How Can I Make My School To Adopt Ubuntu?

[fremantle]

This is something serious i wanted to share with u guys. I am residing in the Bronx of NY, currently at High School. My school has like 10-20 dell desktops and many dell laptops. The desktops are filled up with viruses, outdated and extremely *****. After i discovered linux and ubuntu, i believe it is the perfect replacement of windows xp. Anything educational can be done in ubuntu with ease and perfection. I think i should talk to them about this, but the thing is, NO OTHER student in my school seem to know about ubuntu. When i try to talk to them about ubuntu they just make comments and call me a geek (!!!) .... if i can do this it would be a great thing for both our school and the linux revolution.... but i have no clue how me alone can make them dump their "trusted" xp servers and desktops..... any advice for me????!

[TheNerdAL]

I Want to do that with my school too! We have Windows XP which, in my opinion, is old. I brought the CD to school and my teacher read the cd cover and I think she was interested. I told her that she can try it on her computer without installing anything but I think she thought it was a virus so she didn't.

I would talk to the principal and see if that works. If it doesn't try to contact the Superintendent.

[fremantle]

Did she try it? if she just tried it once she wouldve fallen in love wth it... anyways, my schools not like that, its a big school and they really dont hav time to check out linux distros brought by students...

[fremantle]

Hey, i requested cds from canonical too for tryin them in my school desktops (cause a liveusb wont impress the teachers). i requested 3 karmic 32bt dextop but for sum reason they sent me 3 kubuntu, 2 server and 1 ubuntu dextop!!!!

[TheNerdAL]

Did she try it? if she just tried it once she wouldve fallen in love wth it... anyways, my schools not like that, its a big school and they really dont hav time to check out linux distros brought by students...

She didn't try it because she said it was the schools computer and I think she thought it was a virus, but I might be able to get her to just try it and convince her that it is not a virus.

[new_tolinux]

This is something serious i wanted to share with u guys.
....
any advice for me????!
First of all, what's wrong with XP. I know it's from Microsoft, but I'm no MS-hater. After all, it's quite reliable and stable after all these years of updates and service packs. And it's not Vista (which never was a successor of XP). I know it's still vulnerable to virusses, but with a reasonable virusscanner and not to much "rights" to ordinary users it's not that big of a security-hazard either.
<edit>
Almost forgot the answer :oops: The only way to convince anyone to use Ubuntu, is to show them what it is.
That is, if you have to convince them, because it's strongly recommended not to "convert" anyone to linux, as it probably will give you a lot of trouble and take a lot of your time to correct it if it doesn't work as well as you said.
</edit>

I Want to do that with my school too! We have Windows XP which, in my opinion, is old. I brought the CD to school and my teacher read the cd cover and I think she was interested. I told her that she can try it on her computer without installing anything but I think she thought it was a virus so she didn't.
No offense, but a little hint..........
If I was your teacher I wouldn't try it either when you gave it to me.
At the forum here: you asked what a server is (I almost suggested you google, I didn't type it, but I did look up the link here (http://www.lmgtfy.com)) Then you asked what you can use your computer for. Not to mention the other threads you started which are (to me) not questions of a different kind.

Again, that's not meant as an offense, but I guess there are more people around here who don't take anything you suggest that serious after those sort of questions.
<edit>
Anything meant as "not everything", not as "nothing at all"
</edit>

[1roxtar]

Last year, while I was in college, something cool happened....well cool to me. Our school has about 15 desktops running XP Professional and only a small row of 4 Linux computers (three Linux Mint and 1 Ubuntu 9.10...I installed the Karmic one). Somehow a virus got into the server and got transfered to the Windows pc's and messed up the network connection on all 15 computers. The funny thing was that the Linux computers were running as good as usual....no interruption, at all!!! I laughed a huge geeky smile because everyone was always afraid to use the Linux machines until then.

