Skolelinux Project Releases Version 1.0

jakobgrimstveit writes "After about three years of hard work, Skolelinux (with its own cute Tux-with-bag-mascot) 1.0 is released to the public. The distribution was started as a reaction to how much the Norwegian schools and the government relied on systems using closed source. Skolelinux is meant to be an easy way to set up a large and secure network of LTSP thin clients (normally PXE boot) for regular users. The Skolelinux-organization won the Norwegian Free Software Prize in 2002. The distribution is based in Debian GNU/Linux, and is also being used and evaluated [1] [2] several places in Africa due to its low demands for the client PC. Kudos to the developers and good luck!"

Comments

Re:Wow

[MagneticMountain]

I would agree. All ways good to hear about new open source projects that have been worked on very hard.

Great!

[BaronGanut]

This is truly great! I come from Norway and can hardly wait, though I will probably be done with schools like that before it gets common enough..

But what is it with kde2? :) Firstly i don't like KDE, but then at least they could have used kde3.

Might have been to make resource requirements lower for the thin clients.. but..

Re:Great!

[Alex Brasetvik]

The reason why we use KDE2, is because we don't have resources to maintain our own KDE-packages. Thus, we have to use those in Debian Stable.

Thin clients run KDE3 just as well as KDE2 - it depends on the thin client server.

Re:Great!

[IamTheRealMike]

Are you sure it's wise to use something as out of date as Debian Stable? If you don't want the instability of something like Unstable, why not base it off Fedora or something with equally regular and predictable freezes?

Re:Great!

[Orgazmus]

From my experience, debian unstable is far more stable than fedora ;)

AlexB:
What would it take to maintain your own packages?

Re:Great!

[Alex Brasetvik]

> AlexB: What would it take to maintain your own packages?

Time we can use on enhancing Skolelinux in other ways - Skolelinux is not at all a perfect product.

KDE is such an important component in the distribution, that it has to be maintained well and just work.

There's work in progress on using sarge and sid as the base distribution for Skolelinux, but that's at earliest 1.2 :-)

Re:Great!

[LnxAddct]

Thats a joke right? :) I use Debian Stable, unstable, and fedora. Debian stable is a rock, Fedora is perfect for the desktop, I ran debian unstable for many months but then the package maintaners kept adding fluky packages that broke my system and then they fixed them the next day with new packages, but by then it was too late for me heh. Fedora is nice, I have not a complaint with it, but then again we all have different needs. My one major "thing" with debain though is that it is so bent on being completely free, yet Fedora is far more free is the GNU sense. I jsut always found that interesting/wierd/ironic
Regards,
Steve

Re:Great!

[noselasd]

What's the problem ? People still run macos 9 and windows 98. It works for them. Why use the latest (and often unstable all the time) ? Making sure
people can their job is far more important than running the latest foo 4.9.177

Schools in US are tight

[mboverload]

I work as the only tech guy on a whole large high school campus. I would just on this thing and do a test runw ith 3 computers, but theres a problem. The District Office is run by a bunch of Mac Zealots who will hear nothing of linux. Even though its free. It runs on old hardware we can get for dirt. And we don't have to buy anti-virus or patch it. We insist on getting iMacs! We are in a budget crunch and they can't get their head out of their asses and see the real picture. Assholes.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[students]

Hey... parent is super relevant. This is the most important aspect of linux in schools. Most school systems have too much inertia to convert a whole network to a new operating system, even if they will save large amounts of time and money in the future. This is why Skolelinux won't take off for years. I would like to hear a good solution to this issue. If you have one, visit my sig.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[Alex Brasetvik]

Mac OS X integrates very well in a Skolelinux network, as Skolelinux uses NFS and LDAP.

Guidelines on how to make an OS X machine part of a Skolelinux network are available in Norwegian - translations to English will definitely follow shortly.

