Re: [seul-edu] SEUL Licensing

[Bill Ries-Knight <brk@slip.net>]

Tom Hoffman wrote:

>
> The "free as in speech" aspect of free software is important to teachers,
> although they may not be able to articulate it.  In our field, the paid
> consultants and proprietary packages that are periodically thrust upon us
> are generally scorned (this mistrust would apply to Linux evangelists, as
> well, btw).  Teachers improve by borrowing and stealing from each other.
> Much of this is just plain old sharing ideas, some of it is considered "fair
> use" by copyright law, but a lot is considered violation of copyright.  In
> short, good teachers think like open source programmers.  A school with a
> great staff is a gift economy, sharing and collaborating.  I think that once
> teachers experence the advantages of open source, they will embrace the
> freedom.

OK, What about the notion of a "demo classroom" for the road.  Prep some boxes
for Windows/Linux booting, include the basics like NIC, Sound, CDROM and pack
them in "custom foam" packaging for repeated repacking, and ship them around
the country as needed for demos.  You could probably depend on someone local to
find monitors for the program, so they don't need shipping.  If we could get
say 4 to 6 networked, the idea would do a lot and shows might GIVE us space if
we run a couople of demos for them to interest teachers.  Companies (read:
commercial) that produce hardware and software could be the official sponsors
of this program.

Right now PC100 has a budget box that I am happy to say runs great.  My cost?
$279, plus CPU (celeron or PII/PIII), Ram (64mb) and Hard drive.  This box has
integrated sound, video, LAN and modem.  It all works except the modem with LM
7.1 and the Nic driver from the system board cd.  The point is, there are EASY
solutions out there for hardware.

> This is getting a bit long, but let me say a few more things:
>
> This does not have to be an either or decision for schools.  Most new hard
> drives will easily hold two OS's unless you're doing intensive
> sound/graphics/video.  Mac OS X will rather easily adapted to run X Windows
> applications.  Ports of Linux software to the Darwin/Mac OS X kernel don't
> appear to be very complex.  Ready or not, the UNIX command line will be seen
> in on Macs in schools all over the country in the next few years.
>

Perhaps we are not Mac ready, but with distributions like Linux Mandrake in
it's current iteration are pretty much ready for the Windows world.  I can set
it up on a Windows machine in LESS time than it takes to set up Windows.  I can
then start right from the windows prompt.  The downside is a reboot is still
needed to return to windows.  (Can the guys do anything there yet Eugene?)

> Oh, and as a "digital divide" issue, I think there is a real chance for
> federal grant money for open source ed. projects in the next few years.
> Perhaps VA Linux can donate several hundred thousand dollars to the
> appropriate political parties...
>
> --Tom

Better yet, start inviting your local political who's-whos to see Linux run on
a system at a dinner or open house  at the school.  SHOW people, then offer to
burn a copy of your Favorite Distribution disk for them to play with.  Be sure
to tell them there are NO software police to worry about here, even if they use
it on LOTS of machines.  That should REALLY impress them.

Bill