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List: kde-edu-devel
Subject: Re: [kde-edu]: Thoughts on KDE-Educationals in general
From: Ben Crawford <crawford_ben () yahoo ! ca>
Date: 2009-10-03 23:11:29
Message-ID: 600224.97627.qm () web51704 ! mail ! re2 ! yahoo ! com
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> From: Sabine Emmy Eller <s.eller@voxhumanitatis.org>
> To: kde-edu@kde.org
> Sent: Sunday, October 4, 2009 1:51:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [kde-edu]: Thoughts on KDE-Educationals in general
>
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 2:34 PM, John Layt <john@layt.net> wrote:
>
> On Saturday 03 October 2009 10:14:13 Lydia Pintscher wrote:
> > It wouldn't be hard to create such a distro/CD with Suse Studio. Just
> > needs someone to do it and promote it.
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Lydia
> >
>
> Hmmm. A whole distro and reboot seems a case of overkill for one or two apps,
> and I think there are already projects like Edubuntu aimed that that sort of
> thing. I know the KDE on Windows project is still beta-quality but that seems
> a slightly better way to go, but it is a lot to install and there are initial
> trust issues to get over. I wonder if there's some way to run KDE Windows
> from a USB stick like Portable Apps (http://portableapps.com/)? That would
> seem an ideal solution to me.
>
> John.
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> Hi, I am just reading and I had something like portable apps on my mind, but: you \
> won't find easily a school or kid that uses a USB stick here. It will be VERY hard \
> to get teachers install something besides the preinstalled Word and Paint etc. of \
> Windows XP home on the school computers. Therefore having a life CD/DVD where \
> nothing is being installed and where they do not need to provide USB-Sticks or \
> whatever seems to be the best way to start off with.
> People here where I live are more likely to copy a CD/DVD than sharing information \
> on a stick.
> My kids have Edubuntu 9.04 installed and talk "Linux" to friends and teachers - \
> well ... they are the only ones in the whole village and probably I also can \
> include the two nearby villages, so we count around 15.000 inhabitants, to use \
> Edubuntu. There are some teens and twens using Linux (mainly Ubuntu) but these are \
> really rare to find.
> I believe that once people are accustomed to the software and like it then we \
> probably have all doors open and can go the "please download and install" way, but \
> before that: it will be really difficult. And now consider that I live in an EU \
> country. Most of the people we will have to deal with live outside EU. And most of \
> these will access educational contents via very old computers having really bad or \
> actually no Internet connectivity and very often we will find that the mobile phone \
> actually is "their medium".
> If we talk about the North of Europe and the bigger cities things are differet, but \
> these are the minority of the global market - the majority is, considering \
> education and contents, in a much worse situation.
> Suse Studio could be worth a try.
>
> Cheers, Sabine
As a secondary teacher and an avid IT user/tester I have a few thoughts on this.
Using suse studio to create a different distro:
While this sounds great and could be successful, I would worry about support if \
people were to encounter difficulties. Imagine if you will a new user trying this \
distro out and it not working right away. Where would they go for assistance? Most \
likely their searches are going to lead to places where they find themselves unsure \
about things. In my opinion it would be a better use of our efforts to offer our \
support to existing distributions and encourage kde-edu that way.
Having said that, I realize that edubuntu is no longer packaged as a single iso, but \
rather as an addon to ubuntu making it much harder to test out using a live CD/DVD \
(or even live usb stick). Perhaps our efforts here could be best utilized in \
supporting a few distributions and making a live version with the kde-edu packages \
included available using rBulder (or a similar tool).
KDE on Windows:
I have tested this numerous times and this project has come along way and I would \
like to see it continue to develop. However, I have been reluctant to inform them of \
some of the fantastic programs available in kde-edu because it is more than they can \
handle. It isn't easy for them to get up and running even with KDE on Windows. If \
we were to bundle individual kde-edu programs as standalone executables on Windows I \
think we could/would have better results and could grow the user base. If you are \
skeptical about this I would suggest you look at a great program that does this \
fairly well, the GIMP. I have many colleagues who do use this because of the ease \
with which they can install and run it.
Virtualization:
Having only recently suggested this to colleagues I am finding that they are able to \
adapt quickly using this strategy. Running VirtualBox they are able to run all the \
kde-edu programs they want and about the only extra concepts they need to remember is \
to use the host key for various functions and that stuff inside the virtual machine \
is generally not accessible outside the virtual machine.
I would like to add my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all of those who \
continue to work on kde-edu and open source. As a teacher I have had many occasions \
in which these programs have assisted a great deal in my teaching. Keep up the \
excellent work!
