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Hawaii Puts Old Computers To Work in Linux Labs
johnp pastes "'As pressure mounts to meet state-mandated educational technology standards, some Hawai'i schools with limited budgets are getting updated computer labs at a fraction of the typical costs.'"
You mean someone realized that they could get a comprehensive solution for extremely little money by NOT buying windows? What a concept. I really hope more schools get Linux labs, even if they already have MS systems. I like the idea of kids getting their hands on something other than MS.
As the UoH basically invented computer communications by using a discarded satellite to create the ALOHA system, the basic mathematics of which govern Ethernet and the Internet.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is *laughably guilty*. Check the evidence.
Apparently, he doesn't realize that other branches of the state gov't feel differently, and are putting out bids to convert from Windows to Linux
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
Cause in 1991 when I was on "business computer" class in Kaneohe, HI (east side of Oahu) we were running some crusty old 386 machines w/ MS Works. We still had quite a few old Tandy comptuers with 8" floppy drives in the room too. Though nobody used them.
My first taste of the internet was in sept. 1990 on these NAPLS terminals w/ 1200bps modems they were brand new but right after 2400bps modems came out. But every school and state library had at least one. They connected to an X.25 PSDN called "Hawaii FYI". There was a taxpayer funded chat service on the system, as well as links to the state lib, U of H and some state info systems.
I met some uni students who then turned me on to MUDs, though you had to break out of the library system to get on the net cause there was no public ISP back then. Unless you counted the university system, but then you had to go to Keller hall in the middle of the night. I actually got to meet a member of LoD while messing around online who was at the time an admin for Santanfe.edu. Oh man this brings back memories!
Sometimes there are headless conspiracies. Otherwise known as the law of unintended effects.
Most school systems generate the bulk of their revenue from property taxes. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of the homes.
This is the difference between "good" schools and "bad" schools. People are also willing to pay a premium to move into one of the "good" school districts, driving the valuations higher, and the taxes higher while at the same time depressing prices in poor districts and driving tax revenues down even more.
And this is where the conspiracy comes in. State wide fixed per pupil spending would resolve this issue, but the people with the power are the ones that have everything to lose because they currently live in the good districts.
...we just didn't tell anyone about it until about 1976.
Windows is only $500 if your time is worthless.
"I also realize that no body owes the third world a living."
:o(
We may not "owe" them anything, but being human beings, people *deserve* to have basic needs met. To deny those who live in poverty while living in luxury seems terribly hypocritical of our "humanitarian" Western society.
Seriously, the main thing that guaranteed the well-being of many of us was a spin of the cosmic roulette wheel: we were born in countries with economies that allow us to provide for ourselves. Hundreds of millions of people don't have that luxury.
And honestly, in response to those who may complain about the United States' current economy, I don't mean to undercut those who are actually suffering, but ask yourself this: Are you going to bed hungry tonight? Are you going to *a* bed? In a mostly dry and comfortable place? You have it better off than many.
Clark
P.S. So what are we going to do about it?
What software/configuration are you using to achieve this?
I'm managing a school network, and this is just the kind of setup I need.
Thanks
The fools where I work surf p0rn with IE, and yes, they got one user account infected with about:blank.
What was funny was that the fellow was happy being on the home page the about:blank set him up with.
It was a month before anyone looked over his shoulder and said: "Hey, you seem to have been infected by about:blank!"
For some strange reason, the thing seems to have gone away by itself, and he's back at it, surfing
p0rn all day long. The Boss does that too, so they are a happy couple, while the rest of us do the work.
That sounds a lot like deep freeze, which the school I go to uses. I believe that because of the way it works, if someone boots off a floppy or a CD they can make permanent changes to the hard drive, but I've never actually tested that.
Centralization breaks the internet.
"A volunteer organization made up of about 100 members, HOSEF has taken in most of its computers from Hickam Air Force Base. To install them in schools, the volunteers first pull out the obsolete computer hard-drives..."
Was I the only one that put those two sentence together? Maybe I'm just being overly cautious as is my nature most of the time but I would think the Air Force may want to consider removing the hard drives from those computers as a rule. I realize they could be wipped fairly well but I would bet a good amount of money they were not.
I'm at a high school in Toronto, and sometimes I help with computer maintenance and things like that, and the entire department agrees, computer labs like these, with recycled computers can't stay! We get mabey 15 times more requests for help from those labs than any other in the building! Open-source is great, but look into off-lease Dell's, in the long run, it is much easier to use, and easier to make sure they work, and if you're going open-source anyway, the price is quite reasonable.
Sadly, it got pulled. The last I heard of the project was this (quoted from a private email, but it's relevant and I'm sure he won't mind):
Like tinyurl, but one letter less! http://qurl.co.uk/
You put your finger on our current initiatives with the Boys and Girls Club, our DOE, and the Makiki Community Library. We are working hard to create Community Technology Centers by partnering with existing institutions. The computer labs we donate are just a start.
Teachings computer literacy with a vendor neutral platform like Linux is the most important goal we have for the next few years. Education is not supposed to be about workforce readiness. That should be a by-product of a solid knowledge base.
Most importantly, teaching computer literacy with Linux does not create a multi-hundred dollar deficit to own the very software you are learning on.
Success without humility is an indulgence in arrogance