See http://developer.skolelinux.no/~klaus/notater/a280 4.html

The book Klaus refers to is being translated these days.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[popdookey]

You sound like someone who has not actually called on his local schools to see if they could benefit from a thin client lab. You don't seem to realize how many "free" computers schools refuse from their community because they are not "fast" enough for Windows. We have set up thin-client computer labs for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools here in Hawaii and have been supporting them for years. We just did one for the Boys and Girls Club. We use the K12LTSP's distribution of Linux, and, for less than $3000, we can set up a 30-station lab using donated clients and a custom-built dual opteron server.

Setting up a lab is not converting "a whole network to a new operating system." It is a lab. One of our installations is simply a typing lab. Another is used for Digital Photography. I really think you should be sure that you have more experience before you authoritatively state "this is why Skolelinux won't take off for years." We need you helping your local schools by trying before making premature conclusions. There is your solution: doing it rather than talking about why it won't work. If you want clearly defined steps, contact me.

Incidentally, we are definitely looking into migrating our installs away from the K12LTSP to Skolelinux. Fedora core vs. Debian-stable. The perpetuity of Debian and the reliability of the community make for a very bright future for Skolelinux. Kudos to the team.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[students]

Yes, I called them, but about technical support provided by students, not thin clients. I was told that my school system has a support contract that will be void if any non-certified, non-staff personel touch certain systems. As long as that contract is there, I won't be permitted to change anything about a school computer (Not that I won't do it anyway). As it is, staff will be skeptical of letting a student with in a mile of confidential, "secure" data. So I can't perform an installation of linux. And the staff don't have the skill or time (Yes, I know they would save time in the long run...).

If you have clearly defined steps, please post them at this web site, which is devoted to such subjects. I've had this conversation a few times before, and have detemined that slashdot is not the place. I will be happy to follow them, assuming they keep in mind that I intend to end up with a good reputation.

Perhaps you misunderstand me. There is no technical or monitary barier here. My school is loaded with thin clients that run windows and are not used (execept for hacking practice), and there are students who are willing to manage them. Inertia is largely about understaffing, bad staffing, monitary issues in other places, and (IMHO) people like the "miserable failure" making decisions in X's intrest instead of the students'.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[students]

By the way, hosef.org looks very nice. Is it your project? Do you work on it full time? I wish North Carolina had something like that. The closest think I have found is a State Education mailing list about Apple computers. And it has no activity. Funny, as NC is home to Red Hat, Inc. I don't live near Red Hat, which is in the very afluent Research Triangle Park, where I'm sure many schools have Open Source installations. The new state wide information sharing system supports linux, but that won't be in place for years either. (I don't know why the state government really needs to make personal information so easily available to people who don't need it, but I don't really care who sees my grades. Everyone I know can guess them, and people I don't know don't care.) Reference

Re:Schools in US are tight

[sean23007]

I wouldn't try to claim that it is impossible for SkoleLinux to take off. Look at it this way. It does not require you to remove the operating system currently on the computers on your network. Set up a few thin client servers, have all the machines that are currently running Windows boot over the network, and you have the SkoleLinux setup all up and ready for use. And you still have Windows installed just in case you don't like it for some reason. In this case, switching to a new operating system is as easy as rebooting.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[Ilan Volow]

Looking at the perspective from the other side...

Perhaps the mac folks value the usability of the macintosh and the ability to get work done easily more than they value linux costing nothing, and they see a Linux Zealot asshole who would try to force on their children a non user-friendly piece of technology and who will instantly dismiss any legitimate concern or grievance about the software being to hard to use with phrases like "quit spreading M$ FUD about linux being hard to use", "the problem is that people don't want to learn", and "we need to teach kids the shell when they're young."

Re:Schools in US are tight

[students]

It is not PRACTICALLY impossible:- In fact, it would be easy. It's more a matter of politics. Getting everyone to agree and let people work is extremely hard, especially when the students are the only people prepared to do the installation.

Re:Schools in US are tight

[popdookey]

I have recently begun to work on it full time. I started the project and took care of the paperwork to incorporate and become tax-free. The look of the site is the work of one of our very kind volunteers. All the worthy success in what we do is the work of volunteers. There is a list, where you can track the progress of many groups and may find that there are some NC schools using thin-client labs. I don't know if any are rural vs. in the Triangle, but I do know that the rural schools are the one's that could benefit the most.

