Does exactly what you want - it can bulk-decrypt cable channels and output them as CleaQAM. Unfortunately, if you only have 32 TVs, you likely can't afford it.
To be quite frank, Comcast doesn't care about you. 32 sets is a small setup. Something like that, or using modulators is how the big boys do it, but you're talking $10,000+ (if not $100,000+) depending on your requiements.
Where to start: Scrap all your ideas and start over. Yes, everything you asked for can be done. The reality is though is that, with the amount of complexity you are asking for, you will be a full time sysadmin for them - you might as well quit your day job now.
Your setup is simply too complex for a non-techie (and to be honest, as a techie, I don't want to have to admin something that complex at home). You need to stop asking "can I" and ask "should I?"
Windows PCs joined to active directory can let you manage them, set logon hours, etc.
Why do you care to know if the PCs are sleeping/on/off/whatever?
A router running DD-WRT will let you deny internet access based on hours and/or PCs in a simple manner. To be perfectly honest, I hate the concept of internet filtering (by parents or otherwise) as I believe it is another step toward turning people into drones, rather than teaching them to think for themselves, so I'm not even going to offer any suggestions on that subject.
I agree with the other posters, the system you have suggested will end as follows: 1. The kids will learn how to hack around it. This can be a good thing or bad thing, depending on your point of view 2. The system is so complex it will never work and the parent will never use it as they have no clue 3. You will grow to hate it as it will take too much of your time.
Keeping in mind that you have provided almost no information in your post, this is most likely either a BIOS bug or a configuration issue on Linux - I'm leaning toward both actually. Once the OS takes over power/thermal management from the BIOS, the BIOS basically stays out of the way - so Windows is getting control over your fan and managing it. Upon soft rebooting, I would expect the BIOS to step back in, but it sounds like this isn't happening - here is the BIOS bug. Now, you likely do not have Linux configured correctly to do thermal management, so if you only boot in Linux, the BIOS is still handling it, but if you have loaded Windows first (and your buggy BIOS has not reset it) nothing is handling it.
OBDII has a very limited code set - primarily related to emissions. When my car got "Airbag error 15" OBD2 did not help, nor was it publically documented what error 15 was, as this is not an emissions-related issue.
The tools are there and cheap for certain problems, and expensive (thousands of dollars) for the complete suite.
Depends on the call center. I work in what is effectively a call center for a large software company at the escallation site (in the US). Me and my peers love our job, Salaries get into the six-figures after you've been here for 2-3 years (not that they start low, mind you), customers don't scream at us, and we aren't taking calls as fast as we can. I have a friend that works escallations for a large PC company and it's a similar experience for him,
I completely understand that my experience is not a typical call center, but not all call centers suck.
Agreed, the onboard UPS is not new. I have a ~10 year old (I believe the CPU is a K6-233) device meant as a SOHO file/print/webserver from IBM that has a built-in gel-cell battery for UPS power just like this server does. Google is 5+ years too late.
Anyone want my prior art to invalidate the patent?
There's no need to wait for Apple - that technology exists today. I finish my work/download my video on my Windows 7 desktop PC I pick up my Harmony remote and walk to the TV I hit the "Watch TV" button. Everything powers up and switches to the right input The videos show up on my mediacenter machine hooked to the TV as it and my desktop PC are both in the same homegroup I can select a DVD from my firewire-connected DVD changer I can pause/rewind/watch previously recorded HDTV with my ATI Digital Cable Tuners
You could easily do this with one PC and a Media Center extender too. So $200 for an Xbox 360 + $100 for a Logitech Harmony remote. Available today.
Server core still has IE libraries - for instance, WinInet which basically is a standard internet connectivity library is there. Hell, even Hyper-V server (the OS that is free and can only run Hyper-V) will actually get offered some IE updates - because some IE components are still part of the OS. Iexplore.exe isn't there, but other chunks are there because substantial parts of the OS (and even third-party applications) use them.
If this is truly a "large school," basing your network on a single server is such a bad idea it is almost criminal, and implementations like this are what give Windows (and Linux for that matter) a bad name.
