[ubuntu-uk] Want a £139 ubuntu box from Tescos ??? Sorry, temporarily out of stock!
Indeed, there are many pc's with windows mista also out of stock but it is good to know that a least one of the two ubuntu boxes have sold well enough to create a temporary shortage! :D N3m3sis (aka Rohan O'mard) - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Please can someone look at this and try to help....... SATA problem
Chris Fox wrote.. Rohan, You may want to consider asking a question at http://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu - this will open your question to a wider group of people, in a setting which is intended for answering support questions like yours. Cheers, Chris - Hi Chris, That was one of the frist things I did.. here; https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/12661 Thanks for the suggestion though cheers N3m3sis [aka Rohan O'mard) - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Please can someone look at this and try to help...... SATA Hdd Problem.
Matthew Macdonald-Wallace Wrote... A quick google for "ubuntu highpoint 1540" returned the following: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html#highpoint HighPoint RocketRAID 1540/1542/1544/1640 & 454 (HPT374 chipset), RocketRAID 1520 (HPT372, HPT372N, or HPT372A chipset), and Rocket 1520 (HPT302N chipset ? non-RAID) PCI cards ? fakeraid. Supported by drivers/ide's hpt36x driver, by at latest 2.4.21-pre5. No libata driver exists for these, but Alan Cox is working on one (as of 2006-01). Note: Some recent HighPoint cards use Marvell 88SX50xx chips (for which see separate driver info). Problematic proprietary Linux i386 binary drivers for HighPoint fakeraid (release 2.0 of which is reported to malfunction or even fail to compile on later 2.6 kernels ranging, at least, from 2.6.8 through 2.6.14) are available, but, as usual, you're better off using Linux's own open-source "md" software-RAID driver. (Warning: You'll need to load the proprietary driver only into kernels lacking the conflicting drivers/ide htp36x driver, in the presence of which your system will seize up, at boot time.) Googling the chipset (HPT374) returned a blog post ( http://stefan.freyr.org/?page_id=6 ) which details how to get the module and use it properly on Ubuntu. Follow the instructions and pay extra special attention to the "blacklisting" and "initramfs" sections or you will not be able to boot into Linux and will have to revert to the live CD! DO NOT RUN THE "fdisk" COMMAND AT THE END OR YOU WILL LOOSE ALL OF YOUR DATA. Hope this helps, and in future remember...google is your friend! :o) Matt. -- Hi Matt Thank you for reply. I did indeed do some googling for some answers (after posting on Ubuntu answers on launchpad - incidentally I'm 46yrs old), and I did come across the blog instructions which you so kindly posted above. However, at that time I did not feel confident enough to try and follow those instructions. I think however that I now have no other option, other than buying a new motherboard with more sata ports onboard, which I'm not quite ready to do yet. So I will take the plunge and give it a go, probably this weekend, when I have some time. Many thanks for your efforts and your reply. Also many thanks to all of you that replied. Kind Regards N3m3sis (aka Rohan O'mard) - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Please can someone look at this and try to help............ SATA Hdd Problem.
"I've told you why... it's the updated NTFS driver that comes with Gutsy... if you want read-only then use the old driver... if you want read/write then resolve the issues of the improper dismount... But STOP NAME DROPPING... it's driving me mad... Arrrggghhh Sean" -- To Sean Miller Perhaps if you had taken the time to really read the problem that I had you would realise that the "improper dismount" error message that I got whtn I used the Gutsy live CD is not the root of my problem, obviously you havent taken the time to read it. As for what you call name dropping, I have no intention of "dropping names" as you call it. Rather, I'm quite disappointed that I actually met them and that they seemed quite genuine about trying to help, yet when I posted on here about the problem with a little more info, neither have replied to any of my posts. Altogether, I'm not surprised that linux has this bad name for an elitist attitude when it comes to trying to get support for issues, when people like yourself behave in this manner and you are not the only one. However there are a lot of good people that do try to help and I would rather that they all dont get tarred with the same brush of ignorance. I'm am/was quite technically adept when it came to the windows OS, not so when it comes to Ubuntu linux, hence I ask for help from the people I think should be able to help me. Sorry for disturbing you Mr Miller. --- Mike Holloway Wrote: From the millions of lines of writing i've just read with my first cup of coffee... i'm trying to gather my thoughts: I'm using an Asus A8N-SLI (NForce2) using only the on-board SATA controller (and IDE for cdrom). I have absolutely no problem. Perhaps i can suggest that you get a PCI Sata controller from e-bay for around £5 and see if you get the same results. Also you could (and probably have) try something simple like resetting the ESCD or the loading bios defaults. Michael Hi Mike Thank you for your suggestion , however the problem that I have Does concern a pci Sata controller, to whit; The Highpoint 1540 4 port Sata controller. I too have 2 onboard Sata controllers, both are in use, hence the use of the interface card to attach another Sata hdd. Details are on the link below if you wish to check out the full history of this 162104 Sata hdd works on feisty live dvd but not if installed to hard drive Many thanks for taking the time to think about a solution. Kudos N3m3sis - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Please can someone look at this and try to help............ SATA Hdd Problem.