:guitar:

[TheNerdAL]

Last year, while I was in college, something cool happened....well cool to me. Our school has about 15 desktops running XP Professional and only a small row of 4 Linux computers (three Linux Mint and 1 Ubuntu 9.10...I installed the Karmic one). Somehow a virus got into the server and got transfered to the Windows pc's and messed up the network connection on all 15 computers. The funny thing was that the Linux computers were running as good as usual....no interruption, at all!!! I laughed a huge geeky smile because everyone was always afraid to use the Linux machines until then.

:guitar:

:o That is what I want to happen before I die! A true geek's dream come true, lol. Did they add more Linux computers?

[jflaker]

This is something serious i wanted to share with u guys. I am residing in the Bronx of NY, currently at High School. My school has like 10-20 dell desktops and many dell laptops. The desktops are filled up with viruses, outdated and extremely *****. After i discovered linux and ubuntu, i believe it is the perfect replacement of windows xp. Anything educational can be done in ubuntu with ease and perfection. I think i should talk to them about this, but the thing is, NO OTHER student in my school seem to know about ubuntu. When i try to talk to them about ubuntu they just make comments and call me a geek (!!!) .... if i can do this it would be a great thing for both our school and the linux revolution.... but i have no clue how me alone can make them dump their "trusted" xp servers and desktops..... any advice for me????!

you would need to show 2 things.

-Cost savings
-Admin

Cost should be self explanatory

Admin would be another story. You would need to get a copy of LandScape (http://www.canonical.com/projects/landscape) and show that all the boxes can be managed from ONE interface in the IT room. I am sure that they are using SMS server to manage the windows boxes, they will need to see that same can be done with the Linux boxes.

Another cool thing will be to show that they can bring a new box online from PXE network boot, which I believe that LandScape can do.....

In short, while the costs are no more than the hardware you already own....the perceived need to walk to each box needs to be killed....The boxes can be live updated while in use.

Go for it.

[Frogs Hair]

My collage tried Vista before I was there and it was a failure , so they have reinstalled XP
for the most part. It's impossible to set a clock unless your an administrator and using a Ubuntu CD or any other software is out of the question .

[crlang13]

I also say go for it.

You may want to start a club or something to try and get more students on your side. You said you've tried to show your friends, but they may be the wrong audience. There may be other students in your school who would be into Ubuntu/Linux, but you just don't know about them yet! Starting a club and watching it grow will help get things moving. It will also be a good thing for the college CV, so it's win win.

[fremantle]

First of all, what's wrong with XP. I know it's from Microsoft, but I'm no MS-hater. After all, it's quite reliable and stable after all these years of updates and service packs. And it's not Vista (which never was a successor of XP). I know it's still vulnerable to virusses, but with a reasonable virusscanner and not to much "rights" to ordinary users it's not that big of a security-hazard either.


sorry, i do not know what are you talkin about!!! no one was doing anything hateful towards xp or ms!! imagine 10-20 desktops connected to the internet, hundreds of users using it, and NO antivirus. Thres almost 90% gurantee these viruses will get transported to your home pc if you just connect your usb to the school computr, and thats exactly what students and teachers do. many ppl had virus attacks and this is one of the biggest issues in our school pcs. And also the cost... they are too stupid to install openoffice so they pay money for the msoffice.. and its a grbage now.. we bring docx from our home pcs and cant print it at school coz the office version is still in .doc.... xp maybe is awesome but from my opinion i bliv linux would be the solution here to fix our dextops and give them new lives.

[fremantle]

you would need to show 2 things.

-Cost savings
-Admin

Cost should be self explanatory

Admin would be another story. You would need to get a copy of LandScape (http://www.canonical.com/projects/landscape) and show that all the boxes can be managed from ONE interface in the IT room. I am sure that they are using SMS server to manage the windows boxes, they will need to see that same can be done with the Linux boxes.

Another cool thing will be to show that they can bring a new box online from PXE network boot, which I believe that LandScape can do.....

In short, while the costs are no more than the hardware you already own....the perceived need to walk to each box needs to be killed....The boxes can be live updated while in use.