Don't be discouraged by existing contracts. If the school is not too crowded, it may just benefit from another lab. If you drum up the publicity, get a sponsor, and involve the Principal and the PTA, you can get a server donated and the clients and cabling to boot. If schools are not reachable, start with your Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, or other community center. You are the only limit.

Fun Fact

[Jeppe Utzon]

Skole means school in norwegian.

Re:Fun Fact

[Atmchicago]

That explains why their logo is a penguin with a hat on backwards and a backpack. All Norwegian children are now expected to conform to that look, or else peer pressure will get the best of them and they will commit suicide.

Re:Fun Fact

[Saeger]

Skole means 'chewing tobacco' to Americans who can't spell.

--

Re:Fun Fact

[0mni]

Penguin suits have always been the "in" look amongst school kids, its a good way to naturally select those who fit in with what we want from society in the future, PENGUINS!!!!!!!

Re:Fun Fact

[Alex Brasetvik]

It's the other way around.

Tux had to adapt to Norwegian school kids ;-)

In other news: Toy stores are all sold out of those fluffy penguins.

Seriously, the school kids love tux. :)

Re:Fun Fact

[Orgazmus]

"Skole" is not "cheers" in norwegian..
"Skål" is the right way to spell it, but I guess you will pronounce it skole anyways ;)

Re:Fun Fact

[Svenheim]

That's "skål", not, "skole". You have no idea how "skole" is pronounced, do you? :) It's a bit hard to explain how to pronounce "skole" for someone with an English language background, but the e isnt silenced, and the "o" isnt like an english "o", but like a German "u".

Re:Fun Fact

[_Laban_]

I don't believe this is true. In Sweden the word is "skål" (pronounced somewhat like "skull" or "skoal") and translates to the english word "bowl". So I would think that it's a reference to the cup you're drinking from, not someones skull. I believe the same applies to Danish and Norwegian.

And yes, I'm Swedish.

Re:Fun Fact

[wwwillem]

The fact that a message "Skole means school in Norwegian" gets moderated as 5 Informative, tells us something about the language sensitivity of the average /. audience. I don't speak a word of any of the Scandinavian languages, but making the transition from "skole" to "school", especially when you realize that the latter is pronounced as "skool", is not what I would call a very tough one. And that's then the understatement of the year.

Oh well.....

Re:Fun Fact

[bruthasj]

SCOLinux.

Re:Fun Fact

[g1zmo]

My first thought was 'skol' - a toast similar to 'cheers' or 'salud'.

Actually, I think it's 'skål', but my grandparents (of Norwegian descent here in the US) had a sign on the wall with a troll on skis holding a beer mug and it said 'skol'. Maybe it's an Americanized or Texanized spelling.

Re:Fun Fact

[Joey7F]

I know you pronounce it "Skaal", the guy above me wrote it like that :)

--Joey

Re:Fun Fact

[Joey7F]

Jeg vet hvordan aa uttale skole: some "SKO-Leh" ikke sant?

Selfoelgig det er hvordan jeg uttale det med englesk.

Vi snakkes,

--Joey

Re:Learn to spell

[shlaf]

It's "SchoolLinux", not SkoleLinux... what the hell language is this guy speaking?

Norwegian, maybe?

Bad name

[neurojab]

>Skolelinux

sounds too much like

SKOAL linux (linux for rednecks)

or

SCO Linux (Linux for litigious bastards and masochists)

Re:Bad name

[luke923]

I agree. They should call it AnnieLinux.

Sweet Dreams are made from Linux, or so it would seem.

Re:Bad name

[Alex Brasetvik]

> lol thats just what I thought when I read it. "Are these guys stupid, stoned, or both" Then I saw it was norwiegian or something =)

So...

Which one was it?

Re:Bad name

[sburnett]

You forgot the link:

SCO Linux (Linux for litigious bastards and masochists)

Re:Bad name

[hyfe]

>Skolelinux
sounds too much like
SKOAL linux (linux for rednecks)

Well, if you just mispronounce anything enough it'll sound like something completly different :)

The 'o' sound is quite different from yours, and americans seem 100% unable to pronounce it (period). Also, the whole word is pronounced with a much more (eerm) straight intonation.

