April 2003 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

FW: Porting of SMART Notebook
by Chris Puttick 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

Apologies for the cross-posting. If you use SMARTboards, this is excellent news... one less objection/obstacle to overcome! -----Original Message----- From: Kery N. Long To: 'chris(a)centralmanclc.com' Sent: 4/15/03 7:11 PM Subject: FW: Porting of SMART Notebook Chris, Here is the information to download the beta software. They can download it from our beta website ftp://beta.smarttech.com/SMARTBoardSoftware/ Username is betatest The password is pumpkin+a This release is Beta software and therefore not complete. As such, Technical Support will not be able to respond to questions about this software. Please use the contact info at the end of the release notes to report any problems you may encounter. Kery -----Original Message----- From: Kery N. Long Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 9:33 AM To: Jake R. Laigo Subject: FW: Porting of SMART Notebook Here is a request to be part of the linux beta program. -----Original Message----- From: Chris Puttick [mailto:chris@centralmanclc.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 1:48 AM To: 'Kery N. Long ' Subject: RE: Porting of SMART Notebook Thanks for your response - can I just confirm that SMART Notebook will be available for Linux shortly? I'm working with some schools in the UK who are moving to Linux (thin client for students, fat client for the teachers) and this will be welcome news. Is it possible to get on the beta program? Would SMART Tech have any objection to this information being made public? Thanks again. Chris -----Original Message----- From: Kery N. Long To: 'Chris Puttick' Sent: 4/14/03 5:18 PM Subject: RE: Porting of SMART Notebook Chris, We are currently working on these drivers. They are in beta stage and should be released within the next 6 weeks or so. Regards, SMART Technologies Inc. Kery N. Long Technical Support Specialist Tel. 403.802.2513 Fax 403.245.0366 Toll Free 1.866.518.6791 KeryLong(a)smarttech.com http://www.smarttech.com Bringing people and ideas together.(tm) -----Original Message----- From: Chris Puttick [mailto:chris@centralmanclc.com] Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 3:52 AM To: 'support(a)smarttech.com' Subject: Porting of SMART Notebook Hi I noted that you have Notebook available for Mac OSX - as this OS is very similar to Linux/UNIX, I assume the Linux version is just a matter of time. If you do not currently have the resources necessary to complete the port, I can arrange for this work to take place for you. My thanks in advance for your assistance. Regards Chris Puttick IT Manager Central Manchester City Learning Centre +44 (0)161 212 1972/70

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SchoolForge UK - some thoughts.....
by jamess＠rdiu.anglia.ac.uk 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

First thanks to Chris for putting himself out there to announce Schoolforge UK to the Schoolforge world. >From my colleagues at Ultralab (Stephen Heppell's lot) I got the offer of us taking a 'hot seat' spot on 'Talking Heads' (the virtual community of school leaders). AFAIK head teachers of all schools are eligable to be members, so when we have more to show them ( i.e. after bringing all the hoped for resources together) I think that could be a great opportunity to deliver information and stimualate debate in a highly focussed way. It's not organised yet but any thoughts on what to include would be useful - if nothing else it is a little seed aroud which other ideas can grow. Secondly I think the Wiki or website or whatever should be focussing as much on the idea of sharing knowledge and resources, and the philosopy of openness in education as it does on the technology of open source, or freely-distributed or whatever you want to call it software/solutions. I think it imperitive that Schoolforge UK is as inclusive and encouraging as possible - covering the philosophy that Stephen Heppel, Roger from SuSE and Diana Laurillard were talking about at the conference. Analogies with the 'scientific principle' are useful (standing on the shoulders of giants, networks of peer review etc) and I think strike a resonating chord with many more than those that just understand or are interested in the software. Get philosophical not evangelical!(in the words of Stephen Heppell). I'd also like to suggest a joint/combined/co-ordinated press release for Schoolforge UK to tie in with the conference one we're organising now at APU. I thought it would be useful to show the coming together at the conference and the springing forth of SchoolForge UK therefrom. Just a thought... What were we thinking of putting in the SchoolForge UK release? I'm not sure how many folks are using the list in the next week or so, but i'd like to apologise in advance for not replying to any responses as I'm on my hols until next Tuesday (22/4). Also I'd like to thank all those who have responded with case studies and encourage more to come forward into the light. James

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SchoolForge UK - some thoughts.....
by Giles Nunn 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

On Tue, 2003-04-15 at 11:18, Richard Rothwell wrote: > --- Giles Nunn <giles(a)satproj.org.uk> wrote: > On > Mon, 2003-04-14 at 08:55, MJ Ray wrote: > > > > <snip> > > > eg > > > > APP Proprietary Open > > > > What does eveyone think? > > > > -- > > Giles, can you add this to the wiki? > > Done - in a basic form. I haven't got round to adding everyone's comments yet. > ===== > rgds, > Richard Rothwell > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > GNU and Wine are rirds. > Rird is recursively defined. > > __________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Plus > For a better Internet experience > http://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer -- ---------------------------- Giles Nunn - ISP Officer Carms ICT Development Centre +44 1267 228277 ----------------------------

