Options for IT in schools:

Install on hard disk
Boot from CD rom (watch out for HDD install option!)
Boot from network – can send different OS to different machines depending on need.
USB (Student cannot accidentally overwrite the HDD contents!)

Which OSs to use: edubuntu, not bad. Lots of edubuntu hackers work in education. Some useful tools have been developed.

A lot of talk about how to lock down systems and not much about how to free them or their users up! Circumventing proxy servers is seen as a challenge by students. If you block something they’ll try to find a way round it. Sounds like locking down machines is fruitless. But must make best efforts to lock down access as otherwise machines quickly become full of rubbish and unusable. Imaging machines can be a quick resolution to broken systems. Norton Ghost / partimage / clonezilla – server based.

Linux terminal server project: LTSP. Use alt install ubuntu. Need machines with two network cards. Spits out images to clients. Need a stack of bandwidth. Decent server will start to wobble at 6-7 clients. Works better on GigE (but expensive). Local apps are in development. This should relieve server load. Question about USB3 at 5MB/s for thin client use. This may resolve some network issues for thin client setups.

Using linux in classes: have to teach about hardware but can’t do so in working computer lab used for other school work. Teach "what is an operating system" by allowing students to install linux in a lab environment. Install several distributions and compare / contrast. Where does each component fit into the stack and where does each layer begin and end? Students learning with root privs can nuke systems, but they need root to install OS and learn sysadmin.

What is the user experience like? Answer: end user doesn’t care! Only want it to work. Users are after the experience – not interested in the software.

Why manage net access at all?
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that kids are so good at circumventing technical blocks on net access etc?
– Students play tic-tac-toe using drawing packages (paint) when other games are uninstalled!
– Kids are easily distracted and can’t focus when distractions exist. The cream cakes are on the table and they must learn to resist them!
– This is a life skill for working in the internet age. Education needs to change to make sure people can work despite distractions.