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. 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. > 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. 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. 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. 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). 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]. 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. 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 :-) - 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 -- * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt * Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/ * Sponsorship: https://ko-fi.com/drjones [x] quote me freely [ ] ask before reusing [ ] keep private
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