Re: [school-discuss] linux distributions for low resource computers

[John Mitchell <jmitchell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In response to Christian Einfeldt who wrote:
"All of this breaks my heart, and I am very much interested in hearing 
success stories with machines that have only 256 MB of RAM and sub-1 ghz 
chips."

I have a small success story and will attempt to duplicate it this 
upcoming school year.

I teach 6th grade math and social studies in a community outside of 
Chattanooga, TN. My district provides very little technology to 
non-Title I schools. We are simply left in the lurch and so each school 
is pretty much left to fend for itself as far as technology goes. 
(Although a motivated administrator can do wonders, but that's a 
different issue altogether.) I recognized early on in my teaching career 
(just 7 years ago) that technology is ESSENTIAL for a quality 21st 
century education. That revelation has led to my spending thousands of 
dollars of my own money to put the technology in my classroom. Just this 
past year I was able to provide a 1-to-1 computing environment in my 
class by refurbishing 22 notebook computers with P3-750/256mb. Through 
some trial and error, I settled upon Slax 5 as the primary OS. Slax is a 
"live" linux OS as many of you know. My setup was pretty neat in that I 
used MySlax Creator to create a custom version to which I installed to 
1GB CF cards that were then substituted as hard drives using CF to IDE 
adapters. It was great! Incredibly secure and maintenance was minimal.

I've been charged with assembling a computer lab for the upcoming year 
and I will be using this setup again. Each workstation will cost about 
$30 for the necessary parts/upgrades but it is worth it.

Many folks on this list talk about the thin-client alternative and I 
have thoroughly researched it but have come to the conclusion that it 
requires buy-in by system IT guys - a big "no go" here. But these same 
IT guys are quite surprised by my ingenuity and thriftiness with regards 
to the Slax on CF card arrangement and have not protested its use.

Take care all,
John Mitchell