Go for it.

thanks for that! never thought about that part :D

[fremantle]

Last year, while I was in college, something cool happened....well cool to me. Our school has about 15 desktops running XP Professional and only a small row of 4 Linux computers (three Linux Mint and 1 Ubuntu 9.10...I installed the Karmic one). Somehow a virus got into the server and got transfered to the Windows pc's and messed up the network connection on all 15 computers. The funny thing was that the Linux computers were running as good as usual....no interruption, at all!!! I laughed a huge geeky smile because everyone was always afraid to use the Linux machines until then.

:guitar:
EPIC win

[Chronon]

She didn't try it because she said it was the schools computer and I think she thought it was a virus, but I might be able to get her to just try it and convince her that it is not a virus.

You could offer to disconnect the HD first. This way she can be assured that no changes can get written to the HD.

[TheNerdAL]

You could offer to disconnect the HD first. This way she can be assured that no changes can get written to the HD.

Lol, it's the schools computer. I doubt she'll let me open up the computer to disconnect it, but I am going to try though, lol.

[aysiu]

imagine 10-20 desktops connected to the internet, hundreds of users using it, and NO antivirus. Thres almost 90% gurantee these viruses will get transported to your home pc if you just connect your usb to the school computr, and thats exactly what students and teachers do. Nothing Automatically installed Windows updates Limited user accounts Disabled autorun Firefox with NoScript can't fix. Throwing in some user education on common sense, and your Windows installation is secured.

I love Linux, but it's not that difficult to make Windows secure, really.

[fremantle]

yes mines secured, but not the ones at my school. they just set it up with student and teacher accounts, install office, pdf, smartboard app, connect to the network and peace.

[buddyd16]

"How Can I Make My School To Adopt Ubuntu?"

First off what you need to understand is that you can not make them do anything.
What you can do is politely ask one of your teachers if you and him/her can sit down with the principle and maybe the head of the IT department to discuss a potentially lower cost and safer operating system for the labs and at this meeting on your own computer provide them with some examples of what ubuntu has to offer as an educational tool in the labs, research some of the education based programs in the repository. You may also want to show them some of the uses of open office and show how as a non root user you can not access/alter the main system files.

After doing this if the principal and IT employee are satisfied that it may be the right choice for the school they will likely seek the permission of the school board to proceed further.

[Brent0]

yes mines secured, but not the ones at my skwl. they just set it up with student n teacher acc, install office, pdf, smartboard app, connect to the network and peace.
Perhaps you could show them how to secure Windows as said above to build up respect and trust. Then when they know you are knowledgeable, you could gradually introduce them to Ubuntu. Give the principle a live CD to try at home. :)

[Khakilang]

Well There is always the LiveCD to show. It will better if you can install in one of the laptop where you can carry around to show it to your teacher and friends. Who care whether they call you a geek or not. Just do it. You know statistically 7 out of 10 graduate are working for geeks.

[Brent0]

Well There is always the LiveCD to show. It will better if you can install in one of the laptop where you can carry around to show it to your teacher and friends. Who care whether they call you a geek or not. Just do it. You know statistically 7 out of 10 graduate are working for geeks.
Off Topic:
So if 7 out of 10 people work for geeks, what do the geeks do? (Legitimate question)

[TheNerdAL]

Off Topic:
So if 7 out of 10 people work for geeks, what do the geeks do? (Legitimate question)

They just be rich like Bill Gates and just make decisions, lol.

[Khakilang]

They just be rich like Bill Gates and just make decisions, lol.
+1:guitar:

[Brent0]

They just be rich like Bill Gates and just make decisions, lol.
I'm afraid there is only one Bill Gates and competing against Microsoft is a death sentence. :)

[TheNerdAL]

I'm afraid there is only one Bill Gates and competing against Microsoft is a death sentence. :)

Google is doing it! Google Chrome OS is coming out and I know for sure they will have commercials on TV and because it's free and better than windows for people who only use the internet, which is a lot of people. I'm sure Microsoft will lose a lot of money.

[Khakilang]

Google is doing it! Google Chrome OS is coming out and I know for sure they will have commercials on TV and because it's free and better than windows for people who only use the internet, which is a lot of people. I'm sure Microsoft will lose a lot of money.

