Comments on The Fischbowl: Linux on Netbooks and Whiskers on Kittens

It's good to see that open source is finally findi...

2009-09-10T10:40:29.397-06:00

It's good to see that open source is finally finding a place in education. The open source software that is available for Linux, and Windows as well, is important for students to know about.

Photoshop costs money, and if a student wants to use it, they will have very few means of doing so. Maya, an animation program, costs thousands of dollars. If a student uses this at school and wants to continue using it at home, they have little chance of doing so. By using it's open source alternative, Blender, or in the case of Photoshop, which is GIMP, it shows students that an easy way to continue learning and exploring what they are passionate about is out there.

Not to mention the money it saves, as well as the licensing issues.

Thanks on behalf of the students (although they ma...

2009-09-08T15:44:45.702-06:00

Thanks on behalf of the students (although they may not know it) for switching the Right Shift and Up Arrow. That will make adapting to the eee much less frustrating. And, great job on finding solutions and sharing! I know, that's what it's all about - ya do the Hokey Pokey.

@Jerram - I looked at kdenlive as a possible video...

2009-09-01T15:55:09.251-06:00

@Jerram - I looked at kdenlive as a possible video solution, but it seemed a little too clunky and the machines a little too underpowered, so I ended up not including it (but I could have, and could still add it if we need it).

For now, we're going to rely on web-based alternatives and/or utilizing desktops if we need a more robust video editing solution, and then my hope is that a better open-source alternative will present itself, combined with slightly more powerful netbooks that can handle it.

Definitely a different approach than we are taking...

2009-09-01T15:44:55.669-06:00

Definitely a different approach than we are taking in Irving, TX - AND, I'm really glad to read about schools tackling open source on the OS!

User control is too important to our technical department (controlling viruses, network access and what kids can do on the machines) to take the OS step at this point.

Is there a solution for creating simple videos on this image? That could certainly be an important piece in ELA instruction...

Thanks for sharing. My school has also purchased s...

2009-09-01T10:57:31.893-06:00

Thanks for sharing. My school has also purchased six classroom sets of eeePC's, four English classrooms and two special ed classrooms. I look forward to hearing how teachers are using them in the classroom. We'd all benefit from hearing best practices and lesson ideas for one-to-one classrooms.

Looks like a first class laptop solution, well don...

2009-08-29T05:57:56.182-06:00

Looks like a first class laptop solution, well done!
Dan

Thank you for this post. We too are using Jim's c...

2009-08-28T17:03:46.943-06:00

Thank you for this post. We too are using Jim's custom image key for our recently purchased eeePC's. We are a small, rural district in SE Oklahoma (Howe Public Schools) and have added 150 netbooks for a HS 1:1 roll-out. We have operated a 1:1 in grades 3-8 for the past several years - with Macbooks.

We hated to switch from Mac, but to expand the 1:1 to our HS was not financially feasible. We were very excited to find Jim Klein's site (thanks to @wfryer) Jim's documentation is remarkable. I totally agree on the simplicity - we created the key and imaged our first box w/o any issues. We are currently looking at the customizations that will fit our district, and look forward to the roll-out in the next few weeks. A big thank you to Jim and his team!

Once we remember what "public" once meant, I think...

2009-08-28T15:41:39.445-06:00

Once we remember what "public" once meant, I think the schools will embrace Linux.

I use it at home, and loaded it on the computer in my prep room--I hope to charm the IT folks with it this year.

Mr. Gates is actively working to destroy the "public" in public education. Linux works well, and OpenOffice.org works as well as MS Office for school (or perhaps even better, since it is cross compatible with just about everything).

You cannot beat the price, and the tech support for Linux is phenomenal.

You are stating the obfuscated obvious--please keep us up to date on this. I have a couple of administrators who are listening to me.