A few growing pains aside, a Linux deployment in a Santa Rosa, CA elementary school district is maturing robustly, letting teachers and students stand apart from their previous dependence on Microsoft Windows while they try on new open software attitudes.
The transition in Santa Rosa from Windows NT 4 to Ubuntu Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) might not get an A+ mark based strictly on smoothness, suggested Jordan Erickson, who’s been overseeing the seven LTSP school networks ever since their launch about three years ago through his company, Silicon Valley-based Logical Networking Solutions (LNS). But overall, the Linux deployment is ranking highly with the seven schools involved, because it saves them money on Microsoft licenses, spares them from Windows upgrades, prevents computer viruses, and spurs greater collaboration, Erickson said.
The school district in Santa Rosa decided to switch to LTSP following a pilot program at a Boys and Girls Club in Petaluma, CA. Initially used in an after-school program for six-to-14-year-olds, the implementation at the kids’ clubhouse is still up and running, along with a smaller deployment at LNS, for a grand total of nine managed LTSP networks, all in Sonoma County. LNS administers the whole configuration from its offices in Santa Rosa, using Virtual Network Computing (VNC) over Secure Shell for Workstations (SSH) tunnels.
Each of the eight remote sites also has its own server, which serves up LTSP to the Koolu thin-client systems accessed by the kids for classroom lessons, after-school homework, Internet research, and--during lunch-time and the late afternoon--computer games.
Although some of the schools already had older Compaq PC workstations at the outset, other classrooms were just heading into computerization with the use of Neoware E100 or HP T5530 thin clients.
Linux-enabled applications used by the schools have revolved around the OpenOffice suite, Firefox browser, and Typing Tutor, a commercially developed program which teaches kids to type. Some of the schools are also running Virtual Machine (VM) Terminal Services for legacy Windows-based classroom learning applications, Erickson said.
Meanwhile, in its own offices, LNS has been running a custom virtual machine--hosted on the same LTSP server--along with a Windows-driven QuickBooks accounting system and Linux applications that include OpenOffice.org; Firefox; Thunderbird, for e-mail; Sunbird, for shared calendaring; Dia, for network diagramming, and a number of others. Shell scripts are utilized over the SSH tunnels to automate tasks such as synchronizing the directories on each server from a master.
"We’ve experienced a few hiccups with the VM," Erickson acknowledged. "We’ve also had some problems around OpenOffice and Firefox... Firefox has well known issues with LTSP, anyway," he added.
Erickson also noted, however, that LNS has been able to work out a lot of the glitches by communicating with other Linux community members through the Pidgin and XChat software applications.
The spirit of collaboration in Santa Rosa has been contagious, stretching into classrooms, too. Erickson concedes that, at first, LTSP underwent considerable opposition from some teachers.
"These teachers were so accustomed to Windows that any change was difficult for them," according to Erickson. "They’d say, ‘This is just weird.’"
LNS, however, taught the teachers they could do just about anything in Linux that they’d done in Windows--and more importantly, showed them how.
"After the teachers gained more mastery, they flipped a 180-degree turn. They grew excited about troubleshooting, and they were proud to be able to get to the point where they could solve problems even without our help."
Erickson contended that, along the way, Adobe’s lack of support for Shockwave Director on Linux has posed one of the biggest stumbling blocks to LTSP in the Santa Rosa schools.
"Adobe has finally added support for Flash Player on Linux, and that’s helpful. But there’s still been absolutely no response from Adobe to requests from the community for a plug-in to Director," he charged. As a result, teachers in Santa Rosa have been dropping a Director-enabled application formerly used during the first three grades of school. "And there have been some hard feelings against Adobe," Erickson said.
For the sake of underlying stability, Santa Rosa has been sticking with the Long Term Support (LTS) versions of Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux, beginning with Ubuntu 6.04 and migrating along to 8.04, the current deployment.
Hardware upgrades have been performed, as well. "We are putting stability and security first," Erickson said. "And we’re had zero viruses with LTS," he added.
Meanwhile, though, in the interests of greater ease of use, Erickson--who owns LNS--recently hired a subcontractor to develop a new graphical user interface (GUI) for Ubuntu LTS. At the same time, thought is now being given to putting lab technicians in place at each of the remote sites on the LTSP network, for on-site help to teachers and children.
Still, however, LTSP is bringing huge benefits to the elementary schools of Santa Rosa, and it promises to do likewise for other school districts, too, according to Erickson.
Beyond slashing the costs of Microsoft licenses, taking giant steps away from Windows permits the schools to hold on to their software investments. Particularly with LTS versions of Ubuntu, older software "doesn’t stop getting supported, the way it does in Windows," he said. Moreover, proposed changes to the OS "are examined in light of how they might potentially break other things."
Also as Erickson sees it, thin client systems can produce additional cost savings by providing better energy efficiency than Windows PCs.
"Schools these days just don’t have all that much to spend. They can apply the money they save from LTSP to other needs, such as books," he observed.
"The use of Linux and open source also gives schools a chance to collaborate with others, no matter where in the world those schools are located."
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
written by tw3ak, June 05, 2009
-
- +1
-
-
written by Jordan Erickson, June 06, 2009
Cheers,
Jordan
-
- +1
-
-
written by Craig Cabrey, June 06, 2009
beginning with Ubuntu 6.04 and migrating along to 8.04
That should be Ubuntu 6.06, there was no 6.04.
Otherwise, very well written article.
-
- +1
-
-
written by 1369ic, June 06, 2009
That said, I have a few comments about the way it's written.
