[ubuntu-za] Ubuntu/Edubuntu in SA Schools

Thu Mar 26 08:36:51 GMT 2009

William Walter Kinghorn wrote:
> Hi Hilton,
Hi

I think schoolforge is better.
A lot of useful "software" is not really FLOSS these days.
Think of web 2.0 tech.

For the desktop, I am a KDE4 fan.
Whatever operating system, be it OS X, Windows or whatever distro 
delivers the best KDE4 experience, the better.

KDE4 is our chance to crack the M$ nut.
KDE4 gives a chance to focus the desktop for all, developers and users.

See: http://www.ubuntu.sun.ac.za/wiki/index.php/KDE4

Ok now. Flame on ;-)

Cheers

hg.

> 
> Done.
> 
> William
> ________________________________________
> From: ubuntu-za-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com [ubuntu-za-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Hilton Theunissen [hilton at inkululeko.co.za]
> Sent: 26 March 2009 10:19
> To: Ubuntu South African Local Community
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-za] Website for FOSS in Schools
> 
> I would like to propose that we changed the topic to "Ubuntu/Edubuntu in
> SA Schools". This way the discussions will be focused.
> 
> David Robert Lewis wrote:
>> Great idea. This is exciting stuff and would resolve an issue I have
>> with the current ubuntu-za wiki which doesn't focus on Ubuntu enough. I
>> really believe that we need to grow the local distribution, and there
>> are a number of reasons why Ubuntu is not simply another FOSS and is
>> more than just a flavour of Linux. For one there is the security of
>> knowing other computers are running what you are running. Not all of us
>> can simply hack away at Linux. Then there is the problem of discourse -
>> every Linux distro has different terms and ways of doing things. A
>> teacher would probably go mad keeping a classroom in one place with a
>> general Linux free-for-all. Look, I'm not trying to diss the broader
>> Linux community but rather see this as a parallel development. So if you
>> want the total solution go to schoolforge. If you want the Ubuntu
>> solution, go to ubuntu-za? Seems appropriate?
>>
>>
>> Hilton Theunissen wrote:
>>> Hi All
>>>
>>> We registered the domain www.schoolforge.org.za, we are going to setup
>>> the wiki next week similar to www.schoolforge.org.uk. We will add
>>> "How to" and "SA Projects" pages
>>>
>>> I am going to make contact with a few organisations that have running
>>> open source projects in South Africa to add their projects. Also all
>>> the tuXlab schools and other floss schools will need to upload their
>>> casestudies.
>>>
>>> This for me would be that one-stop for schools that want to learn how
>>> to deploy floss, learn from others experiences, link to ubuntu-za
>>> community, k12ltsp.org community, suse community, etc. Link to
>>> international projects.
>>>
>>> Once we have enough reading material and projects loaded here, we
>>> should then approach Government. I have a link to the Minister but
>>> nobody knows what Gov will look like post April.
>>>
>>> Then we should plan two conferences
>>> 1) Schoolforge SA 2-3 day conference ( uwc, cape town, Sept 2009)
>>> 2) Schoolforge International 5 day in Jozi(csir venue or Wits, Jan or
>>> April 2010) invitee list US, Uk, Finland, Spain, Norway, Malaysia,
>>> Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria,Senegal, Germany, Brazil,
>>> India, Egypt, Austria, Netherlands, China, New Zealand, Australia,-
>>> target 50 internationals)Then we need to approach Canonical, Redhat,
>>> Novell, Google and Yahoo for sponsorship)
>>>
>>> If you in call me 0729008001
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hannes Coetzee wrote:
>>>
>>>> Greetings
>>>>
>>>> Most of the main issues here has been discussed in more detail. I
>>>> hear what everyone else is saying but I don't see any solutions yet
>>>> so it's back to more research. While I'm educating myself some more
>>>> I's like to say the following:
>>>>
>>>> Situation one:
>>>> Some guy installs Edubuntu for a school. Everything works great until
>>>> this guy gets killed in a car accident. Now the school is screwed but
>>>> luckily the person who installed the lab told them that there is a
>>>> site where they could find new support. He even put a sticker on the
>>>> box with the address. Now the school have a few options -
>>>>
>>>> 1) Give up and convert everything back to MS.
>>>> 2) They could go to the site and figure everything out themselves (or
>>>> anything else that involves only the school)
>>>> 3) They can contact the nearest person that's listed on the site and
>>>> find out if this person can help them.
>>>> 4) They could contact their IT company and ask them - "We have this
>>>> system. We know that it is not standard but we'd like to keep it if
>>>> possible. If you don't know how to fix the problem don't worry, just
>>>> go to this site and you will find all the info you could ever need."
>>>> 5) Everybody sit back and do nothing.
>>>>
>>>> Situation two:
>>>> Somehow a school decides they want to use for example Edubuntu in
>>>> their lab. They are told that they should have a look at a website.
>>>> So they go to the site and read up on everything until they are
>>>> convinced that all their questions have been answered. They decide
>>>> that they now need to get this new system into their school. Now they
>>>> have a few options -
>>>>
>>>> 1) They understand enough and everything themselves.
>>>> 2) They install the system with the help of forums and irc.
>>>> 3) They contact the nearest person that's listed and ask him for help.
>>>> 4) They go to their nearest IT company and ask them for their
>>>> assistance. (Once again by just pointing the company to the site)
>>>> 5) They realize that there is no way in hell that they will make head
>>>> or tail of whats going on so everyone just sit back and do nothing.
>>>>
>>>> These are just two cut-down-to-the-basics examples. The point I'm
>>>> trying to make is - Why can we not put something together to help the
>>>> schools help themselves? Why can the IT companies not help the
>>>> schools without support or why can they not help themselves? Why
>>>> could we not point David to one single place where we know he will
>>>> find everything to set up a server at his school? Why can we not
>>>> point interesting parties to a central location where they can get
>>>> leaflets, documents to present to teachers, governing bodies and IT
>>>> companies that's unaware of FOSS, manuals and links on how to install
>>>> a server, info on whatever they need to know before making a decision
>>>> to switch over or info on how and where to get new support. Why can
>>>> this not be done? How will anyone ever find a solution to a problem
>>>> if they always give up?
>>>>
>>>> There's an AIDS orphanage close by and it so happened that I saw the
>>>> person in charge this afternoon. After a bit of chit-chat we started
>>>> talking about their computer lab. A few seconds later - "I really
>>>> don't know what we're going to do. We have a lot of break-ins lately
>>>> and they seem to go only for the computers. After we've build a more
>>>> secure place we'll have to look at something where we only have one
>>>> valuable computer like a central server that we could lock up. It
>>>> would be nice to have all the kid's  files on the server so nothing
>>>> can go missing with the other computers. We'll most likely take the
>>>> server home during holidays. Do you think it will be possible?".
>>>> Edubuntu can do that but the first question I'm always asked is -
>>>> "What happens when you 're gone?". So what should I tell them? They
>>>> are only the third school this month who came to me looking for the
>>>> same solution. I am not prepared to install something that would be
>>>> completely useless should I not be able to support them one day. I've
>>>> told all three these schools I'll get back to them with a possible
>>>> long term solution.  So what now? It is because of these schools and
>>>> countless others in the past that I voiced my opinion in the first
>>>> place. If none of the currently proposed solutions will work are we
>>>> not wasting our time discussing this?
>>>>
>>>> So what will it be? Are we going to stop everything or will we
>>>> continue until we find a solution? Personally I believe this could work.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>> Hannes
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
> 
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