I know where you are comming from Cliff. I was in your shoes a few years ago when my wife "volunteered" me to be the Technology Director at my kids' school.
Here is the setup:
- One elementary school with 300 kids and a couple of PCs.
- No internet access, no technology curriculum.
What we did:
- Obtained donated PCs and software
- converted part of library to computer lab with a network of 25 PCs
- obtained donated DSL connection ($30 a month)
- adopted technology curriculum from our state's department of education
Lessons learned:
1. I am a Linux zealot but, as much as I wanted to, I could not force Linux on these kids who needed to be able to use their skills at home doing papers, etc. A survey of our school revealed that, of kids with PCs at home, about 99% had Windows, the rest had Macs.
2. We obtained grants or asked for donations for Windows and Office software. This worked remarkably well.
3. All our "enterprise" stuff was Linux: file/print/web/mail servers, routers, firewall, etc. We ran PHP Nuke and a static web site (the parents loved it). We ran samba and gave each kid access to two shares - one of which was their "web page" which was accessible by the whole school via an intranet (the kids loved that). All the Linux stuff was purposely behind the scenes (to not scare volunteers). It worked like a charm and the only constant questions were "how much does it cost?" followed by "is that legal?".
4. We ran Dansguardian/Squid/Squidguard on Linux for content filtering (the parents loved that). By the way, it was a requirement in order to get some grants that we comply with the Children Internet Protection Act (CIPA). I believe the CIPA requirement had more to do with the fact that the computer lab was in the library, but that also allowed us to apply to more grants (i.e. for "library" projects).
5. On hindsight, we should NOT have run a mail server. We ran Postfix on Linux with SquirrelMail for Web Mail. It added too much to my burden as a SysAdmin and, as a volunteer, I did not have the time.
6. You have heard of "vendor lock-in"? Well, using Linux created a "volunteer lock-in". I could not go anywhere. Even after setting up Webmin and putting together a "technology team" of trained kids and parents, I could not get anyone to run the network well enough. When I had to move, the network began to crumble.
7. Linux geeks from my User's Group were happy to work on a Windows machine just so they can curse as they do it. Microsofties would not come close to a Linux machine.
8. REWARD YOUR VOLUNTEERS. You would not believe how much it meant to some people to have the school Principal write a letter of appreciation to their boss/company - and that costs nothing.
Cliff, you are doing a good thing. You love Linux for the same reason you are helping these kids. I wish you all the best.
Concur.
This and other linux tools like it have been around for a while. Motion was featured in Linux Journal over a year ago.
Since you have various sites, you might want to spend some money trying out different tools side-by-side. Some vendors might even install and let you try out their stuff for free (or very cheap) for a trial period. Especially if they know that, at the end, you will award a contract.
Slashdot Mirror
Why not have one of those fingerprint readers replace the door bell.
if fingerprint_match() then
unlock_door()
else
sound_bell()
fi
Abnormal scenarios:
1. What about power outage?
use your key
2. I am so drunk my fingerprints don't work, my dog ate my fingers, and other excuses?
a. The doorbell will ring
b. use your key
I know where you are comming from Cliff. I was in your shoes a few years ago when my wife "volunteered" me to be the Technology Director at my kids' school.
Here is the setup:
- One elementary school with 300 kids and a couple of PCs.
- No internet access, no technology curriculum.
What we did:
- Obtained donated PCs and software
- converted part of library to computer lab with a network of 25 PCs
- obtained donated DSL connection ($30 a month)
- adopted technology curriculum from our state's department of education
Lessons learned:
1. I am a Linux zealot but, as much as I wanted to, I could not force Linux on these kids who needed to be able to use their skills at home doing papers, etc. A survey of our school revealed that, of kids with PCs at home, about 99% had Windows, the rest had Macs.
2. We obtained grants or asked for donations for Windows and Office software. This worked remarkably well.
3. All our "enterprise" stuff was Linux: file/print/web/mail servers, routers, firewall, etc. We ran PHP Nuke and a static web site (the parents loved it). We ran samba and gave each kid access to two shares - one of which was their "web page" which was accessible by the whole school via an intranet (the kids loved that). All the Linux stuff was purposely behind the scenes (to not scare volunteers). It worked like a charm and the only constant questions were "how much does it cost?" followed by "is that legal?".
4. We ran Dansguardian/Squid/Squidguard on Linux for content filtering (the parents loved that). By the way, it was a requirement in order to get some grants that we comply with the Children Internet Protection Act (CIPA). I believe the CIPA requirement had more to do with the fact that the computer lab was in the library, but that also allowed us to apply to more grants (i.e. for "library" projects).
5. On hindsight, we should NOT have run a mail server. We ran Postfix on Linux with SquirrelMail for Web Mail. It added too much to my burden as a SysAdmin and, as a volunteer, I did not have the time.
6. You have heard of "vendor lock-in"? Well, using Linux created a "volunteer lock-in". I could not go anywhere. Even after setting up Webmin and putting together a "technology team" of trained kids and parents, I could not get anyone to run the network well enough. When I had to move, the network began to crumble.
7. Linux geeks from my User's Group were happy to work on a Windows machine just so they can curse as they do it. Microsofties would not come close to a Linux machine.
8. REWARD YOUR VOLUNTEERS. You would not believe how much it meant to some people to have the school Principal write a letter of appreciation to their boss/company - and that costs nothing.
Cliff, you are doing a good thing. You love Linux for the same reason you are helping these kids. I wish you all the best.
Concur. This and other linux tools like it have been around for a while. Motion was featured in Linux Journal over a year ago. Since you have various sites, you might want to spend some money trying out different tools side-by-side. Some vendors might even install and let you try out their stuff for free (or very cheap) for a trial period. Especially if they know that, at the end, you will award a contract.