Are they geek too?:guitar:

[TheNerdAL]

I think they are, I mean they ARE making an operating system aren't they? :P

[damis648]

I wish I could do something like this at my school, however I know it will never happen, as the campus is large with a huge amount of machines and a huge IT budget. Besides the fact that I am sure many would be resistant due to the lack of familiarity with the OS, and also having to use unsupported applications. Also, since we have a large number of smart boards, it would be a problem because they would not be able to use the Smart Notebook software, and would need to use something else... (i've connected to the boards, they work fine in linux, you just need more extensive software to make use of it)...

But maybe I might be able to convince them to quite possibly install linux on just a few, even just one, just for the hell of it. Hmm...

EDIT: Also, how would you do some sort of LDAP user logins with network home folders of some sort?

[kristine12]

I've also tried to recommend the use of Ubuntu on our school but I was also declined. My professor tell some things why they wouldn't allow that:


The school have contract to Microsoft for using the said Operating System.
If they are using a proprietary software for education then they have a reason to increase tuition fees and other miscellaneous fees.
They don't know about it!
People are afraid of changes! I have prove it to myself many times. They want to stick to a thing that they know reliable.

So the best thing that you can do is conduct seminars about Ubuntu. Try to use Ubuntu on your own computer and show your schoolmates how does it work. On our school, I've conducted a lot of seminars about Ubuntu and I don't regret what I've done because I see some result. Today, it is installed on also all laptops on our school. Students use it also. But the institution itself don't use it on the school computer.

[Khakilang]

No matter how huge is the budget. They will always be prudent in their spending. Why not you make a presentation on the difference on the cost of using propriety software and the cost of using Linux. Make sure the numbers are accurate. I know you can do it.

[steveneddy]

With the teacher's permission, explain to her that the OS will boot off of the CD as a "trial" basis, and let her know that nothing will get loaded on the hard drive.

Then on a spare or particularly virus infected PC, show her how much better it runs with Ubuntu. If she will let you have a free machine, just install it for "experimental" purposes.

Just the basics. No Compiz or anything at first. Sell the reliability and stability rather than the eye candy. Show her Open Office, the calculator, the simple text editor. also show her the menu's and explain how easy it is to navigate and organize ideas and work flow.

I would imagine that if you approached the situation from this angle, you may at least get her to talk to the IT guys in setting up a small Linux lab for teachers and students to work and experiment with.

Also explain to her that alternate OS's will help the students understand the differences in various ways of getting work done on a PC without requiring the use of a proprietary product.

And try not to sound like a fan boy.

[fremantle]

Alrite!! Thanks for the inspirations! tomorrows the day im gonna introduce linux to my teacher. Im gonna let u guys know what happns. Wish me good luck.

[fremantle]

notice my avatar? its the official logo of ubuntu bangladesh (thts where im from). They already started spreading ubuntu all over the country (esp. schools and gov offices). But in America, most of the ppl including grown ups dont even know its existence. SAD.

[chucky chuckaluck]

But in America, most of the ppl including grown ups dont even know its existence. SAD.

the saddest part is that they'll think they're living full, happy lives without it. we can only save so many...

[NightwishFan]

I wish you luck. I too hope to see others rely on software they can really control.

[TheNosh]

i used to want to do this in my school, but the more i thought about it, the less i wanted to do it.

schools get massive discounts on software, it doesn't cost them nearly what you'd think it would. so the cost reduction isn't much insentive.

the IT staff is trained on windows, and windows is just as secure as linux, when properly set up. to switch to linux would involve getting the IT staff familiar with it, and that would take time. an employee's time costs money, so the cost for the school would likely increase if they switch to linux

[NightwishFan]

... and all as per Microsoft's design. Brilliant eh?


No, its not. An uneducated day laborer like myself can see through their business plan. They merely strike from a position of power gained through aggressive and unethical practices. A product does exist to sell itself, so I have to give them credit. They made it to the top.

The bigger they are the harder they will fall.

