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How Linux Saved A School's Failing Windows Laptop Program (opensource.com)
OpenSource.com reports on a Minnesota school's 1:1 program -- one device per child -- where "Lots of the Windows laptops were in very poor condition and needed to be replaced."
An anonymous reader writes:
An Indiegogo campaign triggered extra money and donations of laptops, allowing the school's Linux club to equip much of the school with Linux laptops. "When you're using open source software you're free to use operating systems and application software without the hassle of license keys or license tracking inherent with proprietary software," says Stu Keroff, the school's technology coordinator. "This allows a school to experiment [and] gives them the freedom to make mistakes...
But there's also another benefit. "By empowering the students to be part of that process we were able to get more done, and to generate more excitement about the learning that the students were taking part in." There's now a waiting list for the school's Linux club, where they'd planned to cap membership at 35...until 62 students applied. Instead, they found themselves creating two Linux clubs, one for the sixth graders, and one for the 7th and 8th graders.
And to answer the obvious question -- they're using Ubuntu, with the Unity desktop.
But there's also another benefit. "By empowering the students to be part of that process we were able to get more done, and to generate more excitement about the learning that the students were taking part in." There's now a waiting list for the school's Linux club, where they'd planned to cap membership at 35...until 62 students applied. Instead, they found themselves creating two Linux clubs, one for the sixth graders, and one for the 7th and 8th graders.
And to answer the obvious question -- they're using Ubuntu, with the Unity desktop.
Using MEPIS, they were able to hold onto older hardware that was still serviceable, just needed a lightweight OS to keep things ticking along. They were happy with the results, and the kids got Linux exposure from an early age.
I manage a network of 150 Ubuntu desktops. They outnumber Windows in my workplace. When we went to upgrade from 10.04 to 14.04 we did a bunch of comparison testing with various Linux distros and DEs. Ubuntu/Unity won and users are generally very satisfied with it. I use it as a daily driver with 2x 32" monitors and it's brilliant. Not for everyone obviously, but I certainly don't understand all the hate.
they're using Ubuntu
Not an "obvious" question. As long as they're using Linux, I'm happy!
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Somehow I doubt it. I have tried Linux on laptops many times, and it was always painful. Laptops are much more complex and specialised machines than desktops built from standard components, and as a result you get difficulties with suspend, with WiFi, with the display, with the camera... it is just too much to try to fix unless you really enjoy that kind of work.
Now I have a Chromebook, and that is the first "Linux" laptop that really works. You can even run Ubuntu on it, although it does struggle with the HiDPI display.
"Kids, today we learn about how to search on the internet. First, connect to www.google.com and then enter "linux bluetooth keyboard doesn't work". Your assignment for tonight is to read all the forums and write a 2-page report due tomorrow on how to fix the linux bluetooth driver. Good luck, dismissed!"
"I seriously hate the Unity desktop with a passion."
Okay.
"I don't know anyone who likes it."
Okay.
"If Unity was the only desktop available for Linux, I'd use Windows."
It's not and who cares what you use.
it's like McDonald's food. nobody finds it delicious but nobody is completely repulsed by it either. if push comes to shove (e.g. you're hungry and in a hurry), a big mac will eventually cross your mind. it's just hard to be enthusiastic about it. (maybe this is different in the US, but here in Europe, only children look forward to going to McDonalds)
my only real gripe with unity is its file manager. i want to be able to see/edit the location line and have an UP arrow between the BACK and FORWARD ones.
It's all systemd anyway.
To be fair; the laptops are a means to an end, not the learning goal in and off itself.
It makes sense, especially for 8th graders and below, to not dive into the murky waters of having to hack convoluted configuration files to get a driver working.
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It's all systemd anyway.
It makes sense, especially for 8th graders and below, to not dive into the murky waters of having to hack convoluted configuration files to get a driver working.
True but not germane, as there are numerous other Linux distros that work just as well out of the box.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
So tell me, how do you run Free Software on a proprietary operating system (by which I assume you mean WIndows) without the hassle of license tracking?
