K-12 Open Minds Conference Ubuntu Presence - Interested?

[Brett Alton]

Sure!

In short, I was hired in January as a part-time, temporary technician
- meaning I have a full-time job elsewhere, but they bring me in when
things get hectic - partly because of my repair knowledge but also
partly because of my Linux knowledge (which I found out later).

It turns out the Head of Information Technology had a energy saving
plan in his head involving Linux and only using one computer per
kindergarten classroom (instead of the usual four) and have four
monitors, four keyboards and four mice all hooked up to this one PC.

Thus, the initiative would save money on have four less M$ licenses
per kindergarten classroom, per school AND save electricity because
only once PC is running instead of four.

The PCs will run Ubuntu 7.04 - due to the company who supports the
device that can hook up four monitors, four keyboards and four mice -
with gCompris running as its main application suite.

They've asked me to create the Ubuntu image, so I will let you know
how it goes. More than likely it will have a locked down version of
GNOME and will - possibly - have to communicate to the main server via
AD as per the current Windows PCs.

So from here, we are looking to extend this to other classrooms after
we run the kindergartens as a pilot.

What would really help, of course, is if IBM pushed their K-12 support
from Windows to Linux, as that is who supports use with hardware and
most of our software at the moment.

The pilot will be running next year I believe or maybe next semester,
but like I said, I will keep you all updated.

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 11:45 AM,  <dhottinger at harrisonburg.k12.va.us> wrote:
> Can you share your School Board initiatives with the list?  Ive managed to
> get ubuntu and edubuntu in some of my school library's but no further.  Be
> interesting to see what brought about your situation and who had the
> far-sightedness to get it started.
>
> ddh
>
> Quoting Brett Alton <brett.jr.alton at gmail.com>:
>
>> I'd like to attend but I'm only a computer technician for a school
>> board here in Canada.
>>
>> We are deploying gCompris to all kindergarten students via Ubuntu
>> which will be a first. But it's baby steps, right?
>>
>> If it ever comes to Toronto, I'll be able to attend and discuss my
>> school board's initiatives.
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 12:17 AM, Don Davie <dedavie at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Same boat, Big ideas, Big projects, anemic budget.  My boss told me the
>>> only
>>> way i was going is on his bicycle....
>>> If it comes around next year, i will attend, I love bringing fresh ideas
>>> into our academy and being able to share experiences and get a different
>>> perspective.  We only have 300 cadets but we are trying to give them a
>>> well
>>> rounded education incorporating tech.
>>>
>>> Don E. Davie
>>> La Sierra Military Academy
>>> Visalia, CA 93292
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 11:53 AM, Tony Yarusso <tonyyarusso at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'd love to go, but unfortunately I can't really manage the financial
>>>> aspect myself and my employer said they don't have a travel budget
>>>> left for the next few months.  :(  So if it starts raining dollars I'd
>>>> be happy to help, but if not keep us all posted on how it goes -
>>>> sounds interesting!
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Tony Yarusso
>>>> http://tonyyarusso.com/
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Brett Alton
>> brett.jr.alton at gmail.com
>>
>> Do you really need to print this email? Help preserve our environment!
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Dwayne Hottinger
> Network Administrator
> Harrisonburg City Public Schools
>
> "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
> -- Albert Einstein
>
>



-- 
Brett Alton
brett.jr.alton at gmail.com

Do you really need to print this email? Help preserve our environment!