[Glastonbury] meeting tomorrow

[s~TV]

hi lugog,
looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

central gazette should be there for a photo and quick look around 7.30pm 
so if you can only make it for a short while please aim to be there for 
then ;-)

i have sent in a general blurb about the use of linux and open source at 
school as well as LUGOG. anything else you may want to add needs to be 
said tomorrow eveening to the reporter.
let's be "OPEN"
what does this group mean to you?

anyway below is the .txt of what was sent.
i expect they will chop and change.

regards,
s~TV

"Despite a restricted budget this year I am looking at ways to continue 
to expand the use of ICT in teaching and learning at St. Dunstan’s 
Community School as well as open our doors to the general public to come 
in and use our equipment and facilities.

One way I have saved money and expanded at the same time is through the 
introduction of a “Thin Client” network for generic office use and 
internet access. Thin Client means the user workstation needs very 
little hardware inside it in order to run applications. All you need is 
a powerful server. The new network runs on Linux (pronounced 
“lee-nooks”), a free and open source operating system. Linux began with 
Linus Torvalds in 1991. As a student of ICT in Helsinki University Linus 
created his own Unix-compliant Operating System and released it over the 
internet as an Open Source operating system that could be freely 
distributed via the internet. Open Source means that the code for the 
system is also available for people to see and adapt to their needs. 
Because of this the Linux system quickly became a “programmers system” 
and an internet community grew up adding to the source code and scope of 
what it can do. Linux is all about “community” and “collaboration”. Over 
the past 12 years Linux has evolved into a highly advanced and user 
friendly operating system that is stable and secure as well as having a 
price tag of £0.00. There are also 1000’s of free applications that will 
run on it. Because it is so stable industry are now switching to it. For 
example Hollywood now use Linux as a platform to render Computer 
Generated Images. Star Wars Episode 1, Nemesis, Lord of the rings to 
name a few. The logo for Linux is Tux the Penguin. Much friendlier than 
a 4 coloured Window?

In schools for each machine we would normally have to pay for the 
Licence for the “Windows” Operating System as well as the Licence for 
Microsoft Office as well as using a new machine that can handle it. This 
comes to approximately £600 per machine. However using Linux means we 
can use a stable and free operating system with “Open Office” which is 
also free. Open Office is interchangeable and compatible with Microsoft 
Office. So for a network of 15 machines I save the school £9000. Now 
with any new system or program there will be training issues but if 
students and staff as well as the general public understand why using 
Open Source software is better than using a closed and proprietary 
system like Windows I believe they will put in the extra time to learn 
how to use it. Students are finding it easy to use and I have been able 
to provide Internet and Generic Office applications to more students as 
a result.

Running a network “Thin Client” also means we can run the software on 
older machines. I would like to thank http://www.free-computers.org for 
donating the P100 computers to us and http://irlcomputers.com  for 
helping us get set up.

The way forward for the school will be to adopt a “hybrid” approach so 
that students see and use more than one type of operating system. By 
using Open Source software students will be able to use software at home 
and can be legally supplied by the school with software that is 
compatible with MSOffice as well as Linux. Two main packages we are 
already using are “Open Office” and the film industry graphics package 
“The GNU Image Manipulation Program”. Both of these will also run on 
windows machines and are freely available. If you would like to find out 
more please visit http://www.linuxinschools.org which I set up in Dec 2001.

I have also set up a new community project using Linux and Open Source 
software. Its name is The Linux User Group of Glastonbury or LUGOG which 
can be found at http://www.lugog.org. We meet every first Wednesday of 
the month between 6 and 9pm. Our first meeting was last month and 
already interest in this new and exciting system is blooming. I am most 
pleased to find support and enthusiasm locally from all ages and 
interests. Anyone else interested in finding out more about Linux and 
Open Source software is most welcome to come along.

Currently I am applying for sponsorship to develop this further as well 
as find a source for second hand computers for “recycling”.
In September an evening course all about Linux is due to run as part of 
the Adult Education programme at the school. Get in touch with the 
Leisure Centre if you are interested."