I question why you have separate networks for students and teachers, but that aside, why in the world are you giving your network a single point of failure like this? One of Active Directory's strengths is its ability to use multiple servers to achieve redundancy. Why are you running 2 domains with only one DC, and why would you design a new implementation with a single DC/LDAP server/whatever? What happens when that machine has a catastrophic software/hardware problem?
Also, change for the sake of change is a poor idea. If you have a legitimate reason to say that $FOSS_LDAP_SERVER is a better fit for your environment, that's one thing, but by not even considering that AD *MIGHT* be the best fit for your environment, you are doing your employer and clients a disservice.
Hire a consultant or someone that knows what they are doing - regardless of which platform is picked. From the question, it sounds like you don't.
Lets change one word in your statement: So when it sends reports following crashes where do they go? Microsoft.
When someone files feedback or some such where does that go? Microsoft.
When something doesn't work as expected who gets the blame? Microsoft. -- Hmmm, sounds like the attitude most of Slashdot has towards Windows.
To be quite honest, I'd really disappointed to see this antitrust suit thrown out. Apple is selling PCs, and Mac OS runs on PCs - they just won't admit it. It's time the OS competes on technical merits solely, not vendor lockin/lockout.
As I see it, this is unsupported in the same way that running Windows on VMWare (or any non-MS virtualization) is - best effort. MS doesn't technically support running Windows in VMWare but many companies do it, so MS not supporting something is by no means a dead-end for companies.
For what versions? Windows 2000 came out in November, 1999. The current MacOS version at that time was OS 8.6. Did Apple release a patch for that? Or even OS 10.1 or 10.2, which are from 2002 and 2003 respectively. Also keep in mind that Microsoft offers free information on how to make this change manually - the $4,000 is for a fully tested, supported patch. In a major corporation, a one minute interruption in work would likely equal more than $4,000 - all in all, cheap for a large company.
Having run XP MCE 2005 since it came out, I have to believe that this "review" is useless and the "reviewer" is clueless. There's several things in the article which, just one of them, could be a mistake, but all of them together make it seem like the reviewer is not qualified to review XP MCE. First of all, the author thinks that the IR Blaster is a receiver. Secondly, the reviewer resorted to using S-Video over HDMI...then managed to break an S-Video cable. Not that PowerStrip is easy to use, but it seems that the author was incapable of using it. As to adding music, I'm not sure what's wrong with the author's network, but I have about 100GB of music and MCE adds it relatively quickly - certainly in minutes, not days as the reviewer indicated. I'm not sure what the reviewer's problem is with the radio - did he not realize you could manually select a station with the seek function? As to the general problems relating to him implying it was sluggish on his PC (Audio Sync Problems, slow importing time, etc) something is clearly wrong with how he configured his PC - I have MCE 2005 running on a machine less than 1/2 the speed (P4 1.6GHz) and it runs great with two tuners. Is XP MCE perfect? No. But I've used TiVo, ReplayTV, MythTV and XP MCE and so far MCE is my favorite. Anyway, I conclude that the reviewer is unqualified to offer a review on a product like this - especially because he blamed MCE for his faults/problems he took on by building his own box, rather than buying a prebuilt one. It's certainly not hard, as I did it, but clearly he had problems.
It's not quite official, but FrontMotion offers MSI files of Firefox and Thunderbird for free which can be deployed with almost any software management solution, including Group Policies http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/
Just because something is beyond your troubleshooting abilities does not mean it is Window's fault. My gut feeling is your motherboard has a buggy ACPI implementation. Any chance your motherboard is from a little/no-name company and/or uses a VIA, ALI or SIS chipset? Try reinstalling windows with ACPI disabled and see if they go away. Additionally, try re-arranging your PCI cards to minimize the sharing of IRQ's - granted this points to a buggy driver or ACPI BIOS if this resolves the problem but if it works around the problem that may be good enough. Your motherboard BIOS or manual should have PCI slot to IRQ mappings. Don't forget about the the PCI devices onboard the motherboard. Lastly, check out http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb; en-us;Q314084 for information how to find what driver is causing the error.
Is Windows Perfect? No. That said, it's been my experience that the vast majority of BSODs are not really Window's fault - they are flakey hardware or drivers.