Ben
__________________________________________________________________
The new Internet Explorer® 8 - Faster, safer, easier. Optimized for Yahoo! Get it \
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} \
--></style></head><body><div \
style="font-family:verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><div \
style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">>From: Sabine \
Emmy Eller <s.eller@voxhumanitatis.org><br>>To: kde-edu@kde.org<br>>Sent: \
Sunday, October 4, 2009 1:51:43 AM<br>>Subject: Re: [kde-edu]: Thoughts on \
KDE-Educationals in general<br>><br>><br>><br>>On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at \
2:34 PM, John Layt <john@layt.net> wrote:<br>><br>> On \
Saturday 03 October 2009 10:14:13 Lydia Pintscher wrote:<br>> \
> It wouldn't be hard to create such a distro/CD with Suse Studio. \
Just<br>> > needs someone to do it and promote \
it.<br>> ><br>> \
><br>> > Cheers<br>> > \
Lydia<br>> ><br>><br>> Hmmm. A \
whole distro and reboot seems a case of overkill for one or two \
apps,<br>> and I think there are already projects like Edubuntu \
aimed that that sort of<br>> thing. I know the KDE on \
Windows project is still beta-quality but that seems<br>> a \
slightly better way to go, but it is a lot to install and there are \
initial<br>> trust issues to get over. I wonder if there's \
some way to run KDE Windows<br><span>> from a USB stick like \
Portable Apps (<a target="_blank" \
href="http://portableapps.com/">http://portableapps.com/</a>)? That \
would</span><br>> seem an ideal solution to \
me.<br>><br>> John.<br>> \
_______________________________________________<br>><br>><br>>Hi, I am just \
reading and I had something like portable apps on my mind, but: you won't find \
easily a school or kid that uses a USB stick here. It will be VERY hard to get \
teachers install something besides the preinstalled Word and Paint etc. of Windows XP \
home on the school computers. Therefore having a life CD/DVD where nothing is being \
installed and where they do not need to provide USB-Sticks or whatever seems to be \
the best way to start off with.<br>><br>>People here where I live are more \
likely to copy a CD/DVD than sharing information on a stick.<br>><br>>My kids \
have Edubuntu 9.04 installed and talk "Linux" to friends and teachers - well ... they \
are the only ones in the whole village and probably I also can include the two nearby \
villages, so we count around 15.000 inhabitants, to use Edubuntu. There are some \
teens and twens using Linux (mainly Ubuntu) but these are really rare to \
find.<br>><br>>I believe that once people are accustomed to the software and \
like it then we probably have all doors open and can go the "please download and \
install" way, but before that: it will be really difficult. And now consider that I \
live in an EU country. Most of the people we will have to deal with live outside EU. \
And most of these will access educational contents via very old computers having \
really bad or actually no Internet connectivity and very often we will find that the \
mobile phone actually is "their medium".<br>><br>>If we talk about the North of \
Europe and the bigger cities things are differet, but these are the minority of the \
global market - the majority is, considering education and contents, in a much worse \
situation.<br>><br>>Suse Studio could be worth a try.<br>><br>>Cheers, \
Sabine<br><br><br>As a secondary teacher and an avid IT user/tester I have a few \
thoughts on this.<br><br>Using suse studio to create a different distro:<br>While \
this sounds great and could be successful, I would worry about support if people \
were to encounter difficulties. Imagine if you will a new user trying this \
distro out and it not working right away. Where would they go for \
assistance? Most likely their searches are going to lead to places where they \
find themselves unsure about things. In my opinion it would be a better use of \
our efforts to offer our support to existing distributions and encourage kde-edu that \
way.<br><br>Having said that, I realize that edubuntu is no longer packaged as a \
single iso, but rather as an addon to ubuntu making it much harder to test out using \
a live CD/DVD (or even live usb stick). Perhaps our efforts here could be best \
utilized in supporting a few distributions and making a live version with the kde-edu \
packages included available using rBulder (or a similar tool).<br><br>KDE on \
Windows:<br>I have tested this numerous times and this project has come along way and \
I would like to see it continue to develop. However, I have been reluctant to \
inform them of some of the fantastic programs available in kde-edu because it is more \
than they can handle. It isn't easy for them to get up and running even with \
KDE on Windows. If we were to bundle individual kde-edu programs as standalone \
executables on Windows I think we could/would have better results and could grow the \
user base. If you are skeptical about this I would suggest you look at a great \
program that does this fairly well, the GIMP. I have many colleagues who do use \
this because of the ease with which they can install and run \
it.<br><br>Virtualization:<br>Having only recently suggested this to colleagues I am \
finding that they are able to adapt quickly using this strategy. Running \
VirtualBox they are able to run all the kde-edu programs they want and about the only \
extra concepts they need to remember is to use the host key for various functions and \
that stuff inside the virtual machine is generally not accessible outside the \
virtual machine.<br><br><br>I would like to add my sincere appreciation and gratitude \
to all of those who continue to work on kde-edu and open source. As a teacher I \
have had many occasions in which these programs have assisted a great deal in my \
teaching. Keep up the excellent work!<br><br>Ben<br><br></div></div><br> <hr \
size=1> Looking for the perfect gift?<a href="http://www.flickr.com/gift/"><b> Give \
the gift of Flickr!</b></a></body></html>
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