Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

[calcpage at aol.com]

The Ubuntu Community has restored my faith in people helping people 
using FLOSS!

You see, I have been teaching Mathematics and Computer Science with 
technology using some form of Linux since the mid 1990s.  I've used 
Slackware and Knoppix and their derivatives primarily.  However, about 
2 years ago I got am unannounced hardware upgrade from 32bit to 64bit 
and have been experimenting with 64bit distros ever since.  I must say, 
Ubuntu is the easiest distro to install, maintain and use that I have 
encountered and this community is the most helpful group I have had the 
honor to be a member of since I started the search for the perfect 
64bit distro!  I've tried everything from Debian to Fedora, with KDE 
and without, and I finally got my lab (pc classroom) back in shape!

In fact, I have also been trying to emulate my "youtube recording 
studio" in Linux that I have been perfecting in WimpDoze for about 3 or 
4 years now.  I've been recording my math classes mostly.  I want to 
record my computer science classes too, but I use Linux in those 
classes, so I need a recording studio setup in Linux too!

I think I got all the components running today for the first time and I 
will try to do a sample recording of a pretend class tomorrow (my 
students have all gone and left me for finals week).  I have my 
wireless lapel mic working the way I want on my new Ubuntu 10.04 64bit 
desktop.  My Wacom Graphire 6x8 Slate works great via Bluetooth.  I 
have even installed the java jre as a plugin to Firefox so I can use 
online recording software from http://screencast-o-matic.com and an 
online Computer Algebra System from http://www.sagenb.org and I even 
installed the Smart Notebook Suite.

OOPs, this is where I cheated a bit.  I really only use Smart notebook 
as a pen app to make notes on my PC projector for my students using the 
Wacom tablet that I can then export to pdf.  I could do this with some 
other pen app, like Xournal.  However, I wanted to see if I could 
emulate my windows recording studio exactly.  The problem is that Smart 
Notebook for Linux only comes in a 32bit version, so I had to downgrade 
my "teacher station" by reinstalling it with 32bit Ubuntu 10.04 ... but 
I got everything running perfectly!

So, wish me luck.  Maybe I'll post my sample class on youtube tomorrow 
night on my channel: http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009

Thanx again to all who helped me retool my lab and everyone how 
contributes to making Ubuntu the best Linux distro ever!

Humbly,
your friendly neighborhood math prof,
A. Jorge Garcia
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com

Teacher & Professor
Applied Mathematics, Physics & Computer Science
Baldwin Senior High School & Nassau Community College