Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 98.172.26.6]
on September 11, 2008 06:52 PM
I've met Jeff Elkner, and he graciously showed up at my first K12LTSP workshop at nearby TJ High School. What a cool guy! Here's a little funny story about how he helped me out of an LTSP jam.
He and a friend that he brought ended up saving my butt in a pretty big way, since it was my first time ever doing this. I was to build an actual, functioning K12LTSP network in front of the audience, to show how relatively easy it is. The server was already prepped, and we had some Dell OptiPlex GX1's for the terminals...which were provided by TJHS at my request, but I hadn't yet seen.
To my horror, the OptiPlexes wouldn't PXE-boot! And I had an audience right in front of me....
Yes, I know, big mistake using *any* equipment that I'd never seen before for a public demo. Lesson learned right then and there. Jeff's friend commented, "You're former Air Force, aren't you?" I replied that yep, I am. He says, "yep, figures, Air Force guys do just expect things to work." Good laugh by everyone, especially me, 'cause he was right! :-)
While I was frantically trying to troubleshooting this, Jeff and his friend explained to my audience what LTSP is about and why it's important. Without them there, it would have been a much less successful workshop. People might've walked out.
Turns out those OptiPlexes needed a BIOS flash (the BIOS version on them had net-booting bugs), and once done, the terminals booted right up into the K12LTSP desktop. Thanks also go out to a tech dude from Colombia who did Dells for years and was familiar with the problem. Lots of audience participation that day. :-) I think it's good that the audience got a good look at the fact that everything isn't always Easy Street with *any* technology--stuff happens--and that yes, you *can* overcome it. The fact that I had help is right in line with the spirit of Free Software and the sharing of knowledge.
I also attended one of the "Young Hackers & Scholars Libre Users Group" that he heads. They had a good Python workshop using the GNU/Linux equivalent of Visual Studio (it was a few years back), presented by a hacker who, not surprisingly but still gratifyingly, used OpenOffice.org on GNU/Linux to do her slide presentations. Then she takes us into Jeff's LTSP lab to actually do some Python programming! Cool stuff, as I'd never programmed in that language before. The IDE reminded me a whole lot of Visual BASIC, but with Freedom.
Like the first poster said, if only there were a million more teachers like him!
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Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 98.172.26.6] on September 11, 2008 06:52 PMHe and a friend that he brought ended up saving my butt in a pretty big way, since it was my first time ever doing this. I was to build an actual, functioning K12LTSP network in front of the audience, to show how relatively easy it is. The server was already prepped, and we had some Dell OptiPlex GX1's for the terminals...which were provided by TJHS at my request, but I hadn't yet seen.
To my horror, the OptiPlexes wouldn't PXE-boot! And I had an audience right in front of me....
Yes, I know, big mistake using *any* equipment that I'd never seen before for a public demo. Lesson learned right then and there. Jeff's friend commented, "You're former Air Force, aren't you?" I replied that yep, I am. He says, "yep, figures, Air Force guys do just expect things to work." Good laugh by everyone, especially me, 'cause he was right! :-)
While I was frantically trying to troubleshooting this, Jeff and his friend explained to my audience what LTSP is about and why it's important. Without them there, it would have been a much less successful workshop. People might've walked out.
Turns out those OptiPlexes needed a BIOS flash (the BIOS version on them had net-booting bugs), and once done, the terminals booted right up into the K12LTSP desktop. Thanks also go out to a tech dude from Colombia who did Dells for years and was familiar with the problem. Lots of audience participation that day. :-) I think it's good that the audience got a good look at the fact that everything isn't always Easy Street with *any* technology--stuff happens--and that yes, you *can* overcome it. The fact that I had help is right in line with the spirit of Free Software and the sharing of knowledge.
I also attended one of the "Young Hackers & Scholars Libre Users Group" that he heads. They had a good Python workshop using the GNU/Linux equivalent of Visual Studio (it was a few years back), presented by a hacker who, not surprisingly but still gratifyingly, used OpenOffice.org on GNU/Linux to do her slide presentations. Then she takes us into Jeff's LTSP lab to actually do some Python programming! Cool stuff, as I'd never programmed in that language before. The IDE reminded me a whole lot of Visual BASIC, but with Freedom.
Like the first poster said, if only there were a million more teachers like him!
--TP
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