An educational project

[girijesh]

Name: Project - Ghorath,
Ghorath is my village in Eastern UP, where it seems that time is taking retrograde steps.

Vision: To impart ABSOLUTELY FREE computer education to village children. To give them exposure to computer education comparable to the best in the world so that atleast we may say, HERE DIGITAL DIVIDE IS NON-EXISTANT.

Obstacles: Poverty, meanness, dirty politics, jealousy, suspicion, short sightedness and selfishness which are natural at places where development has not even walked, forget about its taking strides.


How to go ahead:
It'll be a community driven project where people will contribute in whatever way they are comfortable – time, space, money, hardware, software, study material, supervision........We have to join people and I believe PEOPLE ARE BASICALLY GOOD AT HEART.
We'll select a school, will install used but working computer terminals with FREE and LEGAL software and will roll.....


The model will be replicated at other schools, in villages wherever it is possible and thus we'll gradually march.


AND THE FIRST STEP HAS BEEN TAKEN:
This Diwali on 09/11/2007, we, my two classmates and an enthusiastic teacher, did a small beginning by installing two computers in a space of 14'x12' in a private school 6 km far from my village. Money was obviously a constraint.


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We got assembled computers (P III 800EB, RAM 256 MB)with new hard disks, new mother boards, new key boards, new mice, new DVD combo drives, new speakers, new network cards and balance old but working hardware.
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For operating system, obviously Linux was the choice being free, robust, virus free and with vast international community support for problem solving and updates. We selected UBUNTU distro of Linux which loudly declares itself to be absolutely free for all times. UBUNTU is an African word meaning “Humanity for All”. The distro has a release cycle of six months and is delivered to any human being at his door steps absolutely free of cost on demand. Added advantage – flexibilty of customisation, the interface is available in Hindi Devnagari also.
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The systems were switched on with cheers of a few children who were called to school on holiday from nearby localities.
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Some photographs are attached with this mail.
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Seeing the strength of 700 odd students in the school, 2 computers are grossly inadequate. We decided to first select top 10 meritorious children from each section of 6th, 7th and 8th std. The period of GK will be utilised to impart basic education of computer to these selected fews on rotation basis with each terminal shared by 3 children.
PROBLEMATIC AREAS:
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Poor state of power – only 4 to 5 hours in day time which is inconsistent. Solar alternative is TOOOO costly (Rs.70000/- to run a single terminal) and we can't even afford inverters. DGs have purchase, running and maintenance cost with need of constant supervision.
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No. of Terminals – We need atleast 10 terminals in a school to make this model effective and successful since in that case two students will share a terminal and for a section of 40 students, students will have exposure to computer every alternate day. We need pentium 2 or equivalent celeron system which will cost around Rs.6000/- in Lucknow.
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Running Costs – Obviously only enthusiasm of principal will be inadequate to run the center on sustainable basis. We need money which as per very modest estimate will be Rs.2500/- per month per such center excluding electricity cost which will be borne by the school and is supposed to be partially offset by increased number of students.
APPEAL:
Please
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donate your used old but working PCs after formatting its hard disk erasing all data on it. Better use some repetitive erasing software to erase data.
o
donate Rs.6000/- for a single terminal.
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donate Rs.1090/- for a set of computer table and chair.
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donate Rs.25000/- for construction of wood/glass partition, electrification and linoleum flooring.
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donate your precious time for development and enhancement of educational model and curriculum in HINDI or donate your ideas.
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donate a voltage stabiliser of 2.5-3 KVA which will be sufficient for around 10 terminals.
o
donate inverters
o
donate whatever you can......

Preferably the donation should be in kind and not in cash since handling MONEY/cash has its own evils..

The ONLY precondition is that we'll NOT be able to advertise your name since this project will be run with the help of anonymous people.


Please donate. Imagine the beauty of smile on lips of an innocent child.....


Thanks,


Girijesh

[twistedbydesign]

Hello! Good luck on everything you do. I hope everything works out.
Have you heard of Edubuntu? You may want to consider using that one for the schools.
http://www.edubuntu.org/

[girijesh]

Thanks twistedbydesign,

Yes I've edubuntu7.04 and ubuntu7.04 installed on my system (multibooth with Mandriva2006 and win98se) and find it wanting on many aspects. Basically I'm not from computer background and have learnt it with difficulties. For using edubuntu I need a high end server and thin clients as far as my understanding goes. I don't know even a b c of networking and fear that a trained man will be required to keep the network working which is a very remote possibility in remote areas. Also, it requires money. Basically that was the reason why I decided for standalone machines in the school so that evenif one machine goes off others are working and the main objective of providing uninterrupted education goes on.

