Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

[tom poe <tompoe AT renonevada.net>]

On Wednesday 10 April 2002 20:02, Andrew Choens wrote:
- - - snip - - -
 I looked over your
> site.  What you guys are doing is terrific.  I printed it to show some
> other people.  I thought it was great.  I like the tone.  There was the
> obligatory plug for Open Source Development, but no long drawn out treatise
> on why Linux is the greatest thing since fried rice.  When you get into
> working with the community at large, Linux/Open Source is going to be a
> hard sell sometimes.  We'll have to roll with the punches. I'd seen the K12
> page before.  That project is awesome.  However, it sounds as if they are
> in a very unique position.  They have a wired school, and an Open Source
> Advocate in the IT department.  Most schools are lucky to hire someone who
> knows how to turn on a computer, let alone someone with this man's skills. 
> Very awesome stuff.  With all of his talk of computers elsewhere in the
> school and the kids having computers at home, I think its safe to guess
> that this is a school in a wealthy community. Ironically/unfortunately, the
> kids who can benefit the most from what you are trying to do, probably
> won't have access to computers at home.  Most of the ideas I have read for
> using Linux in this sort of an environment use thin clients.  These in
> turn, cost money.  I've been meaning to sit down and experiment with a 486
> and PII 200 that I've got here and see how much a 486 can get away with
> using IceWm and running KOffice or Open Office over a small network.  As of
> yet, this experiment has yet to occur. I know the 486 used to run Win95, so
> it should be able to handle what I want. Here's something I've been
> thinking about.  To obtain computers, we should go straight to businesses. 
> I got the 486 donated to me from a company I worked for in high-school.  It
> came with a monitor too.  There are lots of machines sitting around
> collecting dust.  RAM is cheap.  These machines may have a future yet, if
> we can get to them.  Servers would have to be newer of course. As for
> schools, who have you contacted in the local school system?  It might be
> worth the time to schedule a chat with a few principals, see if any of them
> has a dream or an itch.  Community organizing has to coincide with a
> need/itch of the community.  Its there, you just got to find the right
> person. Camp Lotsafun sounds perfect for a place to implement something. 
> They may be willing to take a risk on the idea.  If you can succeed here,
> you can use this as an example to a school that your ideas work and you can
> pull it off. One idea that will need to be addressed is maintenance of the
> system.  These groups/schools will probably need help every so often to
> keep their computers going.  Does your group have the manpower to help in
> this regard?  Just something to keep in mind. I'm all about getting
> involved (from a long-distance perspective).  As things get off the ground,
> I'd love to see pictures of the progress.  This is exciting stuff.  I wish
> they'd port KOffice to windows, it sure would make conversion easier.
> Anywho, we should definitely talk some.  Heck, I have free long distance w/
> unlimited minutes after 9 on my cell.
>
> Peace
> --andy

Hi, Andy:  Uhh, we're with SuSE for the moment.  I have a set of SuSE Pro7.0, 
and will use that set as a master set.  It'll work just fine with most 
anything.  But then I have multiple gurus around, so it's easy for me to say. 
 Volunteers make sure the computers run.  Imagine, a school wants support, 
and in return write a letter of recommendation to those who show some 
responsibility and alertness, eh?  You're right about trying to come up with 
the right model install that can be a starting point.  Will work on that some 
more, and see if we can flesh that out a little.

Will run with your "chat" with the principals assignment.  Will let you know. 
 I'll cross-post this to the users' group list and see what pops up.  We'll 
spread your name all over the place, and as long as you're on the East Coast 
we should be safe.  :)
Talk with you shortly,
Tom
http://www.studioforrecording.org/
http://www.ibiblio.org/studioforrecording/
http://renotahoe.pm.org/