Fwd: [Dfey-general-discuss] Remember *that* meeting?....
Tim Dobson
A lot of people here must have some experience here... :)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Dfey-general-discuss] Remember *that* meeting?....
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 10:50:11 +0100
From: Joe O'Dell <joseph...@googlemail.com>
Reply-To: dfey-gener...@nongnu.org
To: dfey-gener...@nongnu.org
Hello All,
It seems such a long time ago since we held the meeting at the hackspace
- and nothing really has been done since!
I've got a lot of free time now, as I've just come back from holiday, so
I am willing to get cracking on the main idea - a booklet describing and
explaining FOSS in schools.
Here are the key points that I think should be included - please add
points or expand on them, but bear in mind it is a booklet, not an essay!
1. Introducing FOSS
Describe (in short terms) the philosophy of FOSS, the fact it has nil
cost, and that it is improved and repaired by the whole community?
2. Taking Baby Steps
Here should be ideas of the first things a school should use if it were
going to change over to FOSS - things like OpenOffice.org, Moodle,
Firefox, Audacity and Inkscape.
Do a "Popular Misconceptions" section like "Oh, it's open source so I
can't lock it down - FALSE: Many applications that are open source can
be locked down, and some made even more secure than proprietary
alternatives"
Perhaps it would be worth getting some of us to ask IT
Teachers/Lecturers/Technicians what their main fears/thoughts about
using FOSS are? I can ask mine when we get back in september.
Also talk about the open education disc?
3. Complete Overhaul/Starting Afresh
Explain that if they are thinking of a complete overhaul, or if they are
just venturing into IT Solutions, that Linux and FOSS alternatives are a
key player.
Expand on the cost aspects, the compatability, the fact there are not
viruses, that it can be locked down heavily (sometimes even more secure
than MS), and the fact that it is much more resource-friendly.
Give options such as Ubuntu (Edubuntu for Primary schools) for desktops,
Easy Peasy for laptops (based on ubuntu), SmoothWall for proxy
filtering, Ubuntu Server/CentOS as an alternative to WIndows Server.
4. Providing Resources
I am thinking that it would be worth including CDs/DVDs of Ubuntu,
Ubuntu Server, SmoothWall, the OpenEducationDisc and perhaps another
distribution (fedora? I can get a fair amount of fedora dvds direct from
fedora if you want them). These could then go into plastic wallets at
the back?
The only reason I am thinking this is because we are only going to send
them to schools/LEAs - not hand them out in public - and as such if we
can ply them with as much FOSS stuff as possible, they have a higher
rate of using it.
Also include links to DFEY, Ubuntu etc. etc. - please add them if you
want to see them here!
So that's my idea at the moment - the only thing I will request is an
EPS of the DFEY logo - as we discussed at the hackspace, FOSS DTP
software is far from brilliant, and as I have a Quark license, I am
happy to build it on that.
Finally, there is the printing (and postage) charges for all of this -
Outsourcing printing is the only reasonable option, as in-house printing
on an A4 inkjet is going to look terrible. The only problem being paying
for it.
However, there is O2 ThinkBig that can provide up to �2000 for projects
- this fits into their "Learning" category - as well as providing mobile
credit, a laptop and internet etc. etc.. If we could tap into that, it
could pay for a print run of the booklets, plus postage, plus media.
Please, give me as many ideas as you can - I am definitely all ears.
Joe
-------------------------------------------------------
Joe O'Dell
GreenerClassrooms Project Co-Ordinator
http://www.greenerclassrooms.org.uk
Fedora Ambassador & Contributor (FreeMedia)
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ascenseur
bedsLUG Co-Ordinator
beds.lug.org.uk
DFEY Member (SouthEast)
dfey.org
Miles Berry
Hi Tim
Hope you're having fun at YRS.
Do pass on an invitation for Joe to join the Open Source Schools community, as this is just the sort of thing folks there would be happy to get involved with.
Best wishes
Miles
--
Miles Berry
Senior Lecturer ICT Education
Roehampton University
0208 392 3241
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Richard Smedley
Software Freedom Day events - I'd be happy to collaborate
on this, but won't be starting for a couple of weeks.
Please keep me informed, and I'll join in later in the month :)
- Richard
PS Yes, I top-posted - sometimes it's appropriate ;)
aidan mcguire
I will donate £250 to the printing cost on behalf of scraperwiki
Aidan
www.scraperwiki.com
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Steve
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Rob Beard
>
> A lot of people here must have some experience here... :)
>
Hi folks,
Long time lurker, not very occasional poster... (comments below)...
<snip>
> 3. Complete Overhaul/Starting Afresh
> Explain that if they are thinking of a complete overhaul, or if they are
> just venturing into IT Solutions, that Linux and FOSS alternatives are a
> key player.
> Expand on the cost aspects, the compatability, the fact there are not
> viruses, that it can be locked down heavily (sometimes even more secure
> than MS), and the fact that it is much more resource-friendly.
>
> Give options such as Ubuntu (Edubuntu for Primary schools) for desktops,
> Easy Peasy for laptops (based on ubuntu), SmoothWall for proxy
> filtering, Ubuntu Server/CentOS as an alternative to WIndows Server.
>
On the server side I'd suggest maybe looking at something like Karoshi...
http://karoshi.linuxgfx.co.uk/
It's been a few years since I last had a look at it but according to the
web site it's aimed at schools "providing a simple graphical interface
for easy installation and maintenance of your network."
The last time I looked at it, it was based on Mandriva (or might have
been Mandrake, it was that long ago!) and it could be installed on one
server or (the recommended option) on a few servers. I believe it had
things like a Samba server, Print Server, Content Blocking, E-Mail, LTSP
and much more.
It looks like it's now configured through a web interface, it could
certainly be worth mentioning.
Also I guess I'd also suggest LTSP for those schools with older machines
who might not have the budgets to upgrade (I'm assuming here that some
schools may be in this situation? Not working in a school I could be
wrong). For ease of installation I guess I'd suggest Edubuntu, Ubuntu
or K12LTSP (although saying that I can't find any working links for it,
even K12Linux doesn't seem to have been updated since last year).
Rob