Re:Bad name

[Squirrelgirl]

Skole is norwegian for "School" Its no more complicated than that. We pronounce SCO as Ess-Cee-Oh anyway, like you guys. ;)

Re:Learn to spell

[Thyrhaug]

That guy speaks norwegian, and the name really is "SkoleLinux". :-)

Re:Welcome to a new distribution !

[palfrey]

Hence one of the really good reasons to make your new distro based off of debian. Effectively, they get to pick what of the 9000+ packages are suitable for their users, provide additional bits and bobs of configs and so on that are specific for their desired userbase, without having to design a whole new setup/packaging format from scratch. Plus, if all else fails, this gives a really easy upgrade path...

Re:Welcome to a new distribution !

[ehack]

Sorry for the knee jerk reaction - I looked have now at the site. this distro only asks three questions to install, and set up a server. The architecture seems extremely well thought out for a school-type environment. Kudos to the SkoleLinux people for recognizing the need for a tailor-made solution, and easy to use solution and having the persevrance to create it.

Here's hoping SkoleLinux finds its intended audience. And stays maintained.

Re:Welcome to a new distribution !

[Thyrhaug]

Well, this project has been going on for around three years. It's now being used by several schools here in Norway, and I can't imagine it'll go away too soon.

Plone site still holding up!

[jeorgen]

It's nice to see a Plone site so far holding its own against the slashdot effect. On a normal plone site there is a lot of processing being done to output a page.

/jeorgen

Re:Plone site still holding up!

[Alex Brasetvik]

Due to the nature of this project, we have expected to be slashdotted.

I have set up a combination of Squid and Apache to be able to survive such load.

If you try to use the dynamic pages, you'1l get an error from Squid.

I'll document the setup on those pages later on.

Re:Plone site still holding up!

[jeorgen]

Sorry, misspelt URL. should be www.plone.org, not pone.org . /jeorgen

Re:Plone site still holding up!

[jeorgen]

Due to the nature of this project, we have expected to be slashdotted.

I have set up a combination of Squid and Apache to be able to survive such load.

Good work! :-)

/jeorgen

Re:Learn to spell

[orzetto]

Du får nok lære norsk, din selvopptatte engelsksentrige tulling!
This is all the Norwegian you need to know (download the wav file!).

IT'S A TRAP!!!

[pyrrhonist]

Skolelinux --> SCOlinux

It's just SCO trying to prove they own Linux!

Re:Learn to spell

[Alex Brasetvik]

Skolelinux is Norwegian for "school linux".

Skolelinux also goes under the name "Debian-Edu" (as in Education), as it's a modded Debian distribution - tailored for schools.

Why so many distros?

[the_y_man84]

I personally like linux alot. But why make so many distros? Doesnt that just fragment the linux community itself more? Doesnt it also it harder to keep things up to date?

Re:Why so many distros?

[karniv0re]

I personally like linux alot. But why make so many distros?

Linus' idea behind Linux was that OSs should be like cars: The more the marrier. Would you really enjoy living in a world where Red Hat or Novell is the only Linux distributor? Choice is key.

Re:Why so many distros?

[Thyrhaug]

Skolelinux is not a distro as most people think of distros. Skolelinux is a full featured thin client solution originally created for schools. Sure, you could use any distro for this - but Skolelinux makes it easier. For schools to take on Linux they need to be convinced. Low price, easy maintaining and high stability are three important arguments. Skolelinux makes this possible.

Re:Why so many distros?

[Tezkah]

There was a story on NewsForge about the Splintering Linux Community.

As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier! While new users might be confused (I dont even have my new computer yet, and I've already downloaded 4 varieties of GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and now I'm getting Debian...), they'll find that they want in a distro if they just look long enough. What needs to quit is this "haha, that gentoo zealot would reply, but he's too busy compiling his response!" or "FreeBSDZ R DYING!". I know that *BSD has little to do with GNU/Linux, but its still Free Software, and we have common goals.