I need step by step guide and could not find the same on internet though searched.

From version 6.06LTS onwards I am facing a peculiar problem (My system:Compaq 100P; PIII 450 MHz with 64+128+128 MB RAM and 40GB hardisk which is read only 32 GB):

I can not leave the computer in unattended mode. After some time around 20 min. or so the mouse and keyboard stop functioning though LEDs remain glowing. The system hangs and I'm sure that the same problem will be faced by children also.

I tried all possible /combinations in power saving settings but could not succeed. Any clues?

Pls. don't ask me to recompile kernel etc. I can not understand the nuts and bolts of the same. I require a step by step guide to overcome this problem. Pls. provide.

Thanks,

[shibu]

hi ... great to hear about the project, regarding your query can you try to trouble shoot to see what's causing your machine to hang. Check your logs /var/log/messages , run the command "top" and see which service is causing problem. Also try to stop unnecessary services to see if that resolves your issue.

Thanks,

[ugm6hr]

This is exactly what Indian communities need. Cheaper, and realistic way to achieve what the One Laptop project wants to do for the world's youth.

Transport costs limit donations from the UK etc, but there are loads of suitable private and corporate computers being binned here....

Good luck.

[girijesh]

hi ... great to hear about the project, regarding your query can you try to trouble shoot to see what's causing your machine to hang. Check your logs /var/log/messages , run the command "top" and see which service is causing problem. Also try to stop unnecessary services to see if that resolves your issue.

Thanks,

Thanx 4 reply. The /var/log/messages reads as follows:


Nov 18 10:10:07 eg-EdgyEft syslogd 1.4.1#20ubuntu4: restart.
Nov 18 10:24:07 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 10:44:08 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 11:04:08 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 11:24:08 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 11:44:08 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 12:04:08 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 12:24:09 eg-EdgyEft -- MARK --
Nov 18 12:30:10 eg-EdgyEft gconfd (eg-5256): Exiting
Nov 18 12:30:26 eg-EdgyEft exiting on signal 15
Jan 1 00:02:55 eg-EdgyEft syslogd 1.4.1#20ubuntu4: restart.
Jan 1 00:02:55 eg-EdgyEft kernel: Inspecting /boot/System.map-2.6.20-16-generic
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: Loaded 24980 symbols from /boot/System.map-2.6.20-16-generic.
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: Symbols match kernel version 2.6.20.
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: No module symbols loaded - kernel modules not enabled.
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] Linux version 2.6.20-16-generic (root@terranova) (gcc version 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)) #2 SMP Sun Sep 23 19:50:39 UTC 2007 (Ubuntu 2.6.20-16.32-generic)
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] sanitize start
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] sanitize end
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] copy_e820_map() start: 0000000000000000 size: 000000000009fc00 end: 000000000009fc00 type: 1
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] copy_e820_map() type is E820_RAM
Jan 1 00:02:56 eg-EdgyEft kernel: [ 0.000000] copy_e820_map()

I guess I have to change cmos battery since date problem is there. But I am unable to find any clue regarding the hanging problem after some minutes of inactivity. Can u help me please?

Thanx,

Girijesh

[girijesh]

This is exactly what Indian communities need. Cheaper, and realistic way to achieve what the One Laptop project wants to do for the world's youth.

Transport costs limit donations from the UK etc, but there are loads of suitable private and corporate computers being binned here....

Good luck.

many many thanks for your good wishes. Can u suggest any other way of getting help/ some donations?

thanx again,

girijesh

[Lostincyberspace]

I don't know but I use meebo.com to video conference kind of low quality though.

[girijesh]

It is almost 3 years since i switched over to Linux. . Well there are specific problems which can not be sorted out in Linux and windows do not have it. In numerous forums I have tried to find the solution of the problems but to no avail.

(1) Ubuntu - Everything is fine except that at PIII machines it becomes irresponsive and hangs after 10 or 15 minutes of inactivity. All sorts of tweaking suggested were tried but to no avail. The problem is not happening in celeron machines. You can just imagine the dilemma of a person who is being pressed hard by a remote school teacher to switch over to windows just to avoid this problem. There is no internet at the school.

