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List:       suse-linux-uk-schools
Subject:    Re: [opensuse-edu] willing to beta test
From:       "Ralph H. Stoos Jr." <rstoos () eng ! mc ! xerox ! com>
Date:       2007-06-28 18:35:09
Message-ID: 4683FF5D.7090900 () eng ! mc ! xerox ! com
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Rodney and All,

Having spent some twelve years with OSS in general and Linux in 
particular, your limitation due to tar.gz is well understood.  Further, 
in a previous life I worked for a firm called WICAT in Utah.  They 
started out as a think tank for educators to investigate how computers 
could help people learn (you might now realize how many years ago that 
was).  They then blossomed into a for-profit company that sold 
computers, networks, and curriculum to schools.

I started a Linux Users Group of Xerox (LUGX) ten years ago and this 
merry band has loaded and re-loaded countless versions of countless 
distros.  It is not surprising that many users of Linux have found 
themselves in RPM hell and apt-get prison from time to time.  There are 
several robust tools that would be a Godsend for Linux users all over 
the place.  My opinion largely circles around using Linux as sadly, I am 
not a programmer (yet).

I use SuSE at home and Ubuntu as well.  I have a Fedora Core 6 box at 
work and a pure Debian server for some tools I need.  So, I have had to 
update RPMs and .DEB files as well and I feel I am pretty conversant 
with each.  There does not seem to be a free lunch in this arena either.

But, I digress.  Package Management is a challenge that has roots it the 
earliest programs.  Yum and apt-get are phenomenally better now than in 
previous years but they are still not perfect.

Here is what I have seen that might make Linux (any type) a lot easier 
to maintain.

There seems to be an absolute lack of hardware discovery/rediscovery 
tools that are available after a Linux installation.  There are a 
proliferation of tool used during install to find and configure all 
kinds of hardware, but little that one could use when they replaced a 
video card for example.  The distros that strive to keep their disk set 
down to one CD are frequently guilty of "dropping things off the back of 
the cart" to keep it under 700MB.  Some have mitigated this risk by 
making net install ISOs to allow the base to be loaded locally, and then 
point to the giant repository for the other gigabytes of code.

The YUM or apt-get models may be just the thing for educational 
institutions as it might allow schools by state or district to have an 
"approved" image from which to install.  Then, program upgrades can be 
done in a controlled and incremental manner at the pace the organization 
can handle.  I have been preaching the OSS gospel here at Xerox for a 
long time now and we are making progress.  The last bastion for 
proprietary software is in the Production Service Group where Solaris is 
still used.

Believe it or not, the ./configure and make model is designed to let 
users build exactly the program they need for their application.  
Unfortunately, the application needs to be in a very specific state 
before the  code can be made whole.  It is chicken and egg all the way.

Good Luck to all you that are trying to move schools and universities 
into the free zone of Open Source.  School monies are better spent 
elsewhere when the operating systems and apps are free.

Regards,


Ralph



Rodney Donovan wrote:
> Hello Jason
>
>       I work at a university, while also trying to finish up my PhD. My 
> research for this summer is to do a thin client using openSuSE. It has been a 
> real education just working with the GNU/Linux, SuSE, and the openSuSE 
> communities, not to mention open source software (OSS). I too am waiting for 
> the education software to debut with 10.3 cuz my dissertation for the fall is 
> doing a virtual school district using only OSS. That is going to be a blast!
>
> For Programmers!
>
>      One thing that limits OSS is the use of tar.gz. Many are made in general 
> and you have to use configure and make. This is when you find out that you 
> also need to load other libraries, or your distro is not putting files where 
> the downloaded software can find them. I think we need to migrate to distro 
> RPM's. It would surely take the headache out of using this software. 
>
> Rod Donovan
> Systems Support Specialist II
> Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
> College of Education
> Early Childhood Development Center
> 361-825-3080
> rodney.donovan@tamucc.edu
>
> On Tuesday 26 June 2007 23:51, Jason Grizzle wrote:
>   
>> Greetings,
>>
>> My name is Jason Grizzle, and I'm an instructional technology specialist
>> with Jackson County Schools in Georgia (USA). I'm excited about the
>> educational focus for open suse. As a system, we're looking to migrate to
>> SLED in (probably) 2-3 years for our Windows machines. My job function is
>> tech. integration and teacher training, and I'm very interested in beta
>> testing or developing documentation for you. I'm not a programmer, but I
>> can develop web training, documents, and video tutorials.
>>
>> Please let me know how I can help you in your endeavors.
>> Jason
>>
>>
>> Jason Grizzle
>> Instructional Technology
>> West Jackson Middle School
>> 400 Gumsprings Church Rd.
>> Jefferson, GA 30549
>> (mobile) 706-410-5950
>> (fax) 706-824-1969
>>     
>
>   

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