Also, the schooltux is really cute!

Re:Why so many distros?

[H4x0r Jim Duggan]

Linus' idea? What are you talking about?

Free software - which allows everyone to start their own distro - was Richard Stallman's idea, Linus just contributed to the already vast bank of free software.

(and Linux was proprietary to begin with, it was liberated in 1992 when Linus changed the license to the GNU GPL.)

Here's the history of GNU

Re:Why so many distros?

[djeaux]

Diversity fosters adaptation & "evolution." Sure, many distros die off because they aren't promoted or don't fill a niche, or lack distinguishing "value added" features.

But a terrific example is Knoppix. It fits a particular niche. And it in turn is derived from Debian Linux. Sounds like a phylogenetic tree to me.

Skolelinux is really a client program adapted from Linux to meet a specific need. Given it's language localization, too, it has really defined its niche. More power to 'em!

Re:Why so many distros?

[tyrotyro]

(and Linux was proprietary to begin with, it was liberated in 1992 when Linus changed the license to the GNU GPL.)

Linux wasn't really proprietary, it was open with a stricter license than the GPL. It could not be sold at all. It was later changed to the GPL so (among other things) people could charge distribution costs.

Re:Why so many distros?

[Feztaa]

Heh, Richard Stallman didn't invent free software either, he just gave it a name.

In fact, software had always been free. Back in the 60's, all software was free. There was no such thing as nonfree software. No programmer thought much about passing software around, it was all shared, with no license (sort of an implicit public domain).

Then Bill Gates came along and invented nonfree software (well, maybe not invented, but he was one of the larger proponents in the early days).

Re:Why so many distros?

[H4x0r Jim Duggan]

Stallman didn't invent free software, but he started the movement for free software, and he invented the concept of copyleft which keeps software free (so all those distros can't spoil the free software they distribute).

Re:Welcome to a new distribution !

[Alex Brasetvik]

> Wow, yet another distro. One year from now, half the original contributors will have lost interest and no one will want to maintai it any more, and the poor users will spend their lives under the hood.

The number of schools showing interest for Linux and Skolelinux has surged.

http://www.skolelinux.no/testskoler.php?lang=en

The project is three years old, and now is when Linux is really starting to take of in Norway - not too long ago, Bergen became one of Europe's greatest switchers.

> Linux needs a couple of well maintained distros, not willions of roll-your-owns

Skolelinux is based on Debian, which is well-maintained and stable. Skolelinux is just adaptions and Debian made easy.

In the older news

[orzetto]

The municipality of Bergen has recently decided to move to Skolelinux (Sorry, Norwegian) and throwing out Windows and other UNIXes (Sorry, Norwegian again).

Re:In the older news

[orzetto]

...Sorry next time I'll double-check before posting - they are moving to SuSE.

Re:In the older news

[Alex Brasetvik]

No. Bergen has chosen to use Novell SuSE, not Skolelinux, on the _server side_.

Bergen is only using Linux on their _servers_ - hopefully Linux clients will follow shortly.

Re:In the older news

[tadam]

My school, Nesbru (sorry Norwegian), outside of Oslo (Norway's Capitol) has long been weighed down by heavy Microsoft licenses, but fortunately the county (Akerhus) has switched to OpenOffice for all the high schools. They have even begun distributing free OpenOffice and Anti-virus CD's to all students!

And luckily for me I have convinced the people in charge of the school computers to let me install none other than SkoleLinux!

Can't wait to start using Linux machines at school as of August + I get root since I'm setting every thing up! And even better since SkoleLinux is basicly Debian, I already know all the basic's for setting up the system, and most importantly I can use ALL the pre-compiled Debian packages!

Even though vacations just started this almost makes me want to go right back to school...

Skol, skol, skol, skol!

[BlightThePower]

I can't remember the rest of the words...

Well, its better than the Free Software Song anyway.

[Time to find out how US-centric moderation is...]

Re:Learn to spell

[Alex Brasetvik]

No, it's not, but the media in Norway always write it that way.

