Hi Jonas, As always, thanks for the detailed response. Please see inline.
On Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 4:04 PM Jonas Smedegaard <jo...@jones.dk> wrote: > Hi Yogesh, > > Quoting Yogesh Powar (2023-07-10 09:50:36) > > > > > > > > > This is kind of an obvious comment, but before doing something like > > > this you should figure out what kind of outgoing software support > > > there would be. If there isn't any, then the students are unlikely to > > > use these computers, and will use something they find easier. Unless > > > they are already very adept with Unix-like systems in general, and > > > Linux-based systems in particular, which seems unlikely. > > > > > Yes. Makes sense. > > > > > > > > > And from a more bottom line perspective, if there isn't anyone to > > > maintain the machines, they will eventually stop working. Even Debian > > > can't completely run by itself, and does require some maintenance. > > > > > True. > > They have a computer teacher. May be we can get him started to to mainten > > the system. Or teach him how to seek help. > > Beware that the teacher will likely have limited time and attention. > Ack. I missed this point. > > Even assuming the the computer teacher is enthusiastic to learn about > linux, he wil probably have spare time to invest in this new task, on > top of his existing duties as a teacher. > > I've made that mistake many times of over-estimating the time of others, > when their enthusiasm was equal to my own. > Ack. > > > > Another option is we begin with only 2 machines instead of 20. And once a > > month or two revive them if broken. > > If you start small then the systems become a premium rather than a > commodity for the students: You want most possible students to explore > and make mistakes in their own pace, not standing in line for few > moments with them or only the top students getting access to them. > I meant, we start from 10% and then to 100%. Assuming the efforts for installation depends on the number of machines. (I know you have suggested Debian Installer in later part of the email) > When the school is already ok with allocating the hardware for more > systems, I suggest to make use of that - e.g. by a) investing some (of > your own!) time into constructing a dead simple (for the teacher!) > routine to reset a system to pristine state, and b) propose to have > plenty machines available but also some spares (for the teacher to not > expect *all* of them to be in working state *always*), i.e. setup all of > them (after having created some automated tool that only requires time > for them all to complete) but suggest the teacher to only expect 12 or > 15 of them in class, to have spare ones to quickly replace to not waste > time during class. > It's a good idea to reserve some machines to save time at the time of machine breakdowns. > > Even with a fully automated reset procedure, you should still expect to > pay the school a visit now and then, as such procedure can only > meaningfully cover *software* flaws - hardware slowly falling apart is a > different art which I suggest you don't try train the teacher in > handling but instead yourself or a team you form act as "mechanics" to > make "routine checkups" on the system park. > Ack. > > The simplest way to offer automated reset of software is to compose a > [preseeding] file for Debian Installer for a fully automated install, > and then burn e.g. 10 identical install CDs with that preseeding file > added. It might take several hours for an install to complete, but > when fully automized you can setup many machines in parallel and the > only real cost is time. The result is certain to be a pristine generic > Debian installation that teacher and students alike can consult the > internet for help using (as opposed to a custom setup that you might > think is "better" for that school but to some extend binds them to you > as the expert of what exact system they have). > Sure. Will explore the Debian installer's pre-seeding file. > > If you don't see the benefit of keeping it generic (which I strongly > recommend you to consider first), there are numerous semi-standardized > custom systems, the most famous probably being [DebianEdu] and [FAI]. > Will explore DebianEdu & FAI. > I have some experience with running Debian systems at elementary schools > and highscools for the past 25 years, using plain Debian, DebianEdu, > FAI, and more custom-tailored ones. Some years ago me and my partner > made a 3 month [visit to India] to meet fellow hackers interested in > custom-tailoring Debian. I am quite happy to share opinions and > practical details, if you are interested. > Ok. Wow. > > Regarding localization, perhaps Debian nowadays perfectly covers the > needs or Marathi - I honestly don't know. But if you consider making > improvements, you might take inspiration from the [Sweecha Project], > whom I have found to be nice folks working on that topic for another > language - Telugu. They might have some insight to share e.g. about > which subtasks are easy or hard. > > Whatever you do, enjoy! I know it is an exciting task to engage in :-) > Thats on the spot. > - Jonas > > [preseeding]: https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/amd64/apb.da.html > > [DebianEdu]: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu > > [FAI]: https://wiki.debian.org/FAI > > [visit to India]: https://couchdesign.dk/india/ > > [Sweecha Project]: https://swecha.org/content/swecha-project Ack -- Thank You Yogesh Powar https://yogeshpowar.github.io/blog/
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