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Linux Win In Schools

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the back-to-school-with-tux dept.

Xaleth Nuada wrote to us about a Wired article that talks a school in Colorado choosing Linux over the traditional choices. The reason? Prohibitive costs for licensing, of course. The school's network is maintained by parental volunteers, and thanks to Linux, can be easily maintained remotely. And for what schools use computers for - primarily the Internet, it's a great solution.

6 of 456 comments (clear)

  1. Good! Now the next steps... by Arethan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Linux is making an impression upon school kids now. Great! Now all we need to do is fix the biggest problem with Linux distros these days. They are all designed to be servers!

    In order for Linux to really make a good desktop OS, a distro must be designed with that goal in mind. Namely, get userspace programs out of the RPMs!! Nothing ticks me off more than having to search through a list of installed system RPMs just so that I can uninstall an old copy of mozilla. We really need to get a separate installer for applications, and get it distro immune. This way, people can start making professional looking install packages for their apps so non-geeks will take them seriously. (Sorry, but I don't know any grandmas out there who believe that source code is the best way to distribute applications. We need to start statically linking apps, and using a generic installer/uninstaller sort of like the Add/Remove programs in Windows.)

    Secondly, I haven't seen a gui application yet that I religiously envoke from the command prompt. Get gui applications out of the $PATH! If I wanted to run xcdroast from the command line every time, I would put a symbolic link in /usr/local/bin myself!

    There are other issues that I'm SURE will get me modded down (like X11 no longer being an efficient display method), but the two biggest problems that I see are the two I listed. There are other obvious issues (like the need for autoruns), but most of these have been taken care of. We really just need a desktop inclined distro, and a way to keep system packages separate from user installed packages.

    Okay moderators, down we go.....

    1. Re:Good! Now the next steps... by scrytch · · Score: 3, Informative

      Secondly, I haven't seen a gui application yet that I religiously envoke from the command prompt.

      I've done tech support for windows at various places, and solaris at Sun, where the secretaries use solaris and CDE and do just fine thanks, and most users are trained on and prefer the command line, and often don't have any other way to launch many applications. Netscape might be launched from the browser button on the panel, but brio for example is launched by clicking the terminal icon, then typing "brio" (no & needed, the universal wrapper for many apps would nohup the actual app). This works on anyone's desktop anywhere on the network anywhere in the company, no matter how it's been configured. Regularity like that is a nice thing. As for windows, I had people running winipcfg and regedt32 from start->run all the time (yes, regedit, they didn't give the helpdesk remote registry access, this is typical in IT shops).

      And for christ's sake, stop fucking whining about being potentially modded down.

      --
      I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
    2. Re:Good! Now the next steps... by Arethan · · Score: 3, Informative

      Apparently a few people disagree with what I've stated. (Which is the reason for the 'probably going to get modded down'-like phrases.)

      Let's address these one by one, shall we?

      Statically linking applications:
      I've mainly only gotten "are you nuts" and "no thank you"'s on this one. Windows applications have C library functions at their disposal, yet the maintainer doesn't need to worry about updating their version of libc, or even worry about what version their application needs! It's just there. The required functions are compiled into the application. End of story. You're not looking at duplicating your libs all over the place. Just the functions that are used (and dependants), and only in the applications they are used in. Most of the griping I'm getting is about graphics libraries. Which is another reason why X needs to die. Applications are becoming too dependant on those various libs. End users just want it to run out of the box. End of story! There is no arguing about what is efficient and what is 'leet' or 'proper'. What matters is what works, and what work OUT OF THE BOX! Remember the general user's mentality. Put the cdrom in the drive, click 3 buttons, and the program is ready to use.

      Also, people are complaining about the $PATH variables. I agree 100%. If you like having these applications in your path, FINE! Do it! By all means! Just don't force it upon other users! Remember, a desktop aimed distro is going to be VERY dumbed down. Keep it SIMPLE! CLI is fine, use it if you like it. But keep user installed applications out of the path by default. CLI should only be available for pre-installed system applications. (like grep, less, more, awk, sed, lpr, ls, echo, init, list goes on...)

      An finally, my changing of the install model. This stretches across my previous two explanations quite a bit. The system install, should include system applications only, PERIOD. If I want KOffice, I'll go get it, or (better yet for Open Source projects out there) I'll buy it. I don't need some fancy OS installer app to decide what applications I may want on my computer. If I want it, I'll install it AFTER I put in the OS. Leave the pre-installed software to OEMs like Dell and Gateway. MS doesn't put Office in when you install Windows, why should Linux??? So this means what again? ...That applications are NOT part of the OS!! So keep them out of the $PATH! If they want it in the $PATH, let them put it there. That's fine. But keep it out of there by default.

      Plus, I forgot to mention this one earlier. Applications need to pick a directory, and stick to it, and stay out of each other's way! So unless your app is a CLI only app, and is a really big help with CLI-type operations, DON'T put it in /bin or /usr/bin. For god sakes, put it in /opt! That's what that directory is for! Put your application in /opt under it's own subdirectory, and don't put anything ANYWHERE else! (Okay, maybe you can put some configs in /etc, but PLEASE put them in their own subdir in there as well!)
      Explaination: I haven't seen an automatic installer yet that doesn't die at some point or another. Putting apps in their own dirs makes it easier to remove an application after your installer database dies. Especially when the app doesn't put little bits of itself all over your harddrive. "I don't want abiword anymore. (rm -r /opt/abiword) There. What else did I want to do today...."

  2. Re:browsers by blayd · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know what rock you've been living under, but there is (and has been for a while now) a Flash 5 plugin for Linux. Granted it only works in Netscape, and to a lesser extent in konqueror, but it does exist. Go to Macromedia and see for yourself.

    Granted you will still get burned by things like Windows Media and Quicktime, but I figure students have better things to do than download movie trailers anyway.

    --

    :wq
  3. Where the rubber meets the road by jACL · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's nice that everyone feels that Linux use in schools would be good. But if you want to see Linux in use at your local K-12, get out and volunteer with their technology committee. I did, and it was an eye-opener.

    Because school administrators aren't technical, they decide what to implement based on what other schools in their area are doing, and the Windows status quo is maintained. Install Linux? What's that? How would you do it? It's free, sure, but without an expert to help them learn, all but the bravest will stay away. They have too many other issues to worry about, like getting electrical upgrades, equipment, and developing computer curriculum with teachers that aren't up to speed.

    If you volunteer and work as part of a school technology team, you'll be helping them move through all of these issues with minimal risk. It's then that you'll be able to bring up Linux, piquing their interest with the cost, helping them understand why it's better, and assisting with the implementation and the learning. They'll be exceedingly grateful, and you'll get to increase your karma somewhere other than here.

    --
    "It remains to be seen if the human brain is powerful enough to solve the problems it has created." Dr. Richard Wallace
  4. Re:Web browsing is not a strong point by guygee · · Score: 2, Informative

    Jennifer - Just a data point for you. I am a professor at a major University. I have a great deal of research funding, run a research lab (mostly linux boxes), specify purchases for equipment and textbooks, and I am setting up a new Linux lab this semester on campus. Your shockwave content? I'll never see it, and neither will my students and employees.

    You should really consider making your content available in an alternative format.