The name is "Skolelinux" - with a capital "S" and a small "l".

http://www.skolelinux.org/no/press/

Re:Learn to spell

[egreB]

Takk, takk, takk! Har ikke hørt den på mange år! Fantastisk (-: Forøvrig burde jo tross alt /.-ere generelt kunnet mer norsk. Insensitive klodder, for å si det slik..

For the norwegian impaired: This is an almost traditional sound clip on the Internet among norwegians. Originally taped in 1989, it is the recording of a father from the northern parts of Norway trying to (rather unsuccessfully) repair a laundry machine. He manages to continually swear for alomst three minutes, without much repeating. Outrageously funny (-:

Challange for norwegians proficient in english: translate this.

K12Linux.org

[dvanatta]

K12Linux.org is the Fedora distribution with LTSP already configured. I know many schools in the United States are using it successfully.

Essential effort...

[mikelang]

...in the world where so many people would never make an effort to learn new work environment.

Re:Norwegian linux legacy

[Alex Brasetvik]

> It' nice to hear that Norwegians pioneer on a such linux distro as this. After all, the man who started it all (Linus Torvalds) is Norwegian himself and speaks Norwegian.

Uuuh. I guess you're trolling about Linus, but anyhow - there are many developers from Germany, France and Denmark, as well as Latvia and Brazil to mention a few.

Skolelinux is a Norwegian project only by its name and origin.

Scandinavians all look alike to you, I suppose :-)

[billstewart]

Actually, Linus is from Finland, and he's part of the Swedish-speaking ethnic group in Finland, who are left over from when Swedes were the big imperialist power of the North. Swedish is close enough to Norwegian that they can mostly understand each other without having to resort to English (but Linus does speak English quite well :-), as opposed to Finnish which is significantly unrelated.

Re:Norwegian linux legacy

[H4x0r Jim Duggan]

Actually, Linus didn't start it all, not by a long shot. Richard Stallman started it all in 1984. Linus arrived on the scene in 1991. By that stage, Stallman had written GCC, GDB, GNU Emacs, and a number of other packages. He was written the GNU GPL, versions 1 and 2. And he had set up the Free Software Foundation and was employing 15 programmers to write the GNU operating system.

Re:Learn to spell

[Orgazmus]

Er det veldig mange norske som er moderatorer nå?
Hadde ikke forventa å se +3 på den der ;)

Freeciv

[Eventh]

Skolelinux got freeciv in their top10 recommended software. Sorry for the norwegian link but i couldnt find the top10 list in the english version.

DistroWatch

[Demon of the fall]

For those curious about what packages that are included, try the DistroWatch page on SkoleLinux.

Atleast that site hasn't been Slashdotted, and is sure to load quickly. :)

Skoal Linux?

[Chessucat]

Isn't that distrobution with the penguin with a wad in it's beak and brown stains on it's lower beak?;-)

You might be a Linux RedNeck if,

* You're 'fixin' to install the latest version
of the kernel.
* You wear a Stetson when you're programming.
* You have a SKOAL Can in your CD-ROM Drive.
* Your root password is "Bubba".
* Your outgoing FAXes, using efax of course,
have tobacco stains on them.
* You have a spit cup hanging from your
computer.

Translation

[Ch_Omega]

"Du får nok lære norsk, din selvopptatte engelsksentrige tulling!" means something close to "You better learn Norwegian then, you self-obsessed, anglocentric dork.".

Seems like there is a lot of Norwegians with moderator points today. :)

Re:Learn to spell

[orzetto]

Whooops- Norwegian is not my mother language but I've been here for a few years, so there's no excuse except that I wrote the previous post in "outrage".
Still, I would avoid the "anglo-" as I don't like Latin contaminations in germanic languages (it confuses my few neurons left).
And again, I've been here long enough to know that there is no such thing as correct Norwegian... I'll just claim it's nynorsk. Or trøndersk. Or innvandrerdialekt. :-)

SkoleLinux was in the press here not so long ago..

[Kjella]

...basicly, the mainstream press' angle was that very few had adopted it. Many of those that tested it have rejected it because they decided to go with an all-Windows network.