Idiot.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
The move to Linux or any other FOSS is a political/ideological issue.
As opposed to moves to Microsoft products being a financial incentive/bribery issue.
microsoft-pays-nfl-to-use-surface
microsoft-back-to-trying-to-bribe-people-to-use-bing
who cares what you use.
The attitude of Unity developers in a nutshell.
This is why Microsoft can literally fuck the pooch and its mother to death while jumping every shark in the Pacific, Apple can coast for years without significant progress outside of the mobile space, and still Linux sits at under 1% of the laptop/desktop market.
It's also why Firefox has gone from being THE major browser to a minor also-ran that's already reached the point where many developers don't even bother testing with it.
You are welcome to write software for yourself - or you can find out how to write software that people want to use. No matter how many toys you throw out of the pram, unless you do the latter, your software will fail, and all the evidence will confirm that it is failing.
They're fucking these kids over for life anyway. ... It's simply an act of desperation.
The alternative is not Windows, because they've basically found (like every other school without a rich patron that's tried the same thing) that replacements for obsolescence, and the loss of paid-for licenses with hardware failure makes it impossible to get to full coverage because after a certain number of units are implemented, replacing existing units takes up the entire budget.
There's a similar situation when schools try to roll out iPads. They try to stage them by year groups, and given that they don't go with the latest shiny-shiny (can't afford it), the units are only likely to be supported with iOS updates for about 3 years, so well before their 5-year rollout is finished, they're suddenly forced into implementing rolling replacements with the budget that was supposed to be for new devices. (Although at least iOS app licenses aren't tied to a specific device so can be reinstalled on the replacements.)
Pupils will have a chance to get to learn Windows in class, but this gives them something extra that they would otherwise be denied.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Where I work we hire folks right out of technical school with no experience as well as 50 year old's with a significant list of certs and experience. We are primarily a Windows shop. A newbie who runs Linux at home or an old guy who maintains a local non profit's Linux network would have an edge over other applicants.
i made a parable majority of readers here (americans) could relate to. you just came here to tell us you're a special snowflake. news at eleven.
Troll... But I'll bite and answer. You can say the same thing about schools going for tablets (Android & iPad) and Chromebooks. Also, there are some institutions, mainly gouvernemental institutions in Europe switching massively to LibreOffice and Linux... Ok, the story is about the USA, but it does show that the market could change. Beside, I expect someone to be able to adapt to a new OS and tool suite quiet easily. Even with a FOSS background, these kids will easily be able to adapt to any job requiring Windows and MS Office.
Remember the year 2000? They promised us flying cars. They delivered the PT Cruiser...
I've had enough of the stupid flaws, bad desktop environment and shit built in software.
The Software Center is a lesson in how not to build an application. I went on to it yesterday and it told me I had 11 updates. There were Install buttons next to each one and an Install button at the top right (should really say Install All to be clear what it does, but never mind).
I click this button, get the spinning circle and then get returned to the update screen a minute later telling me I've got 14 updates. No error message, no suggestion of what went wrong, nothing only now the Install All button has disappeared. Great design, great testing. I'm sure if I wasted half an hour fucking about with the command line it would work but then what's the point of having this application?
Linux is supposed to be better than Windows. This is not better. This is really poor. I'm going to try Mint and see if that's any better because I want to be able to use Linux over Windows, I really do but my experiences always seem to suck, especially on laptops.
Yep. I've been using Linux off and on for 20 years and these days I hardly even touch it, not just for the points you manage but also because the one thing Linux distros had over Windows was performance, and that's evaporated. Even the allegedly small footprint distributions are slower on every computer I've tried them on than Windows 10.
Come on this is great! A Linux club, with a waiting list? Any way you look at it if you are a Linux enthusiast you had to have smiled a bit, even if it was on the inside, when you read that.
I dont know, I did fine on entry into the workforce 20 years ago. We used macs in middle, hs, and in tech school. A word processing program, spreadsheet, and a web browser is the same concept on every os. If you need more than that in the business world hopefully one would be intelligent enough to find their way around it!
