[K12OSN] FL_TeacherTool on Ubuntu with LTSP 5

Robert Arkiletian robark at gmail.com
Mon Feb 19 07:36:20 UTC 2007


On 2/18/07, Todd O'Bryan <toddobryan at mac.com> wrote:
> I have an Ubuntu+Muekow lab set up and am willing to help out getting
> FL_Teachertool working on it. I'm actually a pretty proficient
> Java/Python programmer and can *usually* get C/C++ working before I
> throw the computer out the window.
>
> Let me know where to start and I'll try getting it set up and see where
> the problems happen.

Are you using LDM? As Eric points out that's what causes the problem
for fl-tt. I think LDM must be responsible for tunnelling X traffic
through ssh. It requires modifying every function in my code. I'd have
to do testing/development on a Muekow lab to figure things out. If you
don't need encrypted X traffic I have read Jim M. post that Edubuntu
can revert back to the traditional way ltsp connects clients. If you
can use gdm I think it would be a lot easier to get fl-tt working in
that scenario.

>
> Todd
>
> P.S. I notice you teach Python at your high school. I start in Scheme
> using the materials at www.htdp.org, then switch to Python for the last
> six weeks to get my students ready for the Java AP class the next year.
> Would love to hear what you've found really works and what doesn't.
>

I was teaching C++ up until last year. I found that there was too much
overhead (pointers, dynamic memory allocation etc..) to get high
school kids programming a gui app. FLTK is pretty easy but you first
need to know C++. If you want to see how easy FLTK is goto google and
type [fltk tutorial]. My tutorial should be the first hit. The problem
is it takes time to learn C++. So starting this year I'm teaching
Python. *I love Python*. I keep telling my students how much Python
rocks. It's so clean and efficient. Thankfully there is a Python
wrapper for FLTK it's called pyFLTK. Look how simple an OOP style gui
app in pyFLTK is

#!/usr/bin/python
from fltk import *

class MyApp(Fl_Window):
        def __init__(self, w, h, label):
                Fl_Window.__init__(self, w, h, label)

                self.begin()

                self.button1 = Fl_Button(95, 5, 140, 50)
                self.button1.label("Not clicked yet")
                self.button1.callback(self.button1callback)
                self.button1.color(FL_BLUE)

                self.input1 = Fl_Input(95, 90, 140, 50)
                self.input1.label("Input box")

                self.end()

        def button1callback(self, widget):
                widget.label(self.input1.value())

Fl.scheme("plastic")
app = MyApp(450, 155, "Widget communication")
app.show()
Fl.run()

I'm sad the AP people decided on Java. Java has so much syntax
overhead. I don't think it's a good first language. But many schools
are teaching it cause it's the AP language. Take a look at this
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/news/events/psc/io/
Look at each language. They all do the exact same thing!!!!

-- 
Robert Arkiletian
Eric Hamber Secondary, Vancouver, Canada
Fl_TeacherTool http://www3.telus.net/public/robark/Fl_TeacherTool/
C++ GUI tutorial http://www3.telus.net/public/robark/




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