Hi, Please advise... Im a PGCE student of ICT and as my major assignment I have chosen to investigate the possibility of embracing opensource software in the school environment. To this end, a few months ago I wiped out windows and replaced it with super slick SuSE and never looked back! I just thought that this mailing list might be a good place to bounce ideas off people. I've done all the research regarding opensource software replacements for current software + checking out Wine compatibility for departments who are in love with their current packages -- all this has gone very favourably. Now im looking at the really important part (as far as management is concerned), Costing!! Here I have hit an impass! There are so many solutions and distro's around. After initial research http://www.k12ltsp.org/ looks very interesting -- it would certainly be a good way of implementing Linux one step/room at a time. Also looks like old hw could be used to create new computer suites at little extra expense. I know this is a SuSE mailing list, so im presuming that there will be a degree of bias, but thats fair enough because im a bit biased towards it too. Yast has seen me through a lot already, and im a bit loathe to leave it. The school that im compiling this report for has 474 Windows workstations, does anyone have experience of Linux administration, implementation on this scale? If so can you give me an idea of annual costs? Have you used SuSE for this? What OS is being used for your servers? One last thing, most school technicians I have met thus far have little to no experience or knowledge of Linux; I also consider myself to be a newcomer to this field, could anyone direct me to a training course suited to Linux school network administration. I know that all of the above is a big ask, I will be gratefull for any pearls of wisdom. Regards Dermot Mc Laughlin dermot@ictresource.co.uk ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On Wednesday 16 June 2004 9:18 pm, Dermot Mc Laughlin wrote:
Hi,
Please advise...
Im a PGCE student of ICT and as my major assignment I have chosen to investigate the possibility of embracing opensource software in the school environment. To this end, a few months ago I wiped out windows and replaced it with super slick SuSE and never looked back!
I just thought that this mailing list might be a good place to bounce ideas off people. I've done all the research regarding opensource software replacements for current software + checking out Wine compatibility for departments who are in love with their current packages -- all this has gone very favourably.
Now im looking at the really important part (as far as management is concerned), Costing!! Here I have hit an impass! There are so many solutions and distro's around.
After initial research http://www.k12ltsp.org/ looks very interesting -- it would certainly be a good way of implementing Linux one step/room at a time. Also looks like old hw could be used to create new computer suites at little extra expense.
I know this is a SuSE mailing list, so im presuming that there will be a degree of bias, but thats fair enough because im a bit biased towards it too. Yast has seen me through a lot already, and im a bit loathe to leave it.
The school that im compiling this report for has 474 Windows workstations, does anyone have experience of Linux administration, implementation on this scale? If so can you give me an idea of annual costs? Have you used SuSE for this? What OS is being used for your servers?
One last thing, most school technicians I have met thus far have little to no experience or knowledge of Linux; I also consider myself to be a newcomer to this field, could anyone direct me to a training course suited to Linux school network administration.
I know that all of the above is a big ask, I will be gratefull for any pearls of wisdom.
Regards Dermot Mc Laughlin dermot@ictresource.co.uk
Have a look at www.scholarpack.org. It will be updated in the near future, but there is a costings exercise there. We use SuSE with LTSP by the way. You do not need to leave Yast behind and it is getting better especially now it's GPLed. regards garry
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Along with the websites everyone else has suggested a couple of my own reccomendations: www.opensourceschools.org for a school focussed look at all aspects. http://www.linuxquestions.org/ <- Superb forums here for whenever you get stuck, or have general queries http://www.linuxiso.org/ <- Again, good forums here, and also download links to various Distro ISOs. As far as training, there are a couple of professional qualifications available at the moment. If you end up down the SuSE route the best bet is Novells Certified Linux Engineer. There is also a Red Hat version Red Hat Certfied Engineer, but that's a little too Red Hat oriented apparently. Probably the best bet as far as non-distro biased is the Linux Professional Institue Certification: http://www.lpi.org/en/lpic.html Try and encourage your geeks.. sorry IT people, to salvage an old box and get them to install Suse or Red Hat on it (easiest two to install). I've learnt a heck of a lot about Linux in the past couple of months, mainly because I've been interested in it as an alternative, and my work place also started getting interested in it as a backbone. On 16 Jun 2004 at 21:52, garry saddington wrote:
On Wednesday 16 June 2004 9:18 pm, Dermot Mc Laughlin wrote:
Hi,
Please advise...
Im a PGCE student of ICT and as my major assignment I have chosen to investigate the possibility of embracing opensource software in the school environment. To this end, a few months ago I wiped out windows and replaced it with super slick SuSE and never looked back!
I just thought that this mailing list might be a good place to bounce ideas off people. I've done all the research regarding opensource software replacements for current software + checking out Wine compatibility for departments who are in love with their current packages -- all this has gone very favourably.
Now im looking at the really important part (as far as management is concerned), Costing!! Here I have hit an impass! There are so many solutions and distro's around.
After initial research http://www.k12ltsp.org/ looks very interesting -- it would certainly be a good way of implementing Linux one step/room at a time. Also looks like old hw could be used to create new computer suites at little extra expense.
I know this is a SuSE mailing list, so im presuming that there will be a degree of bias, but thats fair enough because im a bit biased towards it too. Yast has seen me through a lot already, and im a bit loathe to leave it.
The school that im compiling this report for has 474 Windows workstations, does anyone have experience of Linux administration, implementation on this scale? If so can you give me an idea of annual costs? Have you used SuSE for this? What OS is being used for your servers?
One last thing, most school technicians I have met thus far have little to no experience or knowledge of Linux; I also consider myself to be a newcomer to this field, could anyone direct me to a training course suited to Linux school network administration.
I know that all of the above is a big ask, I will be gratefull for any pearls of wisdom.
Regards Dermot Mc Laughlin dermot@ictresource.co.uk
Have a look at www.scholarpack.org. It will be updated in the near future, but there is a costings exercise there. We use SuSE with LTSP by the way. You do not need to leave Yast behind and it is getting better especially now it's GPLed. regards garry
___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
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Paul Graydon Network Technician mailto:graydpau@hhc.ac.uk ; http://www.hhc.ac.uk The human mind is like an umbrella, it functions best when open.
--- Dermot Mc Laughlin <dermot_mc_laughlin@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi,
Please advise...
Have a look at http://www.schoolforge.org.uk for some of the information you want...
Now im looking at the really important part Costing!!
At Handsworth Grammar School we are part way through a transition to Linux on the desktop (LTSP). We are also involved in the Becta Total Cost of Ownership project and will be getting some feedback on their understanding of the relative costs of FLOSS in schools at some stage. You are welcome to look at (most of) the figures I collected for that survey if it will help you. You can also use us for anyother information that you might need. ===== rgds, Richard Rothwell -------------------------------------------------------------------- rind (n) acronym for 'rind is not defined' ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - sooooo many all-new ways to express yourself http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
On Wed, 2004-06-16 at 21:18, Dermot Mc Laughlin wrote:
k!
I just thought that this mailing list might be a good place to bounce ideas off people. I've done all the research regarding opensource software replacements for current software + checking out Wine compatibility for departments who are in love with their current packages -- all this has gone very favourably.
You might want to share some of this by joing the Schoolforge UK project. This information would be a useful thing to have on the website.
Now im looking at the really important part (as far as management is concerned), Costing!! Here I have hit an impass! There are so many solutions and distro's around.
Try contacting Dougal Gill at East HUll CLC his E-mail is director@ehclc.com. They have a 120 station Linux thin client network that they have been running for 2 years and he told me he saved 70 grand by implementing it compared to other quotes in a competitive tendering. Regards, -- Ian Lynch <ian.lynch@zmsl.com> ZMS Ltd
participants (5)
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Dermot Mc Laughlin -
garry saddington -
Ian Lynch -
Paul Graydon -
Richard Rothwell