Hello again. Now we're talking!
To begin with, I see that students mention problems with transporting files to Windows. I suppose that they use Microsoft's compiler, and run into problems with the back and forth? Which brings me to turn to all Linux evangelists out there: You've maybe missed it, but this is the moment you've been all waiting for: Someone has forced CS students to use Linux in the labs. They will end up either hating it and stick to Windows, or adopt it on their own computers, solving most of their annoying problems. And it looks like it's going to depend on, well, us. There may be a need to make a LiveCD for CS students, which would basically be the original Ubuntu disc + utilities for developing if necessary. This could allow students to use the same environment at home, without installing Linux on their hard disks. As this is an recurring process (the disc will need to be upgraded as Ubuntu gets upgraded) I can't see how it's done well by volunteers. But once someone has done it the first time, I suppose it will be pretty easy to repeat it. As for Eclipse: Dear Haifuxers, is any of use using it? Personally, I don't like IDEs, and I believe I have a few people with me on this mailing list. If the policy would be to guide students to work with more down-to-earth tools (XEmacs/vim, make, gcc, ddd etc) I suppose we have quite some material handy, and I suppose it won't be difficult to find someone to speak about these. I believe it's an educational choice, partly because the programmer gets a better feel of the tools, as opposed to IDEs which generally attempt to hocus-pocus. As for MS Office, there's always OpenOffice, which I don't use personally. If the real problem is compatibility between MS and OpenOffice, it's time to remind everyone that OpenOffice exists for Windows as well. Or use the LiveCD solution. As for the other issues, I can only ask one question: Do you have one Linux geek in the lab's support team? To me it seems like these problems require a few hours each to solve, which is peanuts in terms of employment, but too much to ask someone to volunteer for. Other views? Eli -- Web: http://www.billauer.co.il _______________________________________________ Haifux mailing list Haifux@haifux.org http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux
