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Australian State May Give Students Linux Laptops

Posted by kdawson on from the keep-it-cheap dept.

Whiteox writes "The Australian Prime Minister's plan to equip high schools with 'one laptop per child' may go open source. Kevin Rudd's $56 million digital revolution will include 'laptops [that will] run on an open source operating system with a suite of open source applications like those packaged under Edubuntu. This would include Open Office for productivity software, Gimp for picture editing and the Firefox internet browser.' So far this has been considered for New South Wales and I think other states may follow."

7 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. The real reason behind this... by MavEtJu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    NSW secondary school students could be issued with $56 million worth of Linux-based laptops as part of Kevin Rudd's digital education revolution.

    The real reason behind this is that the federal government would supply the *hardware*, but that the schools would have to pay for the *software licenses* and the *support*. At least the price for software licenses would be greatly reduced now.

    (Despite being a FreeBSD user,) I consider this is a good step forward: Give the children wooden blocks to play with, and they will build bridges with them.

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};:
  2. As a Linux-Savvy Education Student... by Biogenesis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...This is going to make me even more employable :).

    The biggest opposition to Rudd's "computers in schools" plan has been that he's funding the hardware/software but no the support or training. No doubt this will give more weight to their argument.

    --
    ...just so Google finds it.
    1. Re:As a Linux-Savvy Education Student... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The biggest opposition to Rudd's "computers in schools" plan has been that he's funding the hardware/software but no the support or training. No doubt this will give more weight to their argument.

      This Australian is not opposed to that. I would love to see Linux laptops in Victorian schools, and I would love to see the kids and teachers in those schools learn and develop their own methods for support and training -- it would be a hugely educational and involving experience, and would help break down the idea that true innovation in computing only comes from above, from the commercial package houses.

      I'm willing to volunteer 3rd level support for such myself, but only if they spend some time scurrying about themselves and learning what they can do. Access to a help desk won't really help them learn the basic skills necessary to operate in a society that increasingly depends on densely-packed transistors written on melted sand. Learning the rote behaviour of running common commercial packages may help them in basic knowledge management, but doesn't grant the curious among them visibility under the bonnet.

      Example: How would you set up a Wiki under Windows -- build a Sharepoint server and call it a knowledge base (Urk!) or have them set up a Mediawiki LAMP stack? Which one would they learn more from? Which one could they do with the smallest infrastructure spend? (Yes, I know about virtual appliances, it was just an example.)

      You've got to give kids clocks to take apart.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  3. Re:Times are different now. by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My nephew is a grade one student at a primary school in Victoria. The school uses macs so he has his heart set on a macbook for christmas. His mother definitely can't afford an expensive laptop and I can't see what a 7 year old will get out of a mac. I have been trying to steering them towards an eeepc. You can pick one up for $300 aud now, about one fifth the price of the mac.

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    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  4. Re:In the middle of an economic crisis by Xiroth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The collective delusion of Australians that we're a first world country is the problem here.

    OK, now that's an interesting position. Could you back it up, please? By most traditional measures (GDP per capita, GNI per capita, etc.), Australia is one of the most well-off in the world. By which measure do you assert that it's not a first world country?

  5. Re:Times are different now. by nawcom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You could always go both ways and install OS X on the ASUS Eee. Ignore the random blog posts on the net; they're outdated - Eee is well supported as of now. Everything is pretty much taken care of driver-wise. And of course this assumes you purchased a licensed copy of Leopard.

  6. Re:Times are different now. by cheater512 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They will not only learn how to use the open source apps, they will also then get on a Windows computer and realize how much it crashes and does quirky things.

    One problem with Windows users is they dont consciously realize when something has gone wrong.
    They just think 'Oh its crashed' and re-open the app.
    They think its just how computers are.