[rescue] Parallel ports [was Re: Slightly OT: ?Bad Cap Saga]

[wa2egp at att.net]

> I know, School District IT folks are total flakes - I'm one now ;^)

Flakes, I don't mind.  At least stuff gets done.

Our district has about 40% Macs, 50% PCs, and the othe r10% is Intel servers 
> with three Xserves for the Macs.

Ours only tolerate PCs, only certain brands, only certain models....  Why do you think I like that Pismo I got from you.  It rocks for its age.

> 
> This summer we:
> 
> Upgraded nearly all our internal network elements, as they were no longer 
> supported by Cisco (too old)
> 
> Re-wired every wiring closet to have proper length patch cables, not the 
> spaghetti balls we had in our closets.
> 
> Replaced about 2 dozen APC UPSs that that either had (or were about to) fail for 
> bad batteries.
> 
> Installed (with consultants) about 150 Cisco Wireless APs across 6 buildings 
> (supporting A, B, G and soon N - as soon as we can get away from the POE power 
> injectors required, as N uses too much juice)
> 
> Installed 10 security cameras in the HS, as a pilot before rolling out across 
> the district.
> 
> Moved our datacenter (6 full-height racks) to the room next door, then moved it 
> back after required power and space upgrades were completed.
> 
> Pulled about 250 older PCs out of use and replaced them (Optiplex 270s or 
> earlier).
> 
> Created new Ghost images for all machines in our district, and rolled them out.
> 
> And, we compressed several production servers onto a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V 
> platform, savin gpower and making several P3 servers (like PE2550s).

The only thing I've seen done so far is one computer with a scanner and printer was removed from a classroom (and the teacher of that classroom was pissed!).  Other than that, nothing noticeable. 

> All with 4 full-time employees and about 5 interns (aged 14-17 years old)... And 
> a couple consultants.

I don't know how many people we have.  One permanent "tech" and an odd assortment of people drifting in and out.

> You should teach in our district, though the commute would suck ;^)

But at least the sun wouldn't burn out my retinas on the way in.  :)

Bob