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I am the network manager at Woodlands (for a little while longer, they are beginning an interview process now, so if anyone is interested in the network manager post here call on 01752 300101). We run portions of the karoshi project (Hal). It is a wonderful package, and I wish there was more I could implement (We use the filter/proxy, intranet/website aspects). The reason a full conversion never happened is two-fold: Clients/users: Woodlands is a special-needs school, and has invested heavily in to special-needs accessability software that demands a windows client to run on (clicker, writing with symbols, 2Simple products, Lego Robotics), not to mention the proprietary accessability hardware (switches, head-to-mouse tracker, touchscreens). I spent a great many hours grooming wine to try and fulfill these needs, but there was always the knowledge that the "next version" would require either further grooming or would just not operate under wine. All-those man hours added up against linux being <cough> workable on the client machines. Administration Programs: Aside from the clients running linux, the school here operates a windows-only (until it becomes web-based) teacher administration program (www.recordingandassessment.co.uk) which also demands Office/Access (which the school also heavily invested in spite of the predecessor pushing OOo). In my 2 years here, what has worked are selected dual-boot systems (or an qemu embedded version such as DSL), ESPECIALLY for those older windows programs that refuse to run under XP. On the windows boxes, offering (not enforcing) use of OSS (firefox, OOo, Thunderbird, ZipGenius, Deepburner) has helped the users who want to learn about open and/or free alternatives. Do remember though, this is not an average primary school, so the needs are much more particular than other schools I have supported (I won't mention school politics anymore than to say they can be frustrating at times). A good resource for OSS school information & programs is http://www.schoolforge.org.uk/ Another consideration, is to find out if the school would be willing to purchase a Linspire setup, which has been doing a considerable amount of educational sector marketing. If I could go back and do some things differently, I would have pushed win4lin or a similar pay-for linux/windows solution. Since your push is coming from a clean slate, these two links will help you prepare: http://www.bellevuelinux.org/linux_educ.html http://www.bellevuelinux.org/edu_resources.html I would make sure the headteacher understands that what you propose does not mean "throwing away" any software investments thus far, and that they will still be able to run all their programs. Also, I would take care not to over-estimate Microsoft Educational Licensing costs. They are more competitive in education than many may assume. Chances are MS has already at some point in time, either visited or offered some type of 'free' (like child internet safety) training program, and they will schmooze any head or ICT Coordinator with clever sales pitches. Kevin On 3/31/06, Rob Beard <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Quoting tom potts <madtom1999@xxxxxxxxx>: > > > I moved into the area a month ago and went to see a > > local primary school for my eldest (3.5) and they have > > about 12 pcs with windows (w2k and a few blue > > screens1) They are in the process of upgrading and I > > thought I'd see if anyone knows of any Primary school > > open source stuff before getting too evangelical. > > I'd like to try and put a little package/presentation > > together before putting Linux to the headmaster. > > Any links anyone? > > Tom > > > > > > Hi Tom, > > A couple of us from the LUG are having discussions about this, I've > e-mailed you off the list about it. > > Regarding Primary School software, there is quite a bit of software out > there which is both educational and fun. > > Two packages I've let the kids use are TuxPaint and Gcompris. > > There are plenty of other packages out there (I did have a list > somewhere, I'll dig it out). On the back end side of things, there is > a system being developed in the UK called Karoshi. It's aimed at > schools to provide different services such as file serving, internet > caching/content filtering and various other services too. As far as I > know, Woodlands School just outside of Plymouth uses this software. > > Other than that, there is Moodle (which I haven't read much about), and > the K12LTSP project which is a server based distribution which allows > older PCs to work as diskless workstations. The workstations simply > boot a minimal installation of Linux over the network and connect to > the K12LTSP server. To the users, it looks like the Linux OS is > running on the local PC where as infact it is all running on the > server. I implimented a similar server for home use. The K12LTSP > server is aimed more at schools. > > Other software which could be considered (although maybe not for > Primary schools) is OpenOffice.org. Since it has no licensing costs, > the schools could use this as an alternative to MS Office and in the > process save a large sum of money, and even offer/sell CDs contaning > OpenOffice.org to the parents. > > Rob > > > > > -- > The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG > Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the > message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html > -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html