Re: Better hardware support etc (Was: Debian Edu + Skolelinux: 2 names, 2 distros, 1 project)

[Nigel Barker <tech@hiroshima-is.ac.jp>]

On 16 March 2010 00:57, Jonas Smedegaard <dr@jones.dk> wrote:

>
>
> Those laptops use NVIDIA for graphics and/or network, right?

No, Intel. I had to get updated ALSA drivers, which took me by
surprise, and Broadcom wireless, which I was expecting, but which had
extra gotchas. Then endless fiddling with stuff like SD card slot,
screen brightness, hibernate, ......

>
> If you want to buy hardware and use Debian on it, then do not rely on Ubuntu
> for assurance, but lookup web pages and wiki pages documenting actually
>

This is how I chose:
1. Find the only netbooks available in Japan without windows
2. Buy them.
The fact that they came with ubuntu made me reasonably confident they
would work with debian, which eventually they did.
With plain lenny, even the wired ethernet didn't work. With skolelinux
it did. Thank you skolelinux!

>
> ...and pragmatic mindset blurs the perception of "Free".  If enough users
> enjoy non-free Java being "just an apt-get away" then those non-free
> offerings from Adobe, NVIDIA and SUN are part of what is "getting stronger".
>  Haleluja!
>

Teachers expect flash sites to work. If they don't work, everyone
points the finger at me with my crazy hippy ideals about freedom. They
already accuse me for not letting them use Word.

_Yesterday_ my students couldn't edit Base reports. In a flash of
troubleshooting inspiration, I discovered that their java was set to
the FSF one. Changing it to sun java (which luckily I had already
installed) enabled them to get on with their work.

I already force my ideals onto the school community. Doing it with
computers that "don't work" is going to lose the war for me. So yes, I
install non-free software because the free versions don't work well
enough. I know the blame lies with the closed software, but I can't
win that argument in my school.

nigel