rhyds Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 I have a server here (twin P3) that's a bit old but seems to be working, does anyone have any ideas for uses other than as an apps or file server?
Adam Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 we used our two old huge rm doorstops as a webserver and (for a short time) a web proxy server for logging users & websites. They'd probably make good footstools? or just wiegh them in for scrap - steel is £90 per tonne at the minute! Adam
Adam Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 a replacement for the keep left signs that kids steal when they're drunk.
rhyds Posted July 30, 2007 Author Posted July 30, 2007 The webserver idea had crossed my mind, possibly as an intranet setup. I studied ASP.Net in uni for my course and could probably throw a quick school site together.
webman Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 For a school website you could do it cheaper and better using LAMP + a CMS such as Website Baker, Joomla...
tom_newton Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Sounds like it should still be capable of quite a lot - how about a *nix shell account system for kids who are interested in learning about "real" computers, or might like a C compiler? (or dont such kids exist any more?)
Joedetic Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 I was very disappointed when my university shut off the TRU-64 unix box for the summer (i'm still not sure whether they've replaced it or something). I guess i'll have to make do with my own systems, much less fun than poking about on their alpha box. It's always fun giving kids something to play with, but they'd only break it.
rhyds Posted July 30, 2007 Author Posted July 30, 2007 I very much doubt that my SMT would let me set up anything like a *nix shell for students. The Joomla idea does appeal though, is there anywhre I can read up on it?
MkII Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Why not a *nix box for students to make websites on rhyds? It's something I'd love to do here when I get a minute.. somewhere that the kids can build dynamic websites rather than have to host outside that 99% don't get past the filtering. Doesn't have to be insecure - give them an account space to play in..
rhyds Posted July 30, 2007 Author Posted July 30, 2007 Joomla it is! The edugeek Joomla setup seems to be everything we need here, and as the SMT have been going on about wanting a website I can use the local server to showcase it and beta test as an intranet service before going over to an internet deployment. Thanks all
tarquel Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Not to play devils advocate, but watch out for the "its not bilingual" comments you'll undoubtably recieve if you're planning on creating the school website. Head told me to remove the last one after a single letter of complaint about it not being bilingual, rather than tackling it with a normal respose of "well has the person who complained got the time to spend making it bilingual". Of course, if youre plannin something internal, then that doesnt matter. Was always my intention to make that server into some sort of internal webserver i.e. a helpdesk style of website - but good luck in getting the folks to "help themselves"
MkII Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Yeah - bilingual is a real problem - really we're supposed to offer it too, but you being a Welsh medium school it's even more pressing. Joomla doesn't really do it yet, so the only options I see are to make 2 versions by hand, as Llanfyllin HS have done or use the Powys made CMS Schoolsweb (free, runs on lamp - just ask for it to be installed for you (not GPL /OSS AFAIK yet, just due to guru time constraints)) - which just gives two input boxes for news stories etc., but then sorts it all out for you on the actual site. It's a bit basic but all css driven, so you can make what you want of it (depending on your css skills of course!)
rhyds Posted July 30, 2007 Author Posted July 30, 2007 The bilingual aspect is going to take some thinking about, and probably a lot of work, but joomla does support multiple languages, so a solution can probably be whacked out using the linguistic equivalent of a large lump hammer. Tarquel: I might see if there's enough tea and biscuits in the world to get Haf to do the translation for me lol
contink Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Dumb question here but surely this is a classic opportunity to involve members of the school community from staff to students to parents... Think we might be getting off topic but going that route puts the ball in their court a bit more as to whether they really DO support bi-lingual or not.
witch Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Just to return to the original question Took mine home, wiped it, loaded XP and now my daughter uses it as her home Pc Yes, it's a bit big but it does the job1
MkII Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 Dumb question here but surely this is a classic opportunity to involve members of the school community from staff to students to parents... Think we might be getting off topic but going that route puts the ball in their court a bit more as to whether they really DO support bi-lingual or not. Well on topic for the OP.. The site was developed recently only in English, someone complained and the school took the site down. Welsh speakers, rightly in my mind, demand that public websites are offerred in their own language. This is Wales and I think that Welsh people should have the right to this. Do you think you should put it to your parents to choose that your school website not be in english?
Joedetic Posted July 30, 2007 Posted July 30, 2007 I've just noticed that the topic of this thread andswers itself. "What to do with a doorstop server?" ...... a doorstop maybe???
contink Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 The site was developed recently only in English, someone complained and the school took the site down. Welsh speakers, rightly in my mind, demand that public websites are offerred in their own language. This is Wales and I think that Welsh people should have the right to this. Do you think you should put it to your parents to choose that your school website not be in english? Ok, fair point, went a little further than I intended re: parents but I wonder why someone didn't try to make greater use of the school community.
rhyds Posted July 31, 2007 Author Posted July 31, 2007 The reason I've decided on a Joomla-based package is because, as has been suggested, the staff, SMT and possibly parents/governors can add content to the site. I have found a welsh language pack for Joomla and a person on a welsh language forum who has developed bilingual Joomla based sites. At the mo this is at the "can I make it work?" stage, actual implementation is a fair way away...
_Bat_ Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 The reason I've decided on a Joomla-based package is because, as has been suggested, the staff, SMT and possibly parents/governors can add content to the site. Not sure about anyone else, but that just would not work here. We use Joomla, but the WYSIWYG editors for Joomla would: 1. Confuse people - it's more complicated then this forum for instance 2. Not all content is compatible with the editor i.e. it doesn't like javascript and if you open up a page that contains javascript (entered by the webmaster) in the editor, make changes and save it, you are screwed 3. Limegreen massive fonts might be found on certain pages or other fonts that simply don't go along with the rest of the site 4. Spelling and grammar mistakes would likely be an issue, especially if it goes as far as parents adding to the site 5. As you can enter things like tables and images into the editor, you may well end up with a website that simply doesn't work with any resolution lower then the resolution the person who was adding the content had (i.e. they'll insert a picture that is 1000px wide? If it works on their computer, they won't understand that it might not work on other people's computers. 6. You'll be called to support the person entering content so many times that you might as well just do it yourself. Taking into account all the above, I concluded to enter the website content myself. I just think it'll end up in tears if done the way suggested above.
MkII Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 The reason I've decided on a Joomla-based package is because, as has been suggested, the staff, SMT and possibly parents/governors can add content to the site. I have found a welsh language pack for Joomla and a person on a welsh language forum who has developed bilingual Joomla based sites. At the mo this is at the "can I make it work?" stage, actual implementation is a fair way away... Yes those are what I meant. Development has been really slow, we're talking years - which rules it out of the running for now if you need bi-lingual. Then that's only the site itself, and not the content. Biggest problem I have is getting translators. County Hall want to charge £80 per article, and teachers in the school the same.
webman Posted July 31, 2007 Posted July 31, 2007 I personally detest web WYSIWYG editors for the reasons _Bat_ mentions, plus they aren't usually (X)HTML compliant once you do more than paragraphs in them. I prefer Textile/Markdown.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now