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Re: [school-discuss] School Admin Software



No argument here.

--matt

On 10/12/07, David M. Bucknell <dbucknell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Matt,

Just a comment . . . or two:

IMHO, people who look carefully at Open Admin will find that it
already meets many or most of a school's needs because Les has
designed in response to stated needs of specific schools in Canada.
And they use it.

In other words, it is "proven" to be dependable.

This is probably more than can be said for the expensive tool you
describe below which forced the school into adopting a single OS.

If a consortium were to be grown, they could do a lot worse than to
build on OA with Les.

Best wishes,

David

G --
>
>> and another project I continue to watch is SchoolTool. Part of the problem
>> is the combination of high-stakes and niche-market; a school's not going to
>> think twice about something that isn't "proven" to be dependable, and there
>> just aren't enough users of such systems to make it a very exciting place
>> for most of the talented FOSS developers.
>>
>> But, FWIW, I know of a school system that bought one of the most expensive
>> proprietary solutions on the market within the last two years, and already
>> has been forced from one platform (Mac, where it was native) to another
>> (Windows). At this point, if the server goes down this "state of the art"
>> SIS has to be restarted *manually* via a complex multi-step process in a
>> *persistent Windblows(TM) login session*. It's good they shelled out the big
>> bucks for the quality software. *shakes head*
>>
>> I would really, really like to see a consortium of schools/districts/states
>> coming together to fund development of that kick-ax Free Software solution
>> that everybody could then use. The taxpayers would be spending less money
>> overall if this happened and was managed successfully, but this is a type
>> and degree of forward thinking that we definitely don't have at this point
>> (IMO).
>
> Agreed! (But there are flashes of light on the map of the globe!)
>
>> In fact, I would rather see such a consortium come together to fund
>> an existing project (such as the two I mentioned above).
>
> A cooperative venture. Between school divisions? Getting along in the
> technology / teachnology area? Great idea... when has this happened?
>
> Very much religious issues with large amounts of ignorance, IMO.
>
> If you sketch out the needs of schools on the back of a napkin, it's a
> pretty short list, in reality.
>
>
> Les Richardson
> Mr. Open Admin for Schools (LOL!)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> Enough rambling. As things are now, FLOSS advocates almost always seem to
>> lose this battle, and that's very frustrating. I sympathize, Alan. Good
>> luck.
>>
>> --matt
>>
>> On 10/11/07, Alan E. Davis <lngndvs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> An update:
>>>
>>> I have gotten vmware to run on my laptop, still trying to get wireless to
>>> work.  Wine would be much better.  We are using something called, I think,
>>> gradequick.  The consultant who came to the school was running virtual
>>> machines and demoed it to workshop participants.  I think he was
>>> running XP,
>>> VIsta, and SUSE.  He claimed we will be able to connect to the server from
>>> vmware.  The wireless eludes me so far.  Thank you for the
>>> encouraging news.
>>>
>>>
>>> Alan
>>>
>>> On 10/12/07, Gary Frankenbery <gfranken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Sunday 07 October 2007 09:30:54 pm Alan E. Davis wrote:
>>>>> One of my worst nightmares has befallen my school: a proprietary,
>>>> Windoze
>>>>> only administration package is being implemented: Rediker.
>>>> [SNIP]
>>>>> Do I have a prayer of getting Rediker's school software running
>>>>> on CX Office? Vmware?  Is VMWare suitable for basically emulating
>>>> Windows
>>>>> XP in a window, to run this one program?  Maybe even Wine is good
>>>> enough?
>>>>> I have used Wine?
>>>>>
>>>>> So my question to the list is this: has anyone any clues about how to
>>>> start
>>>>> the latter?
>>>>
>>>> Alan,
>>>> We too use a Windows based proprietary student administration system
>>>> called
>>>> SASIxp. The teacher component clients are Integrade Gradebook and
>>>> CLASS.xp.
>>>> We run these from our Netware server.
>>>>
>>>> These programs would not run under wine until just recently when wine
>>>> version
>>>> 0.9.45 was released. This newest version of wine supports Classxp.exeand
>>>> Integrade.exe perfectly.
>>>>
>>>> I have installed ncpfs (netware core protocol file system), and I make
>>>> an IP
>>>> connection to our netware server as follows:
>>>>
>>>> ncpmount tcp -A 10.5.0.4 -S D7ADM -U
>>>> gfranken.GPH /home/gfranken/Desktop/HSOFFICE
>>>>
>>>> Explanation:
>>>> tcp - make a tcp connection to the server
>>>> -A 10.5.0.4   - ip address of the server
>>>> -S D7ADM  - server name
>>>> -U gfranken.GPH  - user name dot context
>>>> /home/gfranken/Desktop/HSOFFICE  - mount point
>>>>
>>>> I've set-up an icon on my Linux desktop that runs:
>>>> wine /home/gfranken/Desktop/HSOFFICE/GPHSASI/SASIxp/CLASSxp.exe
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, I don't know whether Rediker will run under wine. But
>>>> there may
>>>> be hope.
>>>>
>>>> CLASSxp and Integrade were the only programs that tied me to running MS
>>>> Windows. Since I can now run them under wine, my teacher workstation
>>>> lives in
>>>> linux all the time, and I'm a happy camper.
>>>>
>>>> Of course, in the longer term, I hope to get our School District to
>>>> jettison
>>>> SASIxp for student record keeping and go to an open source solution.
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Gary Frankenbery
>>>> Grants Pass High School
>>>> Grants Pass, Oregon
>>>> gfranken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Alan Davis, Kagman High School, Saipan   lngndvs@xxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>> "It's never a matter of liking or disliking ..."
>>>       ---Santa Ynez Chumash Medicine Man
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Open Source Software Engineering Consultant
>> http://majen.net/
>>


----- End message from les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -----



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