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Building a Linux Computer Lab for Schools?
joseamuniz asks: "After giving Linux classes to Secondary School Teachers, I got in touch with a non-profit organization called UNETE. This association has donated 1,523 computer labs to public schools in Mexico. I told them about Linux, and they are interested in equipping a beta computer lab with this Operating System, with Intel PIII, 256 MB RAM PCs. The more they like this lab, the higher chances to include Linux in the new labs donated by this institution." What hardware configurations and software packages would you install on such a machine to show off the real power of Linux in an educational environment?
Only 256 megs of ram, so I'd stay away from the heavy guis. I'd probably use the litght weight knoppix (runs with xfce) and limit the number of applications on it. The only thing I'd add is OpenOffice. then I'd install it to the drive.
Either that or I'd run K-12 Linux terminal server project. which is a fine network absed distribution.
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
It doesn't show off the power, but remember the KDE has a set of "Edutainment" programs of varying quality.
I've personally used some of these for school, and they are quite good. For example, "Logo" is replaced with KTurtle, and there are a few maths programs (KPlot for graphs and Kig for geometry, among others). There are quite a few language tools too. There is an impressive chemistry program which lists the periodic table and information about each element, too.
So KDE includes a great base. More schools should use it (especially when combined with KOffice)
- Jax
Have you looked at the K-12 Linux Project yet? Seems like that would be a good place to start.
"Attitude, not aptitude, determines altitude." - Jesse Jackson
Just to preach the common trend, I would suggest Ubuntu for the distro. The base desktop install is exactly what you would need. You get Firefox, Evolution, Gaim and OpenOffice.org. It's a no hassle install, it's Debian and you can get support for it if you want. I wouldn't suggest holding off on Ubuntu until their next release, because it's pretty slick and comes out in about 2 months.
Also, you can get free CD's from them. Just request 100 or so and have them shipped to where ever that organization is. Technically you only need one, but you can give them out to the students if they like it. It comes with a livecd, so they don't have to destroy their home PC.
the open cd
http://theopencd.org/
and GNUWin II
http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/en/index.html
Though the included software is all relatively recent, developement on maintaining GNUWin has halted as of Nov of last year. They are currently looking for contributors who are motivated enough to help lead and continue the project.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
The major cost was time in getting it set up since all the computers have a different configuration.
BTW, VectorLinux hardware detection on these old machines is awesome. Let's just say that after setting up nearly 50 of them, I've only had to edit the XF86Config-4 file two or three times. Also, no problems with strange cards. Also, VL, being Slackware based, is extremely FAST on old machines and boots into IceWM nearly as quickly as it takes my new 1.8 GHz Athlon to load KDE. (Please no flames about how KDE is bloatware, we've all been there.)
Point of the matter is that if you have the time and you have old hardware, setting up one of these labs is a snap.
Don't go any farther than http://www.k12ltsp.org/. They have the best all around linux solution for k-12 schools. Period.
I agree with the SuSE sentiment. SuSE + KDE is absoloutely perfect and looks enough like Windows not to scare away students/teachers used to Windows-looking GUIs. It has issues with package management (HATE HATE HATE YaST -cough-) and compiling is a pain in anything but Pro but these shouldn't be issues at all in most school environments. Also, AFAIK, SuSE still comes with a complete WINE software suite that _should_ allow them to set up whatever Windows programs they might need.
:)
Speaking from experience here, my high school and middle school both went from Windows 3.x/95 boxes right to a bunch of Sun computers complete with Solaris (and all the usual programs like OpenOffice.org). Many/most of the students hated the drastic change from Windows to Solaris and resented using the computers from then on. They just weren't used to that kind of environment. The rule of thumb is to avoid drastic environment changes at all costs (which is why KDE is a good idea) while showing them what Linux has to offer in the way of programs, which is plenty
"He does look a bit Oompa like, even if his Loompa is a bit off-kilter."
Hi,
We've been sucessfully using Linux in our computer lab for over 3 years now, and while it was a "gamble" when we first decided to go with Linux, I'm proud to say that in looking back we made the right decision.
Our lab and our staff computers run on Mandrake Linux (currently 9.1), though I am entertaining the thought of upgrading to Gentoo in the future (mainly due to the ease of updating our software via emerge).
