contacted Meraki who just don't seem to understand my question no matter how obvious I seemingly make it. Thanks in advance Richard

Hi folks, We've been suffering from MLS's tip top support for several months now and are looking at different systems. kennysarmy had mentioned looking at a trial of the Oliver system - can I ask how it went? We've also been recommended Accessit which I have found discussed favourably in another thread so those were the two we had our eye on. If anyone has experience of these we'd be really grateful to hear from you. Maybe I should create a new thread entitled 'sick of MLS and want to move on' - I expect it would get a similar number of views as this one... Thanks, Richard

Thanks - i'll give it a try (purely for diagnostic purposes, though). Richard

Hi, We've had this problem with a couple of screens - at the moment it's a Hitachi one. Whenever the teacher touches the screen, the machines goes to the lock screen. I've tried a couple of windows 10 laptops (both Creator and Fall Creator versions) and a couple of different usb cables with the same problem. Is it the screen or can you think of any other windows issues or settings that may cause this? Thanks, Richard

We're also having the same problem on one of our machines. Touching the screen triggers the screensaver, though. We move the mouse then the laptop screen comes back on and the screen returns although Windows then needs to be unlocked. I'm glad I'm not the only one - I hope it's not going to start happening everywhere else.

I'm in for tomorrow. :-) Was it at 6pm that people are meeting? Richard

Hi, Thank you all for your replies - it's so so useful to get several other opinions. Current switches - most are netgear JGS524 but our main one which feeds 3 different areas is a GS724TS with 3 sfp modules. I'm not sure what type of fibre we have. The link to our main server was installed about 4 years ago but the rest of the rest is over 10 years old. Is there any way to check? Currently we have a flat network so it is being proposed that vlans are introduced to allow voip/cctv/buldings management systems to have their own lans which makes sense. We will have a maximum of 35 voip lines. I would be reticent to look at other solutions. We have built up a good relationship with our current support company so I'd like to keep them in check but still keep them on board. Richard

Hi, We're going to be upgrading our server and all switches within the next month (I'm quite excited in a geeky way). We need to replace 10 switches and it has been suggested that we spend £1000 each on some hpe 2530 switches and £2000 each on another few hpe 2530 poe switches (with a view for using voip phones in the future) - that cost includes 2x10 gigabit sfp+. Does this seem and excessive amount for these switches. I looked them up and they seem a fair bit cheaper elsewhere but I don't know how much the 10 gigabit sfp+ modules are and even whether we need them bearing in mind the switches are still 'only' 1 gigabit. Next comes vmware - the extra amount is about £600 and then a small yearly subscription along with veeam which is another £500 or so. Can we just use hyper-v instead or is the difference worth it? I know there's personal preference involved - I'm used to vmware so changing would give me something new to learn which I'd like...except if it is going to cause me problems (where vmware has so far not). Finally, we are on windows 2008 r2 on one vm (backup DC) and 2012 r2 on another 3 (sccm, a file/print server and a domain controller). They are suggesting holding off upgrading to server 2016 for a year or so until patches come out. Would you agree with this? I don't think our set up is hugely complicated and pretty much all of our data is now in office 365 (along with emails). We're looking to move our mis to isams possibly next September which further cuts down our reliance on our local servers. It's a huge sum of money so any advice would be really really welcome. Thanks, Richard

Cheers gtg93 - the web installer worked nicely. Bladez - thanks, I'd not heard of the Express online version - that's 2 things I've learnt today :-)

Hi, I'm trying to install smart notebook/drivers v11.4 on a laptop I recently installed from scratch (Windows 7). It's something I've done a thousand times before without an issue but on this laptop (and another one I imaged from this setup) I get the message 'The wizard was interrupted before Education Software 2013 December Update could be completely installed'. I've also tried the June 2014 one with the same issue. I don't have a license for the newer versions otherwise I'd also give them a go. Has anyone seen this problem before and if so did they find out a solution? I'm itching to get this machine back to the teacher but obviously this software is rather important to her. Thanks, Richard

Does anyone know of any good instructions for setting up the Classroom app? (including which mdms will work) I look at Apple's site and it's all one big confusing mess. Basically we have 17 iPad air 2s (16gb unfortunately) which are shared. I just want the ability to remote control/view/lock them but can't find a good explanation of how to do it. We break up today so maybe I should just wait until after the holiday but if anyone knows anything in the meantime I'd be really interested. - and there I was thinking all my dreams would come true when 9.3 came out...