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SchoolForge UK - some thoughts.....
by Chris Puttick 15 Apr '03

15 Apr '03

This would definitely be a great move, except that CSV is inadequate for the task. PDF and XML are also space hungry formats. It may be better to persuade the owner of the resource to have an OOo version available (powerful, open and space efficient format). This has the added benefit of introducing people to OOo and its StarOffice relative in a positive way, while helping those schools/LEAs who've already moved in that direction gain access to resources. It might also help to offer to carry out the conversion (while making the free (in lots of ways) and socially inclusive nature of OOo clear. -----Original Message----- From: Giles Nunn To: suse-list Sent: 4/15/03 10:14 AM Subject: Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] SchoolForge UK - some thoughts..... On Mon, 2003-04-14 at 08:55, MJ Ray wrote: <snip> > > Finally, some resources are only available in proprietary software > formats. Where possible, it would be good to convert them to transparant > formats and persuade resource sites to ask people to do that when > uploading if possible. I guess that everyone on this list can see the > benefits of doing that? > Definitely a good move. Having all teaching resources available in standard open formats would be a major step forward. What would the best standard data format for the various common apps? Some are easy but others might cause problems - what should we use for M$ Publisher, for example. We could compile a list of data format alternatives, much like the free software alternatives list mentioned recently. eg APP Proprietary Open database access, SQL, SIMS etc csv documents word, amipro, wordperfect XML?,pdf? image bmp, gif etc png What does eveyone think? -- ---------------------------- Giles Nunn - ISP Officer Carms ICT Development Centre +44 1267 228277 ---------------------------- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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FW: Use of ICT in Subject Teaching Conference - 21 May
by Chris Puttick 14 Apr '03

14 Apr '03

Anybody going? We'll make sure someone goes with the right message (open standards...), but the more voices the better! Not sure how you register though. -----Original Message----- From: Steve.BARTLETT(a)dfes.gsi.gov.uk [mailto:Steve.BARTLETT@dfes.gsi.gov.uk] Sent: 11 April 2003 14:52 To - CLC Regional co-ordinators The Department has arranged a conference on the "Use of ICT in Subject Teaching - proposals for Key Stage 3" to take place on Wednesday 21 May in Victoria Park Plaza, London. Speakers at the conference will include the Secretary of State and our ICT in Schools Divisional Manager, Doug Brown. They will be presenting a 'directions' paper for ICT in schools, and plans for the development of a package of materials, training and support for Key Stage 3 teachers. This is an ambitious area of work and the Department wants involvement from people like CLC Managers. The DfES are inviting a wide range of people to the conference, from subject associations and teacher associations to specialists on ICT in education and a range of colleagues from within DfES. The conference offers an opportunity to meet, discuss and help shape our ICT programme for the coming years. We have been allocated 10 places for CLC Managers - we thought perhaps two from each region. Would you be able to let me have the names of two CLC Managers from your region who might like to attend. I will then arrange for a joining pack to be sent. Grateful for the names by 23 April. thanks Steve City Learning Centres Team tel 0207 925 5836

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RE:Non-technical discussion of pro's and con's of Linux vs Windows in schools
by Andy Choens 14 Apr '03

14 Apr '03

Wow, I didn't even realize this list was still alive. Yes, there is a site dedicated to this..and its really interesting. http://www.linuxinschools.org/ This is the best web-site I know of for case-studies. I love their slogan: "Open Source" -save money- employ more teachers They have case studies of schools that have migrated. Under the large banner for the case studies is a link to the best comparison I've ever seen. The author debates whether or now OSS software is the way to go, although its not school specific. Its aimed at the business world, which has different concerns. The UNESCO page is pretty nifty too. I hope you find something in all of that that is useful to you. Another site to see is http://opensourceschools.org. --andy -- Om Mani Padme Hume --Traditional Tibetan Blessing

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MP E-mails for lobbying
by ian 14 Apr '03

