Re: Advocating Linux use in local schools

[Bill Ries-Knight <brk@slip.net>]

Doug and all,
Happy (nearly depending on...) New Year.

Doug, I am in the process of convincing my wife's principal to setup some surplus donated computers on Linux vs WinDoze.  My plan is as follows....
1)    Determine who will run the lab (I will maintain it, but whoever teaches has to be on board.}
2)    Determine the hardware to be used, and what existing network topology, hardware and software is to be worked with. ( different components = different configuration)
3}    Determine the actual desired use of the boxes. (typing/keyboarding lessons, graphics manipulation, etc...)
4)    Determine the software available to meet those needs.
5)    Set up a Demo System, preferably at the shop, and let it be stable.
6)     Show the client what works, how it works, and how stable it is.
7)    Show a proposal.

Now this is only meant as a "map" of the process, and is as flexible as it can be.  I would plan on setting up a "small" operation for minimal or no cost to the users, just as a demo and for practice.  I'm sure someone would appreciate it, and probably enjoy the publicicity/press/prestige and such that comes as others come by to see the showcase.

The only difficulty with this is the dynamic and growing client application software generally available.  If someone could help with this (client application software) or offer a critique of my map, PLEASE   >> JUMP IN<<

Thanks,
BILL

Doug Loss wrote:

> I just finished my first experience with getting Linux noticed by the local schools.  I have been in telephone and email contact with the technology coordinator for my local school district for the past 5-6 months, and had convinced him to let me install Linux on a system for him to take a look at.  Initially we had intended to do this on a PC (I took a RH 5.2 CD-ROM along for that) and on a Mac that would require MkLinux.  When I arrived, I found that the Mac had been pressed into desktop use by another administrator and that the PC was in another building.  However, I was allowed the use of a PowerPC G3 Mac in a student lab.  No problem, I figured, I'd just download LinuxPPC Lite and off we'd go.
>
> When I started to do so, I read the message that said it was better done with an FTP client that could get multiple files at one go, which Netscape Navigator doesn't.  Of course, this Mac didn't have such a client, so I had to go out and get Fetch 3.0.3 (the standard Mac FTP client).
>
> In the meantime, the tech coordinator was preparing another Mac for the installation.  Unfortunately, it appeared to be having ethernet problems.  We never did get it's ethernet card to work.
>
> This wasn't the limiting factor, though.  Fetch was trying to download all the files associated with LinuxPPC Lite, but it kept crapping out midway through the process.  Since Fetch isn't one of those FTP clients that can continue where it left off, I had to restart the whole download each time.  After a few tries at this which all ended similarly, I went back to Navigator and downloaded each file individually.  I put all this on a Zip disk for later installation.
>
> By this time we were all getting antsy to leave (it is New Year's Eve, after all), so we didn't push it any further.  End result: three and a half hours spent in getting to know the school district's technology guy and downloading a copy of LinuxPPC Lite for him to play with.  To top it off, we may have to try this again later (he's still interested in doing it, which is a good sign) on a Mac that doesn't support LinuxPPC but which will run MkLinux.  Anyway, it wasn't an inauspicious introduction of Linux and me to the school district.
>
> Just as I was leaving I found out that the tech coordinator I had been working with is the treasurer of PAECT, the Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology.  With some luck I may be able to leverage this contact into a meeting with a greater array of school district technology people in the state.  We'll see what happens.
>
> Doug Loss            Democracy substitutes election by the
> dloss@csrlink.net    incompetent many for appointment by
> (717) 326-3987       the corrupt few.
>                         George Bernard Shaw

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Bill Ries-Knight Computer Services

www.slip.net/~brk

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