Re: [seul-edu] The revival of LENPP

[Scott <scottbradford@home.com>]

SteelHead wrote:

>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
>
>
>
>
2 suggestions right off the bat:
1. do something about this:

<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.7 [en] (Win98; I) [Netscape]">

leave that Win98 platform behind if you're going to advocate Linux, it 
just looks better, and you'll feel better about your cause.  You can't 
tell folks to use Linux if you're not willing to.
2. Email is not a good group colarboration tool, I would suggest 
implementing slashcode (the setup that runs Slashdot.org) or something 
similar.  This way all who are interested in a certain question can 
first search to see if there are good answers already posted. having 
accounts would be nice because as a helper I can see if questions have 
been posted in my zip code, or see only questions relating to my area of 
expertise(or get a call for help alert by mail if that area is asked about.