[TheNosh]

unethical practices.

i find it amusing that whenever a company is successful they're accused of being unethical. perhaps they're actions could be seen as such, but certainly no more so than any other business's actions. microsoft just happens to be more successfully.

that's kind of like calling a champion chess player a cheater simply because they play better than an amateur.

microsoft makes pretty good software most of the time, as long as they keep that up i have no problem with their software being the standard.

[NightwishFan]

I do not say I disagree. However, at times they have been proven to do things against the law intentionally. I have nothing against their business practices for the sake of business, but for the sake of morality. It is not hard to tell when someone is intending to do wrong. I have no problem with them being the standard other than it is potentially limiting to have something you cannot control be the standard.

I do not plan on citing sources, take the above as opinion if you must. I am not going to hunt down records of every court case with them. :)

For background, my old school used Win2k in the Vista age, which was so slow that class was nearly over before the machines got off the ground. We learned to program our work at home and bring it to school with us. (Web design).

[pommie]

Before you make the attempt you had better find out if the schools hardware works with Linux :(

you, its a great operating system

teacher, the printer does not work :-k
you, but its a great operating system

teacher, the scanner does not work :x
you, but its a great operating system

teacher, where is the maths/english/science etc software :roll:
you, but its a great operating system:lolflag:

If you can avoid all of the above, go for it, but if you can't, then you are better off waiting until you can.


Cheers David

[xir_]

Nothing Automatically installed Windows updates Limited user accounts Disabled autorun Firefox with NoScript can't fix. Throwing in some user education on common sense, and your Windows installation is secured.

I love Linux, but it's not that difficult to make Windows secure, really.

That is possibly the best set of advice i have ever seen on securing windows.

[new_tolinux]

sorry, i do not know what are you talkin about!!! no one was doing anything hateful towards xp or ms!!
...

I didn't say someone was.

[alket]

If your school have Science Fair its much easier to do that.

[madjr]

If your school have Science Fair its much easier to do that.

yea linux has lots of free educational and scientific programs, they might be interested to Dual-Boot

we used to dual-boot with red hat

they would also be interested to TEACH LINUX and/or linux server or OPEN SOURCE and by expanding their computer lab

remember they're a school, not ur uncle or cousin, so they're interest in flashy stuff, just educational motivation

so yeap you'll need to use reasoning and some psychology on them

print the ubuntu manual (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-Manual-Will-Be-Available-with-Ubuntu-10-04-131201.shtml) and give a copy to your computer teacher and anyone who wants 1

http://www.comptia.org/Libraries/Certifications/CompTIA-Linux.sflb.ashx

also tell them you're interested in A+ and linux+ (http://www.comptia.org/certifications/listed/linux.aspx) certification. They'll know that way that linux is important and profitable to learn/teach

Join your nearest ubuntu LoCo team (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams), that way you'll not only bring ubuntu to your school, but many others as well

have fun and good luck

[scouser73]

This is something serious i wanted to share with u guys. I am residing in the Bronx of NY, currently at High School. My school has like 10-20 dell desktops and many dell laptops. The desktops are filled up with viruses, outdated and extremely *****. After i discovered linux and ubuntu, i believe it is the perfect replacement of windows xp. Anything educational can be done in ubuntu with ease and perfection. I think i should talk to them about this, but the thing is, NO OTHER student in my school seem to know about ubuntu. When i try to talk to them about ubuntu they just make comments and call me a geek (!!!) .... if i can do this it would be a great thing for both our school and the linux revolution.... but i have no clue how me alone can make them dump their "trusted" xp servers and desktops..... any advice for me????!

Tell the IT administrator in your school that you think the current PC's need bringing upto scratch by using Ubuntu, there is no need to think about financing as all he/she would need is some blank CDs and away they'd go. Tell them the benefits of using Linux over Windows, perhaps write it down and get some comparisons so they can check your findings.

[ZarathustraDK]

Schools don't "care" about open source, they teach kids algebra and stuff like that.

What they do care about is MONEY, hit them on that instead.

