Vista Ultimate OEM
Posted by Ianwoollam
How the hell do you wangle that one Glyn?
Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
Advantages of working in education 
Yep, our schools agreement license (you pay a yearly fee, renting the software if you like, and you always have serials for the latest versions) entitles staff to use the software at home 
The best though is reserved for one of the schools we do IT support for. They are an MS partner school meaning they get ALL their software totally free. All they have to do is display a small logo at the schools entrance, and not use anyone elses operating system or office package.
The best though is reserved for one of the schools we do IT support for. They are an MS partner school meaning they get ALL their software totally free. All they have to do is display a small logo at the schools entrance, and not use anyone elses operating system or office package.
MarcLister Wrote:
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> The evening class teachers demand Windows then?
> Could give dual-booting a tryout? All the machines
> in the CS labs here have XP and Linux on, OpenSUSE
> I think it is.
Nope, but it is expected that at least a relatively standard setup is available.
I've considered dual-boot again just this week actually, but the 1st IT room only has 20GB hard drives, and educational software (filled with multimedia as it inevitably is) takes up just that bit too much, even though I try and shift as much as possible from already busy server.
It's always been something I'd love to give as an option for the more gifted kids (or junior geeks if you like), for them to be able to use Linux and generally alternative software. There's so much choice out there, but in this arena you're quite strongly dictated by the material tutors are provided with. It's seen as a given that Windows, WinZip, Adobe Reader, Outlook and Word are installed on all machines.
We've been well-funded in IT since I started, but I always knew the day would come when that funding would be cut back and we'd be scratching our heads. To put that into perspective, we're a school catering for only 130 9-13 yr olds, we've 2 full IT suites, one with 20 PCs (all Athlon XPs), one with 34 PCs (all Intel-based recent Celerys, though fine for 2D), with 40 laptops for kids (all with Pentium 4 or Pentium Mobiles) and another laptop for each member of staff. We've total wireless coverage, and every year 8 kid has a Windows Mobile PDA. We've 6 laser printers in the school, 3 of which are high-end jobs costing £1,500+. Interactive white-boards are in every teaching class-room, and of course the overhead projectors to go with them. We've 2 servers, one for curriculum and one for admin. Now that the money is getting cut (still a decent budget), we're struggling to maintain the edge we have. The 20 Athlon XP and classroom machines (also Athlon XPs) would ideally have been upgraded this year, both servers are needing replaced or upgrading (the admin one is still NT4, though it does serve its purpose fine, the curriculum one really needs starting from scratch and a bit more HDD space), but nearly a 3rd of our annual IT budget alone goes on printing consumables.
We (or more specifically the IT Co-ordinator) is happy to spend money getting a huge infrastructure (well, it is huge in such a small school), but she had no planning in place when it came to supporting or refreshing that set up when the time came. The school closes in 2 years (when Northumberland goes 2-tier), and it'll either be a case of trying to keep the current system ticking over until then (which I really can't envisage to be brutally honest) or cutting our losses and her having to scrap one of her brainwaves.
I really don't know how I got here... corporate parity, 20gb hard drives and dual-booting probably... anyway, it's late. Sorry if you waded through my Thursday night rant
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 12:15AM by gav.
-------------------------------------------------------
> The evening class teachers demand Windows then?
> Could give dual-booting a tryout? All the machines
> in the CS labs here have XP and Linux on, OpenSUSE
> I think it is.
Nope, but it is expected that at least a relatively standard setup is available.
I've considered dual-boot again just this week actually, but the 1st IT room only has 20GB hard drives, and educational software (filled with multimedia as it inevitably is) takes up just that bit too much, even though I try and shift as much as possible from already busy server.
It's always been something I'd love to give as an option for the more gifted kids (or junior geeks if you like), for them to be able to use Linux and generally alternative software. There's so much choice out there, but in this arena you're quite strongly dictated by the material tutors are provided with. It's seen as a given that Windows, WinZip, Adobe Reader, Outlook and Word are installed on all machines.
