Boys and Girls Club

[Jordan Erickson]

Hey Chuck,

BGCA seems to be very receptive to open source and Linux in general. In 
fact, my first "Edubuntu thin client network" (when LTSP was integrated 
only here) was at a local BGC. They were very excited about it and are 
still using it today, years (and many software/server upgrades) later.

My only recommendation is to be a loyal tech to them. Any non profit 
most likely doesn't have in house tech expertise - and when you're 
dealing with kids who hammer away at keyboards and take balls out of 
mice (heh) you want a bulletproof setup. Luckily, Edubuntu and 
Ubuntu/LTSP does this pretty well. Give them some volunteer tech work. 
Set things up right the first time and make sure it works well so when 
the kids get on it they're not disappointed. Also, very important is to 
keep in good contact with the admin staff. They need to know how to do 
things, so teaching them Linux will be part of it. Other than that, just 
have fun!! Make it a good experience for everyone and the word will 
spread fast.

Keep us up to speed on the project! E-mail me directly if you need any 
help specifically.


Cheers,
Jordan/Lns



Chuck Peters wrote:
>
> A few weeks ago I read about the local boys and girls club having a 
> computer lab and they invited people to stop by and check it out.  One 
> of the things I noticed on my first visit was they were requesting 
> software to edit videos and photos and I thought ubuntustudio might be 
> good and made an appt to meet with the director. Given past experience 
> I expected them to be resistant to Linux and perhaps the Live CD's 
> would be a way to get them to try it. While meeting with the director 
> I was a bit surprised that he requested that I install Ubuntu on 3-6 
> of the 20 or so computers in the lab. He mentioned that the Richmond 
> VA club was using Ubuntu and they have the systems setup such that it 
> autologins with a clean profile, aka any saved files are removed any 
> time it does the autologin.  A little scripting in an an appropriate 
> /etc/gdm/ file will take care of that...  One other thing we discussed 
> was what if any child protection type software they had.  And 
> coincididently Linux Journal is running a series using a proxy server 
> to do that sort of thing, so thats on the todo list as well.  
>
> The ages of the boys and girls ranges from 8-18 and Edubuntu could 
> also be very useful.  Although I have been running Debian and Ubuntu 
> for years I have no experience with Ubuntu Studio or Edubuntu.  I'll 
> install the software soon to get started familizing myself with it.  
> What tips or recommendations do you all have for the boys and girls club?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Chuck


-- 
Jordan Erickson
Owner, Logical Networking Solutions
http://www.logicalnetworking.net
707-636-5678

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