We saved a bundle of money not only in the initial install of the new computers, but also over the years each time we've upgraded any software. The kids love Linux and I've yet seen a kid that could not use Windows because they were taught using Linux (kids are usually much brighter than we give them credit).
To look at our computer lab, swing by http://www.ghca.com/computers
Mike
Okay, here we go.
s clone?
Libranet Linux, stripped down from install.
Install KDE and Gnome. Run the system with one of the 2, your choice.
Then, install:
KDE's educational packages
Gnome's educational packages
Abiword, Openoffice, Gnucash, Gnumeric.
Kstars also works.
Also include some games, like:
Tuxracer (if their 3d will support it)
TuxPaint
Pingus
FrozenBubble
Tetris/Tetri
whatever else seems appropriate.
Also find out from the school what kind of educational software they use and find some decent clones of what they have. Then make 1 machine, image it, and push the images to the other ones.
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
There is in fact a debian-based linux distro being developed which is targeted directly at schools.
Take a look at the Skolelinux project at http://www.skolelinux.org/portal/index_html
Look! No sig!
This is not news. This is a posting for a Linux help forum. There is so much going on in the technology world that I can not believe that this is the best story you could find. Intel is killing Tukwila http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/24/intel_nick s_tukwila/ and we are reading about what software we think they should load on a Linux box for an educational computer lab. The odd thing is that the people involved are not even reading this!
My sigs offend the max # of people all over the world, regardless of race, religion, color, sex or creed. It's a gift.
Check out Skolelinux (Distrowatch page) (Linux for schools, Norwegian name). Made to work perfectly with LTSP, and based on debian stable. On the install cd you can choose to install the Skolelinux server or thin clients, or a standalone install. Plenty of educational software availible. The thin client install runs fine on older hardware. Give it a try.
K12Linux
What educational software packages are available for Linux?
I'm not sure what you're looking for exactly, but off the top of my head (and a little freshmeat help):
Primary school level: Gcompris is great, has a large bundle of games targetting everything from spelling to geography to math, and is easily extensible.
Astronomy: Both Celestia and Stellarium provide great tools for teaching kids of all levels about our universe.
Mathematics: You can use basic spreadsheets if you like, but there's also Octave for vector and matrix mathematics and Maxima (and several others that I can't recall right now) for symbolic algebra.
Chemistry: There's stuff like Ghemical and Gperiodic which aren't half bad for exploring various chemistry concepts. Then there's stuff like GenChemLab which is pretty neat.
Physics: There's physics simulation software like Physics3D , and there are others around if you care to look.
Computing: Well, you've got all the programming tools you want, but also things like DrPython to make it easier/fun for students (even at lower school levels).
General knowledge: Wikipedia is accessible from anywhere.
Okay, there's a science bias there, but it's not a bad start for what I can think of, or find in 2 minutes of freshmeat.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
The question you pose has been brought up many times before. There are many good answers, and this is really a place that Linux shines. The people who know most of the answers are the people on the mailing lists. You will really be able to find some kindred souls there.
r ge.net/
Useful links:
http://www.seul.org/edu/
http://schoolfo
http://k12ltsp.org/
Tux4Kids
Kinda surprised Bill Kendrick hasn't allready been promoting this.
Linux Leters and Numbers
Kstars and other regular software like OOo or Abiword or Koffice.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
Or Squeak, which already has tons of educational content (the primary objective of the language).
I run KDE 3.2 on a Slack10 install on a PII 266mhz with 128mb of RAM. It's usually pretty good. I can play MP3s, browse with Firefox and have a few terms open, without too much problem. I can use OpenOffice, but at that point, I really can't do too many more things, though I suspect more to do with a lack of RAM than necessarily processor power. This machine is even running a 802.11b card. If it was for a lab or something, I'd probably not use KDE.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Just set them up with a K12LTSP Lab
Then send the students home with one of these disks.
Under no circumstances should it ever be a requirement to teach kids brand loyalty.
Learning computers in school should be about concepts. Not the latest features of some proprietary Office suite.
"If they have both, tell them we use Linux. And if they have that, tell them the computers are down." -Dave Chapelle
You should maybe take a look at extremadura linux.
A linux developed specifically for schools in the poorest region of spain. They will probably have what you need in mexico and it will run on the hardware specified. All the best with the project!
Take a look at http://www.tuxlabs.co.za/