We've been well-funded in IT since I started, but I always knew the day would come when that funding would be cut back and we'd be scratching our heads. To put that into perspective, we're a school catering for only 130 9-13 yr olds, we've 2 full IT suites, one with 20 PCs (all Athlon XPs), one with 34 PCs (all Intel-based recent Celerys, though fine for 2D), with 40 laptops for kids (all with Pentium 4 or Pentium Mobiles) and another laptop for each member of staff. We've total wireless coverage, and every year 8 kid has a Windows Mobile PDA. We've 6 laser printers in the school, 3 of which are high-end jobs costing £1,500+. Interactive white-boards are in every teaching class-room, and of course the overhead projectors to go with them. We've 2 servers, one for curriculum and one for admin. Now that the money is getting cut (still a decent budget), we're struggling to maintain the edge we have. The 20 Athlon XP and classroom machines (also Athlon XPs) would ideally have been upgraded this year, both servers are needing replaced or upgrading (the admin one is still NT4, though it does serve its purpose fine, the curriculum one really needs starting from scratch and a bit more HDD space), but nearly a 3rd of our annual IT budget alone goes on printing consumables.
We (or more specifically the IT Co-ordinator) is happy to spend money getting a huge infrastructure (well, it is huge in such a small school), but she had no planning in place when it came to supporting or refreshing that set up when the time came. The school closes in 2 years (when Northumberland goes 2-tier), and it'll either be a case of trying to keep the current system ticking over until then (which I really can't envisage to be brutally honest) or cutting our losses and her having to scrap one of her brainwaves.
I really don't know how I got here... corporate parity, 20gb hard drives and dual-booting probably... anyway, it's late. Sorry if you waded through my Thursday night rant
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 12:15AM by gav.
@gav: Tough break, though those systems are still good for the couple of years, if all that's run on them is educational software and office packages. Bureaucracy... love to hate it!
We got XP Pro and Ubuntu Linux installed AFAIK on all the CS computers at our uni. Some of those computers in specific labs have specialist software (robotics control, data analysers, programming packages, that sort of thing). I've always been tempted to switch OS's at startup and see what it's like, what they got, but sorta fear the backlash (how crap does that sound coming from a computing student?), as I like my time at uni and wanna stay here... I don't wanna get kicked off the course just for being curious.
At my old high school, they were what's dubbed a "Specialist Technology College", and as a result, they got more money to spend on computer related equipment, classes, labs, software, that sort of thing. Blackboards and whiteboards were being phased out with interactive whiteboards (Activboard, Google to find out more), but there were still the old stalwarts that preferred your lung cloggers or drug satisfiers (chalk and marker pens in case you can't figure it out), though I think by this time they'll have switched. Those systems I think were relatively cheap P4-based Celeron-based computers, that one teacher I remember complained that it took "bloody ages to start up!" What they were good for were not only demoing stuff and providing information more clearly and more interactively than the teacher's handwriting, but also playing Starcraft at the end of term!
Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
We got XP Pro and Ubuntu Linux installed AFAIK on all the CS computers at our uni. Some of those computers in specific labs have specialist software (robotics control, data analysers, programming packages, that sort of thing). I've always been tempted to switch OS's at startup and see what it's like, what they got, but sorta fear the backlash (how crap does that sound coming from a computing student?