While I agree with you 100% (well, maybe 90%; I've never seen a dock or dock analog that I liked), it kind of makes us dinosaurs to even have much of an opinion. Even an old fart like me switches between Windows, MacOS, Mint and Xfce and I hardly even notice. The differences between them may look stark, but it's like arguing about how much chrome trim you can slap on your car's tailfins before it gets tacky.
I used to be a KDE user, and I try every new version that comes out and I come to the same conclusion: gee that's impressive, but I don't need it; what I really want out of a desktop environment is to stay out of my way. In a way desktop environments have become like the command line shell -- which as a developer I still use quite a bit. You still need them, but the center of mass of user experience has shifted out to the cloud and to mobile devices. Stuff like widgets are a total waste of time because people do that stuff on their phone, or in browser extensions. A good file manager is nice, but these days most of my work data is in the cloud or in git. Most of the native desktop apps I use are cross platform, except one does occasionally need to fire up MS Office to communicate with the primitives.
If it weren't for MS Office there'd be no reason at all to ever use Windows. I may be a little ahead of the curve for my ancient cohort, but my college age kids have no attachment to Windows or MacOS at all; they use whatever is provided. What matters to them is the phone and the browser.
The main differences these days are how much screen real estate your desktop environment takes up (less is more), how user notifications are handled (getting better in most cases), and how nice the fonts are (still rocky in some Linux distros).
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I've worked many years in and with non-profits and government agencies, and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. You get bad and ugly when there's too little or too much money.
Too little money is pretty straightforward; as a department is starved for resources and expertise it adopts a defensive posture. More time is spent trying to avoid work it can't do than doing work. The theme of the under-resourced department is stop the world from changing so we can catch up.
Too much money is just a more costly way of having not enough money. Where money is too abundant, expectations tend to be poorly defined and there's never enough money to do all the things you might want to do. The theme of the over-resourced department is sky's the limit, but stuff just doesn't get done.
You know you have the right amount of money when the work that's laid out for you looks difficult to do with the resources you have, but achievable.
Your story sounds like an under-resourced operation, which nonetheless may look very expensive to people who have no idea how much things cost. Policies that make user go away are the best case for them.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Also, there are some institutions, mainly gouvernemental institutions in Europe switching massively to LibreOffice and Linux... Ok, the story is about the USA, but it does show that the market could change. Beside, I expect someone to be able to adapt to a new OS and tool suite quiet easily. Even with a FOSS background, these kids will easily be able to adapt to any job requiring Windows and MS Office.
The market is changing. And people with Linux can easily adapt to Windows - they are already adapted to OSX.
One of the nice things about Linux is that it is stable enough that you can actually learn stuff on it. The last few years of working with Windows has been trying to fix stuff that has broken.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
The average school budget in the US is between $10000 and $20000 per student-year. An adequate computer shouldn't cost over $500 and most of the software needed is available in "close-enough" form as freeware. Your claim is off by a factor of 20 to 40.
Adding an extra $500 per student is kiss of death to these kinds of things. Your lack of understanding as to where that money goes is disheartening. Education is resource intensive like no other industry because of several factors. First, unlike retail, wholesale, and services, your budget per customer has to accoodate their prolonged daily use of the product of every single customer. This means your infrastructure costs are going to be massively higher than any other industry. Add on top of that, your labor costs are far more complicated, in that it takes far more labor resources to provide teaching than most people realize. Its not just the lone teacher at the front of the class, but the small army of maintenance, janotorial and other staff that are needed to make a school run.
Now on top of all that, lets go to middle America. A place where the median household income is around $40k. You want the typical 2 child family to shell out how much per year for education? $10k per student? thats a $20k per year burden, or half of that families income. Or lets say you want to spread that cost to the entire community, but that includes asking the childless and elderly to pay a very large portion of their income for a service they will never get any direct benefit from. The problem you will quickly run into is that those folks vote too, and you have to tread a fine line with your school budget or they will vote your budget down in a hurry.
