Hello All: First, IMHO, we need to remember that the focus here is Open Source, not strictly Linux.
IMHO, we should not limit our offering to 5 CDs, but offer a fairly wide selection. We also need not place the entire selection in every Library. Librarians already have a system for ordering items from other branches which they do not have at their branch. I was thinking of a system whereby we keep a good offering fairly well updated at the central Library, and offer a basic list for the branch libraries. In that basic offering we could supply (for instance): 1) Cross Platform Office Suite (to aim at their windows weak spot) 2) Open Source firewalls and other widgets to protect PCs 3) A Beginner distribution like Mandrake 8.2, or Lindows 4) An intermediate distribution such as RedHat (no offence to the Redhat-philes) 5) An advanced distribution such as Debian or FreeBSD 6) A networking CD with Howtos and examples for SAMBA, CUPS and Linneighborhood perhaps. In the Main Library offering, keep a slightly larger set of distributions, or at least more recent distributions, more office suites, games, Squid, and other firewalls, email and browsers, more documentation, and a set of development tools. I really do not think we should let our own filters stop any interested users from experimenting. I do think we need to make clear from the outset what kind of local support they will find for the various and sundry OS's and applications. In short, I do not think we should leave Joe User out of the picture, but we are not likely to attract him unless he is actively looking to abandon MS for reasons of his own. The teenagers, the older folks, and the curious looking for help from the library are our customers. When I first heard about Linux and Open Source, I went down to the Library. This was way back in the 1980's. I got a big blank stare. After rambling enough, I was directed to LSU. I was a student at LSU. I had gone to the public library looking for something really OPEN. VAX and VMS were not open. There was nothing for Intel, and I gave up for a few years. I would like to remedy that. I think Highschool kids whose parents are buying a new PC might have designs on the old one. I think it would be perfect if they knew they could go down to the library and check out two or three Operating systems, complete with free software and play around. Or simply try some Open Source software on the old tired PC. Doug Riddle --- Mnemonic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > I checked out http://rute.sourceforge.net. As I was looking around > I started > to think about an individual with whom I work. He is not willing > to give > Linux a try because he says he does not want to face another steep > learning > curve. Considering this, I think that what has been suggested is > exactly > what I want, but not necessarily what everyone wants. That is, > most people > want to turn on their computers and have them function at such a > level that > operation is intuitive. I do not think they want to spend an > inordinate > amount of time learning how to use their expensive box of metal and > plastic. > > Let's say that I am Joe General Public...if my computer is not > broken and I > am able to do everything I need to do with it, why in the world > would I want > to try something like an alternate operating system. What the heck > is an > operating system? How do I even find out that such an animal > exists? > Education/awareness is paramount to the success of this project. > > - -K > > On Friday 19 July 2002 14:15, you wrote: > > I still think that it would be a huge disservice to the users to > give > > them a hacked, unsupported outside of BRLUG distribution of > Linux. > > Giving out a Debian or Red Hat or Mandrake would leave open their > > options for support. CDs are cheap. Trying to shoehorn a bunch of > mixed > > software wouldn't have any benefit, unless you abandon the idea > of > > creating a custom distribution and offer an "add-on" CD of > software that > > the distribution doesn't currently have, such as OpenOffice, > nVidia > > drivers (or scripts to obtain, build, and install them if > licensing > > doesn't permit), and books in electronic format. > > > > One other avenue to consider would be the possibility to have the > Rute ( > > http://rute.sf.net ) printed and donated to libraries. Having it > done at > > Kinkos might be prohibitively expensive, but does anyone have > ties to > > publishers or printing companies that can possibly get this done > at a > > reasonable rate? > > > > -Tim > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org > > iD8DBQE9OHlqUoGHsPHkAUoRAsS1AJ95u069d31+9GUxDJv9Rc/ra5MzOQCeNn4Z > ObvWDXxlrGcaDbmqARqdGlI= > =NSrU > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes http://autos.yahoo.com
