[K12OSN] Making K12LTSP "school friendly"

[anthony baldwin]

richard ingalls wrote:

>--- anthony baldwin <anthonybaldwin at snet.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>richard ingalls wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I LOVE K12LTSP!  I have used it to successfully add
>>>      
>>>
>>4
>>    
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>>>"new" classroom computer labs to my small, rural
>>>school district, using old and donated hardware
>>>      
>>>
>>(but
>>    
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>>>new servers).  I LOVE that my students can login
>>>anywhere and have all their files and even their
>>>customized desktop follow them.  But... (you knew
>>>      
>>>
>>it
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>>>was coming, right?)
>>>
>>>In most schools, we use so much "edutainment"
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>>>
>>software
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>>>that is M$ only.  My teachers have programs like
>>>"Oregon Trail" and "Reader Rabbit" and "Jumpstart
>>>Math" and "Kidspiration/Inspiration".  IF there was
>>>      
>>>
>>a
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>>>way to run this software on the Linux server using
>>>wine and make it available to all the users, THEN
>>>K12LTSP would be the biggest, best solution for
>>>schools - ever (well at least for elementary/middle
>>>schools).
>>>
>>>Has anyone successfully installed these types of
>>>"edutainment" apps on their servers and made them
>>>available to all the users?  If so, HOW?
>>>
>>>I think making something like this "easy" to do,
>>>      
>>>
>>would
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>>>catapult K12LTSP and Open Source over the edge for
>>>many  school districts.
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>I have run Inspiration on a K12 box using wine.
>>It's been some time, since I did, but I did, and I
>>know it can still be 
>>done.
>>Inspiration can be a valuable tool in the classroom,
>>for sure.
>>
>>tony
>>    
>>
>
>tony - do you remember any of the specifics of how you
>set it up in wine?  How did you make it available for
>all users?  thanks.
>
>  
>

I'm afraid it's been a while.
But this may be significant.  It was on my home box, not an LTSP network.
Inspiration was on a Windows partition.  I mounted the partition and 
started Inspiration with wine.
It was rather simple.
Unfortunately, because I had read-only access to the Windows partition, 
I couldn't save anything!
Since i have a Windows drive again (after beeing M$ free for 3 years 
thanks to K12Linux!), I have installed
Inspirition on it.  Perhaps I should repeat the experience and see what 
I can offer as far as intelligence on the matter.
Of course, one might question whether such intelligence will be 
applicable for an LTSP lab, since, again
I'm working on a standalone desktop at home.
I've never gotten an LTSP lab up anywhere, but keep using K12 to install 
linux on my home boxes.
I stumbled into this project a few years back when my meager teacher's
income made me painfully aware of how expensive Mo$t other software was 
and I started researching alternatives.
I'm SO glad I stumbled into this project, though.  It's really been 
responsible for my happy induction
into the world of FOSS, for which I am extremely grateful.

tony

http://www.school-library.net
Freedom to Learn!