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Feasibility of Linux for Public-Access Labs?

Posted by Cliff on from the penguins-in-public-places dept.

Benanov asks: "I'm doing a literature review on the Feasibility of Linux for a public-access lab (i.e. not Computer Science students at a university but instead the entire student body would have a login), and I haven't found any detailed studies about any places where this is actually done. If you know of any citeable sources about studies / reviews, I'd really appreciate it."

4 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Project Athena by Mauler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What you're describing has been the way
    things have worked at MIT for the last
    18 years (although with various Unixi,
    now including Linux) starting with Project
    Athena in the early 80's. Athena is where
    we get X Windows and Kerberos.

  2. Anser: by 7-Vodka · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Very feasable. My gf wanted to use my computer. I did a quick adduser and told her to log in.
    She's your average windows user, don't ask her about hardware or drivers she just wants browse the web etc.
    She had no trouble logging in through kdm.
    she had no trouble using the default kde3 setup. All this with no help from me (i wasn't even watching)
    She can check her email, browse the web, listen to music and print stuff out (thanks cups + kdeprint).

    A couple of months went by, I haven't watched her use it at all...
    I asked her the other day, so how do you like linux?
    her answer: "It's just like using windows" and "I like the way it looks".

    Seems to me unsophisticated users aren't able to set up a kde3 box but they are sure able to use one.

    --

    Liberty.

  3. Trust & familiarity by s20451 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a small library near my office where there are four public access terminals. Historically they all ran Windows, but just for a laugh the sysadmin put Linux on one of them; and the users avoided the Linux machine like it was radioactive. They didn't seem to like the "weird" web browsers that it came with (Opera and Mozilla), and they had a hard time adapting to the application launcher, however trivially it seemed to differ from the Windows "Start" button. Non-technical people prefer familiarity and ease of use above all else when using a computer.

    --
    Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
  4. What's so new about ...x in public labs? by magi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For more than 10 years, practically all university students have gotten a UNIX login, and universities have been full of public terminals for students in labs and in hallways. In some richer universities, they have even had *oooh* X-terminals.

    The machines have usually been Sun, but I don't think Linux would be overwhelmingly different from them...

    So forgive me if I don't quite understand the question. UNIX has been a feasible solution for all students for years, and there's little reason to believe Linux wouldn't be.