Inspired by the -interview series conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian -interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux -community. This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a -more international audience.
- -While Debian Edu and -Skolelinux originated in France and Norway, and have most users in -Europe, there are users all around the globe. One of those far away -from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator -and contributor. It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to -work out of the box in Japan. I got him to answer a few questions, -and am happy to share the response with you. :) - +
+I've been too busy at home, but finally I found time to wrap up +another interview with the people behind +Debian Edu and Skolelinux. +This time we get to know José Luis Redrejo RodrÃguez, one of our great +helpers from Spain. His effort was the reason we added support for +several desktop types (KDE, Gnome and most recently LXDE) in Debian +Edu, and have all of these available in the recently published +Debian Edu +Squeeze version.
Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
-My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko, -and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT -Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a -teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics, -Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but -I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches -primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person, -so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster, -also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python -to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really -appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.
+I'm a father, teacher and engineer who is working for the Education +ministry of the Region of Extremadura (Spain) in the implementation of +ICT in schools
How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project?
-In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a -server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central -samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered -Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I -did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server" -and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading -there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my -problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my -previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used -Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I -downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the -Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and -my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.
+At 2006, I verified that both, we in Extremadura and Skolelinux +project, had been working in parallel for some years, doing very +similar things, using very similar tools and with similar targets, so +I decided it was time to join forces as much as possible.
What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?
-For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the -workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured -ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is -designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who -doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian -school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with -Japan.
+A community of highly skilled experts working together, with a +really open schema of collaboration and work. I really love the +concepts of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy and the way these concepts are +been used everyday inside Debian Edu.
What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?
-The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who -have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who -make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people -who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be -important to the school. School administrators or directors, for -instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly -default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some -kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and -Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is. A -second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to -customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required -multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It -took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups. -I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will -help.
+Sometimes the differences in the implementations, laws or +economical and technical resources in the different countries don't +allow us to agree in the same solution for all of us, and several +approaches are needed, what is a waste of effort. Also, there is a +lack of more man power to be able to follow the fast evolution of the +technologies in school.
Which free software do you use daily?
-Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for -studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux -(customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop -still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my -house, that's very useful for the family photos and music. At school -the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still -have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every -day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are -installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS. We also -have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution -and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.
+Debian, of course, and due to my kind of job I am most of my time +between Iceweasel, Geany and +Terminator.
Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools to use free software?
-Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry, -and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the -popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have -to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about -file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago. The Edu aspect is -also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the -Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu? But of course the main attraction is -budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not -compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That -is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People -are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser -doesn't play flash, for example.
+I think there is not a single strategy because there are very +different scenarios: schools with mixed proprietary and free +environments, schools using only workstations, other schools using +laptops, netbooks, tablets, interactive white-boards, etc.
+ +Also the range of ages of the students is very broad and you can +not use the same solutions for primary schools and secondary or even +universities. So different strategies are needed.
+ +But, looking at these differences, and looking back to the things +we've done and implemented, and the places were we have spent most of +our forces, I think we should focus as much as possible in free +multi-platform environments, using only standards tools, and moving +more and more to Internet or network solutions that could be deployed +using wireless. I think we'll see more and more personal devices in +the schools, devices the students and teachers will take home with +them, so the solutions must be able to be taken at home and continue +working there.
![[foto av billettautomat]](http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2012-03-02-ruter-win2000pro.jpeg)