check out this success story about a computer teacher and his students. sound
familiar?
http://spidertools.com/dsl_review.php
"c.a. weisheit" <carl70448 at yahoo.com> wrote:
you raise several issues:
installation--i have several lite os you can test, as i stated in my reply,
if you bring an example machine to a meeting we can try them out and possibly
help you with installation. i am sure other members can introduce you to other
nix they are familiar with.
free vs profit--if you are giving the systems away ms has a program to give
away old win os to non-profit groups & schools, if you are selling, they
consider copys a form of software piracy (yes i said the p-word)
compatibility--having restored both windows and linux systems on old p1
machines i can tell you that yes, you must warn newbie users that they cannot
run most new commercial software or hardware on these old machines, regardless
of os. I tell them they must read the system requirments on the box before
buying the latest software or external drives etc. whichever os you choose to
work with, new users should be given some help with the systems or they may
never make full use of them.
free software--given the choice of downloading free software from one
repository through synaptic on dsl or having to search about and/or buy
old/used dos or win9x compatible software, which is really easier on them?
dual boot-- all my personal systems are multi boot os, as i want to run as
many types of software as possible. a dsl or feather partition on the drive
would take very little room on a win9x system and open a whole new world to
these users. who knows, you could be giving the next Einstien or Torvalds their
first computer equiped with k-stars and crafty chess engine (instead of grand
theft auto).
I am glad to hear you are using these old machines to help people !
Adam J Hogan <ahogan2 at lsu.edu> wrote:
Only problem I have is getting dsl to load on the computer. After about 20
minutes, all that had loaded was X and the cpu meter. Maybe I could
install it on a different computer and move the HD.
Other issue: The computers I have will probably be used as an incentive for
some students in my school. Our computer teacher and I are working on
getting them set up. She is vaguely familiar with GNU/Linux (I gave her a
Live CD). Her feeling is that Windows is the way to go because most people
will buy software and hardware without understanding that it may not be
supported. These people will probably never use a package manager to
install programs. They may not even know that it is GNU/Linux. All they
will know is that their game doesn't work or their new tax software can't
be installed. Should I have freedom to install the OS I want and place a
file on the desktop for people to read explaining program acquisition via
apt, for example, and why most commercial software won't work?
Is freedom of program use a freedom to be valued when users have no
understanding? The people who will be receiving these computers will most
likely live in projects and may not know anything about software. Does
freedom of program use outweigh freedom of modification and distribution if
people have no clue about these freedoms? Just looking for opinions.
Carl W. wrote:
after testing mepis, feather, puppy, and others i settled on dsl for my
166mhz 32mb toshiba tecra, you may have seen me dragging it about at sig
meetings. With the help of members i have learned to configure stuborn
hardware and load numerous packages for the system. I would be happy to
help you with it if you need help.
I chose to work with live cd versions for the excellent hardware detection
they provide, and it's great to just pop a cd in and see how it works
before commiting to the installation process.
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