Re: Spreading the word (was Re: [Fwd: Re: [seul-edu] Want to presentat LINUXWORLD NY/2002?])

[Michael Hall <admin@mulga.com.au>]

Actually, another idea I had was to write a script (bash, or maybe Python) that
was in effect a 'virtual distribution'. In other words, you would first load a
standard distribution (say RedHat) then run the script which would remove
everything you didn't need, add some admin tools, tighten up security etc, and
then download and install a list of education applications (using wget). It's a
bit klunkier than a proper distro, but has some advantages too.

Anyone care to comment on this idea? I've written something similar for custom
standalone web/mail servers, I just haven't played with wget before.

Mick

On Fri, 03 Aug 2001, you wrote:
> Michael Hall wrote:
> 
> > > This is a perceptual problem, I think.  We should try to turn this argument on
> > > its head by asking just what type of applications they want in the classroom,
> > > and then pointing out that such apps (if it's true) are freely downloadable and
> > > installable from the internet.
> >
> > This is simply not practical for anyone but a Linux enthusiast. People who
> > don't already know and use Linux can't and won't download and install apps from
> > the internet, let alone change them themselves. Asking maintainers to change
> > apps is not a very sure way of getting what you need when you need it.
> >
> 
> I agree that it's not an argument that will persuade people to use Linux for the
> first time.  But I still think it's an argument that needs to be made.  The
> comparison of open source development to academic review in journals is something we
> need to make clear to educators.
> 
> >
> > I believe that a school distribution needs to be developed ... put the CD in,
> > load the distro, use it ... no mucking around. It has to be that easy if anyone
> > but the converted is going to use Linux in a big way. Being Windows and
> > Mac users, most school people (including many IT coordinators) know very
> > little about computers. At least, that's my perspective as a primary school
> > teacher in Central Australia.
> >
> 
> This is undoubtedly true.  We even talked about doing our own distro a while back.
> We decided not to for various reasons.  However, there are now a number of "school"
> distros being developed.  There's <http://www.k12ltsp.org/>,
> <http://www.abuledu.org/> (I'm unsure if this is a complete distro), and
> <http://www.pingoo.org/>.  There are probably more that I'm not thinking of offhand.
> 
> --
> Doug Loss                 Always do right.  This
> Data Network Coordinator  will gratify some people
> Bloomsburg University     and astonish the rest.
> dloss@bloomu.edu                Mark Twain
-- 
Michael Hall
mulga.com.au
admin@mulga.com.au
ph/fax (+61 8) 8953 1442
ABN 94 885 174 814