If you are seeing BSODs almost daily, you either have faulty hardware or some seriously buggy drivers. Honestly folks, XP, and even 2000, BSOD very rarely.
The Turtle Beach Audiotron plays MP3 (and WAV/WMA files also) has a LCD that can be read from a decent distance in clock mode (characters are about 1" tall) and has an alarm clock function. You can get them on eBay for about $250.
The critical mass already came from Microsoft. The Xbox (with the aid of a Mod Chip and XBMC) IS this device that is getting into our living rooms. Everyone I have shown XBMC to at the very least wants one, and many actually have gotten an Xbox and modded it.
They have someone that knows what they are doing - hence they are reinstalling. Once a machine has been infected with a virus, you can't trust it. Erasing everything and starting over is the only way you can (mostly) trust it....
Cisco 7940 (same as the 7960, but only 2 line instead of 6) AVOID THE CISCO 7905G/7912G AT ALL COSTS!!!! I recently did an asterisk deployment, and was planning on goin with the 7912G, but they are a BITCH to configure - the 7940/7960 is substantially easier. Your existing Avaya phones may be compatible with Asterisk - what protocol do they support?
If I have a private party, set up a huge freakin' projection system, and watch the DVD with my friends in the yard, it's still legal.
Actually, not necessarily. I'm not saying it's right, but one of the ways the MPAA defines a public performance is showing a movie on a screen larger than a certain size - I think larger than 80". You could be inside your house, and the only person watching it, but by the MPAA's definition, it is a public performance...
Reading this article about Orkut being so popular in Brazil, I decided to take a chance on finding a friend I had known for a couple years, but lost contact with after he moved to Brazil. I plugged in his name and *BAM* I see his profile and his picture. I sent him a message - hopefully he remembers me and responds. I just thought it was sort of cool to re-find him that way:-)
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.atxnetworks.com/bulk-qam-to-qam-gige-analog
Does exactly what you want - it can bulk-decrypt cable channels and output them as CleaQAM. Unfortunately, if you only have 32 TVs, you likely can't afford it.
To be quite frank, Comcast doesn't care about you. 32 sets is a small setup. Something like that, or using modulators is how the big boys do it, but you're talking $10,000+ (if not $100,000+) depending on your requiements.
Where to start: Scrap all your ideas and start over.
Yes, everything you asked for can be done. The reality is though is that, with the amount of complexity you are asking for, you will be a full time sysadmin for them - you might as well quit your day job now.
Your setup is simply too complex for a non-techie (and to be honest, as a techie, I don't want to have to admin something that complex at home). You need to stop asking "can I" and ask "should I?"
Windows PCs joined to active directory can let you manage them, set logon hours, etc.
Why do you care to know if the PCs are sleeping/on/off/whatever?
A router running DD-WRT will let you deny internet access based on hours and/or PCs in a simple manner. To be perfectly honest, I hate the concept of internet filtering (by parents or otherwise) as I believe it is another step toward turning people into drones, rather than teaching them to think for themselves, so I'm not even going to offer any suggestions on that subject.
I agree with the other posters, the system you have suggested will end as follows:
1. The kids will learn how to hack around it. This can be a good thing or bad thing, depending on your point of view
2. The system is so complex it will never work and the parent will never use it as they have no clue
3. You will grow to hate it as it will take too much of your time.
Keeping in mind that you have provided almost no information in your post, this is most likely either a BIOS bug or a configuration issue on Linux - I'm leaning toward both actually. Once the OS takes over power/thermal management from the BIOS, the BIOS basically stays out of the way - so Windows is getting control over your fan and managing it.
Upon soft rebooting, I would expect the BIOS to step back in, but it sounds like this isn't happening - here is the BIOS bug. Now, you likely do not have Linux configured correctly to do thermal management, so if you only boot in Linux, the BIOS is still handling it, but if you have loaded Windows first (and your buggy BIOS has not reset it) nothing is handling it.
OBDII has a very limited code set - primarily related to emissions. When my car got "Airbag error 15" OBD2 did not help, nor was it publically documented what error 15 was, as this is not an emissions-related issue.
