From b5e79ad5c5fe0c40794e297fd76ba3ed86a4629f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Petter Reinholdtsen Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:45:52 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] More formatting. --- .../2012-07-skolelinux-giorgio-pioda.txt | 166 +++++++----------- 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+), 103 deletions(-) diff --git a/blog/draft/2012-07-skolelinux-giorgio-pioda.txt b/blog/draft/2012-07-skolelinux-giorgio-pioda.txt index e7e26d86ed..ae2a002861 100644 --- a/blog/draft/2012-07-skolelinux-giorgio-pioda.txt +++ b/blog/draft/2012-07-skolelinux-giorgio-pioda.txt @@ -4,120 +4,90 @@ Date: 2012-06-25 11:30

Debian Edu and Skolelinux - +Giorgio Pioda

Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

+

I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher +in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of "light" +university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage an LMS server +and slowly I got more and more involved with IT. 3 years ago the +graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I got the head of the +IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry labs computers (for +example NMR analysis of protein folding) and in the IT-courses during +university where sufficient to start. Self training is anyway very +important

+

How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project?

+

Looking for Linux/PDC I found it already several years ago. But +since the system was still not Kerberized and since our schools relies +strongly on laptops I didn't use it. I plan to introduce it in the +next future, probably for the next school year, since the squeeze +release solved this security hole.

+

What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?

+

Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is +very generous for help and hints. Chat help is crucial, together with +the mailing list. Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well +engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC +and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I +can tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard +platform, it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the +head IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much +hassle.

What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?

+

The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less +flexible at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but +there are many reasons that force for another choice. For exemple the +need of new drivers for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some +devices that have specific software packages for another specific +distro (I have such a a case for Whiteboards that have only Ubuntu +packages). Thus, I prepared compatibility packages educlient and +eduroaming, hoping not to use them ;-)

+

Which free software do you use daily?

+

I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos,NIS,NFS) with mixed +Debian and Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad combination is +exotic... well I discovered right yesterday that Perceus +(http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html) has the same...

+ +

For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good +only I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if +something breaks.

+

Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools to use free software?

- Giorgio Pioda (May 27) (for_me inbox intervju skolelinux year-2012) - Subject: Re: Are you willing to be interviewed for my blog? - To: Petter Reinholdtsen - Date: Sun, 27 May 2012 08:53:38 +0200 - - Hi Petter, - - of course, see below... - - On Sat, May 26, 2012 at 09:55:47PM +0200, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote: - > Hi, Giorgio. - > - > I am running a serie of interviews about Debian Edu / Skolelinux. - > Would you be willing to answer these questions and have the answers - > published on my blog? - > - > * Who are you, and how do you spend your days? - - I have a PhD in chemistry but since several years I work as teacher - in secondary (15-18 year old students) and tertiary (a kind of - "light" university) schools. Five years ago I started to manage - an LMS server and slowly I got more and more involved with IT. 3 years - ago the graduating schools moved completely to Linux and I got the - head of the IT for this. The experience collected in chemistry labs - computers (for exemple NMR analisys of protein folding) - and in the IT-courses during university where sufficient to start. Self training - is anyway very important - - > * How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project? - - Looking for Linux/PDC I foud it already several years ago. But since - the system was still not Kerberized and since our schools relies strongly - on laptops I didn't use it. I plan to introduce it in the next future, - probably for the next school year, since the squeeze release solved this - security hole. - - > * What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu? - - Many. First of all there is a strong and living community that is - very generous for help and hints. Chat help is crucial, together with - the mailing list. Second. With Skolelinux you get an already well - engineered platform and you don't have to start to build up your PDC - and your clients from GNU/scratch; I've already done this once and I can - tell it, it is hard. Third, since Skolelinux is a standard platform, - it is way easier to educate other IT people and even if the head - IT is sick another one could pick up the task without too much hassle. - - > * What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu? - - The only real problem I see is that it is a little too less flexible - at client level. Debian stable is rocky and desirable, but there are many - reasons that force for another choice. For exemple the need of new drivers - for new PC, or the need for a specific OS for some devices that have - specific software packages for another specific distro (I have such a a case - for Whiteboards that have only Ubuntu packages). Thus, I prepared - compatibility packages educlient and eduroaming, hoping not to - use them ;-) - - > * Which free software do you use daily? - - I have a Debian Stable PDC at school (Kerberos,NIS,NFS) with mixed Debian and - Ubuntu clients. If you think that this triad combination is exotic... well - I discovered right yesterday that Perceus (http://moo.nac.uci.edu/~hjm/Perceus-Report.html) - has the same... - - For myself I run Debian wheezy/sid, but this combination is good only - I you have enough competence to fix stuff for yourself, if something breaks. - - > * Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools - > to use free software? - - I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is - cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability, just because - they are tendencially not open to change. - - Students adapts very quickly - to GNU/Linux (and for them being able to switch between - different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers don't. - - We decided - to move to Linux because students at our school have own laptop - and we have the responsability - to keep the laptop ready to use; we were really unsatisfied with M$ since - every monday we had 20 machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux - this has been reduced to zero, since people installs almost only - from official repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to - Linux. Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux. +

I think that the only real argument that school managers "hear" is +cost reduction. They don't give too much weight on quality, stability, +just because they are tendencially not open to change.

+ +

Students adapts very quickly to GNU/Linux (and for them being able +to switch between different OS is a plus value); teachers and managers +don't.

+ +

We decided to move to Linux because students at our school have own +laptop and we have the responsability to keep the laptop ready to use; +we were really unsatisfied with M$ since every monday we had 20 +machine to fix for viral infections... With Linux this has been +reduced to zero, since people installs almost only from official +repositories. I think that our special needs brought us to +Linux. Those who don't have such needs will hardly move to Linux.

> * Who should be interviewed with this questions in the future? - Some other school IT managers, collecting a database of success cases, - so that also schools managers at higher level would get an enhanced - sensibility towards GNU/Linux in the schools. +

Some other school IT managers, collecting a database of success +cases, so that also schools managers at higher level would get an +enhanced sensibility towards GNU/Linux in the schools. - > Fell free to correct my mistakes... @@ -125,16 +95,6 @@ get schools to use free software?

Giorgio - [ 4-line signature. Click/Enter to show. ] - -- - Giorgio Pioda - Sysadmin SPSE-Tenero - Cell +41 79 629 20 63 - Uff. +41 91 735 62 48 - -Giorgio Pioda (May 27) (flagged for_me inbox intervju skolelinux year-2012) -Subject: [gfwp@ticino.com: Re: Are you willing to be interviewed for my blog?] -To: pere@hungry.com -Date: Sun, 27 May 2012 13:25:51 +0200 Hi, @@ -143,7 +103,7 @@ of R statistics, kmplot, and less frequently OOffice. I live in the italian speaking part of Switzerland, and the SPSE school (secondary) is a very special sport school for -jung people who try to became sport pro (for all sports, +young people who try to became sport pro (for all sports, we have dozens of disciplines represented) and we are recognized by the Olympic Swiss Organization. (www.spse.ch) -- 2.47.2