Ruth's Reusable Resources

[FredSambo]

Hello all!

So Ruth's is located in Portland, out by the Airport.

http://www.ruths.org/

They have thousands(!) of computers, not to mention other things (if it is found in a school Ruth's has thousands of them). They would love to be able to load Linux on some of these computers for use in schools. They will donate the computers plus shipping to the school...

This would benefit small rural schools in the state who need it most.

The computers are there. The schools are there as well. So we need to find a way to get Edubuntu onto those computers! We need to somehow organize this! To find a way to directly support the project and stuff.

I will talk to Ruth and see if I can get someone who works there to get on the forums to answer any questions.

Anyone have any ideas as to how to approach this opportunity?

[Dayylin]

Nice. I have 3 copies of Edu now and can order some more. I would be willing to take a day and come down to load some computers up with it.

Brian

[jimcooncat]

Wanted to say hi and join this thread. What a good idea!

I'm not a lot of help at this point because I'm working too many hours. I am interested in all things LTSP, as well as making custom environments.

Once this ball gets rolling, I can give a shout to the Maine Association of Independent Schools. Some, like Gould Academy in Bethel, have years of experience with LTSP. It's possible that one or more may be willing to host a demo in their computer lab.

It's true that some of these private schools are well-to-do, but many are not. A fun fact -- the average tuition for a private-school Maine student is a bit more than half the cost of education of a Maine public school student. Because of this, the state is planning to start a $1,000 incentive program for students to switch to private schools.

I'm currently working on few projects that may be of interest, and am working hard to get these to a debugged state by years' end.

1. A provisioning machine setup. This computer has a combination of TFTP, DHCP, and apt-cacher that lets you automatically install another computer by use of a preseed file and customized settings. Plug your donated computer in the network, netboot it, and it would install your OS automatically after a few initial keystrokes.

Current status: It's working slick so far. I'm able to load a generic desktop Fiesty in about two hours with no real effort, and expect to get this down to 30 minutes or so. Working now on the customization overlay, authentication being the sticky part.

2. A storage "cluster" that uses two computers to host the home directory with DRBD, LVM, and Samba. If a hard disk goes bad, power supply fries, etc., it fails over automatically to the other computer.

Current status: Need to get this working within a month for our own use, am now incorporating smartmontools to predict a hard drive crash a day before it actually happens. Next step is to monitor the UPS for a nice clean shutdown on a building-wide power outage.

Feel free to PM me if you're interested in these topics. Wish you all the best, 'cause Maineiacs Rock!

[Yourmysin]

I would also be willing to help, but I do not have any Edubuntu disks. But, on a second note, who uses frames anymore?

[sandpaperback]

I'm willing to help with this as well. I'm right in Portland. And while I don't have any Edubuntu discs it would be easy enough to burn some.

[FredSambo]

OK, this is good! Once the holiday season is over I'll get together with Ruth's crew and figure out an agenda. I have been sharpening up my LTSP chops as of late, just for good measure.

I'll have official documentation soon and will post it once I finish writing it.

[FredSambo]

Well I guess the holiday season is over! LOL

So this is still totally possible... hmmm...

[cthulhufhtagn]

Is this still viable? I'm interested in working on this. I live in Auburn, so it's not an especially long haul for me. I may even be able to shanghai another geek to help out.

If we can do this as a group, are weekends better for everyone? I'm pretty much only available on weekends for projects like these. I figure that if we plan to do this like 3-4 weeks from now, that will give people enough notice so that they can fit it into their schedule. Maybe after we could all meet at a bar or something for a beer? Nothing like charity and alcohol. :\

[FredSambo]

Hey there, this is totally doable, although I have not been in contact with Ruth's for a while.

[JoeZiehmer83]

I'm up for helping out currently in the early childhood education program and have burned Intrepid to a couple of USB geek sticks. If anyone needs one to help out please let me know.