Hi, We have a situation where one of our pupils reported some really offensive language made by a Skype account belonging to another pupil. Is there any way we can find out whether the account owner did in fact post the message (ip trace)? The DH is interrogating them at the moment but if I can help technically it would save a lot of effort and possible lying.

Thank you everyone - it's very good to hear.

Hi, We're looking to change broadband provider in the summer and I've been putting together some quotes. The most competitive provider at the moment is a company called Broadband4: School Broadband Internet | Web Filtering | Education Has anyone had any experience of them? Their genuineness as a company has been called into question by one of the other providers who have quoted a higher price so I just wanted to get a feel of whether they were just saying that to make me consider them again or whether the company is indeed shady or unreliable. Advice welcome. Thanks, Richard James

Unfortunately it's not quite right but thank you for the suggestion.

Thanks. It looks good but this may be over the top for what we need - I'm really aiming for something free if possible. I can handle uploading and database configuring easily enough.

Hi, I've been asked whether we can set up an after school care booking sheet online so parents can see availability. If a parent with a child on the list doesn't need their child in the club for a certain day, they have to give 24 hours notice and that place is then spare for someone else (if they cancel within 24 hours then they are charged a one hour cancellation fee). There is a waiting list which needs to be managed - at the moment if someone cancels then the lady who runs it will call the first person in the queue to see whether they would like to use the place. If not then she'll call the next person in the list etc. Does anyone know of a system (ideally open source or sharepoint based) which could help in this situation? I'm thinking of a solution where the sheet could be in an online sharepoint excel spreadsheet which parents would have access to. They would be allowed to modify it themselves if they needed to remove their child for a particular date and the admin lady would be notified (just a simple document 'on change' notification). Every parent has a unique sharepoint login so we would be able to confirm that they had been the people who had make the change. There are still ways it could be abused, though - the admin lady would need to check every change made to make sure the parent hadn't accidentally/deliberately changed another child's attendance requirement and it still doesn't really make the phoning much easier but anything that can make it at all easier is a good start. Thanks, Richard

Sounds great. Which version of qlab would suit my needs (just to basically trigger sounds on cue changes)? While money is being planned for this project I'd like to get as much bought to future proof rather than going back to them in a few months asking for more.

I think the best thing is that I now understand different options so have avoided being over charged. In this case we saved nearly £700 by using a different supplier and make :-)

Hi - thanks all for the advice. In the end I went with a smart fade 2496. What people are saying about physical faders is true - I just felt I needed to put my geekiness to one side as it won't just be me using it.

Hi, Thank you for all your ideas and recommendations. I'm now thinking of this: http://www.freestylerdmx.be ENTTEC: ODE LED Lighting & Lighting Controls : DMX, DALI, DSI, RDM, USB, Ethernet ...and a laptop/surface. I'm not sure I can see any downsides to this. Am I missing something?

Just very simple stuff (for the moment). Basically scene crossfades and an ability to group lights when dealing with changes. I guess the most important thing is for it to be reasonably straightforward to operate. If we could get it to also trigger music/sound effects that would be great.

Hi, We're due for an upgrade to our lighting set up and we'd had a zero 88 jester 24/48 board recommended. I've done some research and feel that getting an ethernet -> dmx adaptor with either a computer controller or even iPad (saw the luminar 3 app for about £80) will future proof us better. It's also considerably cheaper as the desk is about £1400 and the adaptor is just under £200. With this in mind I spoke to the company who then suggested that eos etc nomad was a great piece of software to use. I've taken a look and it looks hugely complicated. An iPad does have an element of risk with the wireless connectivity, though. I'm thinking that an MS surface may be the best way to go - it runs windows but can obviously also run wirelessly if we would find it useful in rehearsals. How do other people achieve this? I also took a look at 'showmagic' which looks slightly simpler Advice welcome. Thanks, Richard