Linux probably Illegal, claims Austin TX Teacher.

[Gordon Nore]

Teacher getting paid? Being a shill?

I'm missing something here? Is Bill Gates holding America's teachers by the short ones?

Because if he is, my argument against direct corporate sponsorship of schools has been made, and I don't have to start a new thread.

 

[Ray]

no one understands the old "hacker ethic" (as described in the book "Hackers"): software should be free....

 

[Bob Hubbard]

As a teacher, I'd have to say she's an idiot. I have a copy of Ubuntu - and, in fact, when I received it, the minimum order for the free software CD was 5 - so I gave the other copies away to whichever of my TKD students wanted them (they came in the mail after school one day). By the time my TKD students took the copies they wanted, there weren't any left to offer at school.

You can I believe also download it from the net and burn as many opies as you like, without charge. Though you'll have to buy the physical media.

 

[Kacey]

You can I believe also download it from the net and burn as many opies as you like, without charge. Though you'll have to buy the physical media.

These were completely free - including media.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

oh. I seem to have misunderstood. I thought you meant your were required to buy 5 copies, not that they'd only ship a minimum of 5 for free.

Now I want some. LOL

 

[Andrew Green]

Linux makes far more sense in a classroom then windows.

Even without the cost and licensing issues, the ease of setting up a thin client lab and not having to worry about viruses, spyware, or even outside software getting installed is more then enough.

Not to mention that no one can ever say they don't have the right software to do work at home, I could just hand them a copy of OpenOffice for any operating system they have

 

[The Last Legionary]

Shiny Happy Penguins!

 

[Bob Hubbard]

News: Followup To "When Teachers Are Obstacles To Linux" on Friday December 12, @01:42PM

Posted by kdawson on Friday December 12, @01:42PM
from the more-sides-to-the-story dept.

An couple of anonymous readers wrote in to let us know about a followup to last Wednesday's story of the teacher who didn't believe in free software. The Linux advocate who posted the original piece has cooled off and graciously apologized for going off half-cocked (even though the teacher had done the same), and provided a little more background which, while not excusing the teacher's ignorance, does make her actions somewhat more understandable. Ken Starks has talked with the teacher, who has received a crash education in technology over the last few days — Starks is installing Linux on her computer tomorrow. He retracts his insinuations about Microsoft money and the NEA. All in all he demonstrates what a little honest communication can do, a lesson that all of us who advocate for free software can take to heart. "The student did get his Linux disks back after the class. The lad was being disruptive, but that wasn't mentioned. Neither was the obvious fact that when she saw a gaggle of giggling 8th grade boys gathered around a laptop, the last thing she expected to see on that screen was a spinning cube. She didn't know what was on those disks he was handing out. It could have been porn, viral .exe's...any number of things for all she knew. When she heard that an adult had given him some of the disks to hand out, her spidey-senses started tingling. Coupled with the fact that she truly was ignorant of honest-to-goodness free software, and you have some fairly impressive conclusion-jumping. In a couple of ways, I am guilty of it too."
http://slashdot.org/#


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[Bob Hubbard]

It's an interesting read.

 

[Rich Parsons]

News: Followup To "When Teachers Are Obstacles To Linux" on Friday December 12, @01:42PM

Posted by kdawson on Friday December 12, @01:42PM
from the more-sides-to-the-story dept.

An couple of anonymous readers wrote in to let us know about a followup to last Wednesday's story of the teacher who didn't believe in free software. The Linux advocate who posted the original piece has cooled off and graciously apologized for going off half-cocked (even though the teacher had done the same), and provided a little more background which, while not excusing the teacher's ignorance, does make her actions somewhat more understandable. Ken Starks has talked with the teacher, who has received a crash education in technology over the last few days — Starks is installing Linux on her computer tomorrow. He retracts his insinuations about Microsoft money and the NEA. All in all he demonstrates what a little honest communication can do, a lesson that all of us who advocate for free software can take to heart. "The student did get his Linux disks back after the class. The lad was being disruptive, but that wasn't mentioned. Neither was the obvious fact that when she saw a gaggle of giggling 8th grade boys gathered around a laptop, the last thing she expected to see on that screen was a spinning cube. She didn't know what was on those disks he was handing out. It could have been porn, viral .exe's...any number of things for all she knew. When she heard that an adult had given him some of the disks to hand out, her spidey-senses started tingling. Coupled with the fact that she truly was ignorant of honest-to-goodness free software, and you have some fairly impressive conclusion-jumping. In a couple of ways, I am guilty of it too."



Read More

In the 80's in HS I used main frames for my computer class. The teacher was out sick. But we knew our assignments and just used the computers for our homework. Of course half the class also tried to hack the system.

I was busy trying to figure out why my program with all my special add ons was crashing. So I was looking through the "dump" file to see if I coudl find an address issue or something. But what I did not know was that the Dump file would auto jump from end of program to begin of program on auto scroll to it ended up being an infinite loop that just keep growing in file size as you were looking at it. While I trying to figure that out the Substitute freaked out and ran back to her desk yelling at us that we were all in trouble. I got up from my station as I knew she had just been behind me. I walked up to her gave her my name and tried to explain it to her. She did not want to listen. So I made sure she got my name right for the instructor. The next day he was back and yelled at the class and told us how disappointed he was in "ALL" of us. After he let us begin our work, I called him over for help. ** Note: I was That Guy who helped all the other students and sometimes the instructors as well ** So when I asked for help he was surprised. So, I explained what I had been doing then how I started to look at the Dump file *machine Code* and the infinite file growth that could happen. I then explained how I was trying to figure out the difference between the line editor that worked just fine and the page view editor that would do the wrap around. The instructor just shook his head, and put his hand on my shoudler and told me he felt better. I also told him I tried to explain it to her, but she would not even listen to me. I then told him that yes people were trying to break into each others accounts, but that was normal student random hack access to another account. He laughed and walked away and the next sub had been briefed on what to ask the students. get file names from their directories and verify what account they were using.

My point is that with communication much can happen.

 

[zeeberex]

:rofl:


So, the guy running the Helios Project gets an email from an angry Austin TX teacher. Seems she came across a student giving a Linux demonstration, became alarmed, confiscated the software and wrote him about his "probably illegal" activities.

Email fragment:


His reply in full is at http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html

Some bits:







Bravo Ken. Bravo.

I wonder if she feels the same way towards Apple, who has donated billions of dollars in hardware and software to schools?

The idiot needs a beating, just plain freaking ignorance