), as I like my time at uni and wanna stay here... I don't wanna get kicked off the course just for being curious. At my old high school, they were what's dubbed a "Specialist Technology College", and as a result, they got more money to spend on computer related equipment, classes, labs, software, that sort of thing. Blackboards and whiteboards were being phased out with interactive whiteboards (Activboard, Google to find out more), but there were still the old stalwarts that preferred your lung cloggers or drug satisfiers (chalk and marker pens in case you can't figure it out
), though I think by this time they'll have switched. Those systems I think were relatively cheap P4-based Celeron-based computers, that one teacher I remember complained that it took "bloody ages to start up!" What they were good for were not only demoing stuff and providing information more clearly and more interactively than the teacher's handwriting, but also playing Starcraft at the end of term! Everyone knows that million-to-one chances happen 9 times out of 10; indeed, it's a common requirement in fairy tales. If the human didn't have to overcome huge odds, what would be the point? Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld
GPGSL S5 Race driver for IED.
turkey_machine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @gav: Tough break, though those systems are still
> good for the couple of years, if all that's run on
> them is educational software and office packages.
> Bureaucracy... love to hate it!
4 years old now, so they'll not be going all that much longer. Athlon XP 2100+s with 512mb - not bad by any means, but they're just started to die now. First proper failure on Wednesday (the graphics card in one), and it wouldn't be fair to expect the hard drives to last that much longer. They could ideally do with a bit more RAM too, but that's hardly a primary concern.
Anyway, must get back onto my own Athlon64 based system with 2gb RAM and Raptors all over the place. I've got to get the panto DVD covers designed. :D
-------------------------------------------------------
> @gav: Tough break, though those systems are still
> good for the couple of years, if all that's run on
> them is educational software and office packages.
> Bureaucracy... love to hate it!
4 years old now, so they'll not be going all that much longer. Athlon XP 2100+s with 512mb - not bad by any means, but they're just started to die now. First proper failure on Wednesday (the graphics card in one), and it wouldn't be fair to expect the hard drives to last that much longer. They could ideally do with a bit more RAM too, but that's hardly a primary concern.
Anyway, must get back onto my own Athlon64 based system with 2gb RAM and Raptors all over the place. I've got to get the panto DVD covers designed. :D
turkey_machine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At my old high school, they were what's dubbed a
> "Specialist Technology College", and as a result,
> they got more money to spend on computer related
> equipment, classes, labs, software, that sort of
> thing. Blackboards and whiteboards were being
> phased out with interactive whiteboards
> (Activboard, Google to find out more), but there
> were still the old stalwarts that preferred your
> lung cloggers or drug satisfiers (chalk and marker
> pens in case you can't figure it out), though I
> think by this time they'll have switched. Those
> systems I think were relatively cheap P4-based
> Celeron-based computers, that one teacher I
> remember complained that it took "bloody ages to
> start up!" What they were good for were not only
> demoing stuff and providing information more
> clearly and more interactively than the teacher's
> handwriting, but also playing Starcraft at the end
> of term!
The upper school I worked at for two years before Uni was a technology college. I think they're being reassessed for it this year and don't really expect to keep the specialist status. That's because the two deputy heads who applied for the specialist status and managed the money have left plus the three original teaching assistants, of which I was easily the best, have all left. Actually the IT department doesn't have any of the teachers there from the first year we had the specialist status. The head left after being insulted by his boss. A trainee teacher left after one term finding it very hard. Another teacher left after I shopped her to the boss for being very very very crap. The sexy young brunette who was the head of IT's sister-in-law then became head of department but left after just a few months in the job for another school closer to home. Its been nearly two years since I last saw her/emailed her and she still hasn't bloody replied to the email I sent her.
Oh and those marker pens WERE brilliant. A little sniff of them made a difficult lesson that little bit easier, maaan.
-------------------------------------------------------
> At my old high school, they were what's dubbed a
> "Specialist Technology College", and as a result,
> they got more money to spend on computer related
> equipment, classes, labs, software, that sort of
> thing. Blackboards and whiteboards were being
> phased out with interactive whiteboards
> (Activboard, Google to find out more), but there
> were still the old stalwarts that preferred your
> lung cloggers or drug satisfiers (chalk and marker
> pens in case you can't figure it out
), though I> think by this time they'll have switched. Those
> systems I think were relatively cheap P4-based
> Celeron-based computers, that one teacher I
> remember complained that it took "bloody ages to
> start up!" What they were good for were not only
> demoing stuff and providing information more
> clearly and more interactively than the teacher's
> handwriting, but also playing Starcraft at the end
> of term!
