But the kickback to the school administrator wouldn't have been as big with a Linux solution.
--- On Thu, 12/11/08, Paul McNett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Paul McNett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [NF] This teacher needs a kick in the pants. > To: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 11:38 AM > Ted Roche wrote: > > The K12LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) lets you > take one powerful > > machine and run a lab full of vintage machines > (PII-300 laptops w/ no > > HDD, for example) running images off the main server > and allowing > > centralized administration -- shades of > mini-computers! > > I've set up a lab in my wife's fourth-grade > classroom consisting of a vintage server > (P4; 512MB RAM; 80GB HDD), and historic computers of > various grades. She switches on > the server in the morning, and the kids turn on a > workstation when they need it. The > workstations are thin: they netboot Linux from the server. > > This is with KUbuntu which is based on LTSP. She's had > no problems and the students > each get their own login, a web browser with flash and > javascript, the full > OpenOffice.org productivity suite, and a networked laser > printer. Not to mention some > really fun games and educational programs. > > I set this up 2 years ago, and it has been near-zero > maintenance. > > In the meantime, the school district purchased one MacBook > for every fourth grade > teacher, and a rolling cart of 35 MacBooks for each school > that each fourth grade > classroom gets access to one day a week. While this has > generally been seen as > positive, and it is good getting a laptop into each > student's hands, IMO they did it > completely wrong by not maintaining them centrally. Each > MacBook installs its own > applications, and things get screwed up all the time. > > I just wonder, if an objective assessment were made, if > they would not have chosen to > go with Linux netbooks and a beefy server for every > classroom, which could have been > had for (I think) a similar cost to the smaller number of > MacBooks. > > Paul > > > _______________________________________________ > Post Messages to: [email protected] > Subscription Maintenance: > http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox > OT-free version of this list: > http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech > Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox > This message: > http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are > the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or > medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for > those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious. _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
