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Linux in High School Labs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the beehive-state dept.

lexbaby writes "The Salt Lake Tribune has a story about how Logan High School (Logan, Utah) is using Linux in their student programming lab. The main use is for robotics. There is the old discussion about if Linux is truly cheaper to operate in the long run. Is Linux a legitimate solution to school districts facing a financial crunch?" I hope some of the students involved post pictures of the robots they're building in class.

11 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Quote from the article: by Genghis+Troll · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We've been talking about doing this for some time, so we just decided to drive off the cliff."

  2. Its about time by CONTROL_ALT_F4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Linux will have a much better corporate future if tomorrows business execs actually learn how to use it.

    It also warms my heart to see fewer tax payer dollars going into Microsoft's pocket.

    1. Re:Its about time by KJE · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know if you can draw that parallel between Linux and Apple, they're two different entities. As a company Apple might have tried to get their computers into primary and high schools, but what are kids doing with computers at that age? Mostly drawing pictures, writing essays, making posters, and maybe a little bit of programming. Extend those uses out a couple of years, and you see that Apple computer is competitive in the desktop publishing and artwork worlds. This is not to say that Apple didn't shit the bed in terms of marketing itself (and introducing marketable items) in the late 80's and early 90's. But for you to say that it's nonsense that linux wont be better off if today's highschool kids are using it, just because of Apple's faults, is a bit off.

  3. Linux in schools by absurdhero · · Score: 5, Informative

    We setup linux in one of our labs using old computers that otherwise were useless. Using ltsp [ltsp.org], we managed to make usable workstations for word processing and internet access. Based on our experience, linux definitely was cheaper than the expensive windows terminals and citrix licenses.

  4. More experiments before going with Linux... by $$$$$exyGal · · Score: 5, Insightful
    First:

    "Microsoft had us do an audit last year that took two weeks out of my schedule," Rugg said. "That's two week's work of taxpayers' money to satisfy Microsoft."

    Then:

    Weeks said more experiments will have to be done before Linux could be considered for schoolwide use.

    Too bad they didn't do such rigorous "experiments" before they decided to go with Microsoft. If they had, then the Microsoft audit wouldn't have been such a surprise.

    --sex

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    Very popular slashdot journal for adul
  5. YES!!! by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also check out The Linux Terminal Server Project K-12, a cool project devoted to this sort of thing.

    --

    You are not the customer.

  6. Linux in labs by snack-a-lot · · Score: 5, Informative

    We use Linux in the robots labs at my University's CS department. Because it's robotics we're talking about here, the cost savings aren't significant as the hardware is much more expensive than the software, ratio-wise. The benefit of using Linux is its 'hackability'.

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    E000-VB14-G8RY
  7. Yes of course by kasperd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is Linux a legitimate solution to school districts facing a financial crunch?

    Yes of course it is. Some people says students should be tought to use the software being used in the "real life". Why? If the students learn to acomplish the same task with cheaper software, how could that be bad?

    But much rather than sticking with one choice of software, I'd see students trying a few different systems, so they can learn what are the differences and similarities between them, and they can learn how to learn using a new system, and they can make up their own minds about what they like and dislike. Because you cannot teach them how to use the software they are going to find themselves with in a few years, but you can theach them how to learn.

    So let them try Linux, Unix, Windows, BSD, OSX, and let them find the best for each task.

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    Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  8. Becoming quite common.. by Aliencow · · Score: 5, Informative

    The GHCA (Greater Houlton Christian Academy) has a nice Linux based lab too. They say they saved a lot of money doing it this way, which seems pretty obvious... Their webpage is here

  9. Linux is more than cost savings. by d00dman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People should quit spending so much time talking about how low cost Linux is to use. If thats all that mattered, people whould be using it exclusively, wouldnt they? especially in schools where money is always tight. Its this type of news which is holding the Linux and other free UNIX vairants back by making them look "cheap". There are too many people who believe you get what you pay for. What really matters is how a platform can make your life easier.

  10. audit difficulty by 1nv4d3r · · Score: 5, Funny

    The technicians have to match up all the computers with a license number for each piece of software that is installed. This becomes even more difficult when computers are donated with unregistered software already installed.

    I like that wording. Not 'impossible' to produce licenses for pirated software. Just 'more difficult' than if you are legal. This is exactly the kind of "can-do" attitude that the youth of America needs as an example. Don't let that 5GB of pr0n your girlfriend found drag you down! It's simply 'harder' to explain than if it weren't there.