The tools are there and cheap for certain problems, and expensive (thousands of dollars) for the complete suite.
Depends on the call center. I work in what is effectively a call center for a large software company at the escallation site (in the US). Me and my peers love our job, Salaries get into the six-figures after you've been here for 2-3 years (not that they start low, mind you), customers don't scream at us, and we aren't taking calls as fast as we can. I have a friend that works escallations for a large PC company and it's a similar experience for him,
I completely understand that my experience is not a typical call center, but not all call centers suck.
Agreed, the onboard UPS is not new. I have a ~10 year old (I believe the CPU is a K6-233) device meant as a SOHO file/print/webserver from IBM that has a built-in gel-cell battery for UPS power just like this server does. Google is 5+ years too late.
Anyone want my prior art to invalidate the patent?
There's no need to wait for Apple - that technology exists today.
I finish my work/download my video on my Windows 7 desktop PC
I pick up my Harmony remote and walk to the TV
I hit the "Watch TV" button. Everything powers up and switches to the right input
The videos show up on my mediacenter machine hooked to the TV as it and my desktop PC are both in the same homegroup
I can select a DVD from my firewire-connected DVD changer
I can pause/rewind/watch previously recorded HDTV with my ATI Digital Cable Tuners
You could easily do this with one PC and a Media Center extender too. So $200 for an Xbox 360 + $100 for a Logitech Harmony remote. Available today.
Server core still has IE libraries - for instance, WinInet which basically is a standard internet connectivity library is there. Hell, even Hyper-V server (the OS that is free and can only run Hyper-V) will actually get offered some IE updates - because some IE components are still part of the OS. Iexplore.exe isn't there, but other chunks are there because substantial parts of the OS (and even third-party applications) use them.
Most long-distance calling cards do exactly this, and can be had for pennies a minute
If this is truly a "large school," basing your network on a single server is such a bad idea it is almost criminal, and implementations like this are what give Windows (and Linux for that matter) a bad name.
I question why you have separate networks for students and teachers, but that aside, why in the world are you giving your network a single point of failure like this? One of Active Directory's strengths is its ability to use multiple servers to achieve redundancy. Why are you running 2 domains with only one DC, and why would you design a new implementation with a single DC/LDAP server/whatever? What happens when that machine has a catastrophic software/hardware problem?
Also, change for the sake of change is a poor idea. If you have a legitimate reason to say that $FOSS_LDAP_SERVER is a better fit for your environment, that's one thing, but by not even considering that AD *MIGHT* be the best fit for your environment, you are doing your employer and clients a disservice.
Hire a consultant or someone that knows what they are doing - regardless of which platform is picked. From the question, it sounds like you don't.
Lets change one word in your statement:
So when it sends reports following crashes where do they go? Microsoft.
When someone files feedback or some such where does that go? Microsoft.
When something doesn't work as expected who gets the blame? Microsoft.
--
Hmmm, sounds like the attitude most of Slashdot has towards Windows.
To be quite honest, I'd really disappointed to see this antitrust suit thrown out. Apple is selling PCs, and Mac OS runs on PCs - they just won't admit it. It's time the OS competes on technical merits solely, not vendor lockin/lockout.
As I see it, this is unsupported in the same way that running Windows on VMWare (or any non-MS virtualization) is - best effort. MS doesn't technically support running Windows in VMWare but many companies do it, so MS not supporting something is by no means a dead-end for companies.
For what versions? Windows 2000 came out in November, 1999. The current MacOS version at that time was OS 8.6. Did Apple release a patch for that? Or even OS 10.1 or 10.2, which are from 2002 and 2003 respectively. Also keep in mind that Microsoft offers free information on how to make this change manually - the $4,000 is for a fully tested, supported patch. In a major corporation, a one minute interruption in work would likely equal more than $4,000 - all in all, cheap for a large company.
Having run XP MCE 2005 since it came out, I have to believe that this "review" is useless and the "reviewer" is clueless. There's several things in the article which, just one of them, could be a mistake, but all of them together make it seem like the reviewer is not qualified to review XP MCE.
