Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux User Group of Glastonbury (was High Wycombe LUG)
O n Sun, 2012-07-29 at 10:57 +0100, Sean Miller wrote: Any ideas anybody could offer as to how one could make a LUG viable in a sparsely populated area like Mid Somerset would be gratefully received. Sean Hi Sean HLUG - Herefordshire Linux and Open Source Users Group is a small rural LUG we have regular monthly meetings with a core group who attend and then others who come and go whilst some members only participate in the mailing list. For a rural LUG like ours it is tricky - members have to make a significant effort to come to meetings and some travel quite long distances. We have our meetings in Hereford at the minute which is fairly central and the largest urban centre in the county but in the past meetings have been in the north of the county. Our meetings tend to be fairly informal although occasionally we have meetings with guests speakers. Quite a few of our LUG members are Ubuntu users but by no means all - and members are encouraged to bring along different distro's to demo to the group. Our LUG members are very friendly and welcoming and this helps new members when they first join What seems to keep our LUG going are the projects we take on - at the minute we are organising our annual ISFD event and we also have our education project Tuxedu which grew out of the ISFD event. Organising an event however large or small gives the group more cohesion and it can also be fun to do - and if you put on an event you will meet new linux users or even create new users who may want to join your LUG. At each event we put on I meet members who only listen in to our list and don't participate (for a variety or reasons) but pop into the event to say thanks and to encourage us to keep going. Just go for it and see what happens Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Gaming on Ubuntu
O n Thu, 2012-07-12 at 14:25 +0100, Laura Czajkowski wrote: Maybe you're right and this is why they start watching her, but that doesn't negate the fact that she gets people interested in Ubuntu and feeling like they're involved and a basis for learning things. They also stay around and get involved many contribute and get more involved thanks to her videos. It's also really easy to say she's attractive geeky and smart without mentioning breasts. Laura I totally agree with you - Liam's comment about the presenter is inappropriate and unnecessary. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Precise - some thoughts .....
On Mon, 2012-05-07 at 09:08 +0100, Barry Drake wrote: On 06/05/12 23:16, Tony Pursell wrote: All the computers I use now have an option to show a boot menu. Usually something like Esc or F12. Sometimes this shown as an option when the computer is starting up, sometimes not. My desktop tells me it is Esc, my two EEEPCs don't tell me, but it is still Esc. So I don't need to go into the BIOS to change the boot sequence. Maybe your chap can find a boot menu option and you can avoid any mention of the BIOS. This particular guy says it is an older computer. I have no information from him about hardware. The thing is, Windows folk who don't know anything about bios settings or boot menus haven't a clue how to find out - most Dell computers kindly show the options briefly on the boot flash screen, but a lot deliberately don't do. It would be far easier if mobo manufacturers adopted some sort of standard. Regards,Barry. -- Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team. http://ubuntuadverts.org/ My experience working with teachers and running parents evening as part of our Tuxedu project is that this is the main stumbling block to getting people too use any Linux system - ordinary users want their system to run - they don't want to have to think about Bios or boot menu's. As a group working on our project we looked for ways to tackle this as it's a major problem- (we are running Tuxedu on USB's)- but one we have to overcome if the project is to be successful in the long term. At the moment we are compiling a database so we can create an android app to help people - they can put in their make and model of pc/laptop and it will tell them how to get into the boot menu - we feel this will be useful not only to our project but also the wider community - If you want to help go to http://www.tuxedu.org/tell-us-how-you-get-your-pc-into-usb-boot-mode/ Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Precise - some thoughts .....