I have tried a few times on here to try and get this problem sorted without success or even much interested help. I have explained the situation in person to Alan Pope, Dave Walker and none other than Mark Shuttlleworth himself (who I must admit, did try to find some pointers as to why this was/is happening). I have again posted a bug report about this problem along with as much information as I have to hand here : 162104 Sata hdd works on feisty live dvd but not if installed to hard drive Can someone of you who have connections to the techs at Cannonical or one of more of you who have knowledge of how ubuntu is set, have a look and tell me if this can be fixed or not. I believe it can be with a little more knowledge of the ubuntu system, than I have at present having only just installed feisty in mid-August this year. Please can someone seriously have a look and try and work out why the feisty live dvd works with my hardware but installed to my hdd, neither feisty or gutsy for that matter, will boot past the ubuntu splash screen. many thanks N3m3sis (aka Rohan O'mard) Hackney Ubuntuite - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Why did you all ignore me........................
To Dave Restall I have give as much information as I can with my limited knowledge of what I should be looking for, however here is the output of dmseg when it hangs(at the ubuntu startup screen) below is the output from when I type dmesg in the terminal... 48.698824] NFORCE2: IDE controller at PCI slot :00:09.0 [ 48.698849] NFORCE2: chipset revision 162 [ 48.698851] NFORCE2: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later [ 48.698855] NFORCE2: BIOS didn't set cable bits correctly. Enabling workaround. [ 48.698857] NFORCE2: BIOS didn't set cable bits correctly. Enabling workaround. [ 48.698863] NFORCE2: :00:09.0 (rev a2) UDMA133 controller [ 48.698873] ide0: BM-DMA at 0xf000-0xf007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA [ 48.698885] ide1: BM-DMA at 0xf008-0xf00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA [ 48.698893] Probing IDE interface ide0... [ 48.986396] hda: MAXTOR STM3160215A, ATA DISK drive [ 49.210085] usb 2-2: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2 [ 49.266156] hdb: IBM-DTLA-307030, ATA DISK drive [ 49.322735] ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 [ 49.325552] Probing IDE interface ide1... [ 49.428852] usb 2-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 49.443924] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev [ 49.450083] input: Dell Dell USB Mouse as /class/input/input2 [ 49.450209] input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Dell Dell USB Mouse] on usb-:00:02.1-2 [ 49.450223] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid [ 49.450227] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver [ 50.061481] hdc: ASUS DRW-1608P3S, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive [ 50.733032] ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 [ 50.737788] HPT374: IDE controller at PCI slot :01:09.0 [ 50.737994] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC2] enabled at IRQ 17 [ 50.738002] ACPI: PCI Interrupt :01:09.0[A] -> Link [APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, high) -> IRQ 19 [ 50.738014] HPT374: chipset revision 7 [ 50.738029] HPT374: DPLL base: 48 MHz, f_CNT: 127, assuming 33 MHz PCI [ 50.742964] HPT374: using 50 MHz DPLL clock [ 50.743071] HPT374: 100% native mode on irq 19 [ 50.743083] ide2: BM-DMA at 0xa000-0xa007, BIOS settings: hde:pio, hdf:pio [ 50.743106] ide3: BM-DMA at 0xa008-0xa00f, BIOS settings: hdg:pio, hdh:pio [ 50.743153] ACPI: PCI Interrupt :01:09.1[A] -> Link [APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, high) -> IRQ 19 [ 50.743171] HPT374: no clock data saved by BIOS [ 50.870303] HPT374: DPLL base: 48 MHz, f_CNT: 122, assuming 33 MHz PCI [ 50.875222] HPT374: using 50 MHz DPLL clock [ 50.875329] HPT374: too many IDE interfaces, no room in table [ 50.875333] HPT374: too many IDE interfaces, no room in table [ 50.875335] HPT374: neither IDE port enabled (BIOS) [ 50.875340] Probing IDE interface ide2... [ 50.890030] hda: max request size: 512KiB [ 50.934236] hda: 312581808 sectors (160041 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=19457/255/63, UDMA(100) [ 50.958593] hda: cache flushes supported [ 50.958645] hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 > [ 50.995248] hdb: max request size: 128KiB [ 51.023211] hdb: 60036480 sectors (30738 MB) w/1916KiB Cache, CHS=59560/16/63, UDMA(100) [ 51.023216] hdb: cache flushes not supported [ 51.023237] hdb: hdb1 < hdb5 hdb6 hdb7 hdb8 hdb9 hdb10 > [ 51.110502] hdc: ATAPI 40X DVD-ROM DVD-R-RAM CD-R/RW drive, 2000kB Cache, UDMA(66) [ 51.110512] Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20 [ 51.440193] Probing IDE interface ide3... [ 52.008120] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [AP3C] enabled at IRQ 22 [ 52.008127] ACPI: PCI Interrupt :02:01.0[A] -> Link [AP3C] -> GSI 22 (level, high) -> IRQ 16 [ 52.008134] 3c59x: Donald Becker and others. [ 52.008140] :02:01.0: 3Com PCI 3c920 Tornado at f883a000. [ 52.031428] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCM] enabled at IRQ 21 [ 52.031434] ACPI: PCI Interrupt :00:0d.0[A] -> Link [APCM] -> GSI 21 (level, high) -> IRQ 17 [ 52.031441] PCI: Setting latency timer of device :00:0d.0 to 64 [ 52.083524] ohci1394: fw-host0: OHCI-1394 1.1 (PCI): IRQ=[17] MMIO=[e6082000-e60827ff] Max Packet=[2048] IR/IT contexts=[4/4] [ 52.090025] sata_sil :01:0b.0: version 2.2 [ 52.090266] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC3] enabled at IRQ 18 [ 52.090275] ACPI: PCI Interrupt :01:0b.0[A] -> Link [APC3] -> GSI 18 (level, high) -> IRQ 20 [ 52.090731] scsi0 : sata_sil [ 52.090939] scsi1 : sata_sil [ 52.091077] ata1: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xf884c080 ctl 0xf884c08a bmdma 0xf884c000 irq 20 [ 52.091082] ata2: SATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0xf884c0c0 ctl 0xf884c0ca bmdma 0xf884c008 irq 20 [ 52.611208] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) [ 52.619757] ata1.00: ATA-6: ST3120023AS, 3.01, max UDMA/133 [ 52.619760] ata1.00: 234441648 sectors, multi 16: LBA [ 52.619762] ata1.00: applying bridge limits [ 52.619768] ata1.00: applying Seagate errata fix (mod15write workaround)
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu Community Gaming Server
Kirrus wrote... Hi, Its a good idea. The only game I'd say avoid would be Nexuiz. I've never had a good time trying to get that one to work, and there's a reason that its really hard to find anyone else playing it... Kirrus Hi all What I have found with Nexuiz is that you have to play it without all the eye candy turned on. Best thing to do is set up a gaming user account without all the eye candy on and try it. Not sure if you can use the xfe interface(as opposed to gnome ore kde) as I havent yet tried it but that is even lighter than the aforermentioned and should therefore theoretically give you an even better experience. just my tanners worth - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu Community Gaming Server
Hey! What a great idea. Now I can start all over again, learning to tweak my pc so that I can get more frags. I'm up for it!!! N3m3sis (aka Rohan O'mard - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Why did you all ignore me........................
