New to FOSS in schools

From Schoolforge-UK

This paper is an introduction to Free Open Source Software for LEA´s, Heads, Teachers and ICT administrators in schools across the UK. It is designed to give an overview of FOSS, what it is, where it comes from and more importantly how you can use it to improve the service that you provide for your students and the community as a whole. It contains links to many web sites where the interested or simply curious can find out much more. It isn't definitive but hopes to give the reader sufficient information to enable them to make an informed decision as to whether to look at FOSS as a real alternative to their current software as and when they come to upgrade or expand their ICT services.

So you're new to Open Source Software!

Open Source Software offers an alternative to Microsoft and Apple. Open Source Software is software that has been developed by collaborating groups of individuals around the world in order to offer choice in the software world. In a way this process was kicked off by a Norwegian named Linus Torvalds who offered an alternative to established operating systems, but rather than charging for it, made it free for all to use, improve, distribute and change in any way we wanted. This has given us two things – an extremely large base of people who actively use and develop OSS and a system designed to take us into the future; as only a system that can be changed and adapted in this way can keep up with the speed of change required for the future. The fact that it is available freely (which in effect makes it Free Open Source Software – FOSS) makes it even more attractive. If you don't have to pay for the operating system software, the office suite software, the server software, the licenses for each PC to run on the servers etc. then you have more funds available for hardware i.e. You can increase your PC to student ratio. Not only that, but if we only teach or children how to use one specific brand of software, then how are they going to operate in the wider world where Open Formats are likely to become the norm rather than the exception. Are the Chinese going to pay for and use software from America when there is a freely available alternative? There is documented evidence that many South American and Eastern European countries are moving onto OSS in schools and governments. We have to prepare our children for the future not the present. How will we look as a country if we keep sending documents abroad in a format that our potential customers, or suppliers can't read?

So what is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and why use it?

It is software that is free of license terms that force you to agree to restrict what you do with it. You are free to use it as you like, make copies and give it to others. You are also free to study the program code, make changes and pass those changes on to others. This gives you both ethical and practical benefits. With FOSS you can

Spend less on installation and maintenance.

Enjoy reliable operation (most of the Internet runs on FOSS).

Use older and low specification hardware.

Be free of forced software and hardware upgrades.

Retain control of your data stored in a non-secret format.

Get fast support and bug fixes.

Join communities of users and developers who cooperatively define features.

Benefit from the work of others and let others benefit from your work.

Distribute your documents and media knowing others can freely access them.

Bridge the digital divide both locally and globally

What Software is currently available? Note: this is by no means a comprehensive list. Check out the http://schoolforge-uk.org.uk web site for even more

Well, you have to look at this from a number of angles. There is OSS that runs on the windows platform. Using this would save on purchasing licensed copies of the most commonly used software and would promote the use of open formats as was recently mandated by BECTA the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, the government body responsible for the strategic development and delivery of its information and communications technology (ICT) and e-learning strategy for schools.

Software that works on the Windows platform includes:-

OpenOffice.org – write replaces Word

OO.o – calc replaces Excel

OO.o – impress replaces Powerpoint

OO.o – base replaces Access

OO.o – draw replaces Publisher

Firefox replaces Explorer

Thunderbird replaces Outlook Express

The Gimp replaces Photoshop and Paintshop Pro

Audacity replaces Audition and Cool Edit Pro

PDF creator – with write or draw replaces Acrobat

The OpenCD http://www.theopencd.org/ contains all of the above software and also a cut down ubuntu live distro (that is a demonstration version of a Linux distribution that can be run directly from a CD and doesn't access the hard drive in the PC. It is an ideal way of having a first look at the modern alternative to Windows. It can be downloaded as an ISO image and burned onto a CD).

Then there is specialist FOSS software that is written to meet a specific requirement such as Course Management, School Administration etc.

Specialist FOSS software that works on or with Windows includes:

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities.

SchoolTool is a project to develop a common global school administration infrastructure that is freely available under an Open Source licence.

Karoshi installs a linked group of servers specifically designed to meet the needs of schools with a growing number of Windows workstations.

And similarly, there is FOSS software that will run on the Mac OSX operating system.

Then we have the whole spectrum of software that is written specifically for the FOSS operating systems, the most popular of which is emerging as Linux. There are a number of different versions of Linux and one or two which are specifically targeting educational requirements.

FOSS Software that works on a FOSS OS

see: http://www.schoolforge.org.uk/index.php/Free%2C_Libre_and_Open_Source_Software_solutions_for_Education for a full list

Specialised FOSS software that works on a FOSS OS

Moodle, Karoshi and Schooltool – see above

Linux Terminal Server Project - LTSP is an add-on package for Linux that allows you to connect lots of low-powered thin client terminals to a Linux server. Applications typically run on the server, and accept input and display their output on the thin client display.

Packaged and supported products include the full Cutter Desktop, a standalone Cutter Enterprise Email service, a standalone Virtual Learning Environment based on Moodle and a systems monitoring package the equivalent of other commercial systems costing thousands, also available standalone.

So you can see from the above that you could start using FOSS software almost immediately on your existing windows machines and start benefiting from the savings you would make in software purchase and at the same time more fully meet the needs of your students by giving them experience of more than one software supplier. At the same time you would be giving them a better grounding in the use of software formats which will stand them in better stead for the future. In a way, currently it's like teaching woodwork and only using Black and Decker tools – in fact to the extent of not even acknowledging that there may be other, cheaper or even better tools available.

If you are getting interested, try a live distro (here is a site where you can download most of the available live distros. http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php ), try the software on “the OpenCD” on your Windows systems or set up a test PC and try a full Linux operating system. You will find that they all come with gigabytes of software available (especially if you have a DVD version from one of the dedicated Linux magazines – Linux Format regularly give away a DVD with a full distribution and lots of software), or from the internet.

Live Distros are similar to full distros except that they boot straight from a CD and don't utilise the hard drive at all. They can be used as a trial of a system before embarking on a full installation. Most full distros do some sort of live distro. The Live Distros usually contain a cut down version of the available software but almost all will have OpenOffice.org, a web browser, mail client, The Gimp, audacity and much more. You will find that you can quickly familiarise yourself with the software and if you use, say, Word, then the OOo equivalent is virtually identical in most of the common functions. You shouldn't need to change anything much on a stand alone machine unless you have any particularly strange hardware as the modern distros recognise most common hardware.

Here are some examples of FOSS Operating Systems:- Full Distributions (distros)

Suse http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/

RedHat http://www.redhat.com/

Fedora http://fedora.redhat.com/

Mandrake http://frontal1.mandriva.com/

Debian http://www.us.debian.org/

Ubuntu http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download

Edubuntu http://www.edubuntu.org/

My favourite at the moment is Ubuntu, followed by Fedora. Edubuntu is a version of Ubuntu specifically designed for education needs.

Finally we have the problem area of PC systems everywhere – the network. Stand alone computers are OK, as long as they have access to the internet and a printer, but if you can connect many computers together then you have the potential to handle an enormous number and variety of situations. It is too complicated for the remit of this document but one emerging project deserves a mention...

Dedicated Server/Thin Client Software

The Linux Terminal Server Project is designed to incorporate with any Linux distribution. This allows a main server to run all the software and the other machines (cut down PC's with low specifications and no drives, or dedicated thin clients) just access the software from the main server. This system, when incorporated into a wider network and the use of software such as Moodle and SchoolTool, and the use of Wiki type web sites, gives about as much flexibility and control as is required alongside making use of the absolute latest in ICT technology.

New to FOSS in schools

From Schoolforge-UK

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