The upper school I worked at for two years before Uni was a technology college. I think they're being reassessed for it this year and don't really expect to keep the specialist status. That's because the two deputy heads who applied for the specialist status and managed the money have left plus the three original teaching assistants, of which I was easily the best, have all left.
Actually the IT department doesn't have any of the teachers there from the first year we had the specialist status. The head left after being insulted by his boss. A trainee teacher left after one term finding it very hard. Another teacher left after I shopped her to the boss for being very very very crap. The sexy young brunette who was the head of IT's sister-in-law then became head of department but left after just a few months in the job for another school closer to home. Its been nearly two years since I last saw her/emailed her and she still hasn't bloody replied to the email I sent her.Oh and those marker pens WERE brilliant. A little sniff of them made a difficult lesson that little bit easier, maaan.
Where I work is a high school with technology status. 200 kids, few hundred staff and around 2000 devices, our yearly budget is only £100 - 150k. When you think £35k goes on MS licensing, £12k on the net connection and a load of other dosh on other systems, it means you're back to running on a shoe string again.
Just realised, this thread has changed topic yet again
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 02:02PM by Glyn.
Just realised, this thread has changed topic yet again
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 02:02PM by Glyn.
Well I'll be damned! Just got a dispatch notice from Overclockers saying Vista OEM is on its way!
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
Recon M$ would give me some money If I told them !
haha!!.
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!haha
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Well, I couldnt resist
About the mobo, I know it might not be the right one, but I would have gone with the P5B Deluxe whcih i saw a review of in this months CustomPC. Truth is thatll but the system up to £700 odd, which is just too much, Im pusing it at is was a £550 and with the 8800gts I cant really spend anymore atall.
I want to go with an asus mobo that is SLI compatible (Does that rule out the 975 chipsets and mean I have 2 go with an nforce board?). If so, what do you guys reccomend? Also, I will need to get a set of cables, Im not up with the SATA stuff, so what would I need (Not power connector wise but data connector wise, Im guessing its not like IDE with a master and a slave. Also I will need a cooler (assuming the C2D doesnt come with a heatsink?) Preferable Id like something as quiet as possbile, but I would like to overclock in the future, and I dont want to spend much on it (£9-19?).
Any other suggestions ?
Thanks for the help all, Im 59% there on the savings side yay.
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Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2007 07:07PM by Willb.
About the mobo, I know it might not be the right one, but I would have gone with the P5B Deluxe whcih i saw a review of in this months CustomPC. Truth is thatll but the system up to £700 odd, which is just too much, Im pusing it at is was a £550 and with the 8800gts I cant really spend anymore atall.
I want to go with an asus mobo that is SLI compatible (Does that rule out the 975 chipsets and mean I have 2 go with an nforce board?). If so, what do you guys reccomend? Also, I will need to get a set of cables, Im not up with the SATA stuff, so what would I need (Not power connector wise but data connector wise, Im guessing its not like IDE with a master and a slave. Also I will need a cooler (assuming the C2D doesnt come with a heatsink?) Preferable Id like something as quiet as possbile, but I would like to overclock in the future, and I dont want to spend much on it (£9-19?).
Any other suggestions ?
Thanks for the help all, Im 59% there on the savings side yay
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Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2007 07:07PM by Willb.
Thanks, I think you are right about SLI, I just wanted to keep my options open but you put it into perspective there !!
Ill have a hunt around the intel 975s then. Would the Seasonic PSU be suitable for 1 8800GTS, or would I need more?
Thanks for all the info!
Regards
Wills
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!!Ill have a hunt around the intel 975s then. Would the Seasonic PSU be suitable for 1 8800GTS, or would I need more?
Thanks for all the info!
Regards
Wills
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