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Re: [school-discuss] linux distributions for low resource computers



I know exactly how you feel, Christian Einfeldt, in finding powerful LINUX systems being rejected for brand reasons. I am the husband of an international school in Germany and a LINUX fan. When we arrived in this school, they had a Gentoo server on an old moderately powerful computer. The computers in classrooms, staffroom, and computer lab were dual-boot W2000/Edubuntu donated computers, many Compaq's with 256 RAM and 10-15GB drives. In this system, the functioning applications were resident on the user computers, with some drivers and installation programs resident on the server. Delighted to find an educational IT system in place with a LINUX system, I've been an active volunteer working with our IT person who recently quit.

I just had supper with our new IT guru, a Windows-only enthusiast who is installing a full M$ system, including the servers. The main driving force for this transformation has been the administration and teachers, many of whom consider LINUX a tinkerer's toy. Small difficulties in transforming Word documents written on M$ systems at home to OO on school computers (either operating systems) have them crying for M$ software. Unlike Christian Einfeldt whose students were rejecting LINUX, our students have not complained about Edubuntu and most prefer to work there instead of W2000.

In my case, it is too late to undo the damage but I sure would like to
know how to effectively battle with administrators who think that using LINUX is not really professional. Please do not suggest that I become an administrator myself - not appropriate since I just had my 77th birthday.

Best,  Ralph