Edubuntu additions for small schools

[Andy Figueroa]

I, too, am a one-man IT department for a small school.

With the included Linux/Unix tools, additional tools don't seem to be called
for.  Here is the script that I use to populate a fresh install of Edubuntu
with users.  This only shows two users, but my real script is 153 of users
long.  it's just a bash/shell script that you run from the command line (as
root, or with sudo, of course):

#!/bin/sh
useradd -m -G scanner,plugdev,audio,video,cdrom,games,fuse -s /bin/bash cfreeman
useradd -m -G scanner,plugdev,audio,video,cdrom,games,fuse -s /bin/bash
jbfreeman
echo "Run 'chpasswd < pw2' to establish initial password for new user."

The second file (pw2) is just a text file listing users and their passwords
like this:

jbfreeman:notrealpw1
cfreeman:notrealpw2

All this doesn't do is use a machine generated password.  The problem I have
with machine generated passwords is that the students cannot remember them.
 So, I use a password scheme they can remember, but not guess.

You don't maintain the files in OpenOffice, but you can use any text editor.
 I use vi, but could just as well use nano, MousePad, gedit, etc.

For what it's worth, I also back up the entire /home directory every night
to a tar gz archive, so I can restore student's configuration and files to a
fresh server in just a few minutes.

My students, 4th grade through 12th grade, really like Edubuntu and use it
heavily.  With 7 workstations, the lab is often full.  Last year's /home
backup file was 41 megs.  This year's backups run about 4 gigs.

I'd be happy to continue discussion along these lines.

Andy Figueroa
Ohio, USA

Mon Sagullo wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> My wish list would be coming from a small school with a one-man IT
> department :-)
> 
> I could very much use a script and/or a built-in utility in the next
> release of Ubuntu that can use a two-column entry in OpenOffice.Org's
> Calc with a column of user names and the second column with
> machine-generated password, which is then saved in a thumb drive, then
> execute this script to populate all the machines with the user names and
> user passwords every start of School Year calendar.
> **
> Best regards,
> Mon Sagullo
> Philippines
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Darrell Eifert <darrelleifert at myfairpoint.net>
> *To:* edubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> *Sent:* Saturday, May 23, 2009 10:04:05 AM
> *Subject:* Edubuntu additions for public libraries
> 
> Hello --
> 
> Without burdening anyone here with too much of a detailed "wish list",
> I'd like to inquire as to the best or proper way to request additional
> features in Edubuntu or Ubuntu LTSP that would make this distro a very
> attractive option for public libraries.  In general, we need two things:
> first of all a way to lock down or restore a workstation to a pristine
> state for each new user, and secondly a way to regulate computer use by
> a system of login tickets (randomly generated printed passwords) and
> timers (different groups of computers for different periods of time).
> 
> Many librarians are seeing the end of their WinXP workstations
> lifecycle, and are looking for better alternatives before having to
> spend scarce resources on hardware and software upgrades.
> 
> Many thanks in advance.
> 
> Darrell Eifert
> Head of Adult Services
> Lane Memorial Library
> Hampton, NH
> 
> 
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