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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    Re: [kde-promo] Fwd: Re: Interview request
From:       Fabrice Mous <fabricemous () xs4all ! nl>
Date:       2004-03-20 20:45:42
Message-ID: 200403202202.17136.fabricemous () xs4all ! nl
[Download RAW message or body]

On Friday 19 March 2004 17:48, Tom Chance wrote:
|  I've got my first round of answers from CT Leung, who runs a computer lab
| in a high school running LTSP with KDE. I'm considering some followup
| questions, so if anyone on this list can think of any good ones, please
| post them so I can include them in my next e-mail.

Hi Tom, 

Nice ... 

|  The original article about his lab can be found here:
|  http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7418

Nice article . Shows very much the power of Linux ... 


|  Hi Tom,
|
|  Here are my answers:
|
|  1) First, could you introduce yourself for our readers?
|
|  I am a full time high school teacher and a part time instructor
|  for Universities. At Sisler High School, I teach many diffrent computer
|  courses from Programming in Java, Troubleshooting personal
|  computers, networking, operating systems, and some physics including
|  AP Physics. At University of Winnipeg, I teach one evening per week
|  on Telecommunications, Intro to Linux (System Admin and Networking)...
|
|
|  2) How have students and staff adjusted to a new desktop environment?
|
|  Students adjusted very fast and in fact, after one to two classes, even
|  some slow students find it very comfortable and most of them like
|  the terminal desktop environment much more the Windows alternitive
|  in other computer labs.
|
|  However, I don't much success with other staff members as the ltsp
|  is only available in my lab and in fact, the rest of the school including
|  all other computer labs, classrooms and offices are still running
|  windows.
|
|
|  3) What is their most common complaint related to KDE?
|
|  Before I have my new Xeon server up, I have tried KDE on my
|  old server (An Athlon 1.2G Hz with 1.5G RAM, 40G IDE hard drive).
|  KDE runs quite slow and in fact, with a bigger class, students
|  who started late might take several minutes before KDE can be
|  loaded.
|
|  4) Do you make use of any of the KDE Edu software, and is there any
|  educational software in particular that you think KDE would benefit from?
|
|  I use the shell a lot and in fact, I push all my students to learn some
|  basic Linux commands and some simple shell programming in text mode.
|  Other than programming languages such as C, C++, Java, the shell, I
|  also teach students the three main packages Writer, Calc, and Impress
|  in Open Offices. I have never tried any other education packages in KDE
|  other than the aboove mentioned.
|
|
|  5) Is there any software you'd like to see in KDE related to the LTSP?
|
|  If there is something similar to MS Access, I think it will be a killer.
|  mysql is great for undergraduates but might be too difficult for
|  beginners.
|
|  I remember the Corel Linux has a network neighbourhood browser pretty
|  much the same as the one in winodws. It would be great if we can have
|  something similar in KDE.
|
|  6) You mention in part two of your piece that you had to revert to IceWM
| on your old terminal server. What made you switch back to KDE/GNOME once
| you had upgraded the hardware?
|
|  The IceWM is quick but the KDE/GNOME has much more features that makes
|  it a better window environment than windows. In order to attract windows
|  users to switch to open source, KDE/GNOME are much more convincing.
|
|
|  7) Back when I was at school, we all used to hack BASIC on Acorns, until
| they migrated to Windows. Do you find students discovering the shell and
| hacking with Bash, Python or other languages more now?
|
|  Absolutely. Once stduents find out there are much more behind the "click
|  drag, and drop", they start to see the "big picture" and many motivated
|  students enjoy the shell and other languages available on Linux.
|
|  In fact, many former graduates told me that they are way ahead than
|  students from other schools as they know much more on Linux/Unix.
|
|  8) Have you thought about promoting, or do you already promote,
| technologies like PyKDE and KDevelop to students?
|
|  Those are the things I am going to learn and promote in the future.
|  I am 57 and close to retirement, but until I die, I see promoting Open
|  Source, promoting Linux as my life-long career.
|
|  Thank you for having me in your interview and feel free to ask if
|  you need me again.
|
|  CT Leung
|  Teacher at Sisler High School
|  Instructor at University of Winnipeg
|
|  > 9) In part one of your piece you mention that, to you, an important
|  > element of Free Software is that you are "free to join the community to
|  > improve it". Have you considered getting students involved in the
|  > projects whose software they use, and in particular in KDE?

No answer here ?



Tom .. I should try to emphasize some more the cost effective side of choosing 
the combi Linux/KDE. Right at question #3 you already talk about shortcomings 
of the setup while I haven't read the benefits yet of using the Linux/KDE 
combo. Also I would dub that KDE/*NIX or so. Or maybe KGX .. 

So a question like:

"Do you feel KDE/LINUX (KGX) is a cost effective platform" 

or even better 

"What do you think are the benefits of choosing the KDE/Linux (KGX) combo" 


*more questions you could use*

(1) What do you consider the biggest barrier when schools decide to use Linux 
on their desktop?

(2) What would motivate schools to move to KDE/Linux on the desktop?

(3) What are the typical cost savings when using KDE in an educational  
environment?

(4) How much effort is it to maintain a KDE/Linux desktop through LTSP?

Fab




-- 
JID: fab@vosberg.be
www.kde.nl | fabrice@kde.nl 
www.l4l.be | fabrice.mous@l4l.be
 
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