[K12OSN] Article in the Honolulu Advertiser
R. Scott Belford
scott at hosef.org
Tue Sep 21 03:57:10 UTC 2004
Henry Hartley wrote:
> Just thought you might want to see this. It doesn't mention LTSP but it
> does sound like that's what's being done here.
>
> Old computers good as new in Linux labs
> http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Sep/16/ln/ln21a.html
our site links to a few other articles. I realize this is
self-promoting, but, these are good stories for our cause. Furthermore,
we do what we do as volunteers, and our "business model," if you will,
is to teach our recipients not to need anyone but themselves for support.
One such school running a K12LTSP lab, Liholiho Elementary, was just
recognized nationally for exceeding NCLB standards. If the proof is in
the pudding, this is rather tasty. The article does not mention Linux,
but it is known what platform was used to teach their computer literacy.
Peter Nakashima is a model for receiving and reciprocating the gifts
of the OSS community.
>
Regarding the K12LTSP, we mentioned, and we promoted, and we
demonstrated the K12LTSP. We went on about the critical role a product
of Hawaii's schools, Warren Togami, has played in the K12LTSP through
the creation of Fedora. Believe me, we tried, but, it just wasn't part
of the story to them. A shame, but Linux in schools is good enough, I
suppose.
Interestingly, the photographer was an intern from the University of
Hawaii, and his room mate maintains some Debian package. He was clued,
and, when he saw my Debian T-Shirt, knew what was going on. The
thin-client model amazed him. He took shots of the server, the switch,
and the ragtag clients. Alas, the editors did not find this as exciting
as we did.
Kudos go to Eric, Jim, the Open Source Community, and, of course, the
amazing group of volunteers responsible for this volunteer example of
your lug-in-action, HOSEF. For the record, we provide free classes,
workshops, and replacement clients in an attempt to build self-reliance
and sustainability in our installations. Giving the computers away is
the easiest part.
At the risk of going overboard, let me mention that we are sending 60
computers running the LTSP to Western Samoa via the Peace Corps, and
have just started funneling computers from our East-West Center to
United Self Help. The Peace Corps is going to set them up in 5 schools
as thin clients (though we are installing linux on 2 hard drives, per
computer, for redundancy.)
USH is a group that donates computers to those with a host of mental
challenges that are manifested by self-isolating. Using the Linux
Desktop to go online and participate in USH activities is no big deal,
and, we have already uncovered two soon-to-be linux geniuses just by
exposing them to the power of OSS.
Keep on keepin' on, folks
--scott
--
R. Scott Belford
Founder/Director
The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation
PO Box 392
Kailua, HI 96734
808.689.6518 phone/fax
scott at hosef.org
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