Linux Library - and GNUniversity Project

["Buddrige, David" <buddriged@wa.switch.aust.com>]

Hi all,

This letter is outlining something I have been thinking about for some
time now.  One of the things I like about Linux - and one thing that
attracted me to the Computer Bank Project in particular - is that it
provides open access to knowledge - and through that - an opportunity to
tackle poverty through a cheaply providable - but highly marketable
skill.  Unlike proprietary operating systems everything about GNU/Linux
is public knowledge - right down to the source-code that makes it all
happen.  What this means is that Linux is know-able - limited only by
the time and enthusiasm of the enquirer.  

To use our favourite example of all that is evil "Windows" - is knowable
only to a certain extent.  You can spend thousands of dollars on books
about various aspects of the Windows family of operating systems, but
there comes a point at which - the door is closed with a sign in large
legal letters saying "you may not proceed past this point" (at least not
without becoming an employee of Microsoft anyway) ;-).

A particular exciting aspect of the GNU/Linux system is that not only is
the source-code available, but there is a growing library of books about
the workings of the operating system - that are as free as the operating
system itself.  The Linux Documentation project is the most obvious
epitome of this particular state of affairs, but it is by no means the
extent of it.  Spread across the internet are a host of web-sites,
how-to's, FAQ's and - as I alluded to breifly before - books, ready for
downloading and itching to be read.

This is of course, very useful - to a point.  I think it is fantastic
that I can download a 200 page book about the guts of how the Linux
Kernel works and not have to pay a cent!  However, reading 200 pages
from even big 17" monitor that my employer so graciously provided me
with - becomes difficult.

Luckily, all is not lost; most of the LDP documents are available in
postscript and, through my work, I have access to fairly fast printers
that can output these books into the hardcopy format that I find so much
more easy to digest.

I think it would be a very good extention of the ComputerBank project if
we could (in each of the states) obtain 1 fastish laser printer and a
binding machine which would allow us to then provide a hard-copy library
(on demand) to each of our clients - even if for a small fee (maybe $5
per 250 pages to cover costs?).  In this way, we could maximise the
technical information that is available for Linux in a format that is
genuinely useful to our clients.

Furthermore, a further extention of what I would at some point like to
see, is for the CB project to offer "packaged take-home courses".

I'll explain:

Because of the limited nature of most of the hardware we (in WA) have
obtained - mostly 486's with the occasional low-end pentium), we have
produced our own distribution (a hacked version of slakware) which is
small enough to fit on the 200 megabyte hard-drives we get and still
leave room for user-data - but which is nonetheless a responsive,
gui-based system.  We run X with the fvwm window manager which runs
happlily on a 486 with 16mb of RAM.  Gnome or KDE on the other hand are
grindingly slow on such systems and for that reason - until we start
(regularly) getting the machines that can handle that level of
user-interface, we plan to stick with software that will run quickly and
well on 486 hardware.

However, as part of our trimming down process, we have removed some
components that would probably be of some use to some of our more
enthusiastic clients.

For example, we do not have a compiler or any other software development
tools as part of our bog-standard distribution.  Our reasoning for this
is simple.  We have limited space available, and so we put onto the
distro those items most likely to be immeidiately useful to our clients
- most of whom are beginners.

Having said that, I would like to offer as an extra service - when the
clients are ready - packages - (on one or three floppy disks) which
would add extra functioanliaty to their GNU system - and perhaps a book
or two "How to program" or somesuch - to get them started

Suppose for example that one of our clients was interested in attaining
skills in programming.  It would be terrific, I think, to be able to
hand them two or three floppy disks which has the compilers, debuggers,
and associated tools that were left off in the original distribution.
However, what would be even better is if we could give them - along with
the free-software-tools, printed books that would start them on their
way to their chosen area of inquiry.  

All that we would need would be a good fast laser printer, and a simple
binding machine - to be able to crank out any free (as in speech) book
that is of use to any one of our clients.

As we speak for example, I am printing out the post-script copy of "The
Linux Kernel" to take home for bed-time reading.  Because I work as a
softwrae engineer in a biggish software house, I have access to both the
printer and the binding facilities that make this a viable way to get a
book.  With the economy of scale offered by a sufficiently funded
Computer Bank project, I think we should be able to provide this as part
of our service to the community.

Long term, other things that I would eventually like to be able to do is
to put together a "GNUniversity".

By this I mean, a collection of text-books, and ready to go lesson plans
such that anyone with the technical knowledge and a few hours to spare
could present a lesson in some aspect of computing.  The interested
clients could then be given a free or very cheap text book on which the
lesson would be based, and the lesson plan's would be already made,
complete with exercises, discussion questions, and a general guide to
running the lesson.

By this means we would be able to radically increase the amount of Linux
knowledge available.  It could also be used to facilitate training
facilities anywhere in the world where someone with the knowledge was
willing to go to conduct classes.  No need for months of preperation -
all class plans ready and waiting to go - just pick them up - perhaps
have 30 minutes to skimm through the lesson plan - and away you go.

Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts, and comments.

David Buddrige.
-
ComputerBank Australia -- http://www.computerbank.org.au/