[Condiment]

I highly doubt there will be another Australian Year 9 Public School Student on here who's school has received their laptops, but anyway...


The labor party pledged to spent X amount of billions of dollars on laptops for every senior high school student, you know, for work...

anyway, 2 years on from that election, my school has finally got them! One of the few schools that already do, too.

Anyway, they are a burgundy colour (pics soon...if you want them...) and I just the the dxdiagnostics, and also just had a good long look at my computer, and the specs are:

1.6 GHZ Atom Processor
2 gigs RAM

160 gig HDD
only 2 USB slots
an SD card reader...

Ethernet Port
wireless capabilities (WAN and also LAN)
2 Megapixel webcam (from the looks of the video quality)
inbuilt microphone
10.2 inch screen (so, as you can imagine, they are tiny)

and my main concern is the INBUILT INTERWEBS FILTER...

It's horrible, it blocks sites that I can normally access under the SCHOOL'S filter...I tried one site, which was Blocked and the reason was "Educational Purposes"...why the heck would they block that?!

but I'll stop ranting, A free laptops beats no laptop any day (and its alays fun to bluetooth random crap to your teacher and having them not know who's doing it )

PS: this is more like a blog...but, you know, you can discuss the topic, I suppose..maybe I'll make a question

When was the last time you received a free "something" for your computer (be it an actual computer or just parts...)

[moopet]

Condiment, on 3 Oct, 2009 - 05:46 AM, said:

and my main concern is the INBUILT INTERWEBS FILTER...

It's horrible, it blocks sites that I can normally access under the SCHOOL'S filter...I tried one site, which was Blocked and the reason was "Educational Purposes"...why the heck would they block that?!

Can you not disable it or install the OS again, or replace it with a better-suited one? Or is that against some sort of agreement you had to sign? Is there any restriction on what you do with it? Like, can you pick one up and smash it in front of the person who issued it to you without reprimand? If not, it's not free

[firebolt]

Quote

I highly doubt there will be another Australian Year 9 Public School Student on here who's school has received their laptops, but anyway...

Incorrect. Anyway, why should Yr 9 receive them? They aren't undergoing Higher School Certificate.

Quote

The labor party pledged to spent X amount of billions of dollars on laptops for every senior high school student, you know, for work...

$383 million

Quote

anyway, 2 years on from that election, my school has finally got them! One of the few schools that already do, too.

Well, you would be lucky to be the first.

Quote

Anyway, they are a burgundy colour (pics soon...if you want them...) and I just the the dxdiagnostics, and also just had a good long look at my computer, and the specs are:

1.6 GHZ Atom Processor
2 gigs RAM

160 gig HDD
only 2 USB slots
an SD card reader...

Ethernet Port
wireless capabilities (WAN and also LAN)
2 Megapixel webcam (from the looks of the video quality)
inbuilt microphone
10.2 inch screen (so, as you can imagine, they are tiny)

and my main concern is the INBUILT INTERWEBS FILTER...

I've seen worse.

Quote

It's horrible, it blocks sites that I can normally access under the SCHOOL'S filter...I tried one site, which was Blocked and the reason was "Educational Purposes"...why the heck would they block that?!

There's always a dodgy reason.

Quote

but I'll stop ranting, A free laptops beats no laptop any day (and its alays fun to bluetooth random crap to your teacher and having them not know who's doing it )

True.

Quote

PS: this is more like a blog...but, you know, you can discuss the topic, I suppose..maybe I'll make a question

When was the last time you received a free "something" for your computer (be it an actual computer or just parts...)

I got a free mouse.

[Sethro117]

Heh, you mentioned that it blocked a site as Educational Purposes reminded me when I was in HS our Schools Filter blocked microsoft.com under the category of Malicious Code. It made me giggle.

As for free, I got some free stuff from Nvidia once when I hosted a LAN part. Two copies of Red Orchesta game, hundreds of Nvidia stickers and emblems, posters, couple shirts and 50 fan guards.

EDIT: By the way, never hosted the LAN party. Muahahaha

This post has been edited by sh250080: 03 October 2009 - 11:20 AM

[gawdlike]

Evil sir, evil..