(2) RPM based distros: To sort out the problem (1) I decided to switch over to RPM based distros. Fedora is notorious because of anaconda being buggy. It gives inconsistent error messages about hard disk/partitions whereas on the same hard disk/partitions debian distros find no problem in installation. I tried PCLinuxOS and it was installed but again a different problem erupted. Since there is no internet at school, I use portable usb harddisk to carry the updates/data. Now, the same usb hard disk which gets easily auto mounted in windows and ubuntu enviros, PCLinuxOS refuses to even manually mount the same. Again numerous tweaking suggested were tried but to no avail.

(3) I wish to have a method so that I can update my home installation thru' internet and then use the same rpm or deb files to update computers installed at remote school but I end up with numerous unmet dependencies and broken installations. There is no step to step guide as how to sort out this problem.

I am not a techie and computer professional. I find it difficult as a common man to use linux. That's a truth even after 3 years trying on it.

It appears to me that since there is no centralised, uniform and consistent approach for basics in Linux installation, everybody is going his own way. The strength of Linux is now proving to be its weakness as far as its penetration in masses is concerned. I don't know when it will be easier to use linux as windows. Regarding the remote school installation, now I'm getting frustrated.
__________________
Thanks

[Presto123]

What you seem to be dealing with is that we, as major computer users in our respective countries have been using computers most of our lives. So, we may sometimes forget to ease things as much as possible.

This makes me want to finish the guide I have been writing so that you all can access it in a way that is feasible. I can see some problems with this, though...many of my fixes are only basic and typically require having SOME form of internet in order to get it to work correctly.

[ugm6hr]

(1) Ubuntu - Everything is fine except that at PIII machines it becomes irresponsive and hangs after 10 or 15 minutes of inactivity. All sorts of tweaking suggested were tried but to no avail. The problem is not happening in celeron machines. You can just imagine the dilemma of a person who is being pressed hard by a remote school teacher to switch over to windows just to avoid this problem. There is no internet at the school.

(3) I wish to have a method so that I can update my home installation thru' internet and then use the same rpm or deb files to update computers installed at remote school but I end up with numerous unmet dependencies and broken installations. There is no step to step guide as how to sort out this problem.

Not sure why P3 machines hang for you. That must be specific to your hardware, since there are plenty of P3 users (including my old computer). Sounds like something to do with the power-saving features, but it sounds like that may have already been mentioned to you. I haven't had that particular problem, but I am sure it must be possible to just turn off the power-saving features (assuming they will be turned off at the mains when not used, given the power issue)

If you are sticking with ubuntu, then it may be possible for you to update without internet at all locations with this:
http://nonetdebs.homeip.net/

How it works is explained here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=572819

Unfortunately, you would need an email address per computer, which might be a nuisance. However, it should be relatively straightforward to just copy all the files to all machines (since they should all be similar and then install with the custom scripts for each machine.

I haven't installed edubuntu, but I think it must be possible to just install it on each individual computer (as a workstation rather than server / thin client). If not, all the various programs should be in the repos for installation from a standard Ubuntu anyway.

[girijesh]

Last week the actual teaching started at the school. We recruited a trained teacher and he is doing well. We have received three more computers thru' partial donation+purchase. Presently I'm trying on a software http://userful.com/products/dm

which can allow us use of a single PC by two users without networking and with only addition of mouse, keyboard and monitor. So effectively by little investmenst we'll be able to multiply no. of users twofold.

thanks,

[girijesh]

Not sure why P3 machines hang for you. That must be specific to your hardware, since there are plenty of P3 users (including my old computer). Sounds like something to do with the power-saving features, but it sounds like that may have already been mentioned to you. I haven't had that particular problem, but I am sure it must be possible to just turn off the power-saving features (assuming they will be turned off at the mains when not used, given the power issue)



Thanks. It is happening at 4 machines including my home PC. There is something wrong with ubuntu+PIII combination. On celeron this is not happening. I'm really stuckup. Our aim is not to struggle with hardware+software but to provide free computer education to less fortunate children.

:confused:

[Presto123]

Has anyone suggested, or have you tried, Xubuntu on those machines? Don't know if it would make one bit of difference with the issues you are having, but it could run better.

[X40nick]

I think that is a excellent idea, and I have been thinking about a Hardware Donorship Programme.

If people who have old parts (I have a AMD Druron 750PC excellent for that use) they can donate it to a supply. And when there is enough build a PC, install Linux and give it to the third world country's.