The first two paragraphs lead off with negatives -- despite growing pains and might not get an A+ for smoothness. The author even backs into the lead sentence to get the growing pains up front. Backing in is something my journalism professors taught me to avoid, and it also serves to make the lead emphasis (the first three to five words) negative. So the message the piece sends the reader is that the first thing people think of when they think of the project is the growing pains. That may be true, and is in fact true of every significant server changeover I've seen. I still wouldn't write it that way, however, not least because it is common enough to be considered the norm. Who could change from NT4 to anything without growing pains? So what's wrong with putting that "despite a few growing pains" at the end of the sentence? The sentence would be smoother, it wouldn't be sending the not-so-subtle message that the problems are foremost in the writer's mind and the article would still be light-years ahead of the industry norm for journalistic integrity.
Same with the second paragraph: negative first, positive second. The trend continues with the quotes: the first two are negatives. And the next quote or two aren't all that positive, either.
I'm not suggesting anybody ban negatives from everything published here. People instinctively know that's bull. But the article sends mixed messages. If you read the whole thing you get the sense that overall the school is happy and enjoying the benefits. Yet the author consistently puts the negatives first. Yeah, it's technical and might be considered subtle, but there's no reason to do it to yourself if you don't have to.
And remember, not everybody is going to get far enough into the article to take away the positives at the end. News portals will have only the first paragraph or two, and a lot of people don't bother going any further, especially if they're only mildly interested in the subject of the story.
Again, overall it's a nice article. I only comment as a Linux fan who also happens to be a former journalist turned PR guy. I don't know how much control, if any, Linux.com had over this piece, but I thought the points worth making.
-
- +0
-
-
written by Jordan Erickson, June 06, 2009
) and one or two of the quotes from me I just plain don't remember saying.. 
but I'm sure things like that happens with most articles not directly published by the people involved.
-
- +0
-
-
written by Diego Viola, June 06, 2009
-
- +1
-
-
written by captain abab, June 06, 2009
1. That a pro-linux company based in Santa Rosa persuaded the elementary school in the same town to use their services. This being the heart of Silicon Valley, I'm surprise it didn't happen sooner.
Are you going to tell me that a school in Cupertino switching to Apple is news as well?
2. Still stuck with Windows due to "running Virtual Machine (VM) Terminal Services for legacy Windows-based classroom learning applications" and "Windows-driven QuickBooks accounting system "
3. It wasn't a smooth transition...
"We’ve experienced a few hiccups with the VM," Erickson acknowledged. "We’ve also had some problems around OpenOffice and Firefox... Firefox has well known issues with LTSP, anyway,"
Erickson concedes that, at first, LTSP underwent considerable opposition from some teachers.
"These teachers were so accustomed to Windows that any change was difficult for them," according to Erickson. "They’d say, ‘This is just weird.’"
4. That teachers love fixing computer issues...
"They grew excited about troubleshooting, and they were proud to be able to get to the point where they could solve problems even without our help."
-- I'm wondering why this reporter didn't get any quotes from the teachers themselves on this point.
5. That there must be some "discounts" provided by this company to the school in order to promote Linux...
"Erickson--who owns LNS--recently hired a subcontractor to develop a new graphical user interface (GUI) for Ubuntu LTS. At the same time, thought is now being given to putting lab technicians in place at each of the remote sites on the LTSP network, for on-site help to teachers and children. "
-- all to save a few $$ on OS licenses!!
6. That ...
...older software "doesn’t stop getting supported, the way it does in Windows,"
-- Instead with Linux, it just doesn't get supported from the beginning:
"..teachers in Santa Rosa have been dropping a Director-enabled application formerly used during the first three grades of school."
7. That the article is devoid of real content.
Where are the quotes from the school administrators praising this change? Why is all of the spin coming from the only company promoted by this article? Where are the numbers detailing the cost savings?
-
- +0
-
-
written by davi jordan, June 08, 2009
Support:
I only have to load applications on one machine instead of many. no viruses, malware, and spyware to deal with. There are quite a bit of system and software updates all the time. most of the updates get done at night so that process is seamless. one thing I like about ltsp is that the clients are diskless, I do not have to spend time doing sneaker support to replace and reimage hard drives like you typically do in a windows environment.
Updates:
There are updates every day for both operating system and application software., Wht is neat about ltsp updates only have to be done to the server. There is not time wasted having to update client machines.
Software:
There is a ton of software for linux. I have not found any software I that I needed that was not open source. We also have a separate linux based web server so all the school applications run on it. updates are downloaded all the time. We use about thirty different apps not including in-house developed software. We have web based software for Accounting. Student content management. That same software takes care of records for grading, attendance, classrom media, and etc. we also have a media server for live videos to classrooms. etc etc etc all opensource.
Discounts:
Though I do try to donate to opensource projects, you can acquire linux for free. No discounts required. But then I was a tech for many years and I can easily take care of support. I do advise anyone to get a tech support contract if they do not have the staff to support linux. I ahve no problem getting people into linux becuase the gui is easy.
A good systems analyst will weigh all the options as is to what is good or bad for a system to be used. In some cases maybe where specific software is required Microsoft might have an edge. For our small school, we have had less than a thousand dollars expenses for cost of new equipment, software, and repairs in the last couple of years. I nearby school about the same as ours probably spent over ten thousand dollars for new software, hardware, and etc in one year alone. . You can not convince me Redmond Washington has us in their best interests.
Yes, if you use Microsoft software you will have to upgrade all your equipment everytine a new os comes out. it is not just a matter of license costs in any shape or means. I am still using the same computer for the last five years and it will run circles around W7 running on an even more powerful machine. Linux is not the answer to everything, but it sure has been for us. the previous comments sound like sour grapes.
Microsoft free for five years now . Its better with (X)Windows.not MSWindows.
.
-
- +1
-
-
Show/hide comment form
Linux Kernel Development How Fast it is Going, Who is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It: An August 2009 Update