Figure out what pay-ware you're using at the school that have a good open source alternative (XP, Office, AV, stuff like that), figure out what they cost, and then serve it to the teachers, principal and bulletin boards all over the school. But do it nicely: make a spreadsheet called "open source savings at school X" or something like that and then just add up the cost of the pay-ware together with proper alternatives. Perhaps spice it up a bit with the costs of dealing with infections, licenses and lost/scratched software-cd's. The cost of using pay-ware is the savings of using open source when talking school-sizes.

Effect 1: Everybody will see how much money is spend on it.

Effect 2: If it's a ridiculous amount compared to the budget, then people (who hold authority and can make decisions) will stand in line to point it out in order to not look like idiots.

It's all about making the benefits of what you're advocating play mindtricks on people. Proprietary has the benefits of commercial, we only have us ^^

[ssj6akshat]

Try the same way I did.When our school computers got wrecked by malware I saw the opportunity and tried my best to convince them.All you need is a chance and patience.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9117253




Hey the character in your avatar looks like a east Indic Language characher

[fremantle]

embarrassment!!!!!!!! today ran the live cd in front of my spanish teacher on a school dextop. everything ran well, but the internet didnt work. it showed connected to "Auto eth0" but still no internet!!

@ssj6akshat: its "U" in bengali

[alket]

embarrassment!!!!!!!! today ran the live cd in front of my spanish teacher on a school dextop. everything ran well, but the internet didnt work. it showed connected to "Auto eth0" but still no internet!!

@ssj6akshat: its "U" in bengali

You must tried it with yourself first. What about MAC Addresses and stuff.

[madjr]

embarrassment!!!!!!!! today ran the live cd in front of my spanish teacher on a school dextop. everything ran well, but the internet didnt work. it showed connected to "Auto eth0" but still no internet!!

@ssj6akshat: its "U" in bengali


same happened to Bill Gates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy9fV_zX_o

thats I.T. for you.
you must figure out what went wrong, and be prepared next time :)

[kristine12]

same happened to Bill Gates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy9fV_zX_o

thats IT for you.
you must figure out what went wrong, and be prepared next time :)

That video was awesome!

[kenweill]

Back to the topic. :)

How can i make my school to adopt ubuntu?

Well, it's not that easy. Teachers / Instructors are just following their teacher's guide. If the guide wanted them to teach MS products, then why would they replace their xp computers with ubuntu? I mean, it's not their decision as to why windows is installed in the school's computers. They are just following orders as to what they should teach, and to what should be installed in their computers.

Well, i don't actually know how to adopt it to your school, but i think it would be better if you start giving free copies of ubuntu cd's to your friends to let them try it. Then some, to your teachers/instructors for them to try. Who knows? They might like it.

Also, you might want them to read:
Why Linux is better (http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/).
Top 10 List: Why Linux is Better Than Windows (http://www.reichel.net/opensource/linuxtop10.html)
10+ Reasons Why Linux Ubuntu is Better than windows (http://www.sizlopedia.com/2008/03/29/10-reasons-why-linux-ubuntu-is-better-than-windows/)

[asddf]

I do think this is an area Linux/Ubuntu could really take over, schools would be the perfect mix.

Low cost(well no cost), super reliable, virus free, very hard to screw the computer up(with proper accounts set up).

Defiantly need an Ubuntu for Schools campaign!

[NightwishFan]

I think it would be cool to show to public libraries too. My local library got a whole bunch of new computers that are still running Xp. It has a desktop running Fedora, but it only used for the card catalog. (And it is always the only computer up and running, even when the others have network trouble or some such nonsense) :)

Something like this library has done.
http://www.hclibrary.org/index.php?page=305

[asddf]

Is there a collection of links similar to the Howard County one?

Might be useful for education orientated places to be able to read about others who have made the switch.

[NightwishFan]

You can go here, with PDF downloads if you want as well.
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/casestudies

[asddf]

Cool thanks

[sxmaxchine]

although ubuntu is better then windows the fact remains that most people need windows for third party software such as adobe products and autodesk.

however it would be better if they could dual boot the computers that way it is better for everyone