Re: [seul-edu] Re: [novalug] Re: FETC - technology and education -- FLA LUGS #3

[Michael Viron <mviron@wsdo.sao.uwf.edu>]

>Josh,
>  I am a teacher at a middle school in Fargo, ND.  We have just
>installed Caldera2.4 on 30 PC's in our new lab.  I have a few
>questions about Linux in general.  Our superintendent chose the lab
>because it was less expensive than a Windows or Mac lab.
>
>1. Our superintendent states that schools are going away from students
>saving work on the server.  He feels that our 230 students should each
>be assigned to a particular machine.  Last year students could work
>from any machine.  Is our superintendent accurate?
Actually, he is not.  At the college level, especially public schools, no
student has his / her own personal computer provided by the school--neither
must they sit at a particular machine in the school provided lans.
>
>2. We are using StarOffice 5.2.  Does it always take 15 to 20 seconds
>to load?  Our Netscape also takes 10-15 seconds to load?  Are we doing
>something wrong or is this normal for Linux?

Depends largely on what hardware you have.  Are they 486's? Low end
pentiums? how much memory do they have? 16 MB, 32MB or 64 MB?
>3. The cursor in Linux does not change when an application is
>loading.  I miss the clock or the hour glass from Mac and Windows. 
>Can that be adjusted?
>
>4. We loaded StarOffice5.2 at the root level.  We reloaded it for a
>student access account.  Does it need to be reloaded 230 times?  Once
>for each students personal account?  That is the information that we
>received from our technical support.
Shouldn't need to be...you might try looking at sun's staroffice
site--somewhere off of www.sun.com, I believe.
>5.  Free software was a draw for our school to choose Linux.  Is it
>difficult to download software?  Do you have to download software to
>see how it works?  Is there a way to "try" before you load some
>software packages?

Downloading software isn't that difficult.  Yes you do have to download and
install most software to try it out (unless you have a very good idea from
the screenshots that are provided sometime)--some software provides a web
based demo--but that is more along the lines of web applications.  Not
unless it is a web application, as far as I know.
>6. Did we make a mistake using Caldera2.4 instead of RedHat?
Not in the least...both redhat and caldera are "rpm" based.
>7.  I am a classroom teacher.  My goal is to be proficient in software
>run on Linux.  I want to learn how to troubleshoot.  I do not
>currently have the energy or the interest to get in to the heart of
>Linux commands.  Are there workshops or materials that can meet my
>needs?
linuxdoc.org is your friend, as is linuxconf, which will allow you to
troubleshoot most everything.
>8.  I would like to be a teacher who will promote Linux in schools
>because that is what we are running.  So far,  I don't have anything
>more than a word processing package.  Is there a keyboarding package
>that is appropriate for grades 6-8?
Try searching on freshmeat.net--I'm almost positive there is, but the name
escapes me.
>9.  Is Linux really ready for schools?  Is it user friendly for the
>average teacher to bring a class to the lab and enhance her
>curriculum.
Yes...desktop isn't too different from windows (except more stable and more
choices).

Mike
>Gail
>