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[school-discuss] Re: Passwords for kids?



on Sat, May 15, 2004 at 09:58:03PM -0400, Stewart M. Ives (ivessm@softecusa.com) wrote:
> > On Sat, 15 May 2004 "Karsten M. Self" <kmself@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> > > I'm working in a youth center with a ten-system computer lab, 80+ 
> > > kids using it so far, Samba domain.

> > > _Most_ of them can deal with passwords.  A few can't spell their own
> > > names (and most of 'em could use better typing skillz -- not to mention
> > > a far more discriminating taste in music....).
> > > 
> > > But for a fair number of 'em, particulary the younger set, and a few
> > > others with learning disabilities, remembering passwords seems to be
> > > beyond the possible.  Anyone have experience with setting up accounts
> > > for kids?
> > > 
> > > Primary login is WinXP.  Even here, the three-field login (username,
> > > pass, logon target (workstation/domain) is confusing.

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

For clarity and to support conversational discussion style, please use
bottom-posting format:  your reply goes below the material cited.  Trim
your quotes appropriately and ensure your attributions are accurate.  

See: 

    http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/email-style.html
    http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html
    http://mailformat.dan.info/quoting/top-posting.html

Thank you.


> Karsten,
> 
> Gee, why compound your problem with passwords and logging on??  Why
> not just have a shared drive out on the server and be done with it.

The kids are *still* faced with:

  - The XP Pro domain login "press <ctrl><alt><del> to log in" screen.
  - A three-form login.

Given that I'm running domain-based authentication, we've got that login
screen.  That of itself is a bit of a bar.

> If you must have separate directories for each kid then just make the
> directories and let them click into their own directory when they save
> something to the public drive.

I can do that, and am thinking of dropping to this.  Though if the kids
don't have passwords, I'm going to give them read-only access.  An
incentive to start remembering passwords (I'm really big on incentives
and accountability).

> I can't imagine you creating all of the separate user accounts under
> WXP on each machine 

*DOMAIN LOGINS*.

Samba rules here.

Single sign-on.  Accounts live on the server.  No state on the
workstations.

> much less trying to manage all of this on the server.  If you are not
> dealing in national secrets and the formula for the next solid rocket
> booster then keep things simple and be done with it.  

WiFi network (that's what we got), with some signal leakage outside.
I've locked things down moderately, but stand the likelihood of system
compromise if I have unsecured access.

> We run about 100 PC's in a K-8 school and have a single login for ALL
> kids computers.  They get a map to the shared kids drive and each
> class has their own direcotry on the shared drive to store stuff it.
> If the kids store it elsewhere then they have to go find it.  It
> happens once and after that everything seems to get stored in the
> right place.

Thanks, but no thanks ;-)



> Hey, have I mentioned the lunch money hassle??  They proposed a system
> where each student would have a secret password to type in when they
> got their lunch so the charge for the lunch would go against their
> account.  Try getting a line of hungry K or 1st or 2nd graders through
> the line with that system.  NOT!!!!!  Don't get me started....

Heh!


Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
    The truth behind the H-1B IT indentured servant scam:
    http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html

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