First of all, the author thinks that the IR Blaster is a receiver. Secondly, the reviewer resorted to using S-Video over HDMI...then managed to break an S-Video cable. Not that PowerStrip is easy to use, but it seems that the author was incapable of using it.
As to adding music, I'm not sure what's wrong with the author's network, but I have about 100GB of music and MCE adds it relatively quickly - certainly in minutes, not days as the reviewer indicated.
I'm not sure what the reviewer's problem is with the radio - did he not realize you could manually select a station with the seek function?
As to the general problems relating to him implying it was sluggish on his PC (Audio Sync Problems, slow importing time, etc) something is clearly wrong with how he configured his PC - I have MCE 2005 running on a machine less than 1/2 the speed (P4 1.6GHz) and it runs great with two tuners. Is XP MCE perfect? No. But I've used TiVo, ReplayTV, MythTV and XP MCE and so far MCE is my favorite.
Anyway, I conclude that the reviewer is unqualified to offer a review on a product like this - especially because he blamed MCE for his faults/problems he took on by building his own box, rather than buying a prebuilt one. It's certainly not hard, as I did it, but clearly he had problems.
It's not quite official, but FrontMotion offers MSI files of Firefox and Thunderbird for free which can be deployed with almost any software management solution, including Group Policies
http://www.frontmotion.com/Firefox/
Just because something is beyond your troubleshooting abilities does not mean it is Window's fault.; en-us;Q314084 for information how to find what driver is causing the error.
My gut feeling is your motherboard has a buggy ACPI implementation. Any chance your motherboard is from a little/no-name company and/or uses a VIA, ALI or SIS chipset? Try reinstalling windows with ACPI disabled and see if they go away.
Additionally, try re-arranging your PCI cards to minimize the sharing of IRQ's - granted this points to a buggy driver or ACPI BIOS if this resolves the problem but if it works around the problem that may be good enough. Your motherboard BIOS or manual should have PCI slot to IRQ mappings. Don't forget about the the PCI devices onboard the motherboard.
Lastly, check out http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb
Is Windows Perfect? No. That said, it's been my experience that the vast majority of BSODs are not really Window's fault - they are flakey hardware or drivers.
If you are seeing BSODs almost daily, you either have faulty hardware or some seriously buggy drivers. Honestly folks, XP, and even 2000, BSOD very rarely.
The Turtle Beach Audiotron plays MP3 (and WAV/WMA files also) has a LCD that can be read from a decent distance in clock mode (characters are about 1" tall) and has an alarm clock function. You can get them on eBay for about $250.
The critical mass already came from Microsoft. The Xbox (with the aid of a Mod Chip and XBMC) IS this device that is getting into our living rooms. Everyone I have shown XBMC to at the very least wants one, and many actually have gotten an Xbox and modded it.
They have someone that knows what they are doing - hence they are reinstalling. Once a machine has been infected with a virus, you can't trust it. Erasing everything and starting over is the only way you can (mostly) trust it....
Cisco 7940 (same as the 7960, but only 2 line instead of 6)
AVOID THE CISCO 7905G/7912G AT ALL COSTS!!!!
I recently did an asterisk deployment, and was planning on goin with the 7912G, but they are a BITCH to configure - the 7940/7960 is substantially easier.
Your existing Avaya phones may be compatible with Asterisk - what protocol do they support?
IANAL, but it would seem to me if Sun changed the name of OpenOffice, this exemption for MS would no longer apply?
Sorry, SCO Already has a patent on that
If I have a private party, set up a huge freakin' projection system, and watch the DVD with my friends in the yard, it's still legal.
Actually, not necessarily. I'm not saying it's right, but one of the ways the MPAA defines a public performance is showing a movie on a screen larger than a certain size - I think larger than 80". You could be inside your house, and the only person watching it, but by the MPAA's definition, it is a public performance...
Reading this article about Orkut being so popular in Brazil, I decided to take a chance on finding a friend I had known for a couple years, but lost contact with after he moved to Brazil. I plugged in his name and *BAM* I see his profile and his picture. :-)
I sent him a message - hopefully he remembers me and responds. I just thought it was sort of cool to re-find him that way