Ha, the damn small linux mini-itx system was what sparked the idea. They just seem so suitable for dumping in a desk and forgetting they are there. A compact flash card booting damn small linux to firefox in kiosk mode seems so bulletproof. And a little LCD (perhaps not 7" little, I suspect you'd need 1024xwhatever) with little keyboard just great for little fingers and young eyes.
The posts so far have raised good points about sticking to the standard model of computer labs and laptop trollies but the inner geek yearns for a computer desk. Blackboards have become whiteboards, the overhead projector is now a multimedia projector, damn it, it's time for Desk2.0!
I have used a classroom with CRT monitors beneath a glass table , tilted at a proper angle, with full powered computers. (This was ~ 7 years ago, and financed by a huge grant by a big corporation).
What an excellent solution to the problem of having a computer desk without losing valuable desktop area. School desks are about 1 sq m so a standard affordable laptop with 15" screen takes up most of the usable space.
I dont really get the point of having a battery operated machine at each desk, I would rather go with rewiring the room so that each desktop has a AC/DC supply. Batteries have a high maintenance and are expensive. If this is a school, I expect the students will use the computers all day long (if not then as the parent suggested, just use the computer labs!)
Battery power would allow the desks to still be moved around. Teachers tend to like to shift the classroom into different configurations. Still, if the powersupply was the main stumbling block I guess a static classroom could be a small price to pay for always available computing.
If your systems have a known average power consumption, all you need to do is multiply current at 12V (amps) by desired run time (hours), and add 20% to allow for battery aging or heavy use. Round up to the next highest battery capacity in amp hours.
I was starting to suspect that the power supply would make this a silly idea. But it would have to be batteries because if you wire desks to the mains you lock the classroom configoration.
Reading about mini-itx they seem to draw about 20W. Power=volts x amps thus 1.7A at 12V. So by your calculation it'd need about 8 Amp Hours to get through a standard school day.
I just googled sla 8ah 12v battery and they seem quite small. And reasonably priced too (about USD$15).
If anyone is interested in looking at more conventional 2 and 3 legged passive dynamic walkers here's a nice article on a tinkertoy version and a site with lots of video of one that needs a mechanic's workshop rather than a toybox.
A couple of years back when I was looking around at this sort of thing I found video of a great little robot with a couple of legs that spun them rather than swinging them... it was amazingly fast. But I can't find the link again:(
Coming on top of all the articles on Steve Jobs' Keynote I thought this story was about Apple - Airport Express. Don't get off topic guys, back to analysing the keynote please.
I dunno about pigeons following road maps. I lived in a share-house once that accumulated trained homing pigeons. The explaination was that the hill we were on was high in iron and that mucked with their magnetic sensory thingy so they spiralled in until they landed at our place. Come to think of it though, the house was at the end of a no-through road.
Like a lot of slashdotters I've quit WoW to salvage my real life. For the last few months I've been busy downloading and trying a variety of mmogs trying to find some methadone. These articles show there's a lot of folk out there trying to cater to my needs! I like that a lot (because I haven't figured out what my needs are yet).
Damion Schubert's Moving Beyond Men in Tights talk has some nice ideas, "You don't need fantasy but you need an inviting world. People want to spend their spare time here. This is their corner bar. Even the bad guys in WoW are cute and funny." It's because of this idea that I've settled on Puzzle Pirates while I'm waiting for the next great mmog.
Can I put in a vote for Highschool textbooks as well as University. There is one wikibook so far that looks particularly good for students http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Algebra_I_in_Simple_E nglish. Clear, highschool level textbooks would be just fantastic.
Cheers.
I must admit admit this is my first/. post. Why was this story on digg 3 hrs ago? I have digg and/. on my google front page... annoyingly slashdot echos digg. Be bold/. folk! Break those stories! You know what's important.
Slashdot Mirror
The posts so far have raised good points about sticking to the standard model of computer labs and laptop trollies but the inner geek yearns for a computer desk. Blackboards have become whiteboards, the overhead projector is now a multimedia projector, damn it, it's time for Desk2.0!
If anyone is interested in looking at more conventional 2 and 3 legged passive dynamic walkers here's a nice article on a tinkertoy version and a site with lots of video of one that needs a mechanic's workshop rather than a toybox.
:(
A couple of years back when I was looking around at this sort of thing I found video of a great little robot with a couple of legs that spun them rather than swinging them... it was amazingly fast. But I can't find the link again
Coming on top of all the articles on Steve Jobs' Keynote I thought this story was about Apple - Airport Express. Don't get off topic guys, back to analysing the keynote please.
I dunno about pigeons following road maps. I lived in a share-house once that accumulated trained homing pigeons. The explaination was that the hill we were on was high in iron and that mucked with their magnetic sensory thingy so they spiralled in until they landed at our place. Come to think of it though, the house was at the end of a no-through road.
Like a lot of slashdotters I've quit WoW to salvage my real life. For the last few months I've been busy downloading and trying a variety of mmogs trying to find some methadone. These articles show there's a lot of folk out there trying to cater to my needs! I like that a lot (because I haven't figured out what my needs are yet). Damion Schubert's Moving Beyond Men in Tights talk has some nice ideas, "You don't need fantasy but you need an inviting world. People want to spend their spare time here. This is their corner bar. Even the bad guys in WoW are cute and funny." It's because of this idea that I've settled on Puzzle Pirates while I'm waiting for the next great mmog.
Can I put in a vote for Highschool textbooks as well as University. There is one wikibook so far that looks particularly good for students http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Algebra_I_in_Simple_E nglish. Clear, highschool level textbooks would be just fantastic.
Cheers.
I must admit admit this is my first /. post. Why was this story on digg 3 hrs ago? I have digg and /. on my google front page... annoyingly slashdot echos digg. Be bold /. folk! Break those stories! You know what's important.