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RE: [seul-edu] Linux community support for education



http://www.nolug.org/
 
Looks like there is a New Orleans LUG.  :-)

Your technical support organization needs to be more flexible to grow as the school grows.  Many schools fell into the trap of paying the high license fees to redmond for Windows NT but more and more schools are waking up and actually preparing their students for the real world by running some flavor of UNIX.  Granted, UNIX is a whole different beast to support than Windows NT and your tech support folks are right in being afraid.  After all, you can't point and click your way to everything in UNIX.
 
Trip to New Orleans?  Who's paying?  :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Prentice [mailto:dprentice@uno.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 11:08 PM
To: seul-edu@seul.org
Subject: Re: [seul-edu] Linux community support for education

Doug,
    I wish I had a local Linux group to call on. I don't even know anybody else in the New Orleans area that has Linux installed on anything. If there is anybody that can give detailed technical assistance, it sure would be helpful. Everything has been by trial and error -- setting up, configuring the network, remote printing, getting NIS working --  but I still haven't figured out how to set up my client machines to go through the gateway to get to the Internet. It's probably something simple, but there's nobody to show me what I'm doing wrong. Anybody want to take a trip to N.O. to show me what to do? 
    Anyway, in my school district the tech support department has barely even heard of Linux, let alone support it. All they will support are Pentium 233's or better running Windows NT. As if my school has any chance of getting some of those! 
Thanks,  
Dave Prentice
prentice@instruction.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>
To: seul-edu@seul.org <seul-edu@seul.org>
Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 2:31 PM
Subject: [seul-edu] Linux community support for education

As most of you know, I write fortnightly reports on Linux in
education.  My next report is due on Monday, and I have very little
to write about.  For that reason I'm trying to "prime the pump" and
generate some interesting and useful discussion.  If you can think
of any questions you'd like to ask the list, now is the time.

Here's my question.  We've talked before about how the Linux
community can get involved in education through advocacy and support
of local schools.  That was useful information for those of us who
are primarily Linux techies but not educators.  What I'd like to
find out is if any of us who are teachers or school administrators
have received or tried to enlist the help of local LUGs or other
Linux community resources in their efforts to use Linux in school.
If so, how successful were you?  If you were dissatisfied with the
help you received (if any), why and in what way was it lacking?  If
you haven't tried to locate and avail yourself of local Linux
resources, why not?  Is there anything the Linux community can or
should do to help you in your efforts?

I'll be on a panel dealing with Linux use in education at the
LinuxWorld Expo in New York City in a few weeks, and your responses
will very likely become part of what I say to the attendees.  Here's
your chance to speak to the community!

--
Doug Loss                 God is a comedian playing
Data Network Coordinator  to an audience too afraid
Bloomsburg University     to laugh.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Voltaire