<b>Clinic next door to a School</b> - A health clinic located right
next door Sasha's school has a close partnership with the school. Many
students are scene there so they decided to add a donated computer to
their waiting room just for kids to use Sugar. This computer still has
its hard-drive, but its dedicated for Sugar. Some of the basic sugar
files are located on the hard drive and it is set up to allow students
to log out rather then shutting down and restarting between each
student.
<br><br>This is an very interesting idea. A hybrid harddrive usb solutions. From a technology perspective it would not be that hard to implement. When the computer boots from the hard drive it waits at a login prompt for the user to either login or insert a USB with the users /home directory. The current generation of linux distribution has excellent support for DBUS to communicate the status of hot swapped devices such as USBs. <br>
<br>A big advantage of this method would be to take advantage of the hard-drives speed while storing user data on the USB. Furthermore, the users login criteria would be stored on the USB. This would allow passwordless login.<br>
<br>The main concern that I have heard about storing user data on a USB is that kids will lose them. Kids can be trusted not to lose their textbooks and folders. Why not reverse the trend of shrinking USBs and make textbook sized USBs for kids:) We make big pencils and big crayon for younger students. Why not big USBs? <br>
<b><br></b><b>The Zoo</b>: ....<br><br>This seems very similar to the clinic.<br><b><br></b><b>YMCA</b>: After school and on snow days and vacations Sasha goes to
the local YMCA. There is a bank of 10 computers for kids to use. They
are thin clients run from one server. There is a USB port, and the user
experience is just like booting on a stand alone computer, except
because it doesn't really have to fully boot for each student switching
users is much faster.<br><br>The difficulty here seems to be defining what is a thin client. One interesting approach is the one taken in the <font><font color="black"><a href="http://www.hotcosta.com/Extremadura.Spain">Extremadura</a></font></font><b> </b>region in spain. Several years ago they start putting computers on the desks of all of the students in the region. Now, as the computers are becoming outdated (the students have faster computers at home) they are adding high powered servers to schools. By configuring the existing laptops and desktops as clients for the new servers, they are able to extend usefull life of the existing equipment by several years.<br>
<br>For this to become possiable with Sugar we will need to engage the LTSP developers.<b><br><br><br>At School</b>: Due to the E-Rate program Sasha's school and all the
schools in tow are well connected so the schools system decided to take
advantage of the economies of scale and hosts a large server centrally.
In each classroom there are thin clients and a USB port. The user
experience is exactly the same as at the YMCA, but in this case the
server is located several miles away.
<br><br>A current preference for US schools seems to be using E-Rate to finance a client server system where student can log into their virtual desktop from anywhere that has Internet access. <br><br>This thinking seems to stem from the belief within the current generation of school sysadmins that only they can be trusted with a student's data. A second reason is that schools tend to integrate students systems to closely with teachers administrative systems. As a result many districts are putting a tremendous emphasis on backing up students data.<br>
<br>Client Server systems allow sysadmins to backup a student's data to school or district level SAN. It has been awhile since I have gone to school, but I can't remember anyone photo copying my notebooks so that I would have a 'backup' if I lost my original. On the contrary, I remember losing point for losing my homework. It was called learning responsibility. <br>
<br>This belief also seems to stem from the quirk of human nature that if we pay a consultant to install an expensive system, we tend to be happier then if we install an inexpensive system our selves:(<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Caroline Meeks <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:caroline@solutiongrove.com">caroline@solutiongrove.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">Hi,<br><br>This is a request for technical assistance for "Sugar on a Stick".<br><br>It looks like we have a pilot school for our USB boot project, and a grant proposal in so I am trying to think through various use cases around creating ubiquitous access with a USB storage device. I've written up some use cases here: <br>
<br><a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org/go/DeploymentTeam/School_Key#Vision_of_different_ways_the_USB_might_work_in_the_students_environment" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org/go/DeploymentTeam/School_Key#Vision_of_different_ways_the_USB_might_work_in_the_students_environment</a><br>
<br>I'd love thoughts on what is feasible, how hard, and how much benefit would each scenario actually provide.<br><br>I've done tests to show that "Home" and "Grandma's" are feasible. I'm curious as to whether putting some of the boot files on the hard drive (Zoo) could reduce boot time or have any other advanatages as most of our donated computers will likely have working disk drives. I wonder if combining with a LTSP or other virtualization scheme is possible (YMCA/School).<br>
<br>Note all scenarios are fictional.<br><br>Write your ideas here or on the Wiki page as you see fit.<br><br>Thanks!<br>Caroline<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Caroline Meeks<br>Solution Grove<br>Caroline@SolutionGrove.com<br>
<br>617-500-3488 - Office<br>505-213-3268 - Fax<br>
</div>
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