Here at Saugus, we have long been supporters of Linux on the desktop (Fedora is our favorite flavor.) Our modus operandi upon receiving a request to retire a machine is to offer to install Linux on it. We don't force the issue, however, and are more than willing to pick up a viable machine, install Linux on it, and re-distribute it to another classroom.
As part of this initiative, we've also relaxed our "just say no" policy toward accepting donations. Over the past several months, we have accepted more than 150 machines from the Department of Defense, and have installed Linux on about 90 of them. Since we were able to script and fully automate the Linux installation, classroom teachers were able to handle the deployment and increase their computer count in a matter of minutes. The entire rollout took only a couple of days.
These activities reduce the amount of e-waste we generate, assist other organizations with reducing theirs, and enable us to increase classroom technology access. In essence, both the educational and natural environments benefit!
Linux on the desktop offers a number of significant advantages:
- Fast and light: Linux is significantly smaller (in lines of code) than mainstream operating systems, which means that it is more efficient for machines with fewer resources. It's modular design allows a user to install only the parts they want, and to leave off the parts they don't. The result is better performance on low powered hardware.
- Secure and stable: The design of Linux is inherently secure, and is generally far less susceptible to viruses and malware than other systems. And, Linux is widely regarded as one of the most stable operating systems on the planet. These factors make it ideal for use in K12, where availability of support resources is often limited.
- Broad hardware support: The open-source community is well known for it's hardware support, especially for older hardware, which makes Linux extremely easy to install on older machines. In general, everything just works without effort. No more hunting for drivers.
- More variety: Most Linux distributions offer a wealth of applications for a variety of needs, including education. Common applications such as OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Adobe Reader, and myriad others are widely available. Projects such as Tux4Kids, KDE Education Project, GCompris, and others have wonderful offerings for classroom use. And, all are free.
- Flexible networking: Linux is extremely flexible as a network client. Can be easily integrated into Microsoft, Apple, and Novell environments. In fact, Linux's scriptability makes it easy to create automated installers that even an end user can use to setup a system, without significant IT intervention.
- Free: Did I mention free? Often, older machines have Windows 2000, 98, ME, XP Home Edition on them. The cost and effort to upgrade these machines to XP Pro or Vista is hardly worth the effort.
- Linux = Green Computing: A number of articles have surfaced lately declaring Windows as an energy hog. Have a look at Not so green computing: Is Windows and energy hog? and True or False: Switching from a Windows-operated computer to a Linux-operated one could slash computer-generated e-waste levels by 50%. In addition, there are a number of efforts to make Linux even greener, such as Intel's Less Watts project and IBM's Big Green Linux project
Every Linux client we install operates as a fully functional network client. They log in to the network using our Windows-based authentication mechanism, automatically mounting network home folders and shares, which enables users to roam from machine to machine with similar access. VNC is installed and configured, enabling remote technical support. Everything an IT department would expect is available on each machine.
But we don't stop there. We make sure that the latest internet technologies and media players are installed, as well as a host of educational, multimedia, scientific, and productivity applications. Each workstation easily contains more than 40 software applications for ready use in the classroom.
Watch this space for more detailed how-tos, sample scripts, and the like in the near future.
jklein, 08/19/08 09:04 (GMT)
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