I would feel much better doing that, rather than the trip to the dump.

Who things a Hardware Donorship Programme is a good idea? I am prepared to devote 100% of my time to this project?

Nick.

[philinux]

Ubuntu running fine on my old croc.

[ugm6hr]

I would feel much better doing that, rather than the trip to the dump.

Who things a Hardware Donorship Programme is a good idea? I am prepared to devote 100% of my time to this project?


I was reading about a few similar projects in UK:
http://www.itschoolsafrica.org
http://www.computeraid.org

And there was an article about a German project in a UK national Linux magazine this month too.

[X40nick]

I was thinking a little bit more for hardware that will be used with Ubuntu, so that everyone who can, can donate something that in the end will make a full system. Then install Ubuntu on hardware that works, and then the machine is given to someone.

People can donate money to help with shipping costs.

I think it should be a Ubuntu project, as Edubuntu will run on machines from 8 years ago!

Nick.

[girijesh]

Fortunately, some solution has become likely for power problem. We have now a man who has come out with solution in the form of 2 nos. 150AH batteries, one for UPS and another for Inverter. UPS will provide power to all CPUs and peripherals connected whereas Inverter will provide power to Monitors. Presently we are having weekly power cycle i.e. a week in day hours and next week in night hours. Consequently, practical classes are being run alternate weeks. Theory classes are being run continuously.

The solution provider will bear the cost of all electronics but cost of batteries is a hindrance. Batteries will cost around Rs.11000/- (US$279 or Euro 189).

We are trying for money required. Any help?

[girijesh]

oops! deefening silence!!

Anyway my mantra is from Bhagvad Gita " Na dainyam na palaynam" NO WEAKNESS NO QUITTING

[girijesh]

With the change of provincial govt., power scenario has become worse and we have abandoned the idea of inverter. Instead now we are thinking of a small generator of 2 to 3 KVA capacity costing around Rs.19000/- since power availability is not sufficient to charge the batteries.

A ray of hope - I've received a $100 donation proposal from USA. Hope it materialises.... :guitar:

The school computer center is functioning with whatever power is available. Silver lining is that kids are learning and teachers are enthusiastic.

[maybeway36]

You should install some of the educational software avaiable online or on Edubuntu Addon CD (it works on regular Ubuntu too.)

[girijesh]

gcompris,
childsplay,
tuxpaint and
stellarium are already installed and are part of curriculum. Anything else available? please tell me.

[hyper_ch]

There is something wrong with ubuntu+PIII combination. On celeron this is not happening. I'm really stuckup.
Might be a ram problem... maybe one of the ramblocks is damaged...

You might want to test it with memtest: http://www.memtest.org/

[girijesh]

It is happening in all the 4 PCs if running ubuntu any version.

However, same is not happening when running PCLinuxOS, Mandriva or even Mint on the same PCs. RAM cannot be defective for all the PCs.

[hyper_ch]

oh, I thought it's only happening in one... :(

[ikonia]

sort the poverty and other things out before worrying about the digital divide.

[hyper_ch]

sort the poverty and other things out before worrying about the digital divide.

Those two are interlinked ;)

[girijesh]

sort the poverty and other things out before worrying about the digital divide.

It is very easy to give lecture on poverty eradication blah blah.....

If something practical can be done, should be done with whatever minimal resources one has. We are doing that and WE WILL NOT FAIL. Remember I'm using "WE" not "I"......We'll find like minded people and the show will continue....with success.

There may be N ways to remove poverty and narrowing of digital divide is the one...

[girijesh]

Finally a couple of days back we're able to install fifth computer and one diesel operated generator set in the school. Books in Hindi for computer education have also been specified for each standard starting first to eighth and now computer education is part of curriculum. :guitar:

I thank all who helped in our little initiative. If further financial/hardware donation comes, we'll increase the number of computers and go for internet connectivity also.

[Siddharth S.Tripathi]

Respected brother,

It is nice to see you doing a commendable job in your village. But I failed to identify the exact location of that school you are keenly interested in. Is it in Laxmiganj or in Ramkola? you say it is 6 km away from Ghorath. Isn't it?

Anyway, Imparting modern education to village folk is better than any worship in a temple. It earns blessings of those who possess nothing but a divine heart, pure and simple, full of gratitude and humility. Congratulations for your success, howsoever, slow and staggering in the beginning but now getting thick and steady.

It is better to light a small candle than to sit back and curse the darkness far and wide .):P