[capty99]

I'm actually against this sort of thing if it involves a filter like that. I don't know enough about this sort of program, and the normal party-line is that the PC will just be used for school purposes correct?

But for a lot of people that becomes their sole PC, why have two? (not something one of us would say but some people might) and then the government is just helping to spread censorship.

yep, illl be that guy today

[gawdlike]

Probably because the government and tax payers are not keen on paying for your rehab after you develop a porn addiction. Which they would have to do because it was they who got you addicted.

Or..

They are meant to be used in school, and limiting the types of sites you can access on these computers will probably solve a lot of problems preemptively for the schools. Because we all know that no matter how honest a person is, listening to that 3 hour history lecture is no match for those addictive flash games.

This post has been edited by gawdlike: 03 October 2009 - 11:51 AM

[kewlkreator]

Free? Where?

[carltech]

OP said:

1.6 GHZ Atom Processor
2 gigs RAM

160 gig HDD
only 2 USB slots
an SD card reader...

Ethernet Port
wireless capabilities (WAN and also LAN)
2 Megapixel webcam (from the looks of the video quality)
inbuilt microphone
10.2 inch screen (so, as you can imagine, they are tiny)

Let me guess...a netbook
You can hardly do any real school work on a netbook,,, oh and use a usb linux distro to get around the filters. I'm pretty sure they are not hardware filters.

[gabehabe]

capty99, on 3 Oct, 2009 - 05:39 PM, said:

I'm actually against this sort of thing if it involves a filter like that. I don't know enough about this sort of program, and the normal party-line is that the PC will just be used for school purposes correct?

But for a lot of people that becomes their sole PC, why have two? (not something one of us would say but some people might) and then the government is just helping to spread censorship.

yep, illl be that guy today

I completely agree with you. But if it was me, I'd just get rid of the filter. Simple as that.

[William_Wilson]

carltech, on 3 Oct, 2009 - 05:33 PM, said:

OP said:

1.6 GHZ Atom Processor
2 gigs RAM

160 gig HDD
only 2 USB slots
an SD card reader...

Ethernet Port
wireless capabilities (WAN and also LAN)
2 Megapixel webcam (from the looks of the video quality)
inbuilt microphone
10.2 inch screen (so, as you can imagine, they are tiny)

Let me guess...a netbook
You can hardly do any real school work on a netbook,,, oh and use a usb linux distro to get around the filters. I'm pretty sure they are not hardware filters.

*nix should be able to get around it, but the press release states:

Quote

While DET faced problems with students using anonymysers to bypass school filters, Wilson said those gaps had been closed and that the filter components installed on the laptops could not be bypassed. "It's at a lower level than the browser. It attaches itself at the network interface card, so it's not hackable," he said.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com...tion...39298679,00.htm

It's an interesting idea, if I had access to one, I would only take it to see what I could break/bypass on it.

As for getting something free, I can't recall getting anything computer related for free within the last few years, unless my </DIC> thumbdrive counts.

[Sethro117]

I think that stuff like that if on a Private Network thats where the Filter should be kept is in that network. You take it home and it should be free game.

However a lot of times, you take it home download something youre not supposed to, bring it to school and stillable to access it since its already there. Lke porn, games, etc. So yea.

[sexy_me502]

Quote

anyway, 2 years on from that election, my school has finally got them! One of the few schools that already do, too.

that is faster than I thought

Quote

When was the last time you received a free "something" for your computer (be it an actual computer or just parts...)

my laptop is free (2 months ago) and I got a free mouse and usb hub yesterday

[moopet]

sh250080, on 3 Oct, 2009 - 11:13 PM, said:

I think that stuff like that if on a Private Network thats where the Filter should be kept is in that network. You take it home and it should be free game.

However a lot of times, you take it home download something youre not supposed to, bring it to school and stillable to access it since its already there. Lke porn, games, etc. So yea.

I agree. The laptops should be usable and the school network they connect to should have filters enabled. If people want to bring stuff in, the could bring it on usb drive, after all, or install "bad things" that way too.

In an ideal world, the school wouldn't have any filters either. Censorship is a bad thing.

[Holden117]

I want my school filter gone. It blocks all the fun in my school. The filter in my school I think is a crap load of batch files and for some reason I have tried a Linux system and I still cant get around it. So I think it is a combination of both.