Re: Teacher Package

[Bradley Burnside <bradley@voyager.net>]

Hey,
    I know what your saying.  My mind was wandering.  It is in my
opinion a lot overkill.  I do like the idea of a cd though.  It is a lot
easier to have everything on a cd, and then run one script and it'll
install everything. Like a companion cd...or dredd  I say it but
similiar to Microsoft Plus.  I like rpms.  They are really easy to use.
The only thing that upsets me with rpms is people like to program in the
latest greatest library.  Like GTK 1.1.13.  But you can't find rpm for
it.  You have to go download it and compile. (gtk 1.1.13 is developers
version, they should write in 1.0.6 or wait for 1.2.).  I think if we
were to create a cd or online repository for educational software.  It
might be easier if we wrote a small app that installed everything...or
even to the extent as being a running daemon and updates the software
for you.
    The only problem I see about a teacher downloading and installing
rpms manually is despite the rpm system is nice.  There are still many
ways of messing up your system with it.  God knows how many times it let
me upgrade something and then broke dependencies.
                    Brad burnside
sorry about the distro thing...I was getting a little overzealous. or
maybe a lot.

rnd@sampo.karelia.ru wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I think, its a little overkill  (school  distro).  A  bunch  of
> appropriate rpm's + a README in what order to install  them  is
> enough.
>
> And I can tell you why. Because good  Linux  installation  (and
> any other system installation) must be made by a more  or  less
> expert.
>
> And all the expert need is a bunch of programs  available  over
> what "standard" distro offer.  For  example,  After  installing
> RedHat I at once installed a  20-30  item  list  of  additional
> rpms, which were "prescribed" before hand. The  only  exception
> was fetchmail, which did not work and I got an update.
>
> So, it's hard to make
>
> rpm -hiv somepack.rpm
>
> easier, IMHO!
>
> Why? Because if after initial install (made by a profi) techers
> will want to add something, they will alerady know that uniform
> way to do it (in rpm-empowered system) is to use rpm with a  -i
> or -U switch! No need to mess with something else.
>
> So, excuse me, but I can't  see  how  GUIfying  the  ONE  short
> and universal command could make things easier..!
>
> Of course, additional 'configurative' rpm could be prepared  to
> facilitate the setup. (for example, there was calderize.rpm  in
> Caldera Linux)...
>
> There is also a mechanism of 'kickstart' in RedHat.  This  way,
> one can control what to install and  what  to  not  already  at
> install. I have not investigated it, but I  think  it  is  very
> useful for automatic mass installs in the school Linux labs.
>
> In summary, its easier and more long-term effective to teach  a
> teacher to find things on the web and use rpm than to make some
> special overhead. So, teacher package is only  good  if  it  is
> just a bunch of selected rpm's + short descriptions  what  they
> are for.
>
> Sincerely yours, Roman Suzi
> --
> Russia * Karelia * Petrozavodsk
> Sunday, January 24, 1999 * Powered by Linux RedHat 5.1
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