14 Apr '03

Came across a full list of E-mail addresses for Members of Parliament at http://www.students.ncl.ac.uk/ingo.schueder/english/no-war/UK-MP.html (Its designed to spam MPs about the Iraq War, but it could be worth selective mailings to your own MP about, for example, 1. Schools having to pay MS for machines not running their software if they enter MS Schools agreement. Currently being investigated by the office of fair trading contact Neil.Maxey(a)oft.gsi.gov.uk. Not much chance of getting Suse into schools if for every SuSe machine they have to pay MS license fees. 2. Lack of a strategy in the public sector to obtain best value by promoting competition in the desktop software market. 3. Infringement of privacy due to intrusive nature of MS applications on personal computers. Evidence at http://orange.math.buffalo.edu/csc/resolution2_april2003_approved.html 4. Any other issue you feel is appropriate in promoting an environment where Suse and other Linux distros can thrive. Best to be not too technical, or too emotional. Short and to the point and make it relevant to local issues eg schools and hospitals having funds diverted out of learning and health care etc. Get other constituency members to periodically E-mail on the same issues. Advertising works by regular inserts over a period so keep sending the E-mails every few weeks and try and get a variety of sources - more votes potentially lost! -- ian <ian.lynch2(a)ntlworld.com>

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FW: [school-discuss] Schoolforge UK
by Chris Puttick 14 Apr '03

14 Apr '03

This item would normally have been sent to the SchoolForge UK discussion list, but I'm not sure it's running yet... I've submitted the membership request, so we need the logo placing on the page - anyone can be a member of schoolforge-discuss, although I and other UK members already try and repost anything of interest. Posting school open source news should be something everybody considers. I'll post the item about SchoolForge UK. Cheers Chris PS v0.3 of the helpdesk is already out... http://helpdesk.centralmanclc.com -----Original Message----- From: David Bucknell To: schoolforge-discuss(a)schoolforge.net Sent: 4/12/03 1:37 AM Subject: Re: [school-discuss] Schoolforge UK Re joining Schoolforge, please start by filling out the form at http://seuldat.seul.org/cgi-bin/mementer0.pl. The typical e-mail sent in response says: 1. Please copy the logo of your choice from http://schoolforge.net/logos to your site, place it prominently and link it to http://schoolforge.net/. 2. Join Schoolforge-discuss (which you already have). 3. Participate (which you already do). I would like to add a 4th: Post news of your plans as well as your accomplishments on http://news.schoolforge.net -- Most of our work is eternally "in-progress" so it might seem like nothing is happening, but I think it would be fair to treat work-in-progress as news in many cases, so please (all schoolforgers) post / send news. Meanwhile, I am trying to bridge the language and interest gap here in Thailand to form a chapter, but let say that, IMHO, "local" need not be national; it could represent as small an area or group as you like, I think. Best wishes, David

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client printer drivers for cups
by Rob Keeling 14 Apr '03

14 Apr '03

I have set up a cups print server using SuSE 8.1 which seems to work really well from our Win 2K clients, but from our Windows 95/98 clients I can`to print colour! The problem is that I am using the Adobe postscript drivers, the win 98/95 version does not seem to generate the right sort of postscript with colour photos etc. Which printer drivers are other people using on older machines? I don`t want to use raw print queues as I want to use print quotas. Rob Keeling Network Manager Queen Elizabeth`s Grammar School

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SchoolForge UK - some thoughts.....
by jamess＠rdiu.anglia.ac.uk 13 Apr '03

13 Apr '03

First thanks to Chris for putting himself out there to announce Schoolforge UK to the Schoolforge world. >From my colleagues at Ultralab (Stephen Heppell's lot) I got the offer of us taking a 'hot seat' spot on 'Talking Heads' (the virtual community of school leaders). AFAIK head teachers of all schools are eligable to be members, so when we have more to show them ( i.e. after bringing all the hoped for resources together) I think that could be a great opportunity to deliver information and stimualate debate in a highly focussed way. It's not organised yet but any thoughts on what to include would be useful - if nothing else it is a little seed aroud which other ideas can grow. Secondly I think the Wiki or website or whatever should be focussing as much on the idea of sharing knowledge and resources, and the philosopy of openness in education as it does on the technology of open source, or freely-distributed or whatever you want to call it software/solutions. I think it imperitive that Schoolforge UK is as inclusive and encouraging as possible - covering the philosophy that Stephen Heppel, Roger from SuSE and Diana Laurillard were talking about at the conference. Analogies with the 'scientific principle' are useful (standing on the shoulders of giants, networks of peer review etc) and I think strike a resonating chord with many more than those that just understand or are interested in the software. Get philosophical not evangelical!(in the words of Stephen Heppell). I'd also like to suggest a joint/combined/co-ordinated press release for Schoolforge UK to tie in with the conference one we're organising now at APU. I thought it would be useful to show the coming together at the conference and the springing forth of SchoolForge UK therefrom. Just a thought... What were we thinking of putting in the SchoolForge UK release? I'm not sure how many folks are using the list in the next week or so, but i'd like to apologise in advance for not replying to any responses as I'm on my hols until next Tuesday (22/4). Also I'd like to thank all those who have responded with case studies and encourage more to come forward into the light. James

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