They have 93 schools out of ~3200, less than 3% that have tested it. Far far less that have gone into full-scale deployment. Not to get anyone down or anything, but it's hardly a raging success after three years.

Linux still moves like a glacier. You don't want to get in its way, regaining ground is pretty hopeless, but it's not like it is zooming past you. Let me put it this way: I think there's a good chance my future kids will still go to a Windows-using school... [Cue the "slashdotters not getting any, far less kids"-jokes]

Kjella

Re:Learn to spell

[evil_one666]

Det er ikke så vanskelig å lære norsk. Det som er vanskelig er å betale 56kr for en pils.

Re:Learn to spell

[cibus]

He he - husker en kompis hadde den på kasett da jeg var yngre. Vi lo oss halvt i hjæl hver gang :-D

Regarding bittorrent.

[Alex Brasetvik]

Yes, we will definitely make torrents on a later occasion like this. :-)

Re:Regarding bittorrent.

[Alex Brasetvik]

http://d.skolelinux.no/~runesk/skolelinux-i386-rel ease-1.0.iso.torrent

Re:Scandinavians all look alike to you, I suppose

[jonhaug]

The Scandinavian languages are of Germanic heritage, while the Finish language is of Slavic heritage. Actually, Finnish is a Finno-Ugrian language and is less related to any other European language than Persian or Hindi. See e.g. this article. Understanding Swedish for a Norwegian is like understanding cockney for an Englishman. Yes, this is probably true. However, few Swedes understand spoken Norwegian. (We have to blame TV for this one.)

Re:Learn to spell

[egreB]

Yeah, surprisingly, we do. And in most major cities, there are polar bears walking around. Not to mention the penguins. Bloody irritating, that's what they are.

The Internet connection is of course by smoke signals over to Sweden. Bit of a latency and rather poor bandwith, perhaps, but it's wireless. "Laundry machines" is what we call the kind of people that works by the frozen riveres, trying desperatly to clean clothes with snow.

Re:Question for Alex

[Alex Brasetvik]

On Ulsrud Videregående Skole in Oslo, they have two LTSP-servers serving 45 thin clients each - which works fine.

It mainly depends on the amount of memory you've got in the servers.

Re:SkoleLinux was in the press here not so long ag

[knuty]

Skolelinux is used by many more than the 93 that has told us that officially. They don't announce it because of the negative pressure from their ICT-department in the municipality. At least 5 municipalities has done fully migration to Skolelinux in all their schools. Thats a success because they starting using this Debian-based solution before it has reached 1.0 ...

We know that things takes time in spite of positively reports as the one from Statskonsult that concludes:

Skolelinux has taken the action plan "ICT in Education" seriously and made a product that is adapted to the school's situation and resources.

It's now the action with migrating begins :-)

Re:Question for Alex

[MFA.at.DK]

At Amtsgymnasiet i Roskilde (County Gymnasium in Roskilde), Denmark they are currently testing the use of thin clients to...

They are running Gentoo on the servers ;-)

Currently they have the server and the 3 first clients and if testing goes well they will by another 27 clients and convert the old P133's to clients as well...

So basicly more schools are beginning to look into the possibility to use thin clients in that envirement... But these guys thought of it 3 years ago.. wauw...

I for one - personally also running Gentoo - think this is going to be great...
Alle machines (Win98) are currently running StarOffice / MS Office combination since not all student have StarOffice (even though they could buy it for ~2US$)...

The clients are going to run KDE 3.2, Firefox and StarOffice (i guess, might be OOo though)... Since most work is being done by 2 fellow-students I have the role of morale support so I think we might look into the use of KDE Kiosk, but plain KDE would be alright... (most Win users don't know how to change things anyway...)

Morten Fangel

History of Internet

[catman]

NORSAR - an array of seismographic stations listening for nuclear explosions in the USSR - was connected to a US network over a satellite circuit, around 1970. In 1979 the first production TCP/IP connection was made to US networks from the UK and Norway.
</trivia>

I am Spanish speaker....

[jotaeleemeese]

.... and the cponnection from Skole to school is not an obvious one to me.

Insensitive clod whatever.