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 00:59:18 + Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Why did you all ignore me On 08/11/2007, Rohan Omard wrote: > can still see the drive, it would not mount. It gave me some error about > improper shutdown or it still being in use. Also something about ntfs and a Post precise error messages. > 1.) The drive mounts and is able to be accessed normally from a Feisty Live > (DvD). So it's a perfectly good drive and free of errors? You're quite sure of this? > 2.)The drive is visible but is not mounted, neither can it be accessed on > the Gutsy Live (Cd) without forcing (something I am not prepared to do at > this juncture as the data held on it is to important to me to risk > corruption). 3.)The drive causes a virgin Feisty installation to a IDE hard > drive to freeze at the Ubuntu splash window, if it is connected to the > Highpoint RocketRaid 1540 interface card at boot up (* please note that it > will only cause a boot freeze if connected to ports 1 or 2 on the interface > card - If connected to ports 3 or 4 it will boot normally, however the drive > is not visible inside either ubuntu Feisty or Gutsy if the the OS is > installed on a hard drive). If the data is that important to you, you'll have it backed up. You issue with it locking your machine if it's connected to specific ports sounds like a fairly major bug the drive is legit. Nothing on any of the bug trackers about issues with this controller? Amusing choice of signatures and email addresses by the way. -- Steve When 1 person suffers from a delusion it is insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion. 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 -- Steve Thank you for your reply. Ok, I first wrote concerning this matter in Volume 31, either issue 19 or 20 and no one replied, hence my angst. I submitted an ubuntu question soon after having this problem here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/12661 When I felt I had more information(and was a little more clued up about where to post such things) I posted a bug report here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/159397 as for my email address and sig it is a remnant of my online gaming days when I used to be a clan leader playing Sof 1 & 2. :D Regards N3m3sis (Rohan O'mard) From: "Sean Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "British Ubuntu Talk" Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2007 06:35:16 + Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Why did you all ignore me Mark Shuttleworth does technical support? Wow, very hands on... Seriously, this error sounds like the one that is given if (for example) you try to mount a Windows drive and it hasn't been shut down properly... the easiest solution normally is to boot into Windows, let it do its "Scandisk" or whatever, and then shutdown in an orderly manner. I assume this isn't an option? (unfortunately you've started a new thread so I can't see your original cry for help at this moment)... Another alternative would surely be to copy the data off the drive using the Feisty Live CD, perhaps onto removable storage or another drive, and then reformat this one and be done with it... surely easier than all those sleepless nights you seem to be having as a result. Sean Hi Sean Seriously.. I met Mark Shuttleworth at a Gutsy launch party in Hackney, east London and he did indeed listen to my problem and try to help me. by going on his pda and looking to see if perhaps there migh be a bios update for the highpoint 1540 sata card that I was/still am having so much trouble with. A fact that Alan Pope, Dave Walker and John Levin could verify as they also listened to my problem and tried to give suggestions as to why it is happening. The drive is sound. The problem occurs with any sata drive plugged into either porrts 1 or 2 of the interface card( I know this because I have 3 such drives and have alternatively tried them all, with the same results). The drive is a 200gb drive which is nearly full(of music, films etc) that I do not have the facility to back up at present. Besides that, it works very well when I boot from the feisty liveDvD. On the Gutsy liveCD however, I can see the drive but not access it or see its contentsstrange. Regards N3m3sis (Rohan O'mard) - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Why did you all ignore me........................
I posted this and no one replied. I've met Alan Pope and Dave Walker at the gutsy party as well as Mark Shuttleworth who tried to help me out also. Please does anyoen have a clue to the below. Ok, some additional information. It seems that I got it wrong in the previous post. The feisty live(DvD) does indeed have two entries for the HPT374 module, one of which is linked to the HPT366 driver. What is curious (not to mention damn infuriating as well), is that I can see the drive connected when I boot up from the Feisty Live(DvD) and I can access all the content. However, today I booted up from a Gutsy Live (CD) and although I can still see the drive, it would not mount. It gave me some error about improper shutdown or it still being in use. Also something about ntfs and a very concise option on how to force mount it (at my own risk) if I so wished. So, in conclusion for this post. 1.) The drive mounts and is able to be accessed normally from a Feisty Live (DvD). 2.)The drive is visible but is not mounted, neither can it be accessed on the Gutsy Live (Cd) without forcing (something I am not prepared to do at this juncture as the data held on it is to important to me to risk corruption). 3.)The drive causes a virgin Feisty installation to a IDE hard drive to freeze at the Ubuntu splash window, if it is connected to the Highpoint RocketRaid 1540 interface card at boot up (* please note that it will only cause a boot freeze if connected to ports 1 or 2 on the interface card - If connected to ports 3 or 4 it will boot normally, however the drive is not visible inside either ubuntu Feisty or Gutsy if the the OS is installed on a hard drive). Has anyone got any idea why I can see and use the drive connected to port 1 or 2 on the Highpoint Rocket Raid 1540 SATA , when using the Feisty Live (DvD) but it will not work on either the Gutsy Live (Cd) or either Feisty or Gutsy installed on an IDE hard drive? Please help me someone as this is causing me sleepless nights and I dont know enough about linux or Ubuntu yet to try compiling the source HPT374 driver from Highpoint, yet. Nuff respect to all the good work all of you do both here and elsewhere, in promoting this wonderful (if sometimes frustrating) OS. Regards N3m3sis (Rohan O'mard) - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Hi all - perhaps you can help (At my whits end) Ubuntu 7.04 freezes on splash screen after install to new hard drive-HELP!!!
