Re: SEUL: Various educational software stuff

[EAMorical@aol.com]

This appears to be the best place to get in on this thread.

Doug wrote:
>Micah Yoder wrote:
>> 
>> > level. If I can set up 6-8 computers there we'll have a place to let
>> > Missouri teachers get some hands on experience with Linux.
>> 
>> Yeah!  This is great!  This is something LUGs all over the country
>> should be doing.  Unfortunately, there's none here in Salem, OR...
>> maybe I'll start one eventually, but not now...

>Bob posted this <http://plug.northwest.com/k12.htm> a few days ago about
>the Portland LUG doing this--how far is that from Salem?  I'm gently
>trying to convince the tech guy at my local school district to give the
>same thing a try.  Unfortunately, there isn't a LUG here, just me.

Micah, check http://www.ssc.com/glue/groups/us/oregon.html, Steve Vitus has
volunteered to start a LUG in Salem.

The Linux User Group list is totally out of date. Last weekend I checked it
for groups in Missouri. I couldn't reach the one in St. Louis and the listing
for the person wanting to get in touch  with one in Springfield was dated Feb.
97. This list is an important resource. Some groups are doing some big things
such as the Atlanta LUG which puts on the Atlanta Linux Showcase. We need to
think up a way to get it updated. It doesn't require any great skill. It's
just a lot of work.

Next it's not that easy to just put a Linux box in a classroom. In general it
would disrupt the current set up (for example 30 networked Apples). It's an
oddball. The kids would be distracted by it, fight over it, etc. One  has to
replace the whole setup which means all the application software. A point for
us to consider is that many classrooms in the US are using Apple computers.
Red Hat does not provide an Apple port in their distribution. The Debian
distribution is probably the only one that does. However Scholar Net is using
Red Hat. Also maybe Red Hat would add the Apple port to their distribution.
Just thoughts. This said back to the Linux User Groups. The local group PSLUG
(Puget Sound Linux User Group) primarily just helps with member installations.
That's useful. They're having a meeting Sat. Maybe I'll drop in, now that
they've moved their meetings close by. As I understand it, the Portland User
Group is working on installing Linux on servers in the schools as opposed to
classroom application machines. At some point we should check on what they're
doing and make them aware of what we are doing.

Bob