Re: [seul-edu] Re: File formats and distance learning

["Dan Yonker" <dyonker@zeeland.k12.mi.us>]

If you can find a copy the January 2003 copy of Linux Magazine there is an
article on page 34 titled "Using Samba Pseudo-Printers."  It is in the
Guru Guidance section.  Their web site does not have the article posted
however it has the code posted.  It discusses how to print to a samba
server to create PDFs.  Once the PDFs are created they are saved in the
user's home directory.
The code can be found at

http://www.linux-mag.com/downloads/2003-01/guru/




> I have worked at about a dozen school disticts (most as outside
> support and now full time at one.)  In every case, the decision to
> switch to Microsoft Office was based more on the fact that the
> state agencies provided and required MS-Office formatted
> documents.  The "that's what is used in the real world" argument
> was secondary.
>
> That seems to be changing slowly and I am seeing more things
> distributed in more universally accessable formats.  Instead of
> only MS-Word forms, we're starting to see more PDFs.  Instead
> of Excel spreadsheets, we're seeing more .CVS files.
>
> This is great news.  We switched versions of Office because of
> file format issues, not because the old version didn't work for
> us or didn't have enough features.
>
> If file format were taken out of the equasion then we could
> consentrate on the task of teaching students how to use a
> "word processor" and not how to use MS-Word, etc.  Our
> teachers also wouldn't have to spend time learning the
> quirks of the latest version because of a forced upgrade to
> remain compatible.
>
> Now my suggestion; Make a "Create PDF" server using samba.
> You can use samba to create a network printer which accepts
> a print job and creates a PDF file.  The user then can retreive
> thier new PDF via a windows share.
>
> If you are interested in the relevant part of my smb.conf file,
> I'd be glad to post it.  I got the idea from a recent Linux Magazine or
> Linux Journal article (don't remember which) but I had to change things
> slightly from what was in the article to get it to work.
>
>>>> drloss@suscom.net 01/29/03 07:15AM >>>
>> After many letters to the directors and professors of the school,  I
>> agreed to start converting the materials for them into standard
>> format.
>>
>> Many other people must have similar problems all over the world!
>>
>> My question is to you : Are you interested in  promoting free
>> software and open file formats in  schools and distance learning?
>>
>> mike


-- 
Dan Yonker
Systems Administrator
Zeeland Public Schools
Zeeland, Michigan