Hi all, I'm very keen on promoting the use of Linux (and other OS code) in schools in my area (West Yorkshire). I hope that the work that WYLUG and myself put in will be useful to the rest of the country/world.

Please ensure that you keep your lines under 80 characters it will make things easier to read.

It seems that the largest problem that OS projects are likely to have is the underlying complexity of the code, this is (in most cases) beyond what the average school user/administrator wants to take on. Basically what I think is required is a system so simple that it will take next to no time to set-up and administer on a day to day basic.

You appear to be confusing code with operation by an end user. Also there is a "trap" in that something which is "easy" for one organisation can be horribly complex for another because design assumptions have been made which hold only for the first, requring the second to work arround them. Most real world situations and requirements are not simple or trivial. Setting up is also a different issue from "day to day" operations, ideally day today operations will be mimimised because the *computer* will perform repetitive actions (be they hourly, daily, whenever year 11 is out on work experience, etc.)

For example, take the idea of putting the School Canteen Menu up on the intranet. This could probably be achieved by a series of PHP pages (maybe with some form of database), this could be updated on a daily/weekly basis by the canteen staff and viewed by anyone on the intranet.

Except that this is probably more useful as an academic project than a practical idea. Simply because it's more a "gimick" than something with much actual real value to a school. An Alice or SIMS replacement is far more use than something to replace a poster. (N.B. Whilst it might make sense to have a book search using a web interface this probably isn't the best interface for a librarian or the secretary entering admissions.)

The work on the 'project' can be broken down into 3 areas: 1). Coders/Designer - Complex, requires advanced PHP knowledge, probably not designed/coded in the school. 2). Installer/Administration - Simpler than Design, still requires some knowledge of, say, tar.gz's or rpm's 3). Operation - Simple, MUST be otherwise the system will never be used. I would imagine that the days menu would be entered via web interface after logging in as a 'Cook'.

You've missed out one important issue, does this system have it's own user/password database or not? Because the last thing most schools need is yet another app which requires separate usename/password administration. (Because someone found it too much trouble to use /etc/passwd or passwd.byname for authentication.) -- Mark Evans St. Peter's CofE High School Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109 Fax: +44 1392 204763