I'm at one of my Primary schools, and the head teacher is wanting to expand the amount of client computers we have in school. We are getting some donations from the local secondary school. Because monday is limited, as is the norm in most primary schools, we haven't got money to really increase the network infastructure, no more than possibly a new switch in one of the classrooms to make a mini suite.
I've been thinking, recently, about the possibilities of using Edubuntu on some of the older computers and have them as stand alone systems, possibly out in the foundation units. They would run along side the windows machines, already in there, so that staff can still use the software they are familiar with, but it occured to me that the Edubuntu standalone machines would be good for the younger kids to play on and use some of the educational software you can get for edubuntu.
Because they are running along side the windows systems, it won't be as bigger shock for the staff, I'm not taking away their comfort blanket, so they may be more willing to learn the new OS, even if it's just enough to get the games on for the kids.
It seems a shame, when the school is tight on money, to throw away computers just because they aren't up to running windows XP and office, if they can run standalone Edubuntu it will give them at least another 12 months service life if not more.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has had any experience of running edubuntu in schools, or indeed any flavour of linux in schools, what were the staff reactions, possibly more importantly in my case, the kids reactions?
I'm going to install it on a spare machine and let the head look at it, see what he thinks and see if he'd like to trial it in one of the units, if it's something that takes off here then I'd be really interested in trying the same thing again in some of my other schools.
While Windows might be here to stay, in schools, given student and staffs fears of open source, of at least fear of the unknown, it doesn't mean that open source can't run along side Microsoft, this gives them more scope for the applications they can use and the lessons/ actvities they can deliver to the students.
I've installed Windows 7 RC1 on my laptop and I have to say.. I really love it. I' haven't had time to really test it yet but I'm planning on doing that this afternoon. I installed it on a Toshiba Satellite Pro ( specs to come in a later post) and the entire install, from putting the DVD in to logging on for the first time took 35 minutes, i was really impressed, it's a marked improvement on both Vista and the Beta version of 7.
The only niggle I've found so far, is that Internet Explorer 8 is being a little twitchy. It doesn't seem to like having more than 4 tabs open, anything after that just sits with the words connecting in the tab. This, I wondered, could be a problem with IE 8 but I have it installed on my WIndows XP SP3 machine and it has no issues with the amount of tabs you have open.
I have never used Vista on either my work pc or my home pc's just never liked it and it always seemed far too bloated and slow. Windows 7 how ever is quick, smart and seems to cut out, or at least move alot of the bloat.
This afternoon I'm going to join it to the domain of the school I'm at today, see how it fairs with Group Policy and the like.
IT would be interesting to see how the more dated software used in schools will run on Windows 7. I've heard that sims.net works ok, does anyone know if the AdminPak works for Windows 7? It took ages to get it working on Vista.
On my next post I'll include the spec of the laptop and the system ratings
I've used Windows 7 Beta before, both on my home laptop and my work computer and I have to say I really like it. It's far and away a better OS than Vista, I can certainly see why many people will be bypassing Vista and waiting for 7 to come out.
With Vista we had a lot of problems with folder redirection through group policy, and for that matter alot of problems in general with Group Policy but with Windows 7 everythings works fine. Folder redirection worked straight, printers added without any issues. It's also so much quicker than Vista even on slower machines.
Well that was the Beta and the RC is usually much better, alot more stable and quicker, and from what I've read this certainly still seems to be the case. I'm going to install it on my work laptop, see how I get on with it. I've downloaded the RC and I'll be spending this afternoon installing it. I'm going to be running it on a standard Toshiba Satellite pro laptop so drivers shouldn't be too much of an issue.
This is my first, official, use of Edugeek. I've been here before, had a quick look round but never signed up before, and never thought about blogging on here before.
The reason I've decided to do this, is my career has taken a little change in direction and thought this would be a good time to involve myself with Edugeek. I've gone from the world of Comprehensive Schools to the world of Primary Schools and I have to say.. it's a bit of a culture schock. Not only are the systems completely different and the user ethos, but the entire school atmosphere is different. Gone are the days of students swearing at you because you won't unblock their account, after their 7th time of being caught on Bebo that day. Gone are the days of countless password resets. It's far more relaxed, more enjoyable.
I'm also getting to run my own systems now. I have 9 schools, they all have one or two servers each and about 80 - 90 workstations.
I absolutely love it, I love the freedom, the change of scenery, coming from 4 years sitting in the same office).
I'm hoping to get chance to post often, hopefully it will be of interest to someone out there
