[seul-edu] Re: the iron box

[Jack Johnson <jack@dcsd.k12.ak.us>]

On Mon, 7 Feb 2000 21:22:11 +0100 thomas@J436-b.resJ.insa-lyon.fr
(Thomas_Tempé) wrote:

>This leads me to the more fundamental question: is there anything going
>on on SEUL that revolves around that iron box paradigm and the need to
>dissociate user and admin?

My personal take, here, is that:

     a) the Unix paradigm revolves around the user in an iron box (or at
        least the system administrator in an iron box, depending on your
        viewpoint), and

     b) Linux is Unix-like.

Of all the platforms, I think Linux will succeed in education based on the
iron box model.  Someone knowledgeable sets up the machine, and it's
nigh-impossible for the users to break it, as opposed to letting them throw
vital parts away, accidentally or otherwise.

Now, given that scenario, we could design/butcher a distribution to make the
system administrator as invisible as possible:

     - dhcpcd out of the box
     - no local MTA---just like a Mac or PC---or better use of user templates
       to set up default values (LDAP, anyone?)
     - as few local daemons as possible
     - a simpler mechanism for separating user-installed apps from sysadmin-
       installed apps (though again, the beauty of Unix is to have it
installed
       once and shared among all the users)

One possibility might be to netboot the machine and allow any changes to just
go to data heaven...

Another might be to create a "single user" distribution not unlike Mac OS or
Windows offerings, with a cleaner design and Linux' crash-resistance.
Projects like Berlin will require a shift away from X anyway, and it might be
a good opportunity to rethink the workstation/server dichotomy.

The last---and I believe the most dangerous---is to convince ourselves that
the correct tools need to be implemented so that anyone can be a system
administrator.  Though that might be a valid goal, it is not necessarily the
goal of education.  We need machines that help our students to read, write,
calculate, think and communicate.  Perhaps we don't even need them, but have
convinced ourselves that we do.  Give me someone who can really think, teach
them to type, and I'll show you a potential computer genius (the lack of good
productivity apps didn't seem to stall Alan Turing any).

I think the best way to escape the iron box paradigm is to escape the
educational computer paradigm.  The thought of every student having access to
a cheap, wireless Web pad running Amaya and Apache---allowing them to
research, compose and publish from a single interface and platform---gives me
more hope than the latest testing application or user management system.

Until that time comes, give me the iron box any day.

The iron box doesn't have to be seen as detrimental.  The observation works
from several directions.  Though many sysadmins can be accused of putting the
user in an iron box to ease their administration chores, I'd like to believe
most do it to protect subsequent users from the chaos that the previous user
can inflict.  If education is about opportunity, then downed machines equate
to opportunity lost, even if the resulting system isn't as open as we might
like.

Just my $0.02.

-Jack Johnson
 Dillingham City School District