That's delving into the mechanics. I do not propose to know exactly what to replace, maybe Admins are better off with Windows, so be it.
Maybe we need different text editors, (Hey that's why we have a LUG here, to decide and implement the distros) (doesn't open office do TeX? I'm surprised. Just make sure that there is a MS Word capable word processor there)
What I am more interested in, 1. is do people thin this is a viable strategy (counterpoints?) 2. does this make sense in a typical college setting (what is a typical college setting?) 3. do we have the necessary resources (people?) 4. what are the entry barriers (I for one think Philip's 11 GB idea, though great, is unworkable, explanation below)
About the centralized server implementation a la Florida. I think though a central server might be a technically brilliant solution and one with a very low overall maintainenence cost, overall the better technology solution, it is not what we should aim at.
The simple reason is high entry barriers. Will a college (which I believe is already struggling with low budgets) put out good money for what will be a very expensive server? And that at the insistence of a couple of 'kids that walked in off the road' (which I what I suspect we are going to look like)?
And even if they do, the purchase of the server will set a very high expectation, and then even simple places where Linux is not _exactly_ like their previous os (windows) will make the users crib. (I've seen people crib about the KDE clock ;)
The idea is to do more of a "here, this free CD can save you at least Rs 4000 per computer." kind of approach where they do not loose anything by trying it and if they do, they win win win.
SUMARRY Yes I'm using 'free as in speech' software to deliver 'free as in beer' benefits and along the way subvert the 'opinion leaders' there to support freedom for speech and not only beer.
(This might be a garbled rant, but I think I got the point across, did I?)
-Vaibhav
-----Original Message----- From: linuxers-admin@mm.ilug-bom.org.in [mailto:linuxers-admin@mm.ilug-bom.org.in]On Behalf Of Philip S Tellis Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 5:29 PM To: linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in Subject: RE: [ILUG-BOM] Wat abt our Linux in Schools/Colleges initiative
On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, Vaibhav Arya wrote:
- Admin Desktop: Student Desktop minus EE/MechE packages, plus email
clients, plus Line of Business apps (accounting, etc) And most
important,
Wine / DosEMU -- To be able to run existing Windows apps that
they are used
to.
Wine/dosemu cannot run all windows apps. I'd suggest letting admin stick with windows until these tools are mature enough. Let the college ease into linux, and then let them ask for the change. Maybe put just one or two admin machines with linux.
Also, better than having separate machines for admin/students, I'd suggest something similar to what the govt in Florida has done. They have a single very powerful server (11GB RAM), and a separate application server (also a lot of RAM). The server runs X clients, and xdm I think. Then, they have several very thin clients - basically keyboard, display and network card. These boot of a bootprom in the netcard, connect to the server, and let the user log in directly to xdm.
Advantages:
Cheaper hardware Less machines to administer (only the two servers) You can log in from anywhere, and your desktop, icons, settings, files are exactly where you left them
Disadvantages:
These machines will have to be bought, because the wouldn't be present in the average college today.
Someone has to actually try out such a set up before we can propose it to colleges. The admin who did it for Florida has a howto put up. Search for it on slashdot or kde
Philip
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