All of that adds up to a very precarious balance in the school budget that often has a hard time coming up with the $150 per student to buy used text books, can barely pay their teachers a wage that will keep them from having to have 2 jobs just to eat and still has a hard time getting passed when the town / village gets to vote on it. Thats the budget you want to add $500 to? I'm afraid you hadn't thought that through very clearly.
As an exercise, I would recommend picking any middle class neighborhood in the country and go door to door campaigning for a $45 per month increase in their taxes per child in their household to pay for those laptops and see how long you can keep your limbs attached to your body.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
We had Commodore C64's when I was in grade school.
You won't believe the things I have to go through in order to browse Slashdot on my C64, simply because I cannot switch to Windows.
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Indeed. I was so crippled by the fact that when I was in school I didn't learn the OS and environment that was most prevalent in enterprise ("glass house") at that time and instead learned "alternative" computers, operating systems, and languages. I had no exposure to JCL or MVS or IMS or COBOL and hardly any to FORTRAN. I was horribly handicapped by that dreadful state of affairs.
Oh wait, later when I was developing system software/hardware that was displacing some of that cruft, I learned a bit of JCL as some of our supported clients were IBM systems. That was horribly difficult [NOT].
I'm hope the little snowflakes can get over the trauma having learned an additional environment. There is some hope as most of them probably learned both multiplication and addition which must have been horribly confusing.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
Ok, from the top:
The laptops are 6 years old, being used daily by elementary and middle school aged children. Based on my personal experience in public school K-12 education, the laptops shouldn't be expected to last six years...
And how, exactly, did changing the OS installed on them correct the broken, left at home, or mis-treated laptops?
Obviously, once they installed Linux on them everyone made sure they were working properly and remembered to bring them to class... There wasn't anything mentioned that can be attributed to running Windows 7 on the laptops.
Wow, who knew solving education problems could be so easy? Ok, play this out in your head - your neighborhood elementary school with 600 students evenly distributed in grades K-5 get $500 laptops. Let's for the sake of argument say that we only give laptops starting in 1st grade. Great, your local school goes out and finds a quarter million dollars and buys 500 $500 laptops. Who integrates them into the curricullum? Who researches and finds the 'almost as good as' freeware to use in class? Who trains the teacher to use the freeware? Where does the classroom time come from to teach children how to use the freeware? Who rolls out a wi-fi network sufficient to handle 500 student laptops at a time? Who funds the internet connection to allow all 500 laptops to stream YouTube videos at the same time because it's the day before winter break and the teachers don't feel Ike teaching? Who maintains the laptops when there's a problem? Who buys and finds loaner laptops when a child has a problem with their laptop? What happens in three years when the laptops become too physically damaged? I guess in your mind the parents (most of which can't be bothered to meet their child's teachers on back to school night) will just all collectively take up the slack, wire the WiFi access points, and take up whatever task is needed to make this work. The price of the actual hardware is not the biggest expense, it is the on-going, day-to-day expenses that cost real money. BTW, if you hand a 3rd grader a $500 laptop, have them use it every day for school, how long do you think it will last? Every three years the district will be replacing those $500 laptops, unless the kids get clumsy and start dropping them.
You haven't seen Common Core 8th grade math, have you?
Vertice Edge Graphs
Slope of a function
I'm a little amazed that they are trying to teach what I suffered through in Algebra II. my junior high school year.
And more surprised that they refuse to teach multiplication tables, 'traditional' long division, 'traditional' multiplication.
Schools should be teaching 2nd graders to play cribbage to learn addition. I shocked every teacher that tried to teach me addition of columns of numbers by treating many 2 digits as a single item (6+9=15, 8+7=15, 5+5+5=15) and explaining that they were 'fifteens'. I taught a few teachers to play cribbage.
Subtraction comes from addition for teachers that can express it. Many think it is different, of course.
Math is a terribly badly taught subject. Most believe it is a talent, but it is best understood as a language. Like music.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.