[seul-edu] The revival of LENPP

[SteelHead <brk@slip.net>]

This message is a request for help with a project.  It may seem long and
windy, but that is my style.  Sorry.

A little bit of history here.  I joined the SEUL list late in 1998 as a
"kinda" linux user.  I fought my way through installation of Slackware from
a Walnut Creek CDROM on a 486 about 1994.  I was tired of the war brewing
between IBM and Microsoft over control of the legacy of OS/2.  I was aware
that there were problems with both, and wanted to jump into a version of
UNIX to do some real computing.  I plodded along, played around, and finally
got it installed.  I realized that there was a problem.  It was different
from anything else I had used.

I played with it a bit and put it down as more than I could handle.  After
crashing Windows 95 on my trusty 486 every 30 minutes, I decided I had to do
something else.  IBM had dropped the ball with their OS/2 Warp promotion.
They had 6 months of lead time over Microsoft's new Windows, and it ran
stable and clean, but they failed to market it.  I returned to Linux, Red
Hat 4 was better, and by the time 5 came out I could do stuff. Not much,
but some.  I kinda liked it, but I could not get into the command line
stuff.
I had worked with Dos and Windows 3.1 boxes for a long time, and Windows 95
was helping me earn a decent living.  I did not have any buds to call on to
learn stuff, so I stagnated with Linux for a while.

By 1998 I started looking at Linux a bit more seriously.  I tried the
different distros and went to the first Linux World Expo in San Jose in
March of 1999. I tried taking my 3 year old son with me to the Second LWE in
August. I was hooked.  I still fight the command line, I have a lousy
memory,  but it gets better every day.

Late in 1998 a new mailing list appeared offering ways to discuss Linux and
Education in the same breath.  I saw the Light.  Linux was the ultimate
solution for schools.  The schools just never knew it.  The day after
Christmas I saw a posting that commented about the need for a web site to
help folks get together.  It was a task I could do and thus was born the
Linux Educational Needs Posting Pages (LENPP).  I played with it, and
decided it needed to run on its own, becaise it was a great Idea.  In
November of 1999 I bought my first domain.  LinuxHelpers.org was now the
website for LENPP to live.

LENPP is needed because while Linux is a really useful operating system, it
is still very complicated and there are few in the schools with experience
using it, let alone setting up a network or server or a workstation of their
own.  It is important to be able to show: 1) that Linux works, 2) that there
is support for it when needed, 3) a mentoring program of some sort to bring
techs and teachers up to speed with Linux. I am sure there are many other
reasons, but you will have to help me here.

I have had  too many things going on in my life to develop the website fully
and advertise it.  Sadly, the lack of Linux community response has led me to
let the site flounder.  I am now starting my own modest webhosting service,
and I plan to pull LinuxHelpers.org down to my servers (or SEUL's when the
need is there for more than I can give), I will have full control of the
content, and I can allow anyone that needs it to have access when needed.

To revive the LENPP I need to ask the linux community what would work, how
it should look, and what features should the site have.  I am starting here
because the SEUL-edu mailing list is the origin of the concept.  I can
restart the site
and make sure it is advertised all over Linux World Expo at the end of
August in San Francisco.  Or I can give it up as a lost cause.  NOT!  I will
do what I can, but I *really* need help in redesigning the site.

Here a couple o links to peruse if you made here.
http://www.seul.org/archives/seul/edu/Dec-1998/msg00397.html
http://linuxhelpers.org/lenpp.html