On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 10:39 -0600, Robert Citek wrote: > Hello all, > > Below is a post to the [EMAIL PROTECTED] Any thoughts?
Lots. In no particular order: 1. We need to be doing follow-ups!!! I know, been saying it for two years now. It still ain't happening. We need a team of volunteers to take on that task. 2. Maybe we should be offering a "tune-up" visit, 3 months or 6 months after initial graduation. 3. Imagine for a minute this was a Windows computer. Customizing it so it doesn't "look right", or downloading spyware or viruses, those are all things that Windows users do. And we charge to fix them. Same with Debian, IMHO. 4. Parental Controls: Dan's Guardian looks WAY too complicated for a parent to set up. Do we want to consider offering installation/configuration for an added fee? 4a. Parental Supervision: Nothing can take the place of monitoring a child's actual online behavior. Nothing. However, as a quick fix, what if we slightly change the configuration of our graduate machines? I was thinking along the lines of, limit the 'student' account so it does not have access to the Internet, period. Create a 'parent' account, which does have the access. That way, the parent must log the child on in order for the child to be online. (note: I think that's futile, myself -- kids are smart! -- and I can also see mom/dad saying "here, this is the password" because they are too busy, or at work, etc.) 5. I would suggest they bring the computer back into the shop. This Saturday would not be the ideal time -- it's Graduation week, and I need to leave early. Plus, I know that Brad, and Bill, for sure, will *not* be in the shop, so we will be even more short-handed than usual. But the following week, "makeup week", would be fine. 6. To quote the email: > I can't believe the schools assume that all inner city children have > internet and computer access. It's nuts. No child left behind... We continue to try and bridge that divide. We can easily install and configure a modem; that still leaves the parent with paying for a dial-up connection (same cost as AT&T's cheapest DSL, IF they qualify), and would leave exactly the same issues regarding parental control. We already have a NIC configured for DHCP. Problem is, to get high-speed Internet access, a modem has to be installed and configured, and just like the bad old dial-up days, most providers ASSUME you WILL have Windows. So, it's really a separate issue. We have discussed having demonstrations at the shop after Week Six; that's a good idea, if we have staff to do it. Just my $0.02. Theresa
