Re: [seul-edu] Portland schools and Linux

["Chris Calise" <chris@oip.net>]

Hi Laurel,
I am a coordinator of a program in Eugene, Or to promote K-12LTSP here in
Lane county. We already have a request from a middle school and a library.
The director of the local STRUT program advised me that any donation they
make can only be used for K->12 schools, but we have some other libraries
and non-profits that are interested in having a network. Can your group help
with workstation/servers? Do you have a Eugene local group? It is exciting
to see what Oregon is doing with open source. I would love to see a state
wide initiative to require schools and government to consider open source
first before buying proprietary software. Anyway please let me know if you
can help.

Thanks,
Chris Calise
www.ufda.net
chris@oip.net



----- Original Message -----
From: "laurel" <ideath@anarchysoftware.com>
To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 4:39 AM
Subject: [seul-edu] Portland schools and Linux


> > Depending on how things are set up, you should be able to greatly
>
>  > simplify things by focusing on application servers and then just
>  > installing scads of dumb terminal-ish boxen, like "The City of
> Progress"
>  > (forget the name, it's in FL) did.
>
> Hi,
> I've yet to introduce myself on this list. I'm not involved directly
> in the schools, but i'm the Education Coordinator at FREE GEEK
> (www.freegeek.org), a Portland, Oregon non-profit that rebuilds old
> computers and gives them out to our volunteers - with Free software,
> of course. Our main goals are to keep old equipment out of the
> landfills, to get computers (and access to information) to people
> who couldn't otherwise afford it, and to support Free software.
>
> One of our volunteers (Vagrant) has been working on his own
> terminal/server project, which he calls Lessdisks
> (lessdisks.sourceforge.net has more information but he bashfully
> says it's "nothin pretty" and a bit out of date). It's designed to
> make workable computer labs with low-end computers as the terminals,
> so otherwise obsolete hardware can continue to have useful life.
> He's worked with the Abernathy/Environmental Middle School in our
> neighborhood and with the kids there has built and installed a
> lessdisks network there. It hasn't replaced what they already had,
> from what i understand, but the works are in motion.
>
> We want to help get GNU/Linux in the schools. While FREE GEEK is not
> capable of taking on this project, we are in contact with MANY local
> Free Software aficionados and activists, as well as with other
> organizations, like StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology,
> strut.org), some schools, local government, and our local LUG.
> Vagrant is very fired up about getting this to work.
>
> >>Keep us posted.  There's thousands, and the solution requires
> hands
> >>on, but also there's remote support across the nation, don't
> forget.
>
> This project will require a lot of support and re-education. While
> remote support is great, they'll want to be able to get in touch
> with someone within hours (sooner if possible).  People (teachers
> and administrators) that are not all that technically-inclined will
> need to be able to find help. This will be one of the major hurdles
> in this proposal, i promise. Using a widely-distributed remote
> support network is an awesome idea, will it be feasible for
> something of this scale (even the schools of one city could generate
> more questions, misunderstandings, and actual problems than a fish
> has scales).
>
> Anyhow, count FREE GEEK in for this project. We want this to
> happen.  And hi, folks. If you're ever in Portland, stop by! Our
> education program is mainly directed toward adults with little to no
> computer computer experience, not kids-in-schools-education, but we
> occasionally have school groups come in to learn about recycling,
> computer hardware & basic concepts, and (of course) a bit of Linux
> on the side.
>
> Best
> Laurel Hoyt
> Education Coordinator
> FREE GEEK
>
>
>
>