Ok, some additional information. It seems that I got it wrong in the previous post. The feisty live(DvD) does indeed have two entries for the HPT374 module, one of which is linked to the HPT366 driver. What is curious (not to mention damn infuriating as well), is that I can see the drive connected when I boot up from the Feisty Live(DvD) and I can access all the content. However, today I booted up from a Gutsy Live (CD) and although I can still see the drive, it would not mount. It gave me some error about improper shutdown or it still being in use. Also something about ntfs and a very concise option on how to force mount it (at my own risk) if I so wished. So, in conclusion for this post. 1.) The drive mounts and is able to be accessed normally from a Feisty Live (DvD). 2.)The drive is visible but is not mounted, neither can it be accessed on the Gutsy Live (Cd) without forcing (something I am not prepared to do at this juncture as the data held on it is to important to me to risk corruption). 3.)The drive causes a virgin Feisty installation to a IDE hard drive to freeze at the Ubuntu splash window, if it is connected to the Highpoint RocketRaid 1540 interface card at boot up (* please note that it will only cause a boot freeze if connected to ports 1 or 2 on the interface card - If connected to ports 3 or 4 it will boot normally, however the drive is not visible inside either ubuntu Feisty or Gutsy if the the OS is installed on a hard drive). Has anyone got any idea why I can see and use the drive connected to port 1 or 2 on the Highpoint Rocket Raid 1540 SATA , when using the Feisty Live (DvD) but it will not work on either the Gutsy Live (Cd) or either Feisty or Gutsy installed on an IDE hard drive? Please help me someone as this is causing me sleepless nights and I dont know enough about linux or Ubuntu yet to try compiling the source HPT374 driver from Highpoint, yet. Nuff respect to all the good work all of you do both here and elsewhere, in promoting this wonderful (if sometimes frustrating) OS. Regards N3m3sis (Rohan O'mard) - Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Hi all - perhaps you can help (At my whits end) Ubuntu 7.04 freezes on splash screen after install to new hard drive-HELP!!!
I Alan and Dave(Walker). We met at the Gutsy launch party at the pembury in Hackney. Yep, I'm the guy that lost nearly two weeks sleep trying to find out why my feisty install kept freezing at the Ubuntu splash screen. Please can you look at this Ubuntu question/Bug report: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/12661 and the one I have added to it: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hal/+bug/159397 that one contains a little more information and a theory as to why I cant boot with a drive attached to the highpoint rocketraid 1540 sata interface card. I would gratefully appreciate any help that you can give me. ps. On a lighter note, that was one hell of a night we had at that party, cant wait for the Hardy Heron one. Many Thanks Rohan (aka N3m3sis) O'mard - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu - The Next Generation
Trawling through my usual read of the technology pages I came across this article on the BBC Technology page, entitled "Schools warned off Microsoft deal". You can read the details here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7063716.stm and I would also recommend that you read more about the history of the issue here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4558171.stm Now it seems to me, that with more and more overseas educational establishments going the open source route to great effect, that we should concentrate our efforts a little more closer to home. Ubuntu and and more pertinently its derivative Edubuntu, have now evolved to a stage where it is a more than viable alternative to the M$ option. More over, if linux open source is to continue to grow in the mainstream user groups, the we have to start cultivating the next generation of users, programmers and enthusiasts now. How many of us have children ( I have 12, 7 still at home) that use computers daily for various things from instant messaging to homework (in that order!) Its time that the snazzy looking desktop that Daddy (or Mom) is using gets promoted more amoungst our kids and their mates. After all its free and fast and looks good. The more that our kids go to school with Ubuntu (or Edubuntu) on their lips and open source as opposed to the usual, on their minds; will only help to convince the powers that be in education that perhaps, it would make more educational and economic sense to switch to open source for their educational ICT needs. The support network is already in place and I am sure would cost much less than the constant licensing fees payable to you know who. The is also a much more important aspect to kids using open source in schools and it is this. Ubuntu and most of the other desktop aspiring distros are still works in progress though Ubuntu, of them all is getting mighty close to what the user wants to see working "out of the box" Those young, intellingent (for the most part) and inquiring minds could only benefit from using an OS where sometimes a little thinking, reading and exploration is needed, as opposed to using one that is presented to them as a fait accompli (though in the case of hasta la vista even this is not true!). Also, given the innovative nature of children, there could be a lot to be gained from the insight of those who have not had the long history of using the "provided system" warts and all and have not developed the cynicism that a lot of us older heads have. So why not show off our spinning, working, super fast desktops to our kids more, give a few live cd's to our kids to give to their mates (or teachers), install edubuntu on our computers at home and show them how all of the wonderful stuff in there comes as standard and is free, to use, change (hopefully for the better) as they please. Out of the mouths of babes What say you brethren... n3m3sis - For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month.-- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
