Clemente Tech News – March 2004
Clemente Tech News | March 2004 | Volume 4 | Issue 4
Who needs Spring? I can’t print!
Spring is almost here, but I doubt you care much about that since it happens around this time EVERY year. What you might care to know is that a whole bunch of other stuff you’ve been waiting for is here!
First, classrooms with multiple USB computers sharing one USB cable to their compatible printer will get a new USB switch box so they won’t ruin their computers or cables plugging and unplugging all the time. Then classrooms with a USB computer (iMac and/or eMac) but no compatible printer will be outfitted with the new Epson Stylus C84’s that arrived around mid-February. Finally, it’ll be summer and we’d have waited all school year for this stuff without a chance to use it.
Some of you have been waiting for word on the black ink cartridges for the Epson Stylus C80 printers currently installed in rooms. Here’s that word: No. The ink still isn’t here. However, other items from orders that included this ink have arrived, so we remain hopeful that the ink will be here shortly. Thank you for your patience over these last few months.
Reminder: Those of you fortunate enough not to have brand-spanking new USB printers in your room are well nested with plenty of ink for your printers. To ensure that you can print properly from the printer connected to your network computers, follow the guidelines for setting the chooser. For instance, make sure that AppleTalk stays “ACTIVE” and that background printing is turned “OFF” when you select your printer in the chooser.
Server upgrade: What about it?
Remember that week in February when we upgraded our server and the classroom computers started showing “offline” screens? Students or teachers might have accessed their computers by clicking the “OFFLINE” option on that screen until we visited rooms to set them to work with the new server configuration.
Yet, some computers are still working offline with little hope of getting them to cooperate with the new server setup. So what did this “upgrade” entail and what does it mean for classroom computers?
Your classroom’s network computers actually operated on two servers. One allowed you to log into the machine and access your data. The other actually stored the data saved by students in 6th and 8th grades. They ran different operating systems and didn’t really act as one server, resulting in frequent crashes and constant hang-ups. This is why 6th– and 8th-grade students became very familiar with working offline.
The upgrade affected both of these servers so that they work as one unit. Supposedly seamless, the new configuration should reduce the amount of crashes and frozen logins.
The other good news is that we continue to work toward a “pure” network on which only G3 and G4 machines will require access to our servers. Until that happens, we will develop methods that will allow us to work around any incompatibilities across our network.
Moving violations
Mid-February was a red-letter week for the Technology Department because everything seemed to happen then. A lot of long-awaited orders started flowing in then, we upgraded our servers and some classroom changes took place. This was also the time when the following notice appeared in the bulletin:
“Please do not remove computers, including keyboards, mice, computer tables, etc. from one classroom to another without approval of the computer department. Doing so contributes to chaos on our network (everything has a specific place to be), and it may well mean the end of civilization as we now know it!”
We cannot stress enough the importance of strict maintenance of inventory records for School District property. Even the tables ordered and assigned by the Technology Department must remain in the room to which it was assigned. Swapping mice and/or keyboards with a team member or other classroom has resulted in missing and damaged equipment for which no one wants to accept responsibility. Other items have been shared, and then reported missing because someone failed to communicate or return an item.
As inventory time approaches, the School District is preparing a list of equipment for which this school is accountable. If our meticulous records do not match their listing, we scramble to find answers as to where equipment is or where it’s supposed to be, reducing the time we spend maintaining the equipment we DO have. We thank you for your help in making this process easier by filling out the “Help Request Form” as merited and by maintaining the equipment assigned to your classroom.
The more, the merrier
Teachers that signed up for additional computers in their classrooms and have already had a computer table placed in their rooms will be receiving some stand-alone computers for word-processing, educational games and other basic use. These computers will be moving into classrooms during the month of March. Thanks for your patience. If you have placed any books, papers or other items on these computer tables, please remove the items to ready the tables for computer use.
Read the latest Tech News updates online at http://clemente.phila.k12.pa.us/tech.htm. You may also view our “Archives” page for previous editions of the newsletter with lots of tips and hints for using the technology in your classroom.
© 2002-2004 Roberto Clemente Middle School
Please e-mail your feedback to our webmaster.
Ron Walker, Webmaster, Clemente School Internet Website
Bruce Stern, Webmaster, School Intranet Website
T Martin, Editor, Clemente Tech News
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