Bloomington North's Linux Initiative in the News

[Simon Ruiz]

Hello Todd,
 
Awesome, it's great to hear about Ubuntu labs cropping up around the country. The U.S. is well behind other countries as far as Open Source in schools, and it's cases like yours and mine that will help change that.
 
We're using the Desktop installation of Ubuntu, no LTSP, and we're using the iTALC software to handle monitoring and classroom management. I don't know if it will work with LTSP; and if it does I don't know how efficient it would be. You might consider joining the italc-users mailing list (advertised at http://italc.sourceforge.net) and asking about your particular use case. Or, you might consider going ahead and installing it and seeing what happens!
 
There are no Ubuntu packages available so you'd need to get your hands a little dirty on the command line compiling it from source, but I've put together a very basic (no prior compiling experience expected) HOWTO about it at http://indianalinux.blogspot.com/2007/02/howto-install-italc-from-source-on.html - Note that I'm still working out some bugs with the developer as far as specific functionality, have made progress since this post, and will have an updated HOWTO up soon, but this could get you up and running so that you could see whether it even works for you.
 
You should also consider re-evaluating the SCP later, maybe when Feisty comes out, as it's a very young project, but it is geared quite specifically towards what you're looking for in the LTSP environment. Have you filed bugs against the project in launchpad, expressing your difficulties? Your feedback could help make the SCP better suit your needs, as well as those of teachers all around the world.
 
Anyhow, I hope this is of some help, best of luck with your Ubuntu lab, and when the questions pop up, ask them!
 
Take care!
 
Sim?n

________________________________

From: Todd O'Bryan [mailto:toddobryan at mac.com]
Sent: Sun 3/4/2007 9:11 PM
To: Simon Ruiz
Subject: RE: Bloomington North's Linux Initiative in the News



Hey Simon,

I'm about 1.5 hours south of you in Louisville, and am also running an
Ubuntu lab. We use ours for my programming classes, but I'm hoping that,
once we get all the settings right, we'll be able to expand and use it
for other areas. (I'm actually *just* a teacher; I don't have any say in
district or school tech policy except what I manage to push for.)

What are you using to monitor student activity on clients at the moment?
I've wanted to get FL_TeacherTool working, but I'm using LTSP 5, so I
gather that won't quite work, and I've been a little underwhelmed by
Student Control Panel or whatever the Edubuntu thing is called.

Anyway, just thought I'd say hi.

Todd