Re: Personal ideas
Thanks for taking the time to answer and comment upon my ideas.
On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 14:42:34 +0100
Ralf Gesel|ensetter <rgx@gmx.de> wrote:
> Okay, so this is still a wide range of things you could help us with.
> Can you give us a hint about the kind of school you are teaching at,
> and your personal role in administration computers there?
I am a science teacher at a public high school. We are trying to run a marine science program. I don't have any specific role in administering computers: I am the only one running GNU/Linux. Windoze is the norm.
> > The user, even somewhat sophisticated, as I feel I am, must make a
> > number of concessions to have a completely free system. It is
>
> Must he? He must reject some "evil" things like flash, maybe.
I gladly bear this burden, and over the years it gets better. However, the weight bes heavy enough when, for example trying to access the web site ofr a textbook, to bother...
>
> > important than to get to the point, as "we" rapidly are, where
> > users---and from an educational point of view, I have to point to
> > science and probably math teachers in particular---who are
> > constrained to Windows can access those sites on the internet that
> > are so helpful to us. Any "school linux" distribution from my point
>
> Are those particular sites? What are the constraints? Java? Flash?
Sometimes, but often assumptions built into sites, and in fairness it often comes down to the roadblocks built into the web pages to make them proprietary.
I am referring (with apologies) to recent meetings, played up in large in domestic press, between Gates and governors, and people buying into Gates's plan to dominate us all.
> If you consider the technologies, that are involved in developing
> software, as kind of knowledge or wisdom, they simply have to be free
> to be evolved further on in a way that is of common interest. This has
> always been the way, universities worked...
I sure do agree.
> > So what I have wanted from Computers, as far as my students, my
> > teaching, and my programs were concerned, was scientific expertise
> > that could be cheaply transferred to the school setting.
>
> ... and be used on for free by pupils at home (without compromises).
> >
Perfect!
That the students can learn that they can share. Most of our students don't have computers at home. Computer courses have been concentrated on learning to use M$ office software as preparation for employment.
>
> And how about old machines (PCs) that can't run recent M$ products? Are
> they dumped? Skolelinux could save a lot of waste there, too.
> >
Good point. They are used, for now. Eventually, more will become available for experiments.
> > were regulars, who got accounts. The more recent distributions have
> > made mounting floppies easier, but it's still the first thing I have
> > to stop and explain. Printing is a bit of a horror.
>
> Is it? Why.
Probably I have not set up printing properly. I have resisted CUPS over the years, but am finding it easy to administer, and newer printers are working right as companies start to support GNU/Linux. I have a brother Laser Jet that has me in a bad mood though.
> are counted - but in 8 or 10 years their place will be comparable to
> that of some Fastfood chain within a setting of really good
> restaurants :)
>
I like that analogy.
Thanks,
Alan Davis
>
> Is this where you live? Micronesia? At loney planet I read:
>
> Full country name: Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
> Area: 185 sq km
> Population: 80,006
> Capital City: Saipan
> People: Filipino (34%), Chamorro (30%), Chinese (12%), Micronesian
> (8%), Carolinian (5%)
> Language: English, Japanese, Korean, Chamorro
>
> Does Redmond support these languages? In Norway, languages have been the
> seed of Skolelinux!
Maybe people will begin to realize this. Some of these languages have less than 100,000 speakers, so who is going to work on the support?
Thanks,
Alan
Reply to: