April 2001 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Meeting yesterday and welcome to new members of the list
by Philip Hands 07 Jul '03

07 Jul '03

Roger Whittaker <roger(a)suse-linux.co.uk> writes: > I've just subscribed various people to the list - please post a > message to say hello and introduce yourselves. Hi, If you were at the meeting, I was wearing a Debian t-shirt (with a red swirl logo on it) --- there's a photo at the top of this article, where I'm wearing similar stuff (except for the penguin ;-) http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/articles/issue6/lu6-Editorial-A_patently_bad_ide… I'm a Debian GNU/Linux developer, and run the UK Debian mirror, and am responsible for producing the Debian official CD images: http://www.uk.debian.org/ http://cdimage.debian.org/ I have only a peripheral interest in educational matters, in that I've been frustrated in the past in my efforts to provide free computers (which were otherwise destined for a skip), but I can certainly contribute on a technical side, and having been involved in Debian (which is completely voluntary, like OSIE is expected to be) since 1996 I may be able to make some suggestions about how to ``organise'' such a thing. For those of you who've not come across Debian before, we're a world-wide voluntary organisation (read, chaotic jumble of mailing lists) that puts together a Linux distribution (and soon a HURD distribution) and gives it away. Debian doesn't pay people to do this, and doesn't sell what it produces, and in most legal senses doesn't really exist (i.e. the machines in the mirror network mostly belong to people like me, rather than to Debian, and the bandwidth is donated rather than paid for). This probably gives a pretty good feel for what Debian is all about: http://www.uk.debian.org/social_contract which you will notice leads into the The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG), which is where the Open Source Definition came from. My internet machine, that hosts the Debian UK mirror, may be of use to OSIE, since it has about 30GB of spare disk, and a 20Mbit/s connection at a well connected ISP. This machine could act as either a primary host or mirror site for the web site, and could do DNS secondarying etc. as well. Something I'd be interested in working on (although perhaps a SuSE list is not the right place to spend too much time discussing this ;-) would be producing Debian CD images, tuned to the needs of educational users. Debian has accumulated some funds in the UK, and have been looking for a worthwhile cause to spend them on (we never really need to pay for anything that actually makes Debian work, so don't have much use for money), so we could probably afford to have a few thousand CDs pressed, and send them out to schools that are interested. Cheers, Phil. -- Say no to software patents! http://petition.eurolinux.org/ Philip Hands. +44 (0)20 7744 6244 philip.hands(a)uk.alcove.com Alcove UK --- Liberating Software --- http://www.alcove.com/ http://www.hands.com/ phil(a)hands.com http://www.uk.debian.org/

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by Phil Driscoll 14 May '01

14 May '01

>However, I wouldn't exclude the >possibility of writing special clients if functionality required >it (and I'd write them in Tcl/Tk, for portability). I would argue strongly that special clients should not be required or provided. Once you provide them, then there is a temptation to implement functionality in them that is not available in the web clients, and I believe that in this day and age there is very little that cannot be done with cleverly designed web pages and server side software. That said, I think this implementing such a system is an excellent idea. Does anyone on the list have a handle on the value for the average cost per school x total number of UK schools for current systems? Cheers -- Phil Driscoll Dial Solutions +44 (0)113 294 5112 http://www.dialsolutions.com http://www.dtonline.org

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by Phil Driscoll 06 May '01

06 May '01

>Once you get into Java or JavaScript you start excluding quite a few >platforms. I appreciate this - that's why I would insist on all functionality being available even on something as primitive (or leading edge :)) as a WAP interface, but you cannot deny that drag and drop will speed up a number of operations, and the richer user interface should not be denied to the overwhelming majority of users who will have access to a modern browser. Cheers -- Phil Driscoll Dial Solutions +44 (0)113 294 5112 http://www.dialsolutions.com http://www.dtonline.org

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by Phil Driscoll 30 Apr '01

30 Apr '01

Sorry Robert - I still can't agree with you on the client front. The fact is that everything can be done in plain old html - and *ALL* functionality should be available to an agreed baseline browser (something pretty feeble). Many things can be done more 'slickly' with drag and drop, but surely this should be an enhancement in the browser based on JavaScript long before we need to start implementing clients on all and sundry platforms. I would personally then go to Java before leaving the browser domain, although I can't envisage anything in this project that would require going so far. Cheers -- Phil Driscoll Dial Solutions +44 (0)113 294 5112 http://www.dialsolutions.com http://www.dtonline.org

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by Phil Driscoll 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

>plenty of other people in the education market (Viglen, RM (?) and others) >would like an alternative. Perhaps one of them can back the development. Clearly, even with an open source solution, there is plenty of scope for companies to make money on installation and support, but I can't imagine any of the big education ICT players funding developments that their rivals would be able to take advantage of. Perhaps there is more scope for an LEA or a consortium of LEAs to do so? The fact that the project would be an open source 'good cause' might reduce the overall amount of funding required. Certainly from my background in the php community, there seem to be plenty of 'good guys' in the UK who might be persuaded to help out. Cheers -- Phil Driscoll Dial Solutions +44 (0)113 294 5112 http://www.dialsolutions.com http://www.dtonline.org

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Smoothwall
by D Garside 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

Linuxformat magazine is offering on its CD this month a firewall package called 'Smoothwall.' Looking at the blurb, and reading the documentation, the software seems to good to be true from my persepctive (NQT learning to be sysadmin in between marking, previous experience as a casual desktop user). Does anyone have any experience of using smoothwall and can share pros and cons? Many thanks Darren Garside

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Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by Phil Driscoll 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

I agree with Christopher's comments on the choice of technologies for an open source project. I would have though that the ideal choice of technologies for the job would be to use MySQL or PostgresSQL (or other good open source database) as a back end, PHP for the programming and all user interaction through a browser (it seems silly writing native clients in this day and age - particularly for this type of job). I can't foresee any performance issues with this setup and such a solution could be hosted on almost any modern computer platform, with client access via absolutely anything with a web (or even WAP) browser. HTTPS could be used between browser and server to ensure that all net traffic is encrypted and that secure access is available if required from inside and outside the school. Probably the hardest component of the overall job would be the database design so Richard may well have already done the tricky bit. Cheers -- Phil Driscoll Dial Solutions +44 (0)113 294 5112 http://www.dialsolutions.com http://www.dtonline.org

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[suse-linux-uk-schools] Re: Macs and Linux [2]
by Marcus Birkin 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

Thanks, but this no longer compiles under the SuSE v7.1 kernel (2.2.18) Any body managed to get it to work? Or has any other ideas? Marcus > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Paul Munro" <paul.munro1(a)btinternet.com> > To: <suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com> > Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 8:32 AM > Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Re: Macs and Linux [2] > > > Hello again! > > i remembered the name of the application you need: "afpfs". This, I > believe, > lets you mount shares from a Linux box that exist on an Apple machine, > whereas tthe Netatalk platform I think only goes the other way. I'm not > even > too sure if afpfs comes with the appletalk applications software on Linux, > but it would be worth searching your disks. Anyway, the link for the > application is: > > http://www.odyssey.co.il/~heksterb/Software/afpfs > > If I got it right :-O > > Hope that helps some more! > > Paul > >

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Re: Macs and Linux [2]
by Paul Munro 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

Hello again! i remembered the name of the application you need: "afpfs". This, I believe, lets you mount shares from a Linux box that exist on an Apple machine, whereas tthe Netatalk platform I think only goes the other way. I'm not even too sure if afpfs comes with the appletalk applications software on Linux, but it would be worth searching your disks. Anyway, the link for the application is: http://www.odyssey.co.il/~heksterb/Software/afpfs If I got it right :-O Hope that helps some more! Paul

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[suse-linux-uk-schools] MIS, databases
by richard＠tortoise.demon.co.uk 29 Apr '01

29 Apr '01

Miles, I have made a start on this sort of thing. Take a look at my page: www.openi.org I've only just started putting it together, so theres not much to see yet. Richard richard(a)tortoise.demon.co.uk

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