I was told to purchase from the excess fares / tiny ticket office thing inside the barrier line. I imagine others will also be doing so.Presumably the answer they get is to buy an e-ticket online using their smartphone.
I was told to purchase from the excess fares / tiny ticket office thing inside the barrier line. I imagine others will also be doing so.Presumably the answer they get is to buy an e-ticket online using their smartphone.
At where please? Sounds a bit like Leeds.I was told to purchase from the excess fares / tiny ticket office thing inside the barrier line. I imagine others will also be doing so.
Except that Northern have a bit of a habit of playing the 'helpless' card. There's a mindset that they really need to shift.There's not really any need to resort to juvenile nicknames. The issue is on the side of the supplier, and until they sort it out there's nothing Northern can do, really.
IndeedExcept that Northern have a bit of a habit of playing the 'helpless' card. There's a mindset that they really need to shift.
This was Manchester Victoria. There were no working ticket machines, the main ticket office was completely shut and nobody on the barriers had a portable ticket machine. Quite daft, really.At where please? Sounds a bit like Leeds.
Each machine needs a new hard drive installing, then rebuilding by the software teamOn Friday engineer had the one at Newton Le Willows (Manchester bound side) open tinkering with it. Seems the need to attend physically may be correct.
Each machine needs a new hard drive installing, then rebuilding by the software team
DelIndeed
Was that a typo for 'hopeless'?Except that Northern have a bit of a habit of playing the 'helpless' card. There's a mindset that they really need to shift.
Seems like they could just put an appropriate image onto the hard drives before sending them out to be fitted, that way the machine can boot into whatever operating system already properly configured? I must be missing something here.Each machine needs a new hard drive installing, then rebuilding by the software team
Seems like they could just put an appropriate image onto the hard drives before sending them out to be fitted, that way the machine can boot into whatever operating system already properly configured? I must be missing something here.
What's it done to the hard drives? (I would assume these are SSDs given that the machines are relatively recent?)
That depends on how the devices are initially set-up, and the process chosen by the vendor. It's very well possible that the machines run on Windows 10 (LTSC probably) and get provisioned via Windows Autopilot. With Autopilot, a vendor ships an "empty" device to the customer, who then configures it on-site (set up internet connection details, log in) and the rest of the provisioning then happens over the internet.Seems like they could just put an appropriate image onto the hard drives before sending them out to be fitted, that way the machine can boot into whatever operating system already properly configured? I must be missing something here.
That depends on how the devices are initially set-up, and the process chosen by the vendor. It's very well possible that the machines run on Windows 10 (LTSC probably) and get provisioned via Windows Autopilot. With Autopilot, a vendor ships an "empty" device to the customer, who then configures it on-site (set up internet connection details, log in) and the rest of the provisioning then happens over the internet.
I also suspect things like “this is ticket machine xxx at xxx station, this is how I connect to the internet and the back office” would need to be configured uniquely too, additionally for the size of the operation it might be easier to send generic drives that can go in any machine - that way if one installer is ill for example work can be rebalancedSeems like they could just put an appropriate image onto the hard drives before sending them out to be fitted, that way the machine can boot into whatever operating system already properly configured? I must be missing something here.
They tend to last a lot longer (both in terms of number of writes, and actual calendar time before data starts to decay) than Solid State Drives too, especially if you pick the ones that are specifically designed for always-on running (cheaper ones for “home and office Network Attached Storage”, more expensive for “Data Centre” (though I imagine the duty cycle in a ticket machine isn't very arduous so it almost certainly doesn't really matter, just using a cheap consumer Hard Disc Drive would be fine, even those tend to last decades in my experience … although given the temperature extremes that outdoor Ticket Vending Machines are exposed to, there might be some special ruggedness considerations there, to keep hardware operating within specifications, which would lead them to be a bit more expensive)).HDs are cheaper
ExactlyWhat happens if you don't have a mobile phone?
As opposed to 'hopeless'?Except that Northern have a bit of a habit of playing the 'helpless' card. There's a mindset that they really need to shift.
Umm... you buy from a member of staff, or if one is not available at any point on your journey, not at all.Exactly
Yeah, but given that Manchester Victoria is one of Northern's key stations, it's all a bit rubbish.Umm... you buy from a member of staff, or if one is not available at any point on your journey, not at all.
In reality no passengers are disadvantaged by this unless guards or revenue inspectors choose to be over-officious.
I find them quite buggy actually. The one at my local station is frequently not working, or doesn't respond to touching the screen, or is frozen.There's very little wrong with the Scheidt & Bachmann machines, so if they could pick those...
Surely you can ( unless the ticket office is open) - or do the machines sell all locally valid rovers and rangers?All 4 machines at Barnsley were working this morning, still can't get a promise to pay permit from them (I collect them) as there is a cash accepting one!