Re: [school-discuss] Edubuntu & a W2000 pblm

[garry <garry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

R.M.Deal wrote:

> Hello LINUX educators,
>
> The ambiguity in the address above is appropriate in my experience:  
> Not only are we educators who use LINUX
> but one of our major jobs is to educate our colleagues (and those 
> above) on the usefulness of LINUX.
> Ubuntu is a wonderful tool to persuade MS-bound teachers that there is 
> life beyond the Willy Gates.
> A LINUX friend just installed it in two of our antique hand-me-downs.  
> I tried to download some SEUL software but
> found that I couldn't install it because the usual compiling tools 
> aren't in normal Ubuntu.  When I tried to use apt-get to
> download gcc, I was asked to insert the Ubuntu CD which I didn't 
> have.  I had been downloading Edubuntu anyway so
> when that finished, I used mount to put the Ubuntu install iso image 
> into /mnt and looked for make which I needed to install gcc!
> Make was there but in the Debian package format which I now must 
> learn.  Otherwise, it looks great!  I never thought I'd use
> a LINUX system which needed no command-line consoles.  Of course I've 
> had kde and GNOME for some time but I'd always used them
> for the window manager and utilities only.

Try (in a terminal) 'apt-get install build-essentials' . This will 
install all you need. Otherwise to install packages in a friendly way 
run 'synaptic'. It is in system > administration.

> Now my second, more pressing educational computing problem:  [by the 
> way, I'm a retired Chem. Prof. volunteering in my wife's international 
> school in Weimar, Germany]
> We are installing the Mandarin automated library system at the school, 
> preparing for adopting the IB [international baccalaureate] program 
> which requires a functioning modern library.  We are on a sharp time 
> restraint and must get the system up this month.  We just got a 
> barcode reader (scanner) and I was to install it yesterday into the 
> main library computer, a W2000 machine.  Well, I made several mistakes 
> unfortunately.  I expected some kind of "new hardware" notice once the 
> scanner was installed but none came so I went into System/hardware as 
> the administrator of that particular computer in the school network 
> (LINUX of course).  Since all of the instructions and comments/error 
> messages are in German on this machine and since my knowledge of 
> computerese in German is very small, I made lots of guesses.  Big 
> mistake.  Now with some help, I have the scanner working fine, but 
> only in the safemode.  When booting in the normal mode, the system 
> gets as far as the green screen with the MS W2000 logo window and then 
> suddenly turns off and reboots.  HELP!  Any suggestions for fixing 
> this dire problem will be greatly appreciated!  I realize that it is 
> heresy to ask a MS question in SEUL, but I'm really stuck.
>
>    Best,  Ralph  (Ralph M. Deal, emeritus P.Chem. prof., Kalamazoo 
> College)
Sorry can't help with this one.
Regards
Garry