Re: [K12OSN] New name for K12LTSP - New focus...

[BMan <bman bman is-a-geek org>]

I'm going to go ahead and chime in here.  I hope Mr. Z is listening to 
the list lately, there have been a lot of good ideas out here. 
Unfortunately, when I left Red Hat they wouldn't commit many man hours 
to educational projects/efforts.  There was a lot of talk but when it 
came down to dedicating staff for it, it was always we need volunteers. 
Problem is most folks on staff are burning both candles keeping up with 
daily duties yet alone volunteer work.  If the network appliance you 
speak of is a hardware solution then your idea my go on death ears 
unless, as you have mentioned, another vendor is apart of it since they 
have never been a "hardware" company.  I don't recall seeing a post 
about it recently though so excuse my ignorance if I'm blowing smoke. 
:/  Again, getting Red Hat to commit will be really hard unless they 
see value for the stock holders, remember they're public and a profit 
really is the bottom line.  :/  Marketing may just view educational 
stuff as touchy feeling stuff.  I personally think that is crazy 
especially if you look at the major user of Linux is younger folks and 
even high school kids.  They'll be the next generation of Linux gurus. 
Pay a little now and benefit later, put your money where your mouth is. 
Help these folks out Paul and Eric have done so much for adding value 
to your cause.

Regards,
BMan


pnelson wrote:

> This post will let us test the list and see if mail is getting through.
> If not I'll contact the folks at Red Hat and see if they can help us
> out.
>
> How about Schoolhouse Linux?  I had hoped that Red Hat would start
> marketing "Red Hat Schoolhouse" and maybe they will. I do think there is
> a market for the network appliance idea Eric mentioned on the list.
>
> We see Schoolhouse Linux as a pre-configured network appliance that
> would provide schools with a ready to run, network infrastructure.
>
> It would include the same two, network card setup as K12LTSP building a
> private lan for the school while providing a gateway and firewall. Eric
> thinks he has an "instant" SquidGuard configuration that would work as
> well. We'd also include services like Samba, Netatalk, web server and
> printing in addition to terminal services.
>
> The idea really isn't to run everything on one box. It's really to have
> a turnkey solution that would show school folk how easy this stuff can
> be and get them going with little fuss while they learn. All of the
> services above can be moved to other boxes and scaled as needed.
>
> One piece that is still in development is the LDAP authentication front
> end. Eric has done a wonderful job with LDAP here in Multnomah county
> and we all owe our sanity to LDAP. If we can get this part packaged up
> then we'd have a complete package.
>
> BTW, I do think it would serve the cause well if school districts could
> order a fully configured server from Dell with Schoolhouse Linux
> installed and ready to add users. Most of us on this list are the type
> that roll their own servers but we are the minority. Id be interested in
> what some of you with marketing savvy think of how to best move this
> forward.
>
> ;-) Paul
>
>