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Hawaii Puts Old Computers To Work in Linux Labs

Posted by michael on from the wearing-flipflops-until-age-18 dept.

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.'"

9 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Wait a Second by rhsanborn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Wait a Second by ArtDent · · Score: 3, Interesting

      TFA gave the impression that that's how they're doing it:

      He said that these labs increase the life of a computer by a few years, because 8-year-old computers can run software just as quickly as newer ones using the open source servers. "Things don't get old as fast," he said.

      I found this article really inspiring. I'd really love work on something like that around here (Toronto, Canada). Does anyone know if anyone is working on this kind of project?

    2. Re:Wait a Second by Fjornir · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I found this article really inspiring. I'd really love work on something like that around here...

      I, too, would love to see this in my local schools. I think the way to make that happen is a variation on the old "Think globally. Act locally." ideal in that we need to act at both ends of the spectrum. It's awesome that you jumped right to finding something local to act on, but remember that a failure in Hawaii will make a local adoption less likely. So, in addition to your local efforts, here are two thoughts thoughts on global action which would help smooth local adoption.

      Send a few dollars to the Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation, and it doesn't have to be a lot. $10 would help defray printing costs of handouts and cheat sheets for teachers and students. $20 is a significant portion of the cost of a flight between islands. $100 would help replace a blown monitor.

      Contribute time to the projects these guys are using! And by that I don't mean join the mailinglist and get involved in all of the latest flamewars. I mean do some real work: bug-hunt in the areas students, educators, and administrators are likely to find problems in. Propose solutions to non-bug problem areas, and help to revise ideas with other peoples proposals. Write some test scripts. Write some code....

      Peace, Love, Linux

      Chris

      --
      I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
  2. Nice precident in this by tjlsmith · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:Nice precident in this by zhenlin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And the Wikipedia entry, to further demonstrate:
      ALOHAnet

  3. Sneaking in through the back door... by Mudcathi · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the article: "...the (Hawaii Dept of Education) is unlikely to convert to open-source machines itself, because the schools get big discounts on service for proprietary software. Although the open-source programs are free, technical support is not," (Rodney Moriyama, assistant superintendent of the DOE's Office of Information Technology Services), pointed out, "so the DOE would have to pay if there were problems with the software. There's actually no incentive for us to do it," he said.

    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

  4. Cool! Brings back highschool memories. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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!

  5. Similar project in Leeds, UK by terrencefw · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Corpus Christi high school in Leeds did this. There's a writeup on Schoolforge UK.

    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):

    It was working fantastically well. Loads of donated clients running as LTSP terminals, squid, samba, and apache servers handling internet connectivity, logins, home directories, login authentication, profiles and policies (superbly hand crafted for lockdown and high performance), intranet, issue tracking for tech support, cups printer servers in every room with a web interface to allow the teachers to control what the kids can print... 100% uptime etc etc. In short, the best setup I've ever seen in any school - and I've been in loads in my 20 years as an educational software developer. Then the headmaster, against the advice of all the IT teachers, technicians, myself and sundry LEA advisers, decided that the school would do the Thomas Telford GNVQ in IT - essentially an MS office training course. So the whole lot was ripped out (Julian Old is now using the salvaged the client machines as a beowulf cluster up at Leeds Met) and replaced with hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of windows servers, licences and MS office software. You will not be surprised to learn that all the technical staff in the school resigned (to move to more enlightened schools), I withdrew my support, and that the new system is so flaky it is next to useless. The promised increase in exam grades (the kids, according to the Telford brochure, are virtually guaranteed to get at least a 4 C grade GCSE equivalent from the course) has actually resulted in a massive reduction in performance from the kids.
    --
    Like tinyurl, but one letter less! http://qurl.co.uk/
  6. Re:learning applications, or learning skills? by popdookey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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