Technology and CS in Dallas

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  • Windows 7 + ThinkPad X61

    First, tried Windows 7 on the Gateway — didn't work.

    Put it on the Think Pad last night.  So far, loving it.  Only thing I don't have on it is Novell, I have a client installed, but wasn't able to use the VPN to get to our Novell Server, I'll try again and look at our settings.  Went from XP to WIndows 7 since the district doesn't trust Vista.  I'll either have to downgrade to the professional or pay $100 for the Ultimate.

    I want to figure out how to turn off their automatic login — I hate that, stuck with their B "N" when I could have my own picture.

    I still have some Lenovo drivers to find and load, but it's looking good.

  • Ping – Partation Image Not Ghost

    http://ping.windowsdream.com/ - Saved my butt this week.

    Our Norton Ghost isn't working right now.  Think it's the CD Driver.

    Anyway, came in on Monday, workstation would not load any software and run it.  Finally got a blue screen of death, etc.  Rebooted several times, several ways, it was gone.

    Called specialist and he said could reload the workstation, but couldn't that day.  I remember only difference between my workstation software and the kids computers was Lanschool, Deep Freeze,  my personal software (Camtasia and the like), and hardware.  So I used Ping, grabbed an image and loaded it on my workstation.  Worked like charm

    Dennis came by on Tuesday morning, he loaded Deep Freeze — that really DOES take him to do, and I immediately took an image.  Loaded my hardware and software, took another image and left for the day.

    Went to work yesterday, and got messages saying that my C:\Windows was corrupt, so I decided I had a bad hard drive.  Tried the image and COULD not get it to work.  At this point I have a student station.

    First, the second image was bad, as the hard drive had been running for a while.  Second, I was reading directions but not following them.  When I tried to restore the image, I kept typing in the image name, NOT THE DIRECTORY.  Argh!

    Follow and read instructions, that is what I am always fussing at students for.

    So when I left yesterday, I had swapped a student workstation for mine, was up, and was restoring the student image on my old computer.

  • Why I’m Jealous of Teach for America Teachers

    I feel the same way BUT my problem is that I am the only person in my school, so I have no one to collaborate with.  I have to go to professional development off site for that.

    We had something called "Job Alike" and it was great because it was broken up into 1 hour presentations and we took turns sharing what worked.

    Hate working in a vacuum! 

    Quote

    Why I'm Jealous of Teach for America Teachers | Edutopia
    I don't mean to whine, but I'm feeling neglected. For all my questions about the eventual impact on education with Teach for America, I find myself a little pouty that TFA teachers get all this professional development, and I don't.

  • Windows 7 is “sweet” – Wireless

    So I upgraded my HP Pavilion Slimeline to WIndows Ultimate (64x).  Bought a wireless USB port from a guy off Ebay.

    Stuck it in, didn't need drivers, just needed the Wireless key.

    SWEET!

  • What’s in My Ameribag

     

  • KeePass — one of my new favorite programs

    http://keepass.info/

    Has two versions, I've been running 1.6 for a while, and switched to version 2.09 — I am not sure I like version 2.9 having some auto type problems, but I'm going to give it a few days.

    Things I like about it

    • can put the database and run it on my phone.
    • can put it on my sharepoint server
    • can run it on a thumb drive
    • can keep up with the upteen million passwords and I don't have to.  Will also make me more secure.

  • Current Outstanding TAC Tickets

    This is cool. I don’t think my list has ever been this small, I can manage it!

  • Pong Game from Alfred Thompson

     

    via blogs.msdn.com

    This looks like a really cool idea.

    And the code all works!

  • Windows 7

    Loving it.  I think it's really Vista Service Pack 3 or 4, and it's a shame we have to send Microsoft money to make Vista work.

    It's as good as Windows XP.  More on that later…..

    Anyway, I have a MSDN high school membership thanks to Alfred Thompson (@alfredtwo).  I downloaded Windows Professional a couple of weeks ago and installed it on my "test machine".  That machine has Office 2010, and a bit of other exotic software I'm playing with.

    I got a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate with my WIndows 7 Launch Party kit (yes, I was a host).  I installed 4 gig of memory on the gym pc ($80.00), and put Windows 7 on it.  I think that's my oldest desktop but I'm not sure, it's pretty close between it and the test machine.

    So I love Ultimate so much, I went out to Journey Ed (favorite place to buy software, and they are a stone's throw away.  Bet you I get the product on Monday unless I have to send them proof of status, then I'll get it Tuesday).   That copy is costing me just around $100.  So that's not bad.  I'll put the product key in for this machine and active it when I get the software.

    By the way, all three machines are at 4 gig.  All are running 64 bit software.

    That's been a problem with the school stuff, but Windows 7 fixes that.  It has an XP virtual machine, and I love it, because that software doesn't have to be in my face.

    I've got the school software, links, and passwords all tucked away in that virtual machine and I don't have to have it in my face unless I want it.

    That is COOL!

  • Caught up

    Shouldn't say that, as it will change right away, but I finally did two of the nasty jobs I've been putting off.

    One was cleaning out a Portable — it wasn't as bad as I thought — only three pieces of equipment were bad, so the equipment removal form was easy, especially with Jeremy, my tech support kid helping.

    We also need to move a computer from one part of the building to the portable, which I dreaded by Jeremy also did all the heavy lifting.

    The second job should have been done by the teacher herself, it just involved removing two switches that had about 12 cables a piece.

    I couldn't pull out the electrical cords, she had her file cabinet in the way, and I wasn't about to move it OR have the tech support kid help.

    I also left the "speed bump" and the cables behind and told her I took a knife to mine, which I didn't have at school.

    I have some little tasks to do but they aren't bad.