Well, more info coming to light on a few things — rumours of what the netbooks do and don’t do have been rife this last few weeks with the majority ill-informed !

The broken wireless connection is still causing problems — as the computer will not find or recognise anything even if it is sitting on top of the wireless router.

A call to the help desk proved fruitless and went something like this: (for full effect read the Help desk in a thick Indian accent !

CDQ: Hello ! I have a problem with my Rudd Laptop ! I broke it ?
HD: Yes? what is it?
CDQ: The wireless won’t work.
HD: Is the light on the front of the computer on
CDQ: Yes
HD: Did you press the green button
CDQ:Yes — only about a gazillion times.
HD: What about F5?
CDQ:Yes — I keep getting a message that says I don’t have admin privileges.
HD: Oh…well no you don’t !
CDQ: So how do I fix it? and when will there be someone in the school to fix it?
HD: Oh the TSO’s will be there next month.
CDQ: Will they be able to fix it?
HD: No — it will be re-ghosted at the end of the year.
CDQ: Well ! we know how well that works — it is no use without the wireless.
HD: I will log your problem and we will get back to you.

Clearly the helpdesk was not very helpful !

A few days later I send an email, and consequently recieve a phone call from a lovely gentleman at the DER who tells me the tech department have told him the problem is “unique to my laptop”. Obviously this was met with a rather large guffaw from me — much to his surprise.

Latest developments: apparently the wireless connection will be  revamped with the next reimage of the machines which no-one knows when will happen…oh and the TSO’s have been fed to the wolves as the DET has not given them passwords for admin or suitable user manuals. YAY !!

Oh and after installing firefox … as soon as I connected to the DET LAN — it was wiped from the computer ! Now that is just plain rude !