O n Tue, 2012-05-08 at 18:10 +0100, Andy Braben wrote: well lots of people use smartphone apps everyday just because they own an android or iphone but have probably never been near the boot menu on their computer - so the idea is it would just tell you which keys to press to get to the boot menu on your particular machine and then how you can choose your boot option. We will include the info on our website as well - so it's easy to find online Sarah Personally, while I see this as very useful information and well worth doing on a website - why do you want an Android app? The website is just as viewable on a phone as it is on any other computer. -- Regards, Andy We were looking at ways to make it easier and more comfortable for people who were not used to doing it to boot from USB or CD into a linux distro - specifically Tuxedu. We had already decided to try to gather this info for our use and to put it on the website when someone offered to write an android app - this spurred us into action Its just different ways to present the info in a way that's easy for people who don't consider themselves 'technical' to use - if we want to get more people using Ubuntu we have to make it easier for them to start - if they fall at the first hurdle because they don't understand what a boot menu is or are too scared to change options then they won't discover how easy Ubuntu is to use. you can quickly forget how intimidating these things are for many people - but if you walk them through how to boot (as we have done with a room full of parents) and explain what and why they are doing it you will have more chance of them actually using the distro in the longterm. Sarah http://www.tuxedu.org/tell-us-how-you-get-your-pc-into-usb-boot-mode/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Precise - some thoughts .....
On Tue, 2012-05-08 at 21:12 +0100, Barry Drake wrote: On 08/05/12 21:06, Sarah Chard wrote: we want to share it - and i will be happy to send it through to you to put on an Ubuntu wiki once it's in usable format - I will mention your interest to everyone in our HLUG group at this months meeting, we have only just started gathering the info - from our own group here in Herefordshire and are just widening it out - we need as many people as possible to let us know what steps they take with their pc here is the link again in case anyone missed it http://www.tuxedu.org/tell-us-how-you-get-your-pc-into-usb-boot-mode/ we want old and new on our list Thanks Sarah ... I'll look forward to hearing more. Where are you? hlug is either Highland, Hereford or somewhere in Canada? FYI I'm in Nottingham UK. Regards, Barry. -- Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team. http://ubuntuadverts.org/ Hereford so not too far away Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open source in schools ....
O n Mon, 2011-12-05 at 11:50 +, Paul Tansom wrote: Hi there Received a reply from my MP this morning about open standards in schools. In the reply was the following link which you might find of interest: http://opensourceschools.org.uk I contacted them about our schools project when we first started out but was just referred back to their website - which was not terribly helpful - as a quick update on our herefordshire based project we are in the process of organising a parents evening in january for parents at one of the primary schools we have visited - the school is very keen to use Tuxedu and want to let parents know about it and have a chance to take a copy home with them. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] sony camers files
O n Wed, 2011-10-26 at 18:39 +0100, mac wrote: Sarah Is this the right camera? If so, GIMP + UFRaw / gimp-ufraw plugin is the way to go on a Linux system. mac I assume so - I am passing everyone's comments and suggestions on to my friend - thanks to all who have replied, you have all been very helpful and hopefully she will get it working Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] sony camers files
Hi my friend who uses Ubuntu and is a keen photographer has bought a new camera and is haveing problems with it - she says The camera i am using is the Sony a55 and i can't find any photo editor, gimp included that can process the a55 files. can anyone help? Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] sony camers files
O n Wed, 2011-10-26 at 11:06 +0100, paul sutton wrote: can the camera be set to save as a different file format, i have never heard of a55 as a file format. or is a55 the camera in which case does it save a jpeg or similar. Paul it can but she wants to save them as RAW files - for quality of image Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
Hi feedback from teachers from the first school we visited as a part of our OSSP is that they really need good quality programs that address literacy not just letters and spelling but grammar, punctuation and sentence construction any thoughts? Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 11:27 +, bod...@googlemail.com wrote: Did they have specific issues with the grammar checking in OOo? On Wed, 2011-09-21 at 13:12 +0100, paul sutton wrote: We need contextual grammar checking which is far harder, and probably even harder when you have to deal with the English language and its rules and the odd exception where that rule does not apply. Paul we used the locked version to demonstrate at the school so haven't included an office suite as it's very lightweight - we are concentrating on primary schools this term but are giving the schools a larger installable version. At the minute for the installable primary version we have included ABI word and gnumeric I think what they want are fun programs like tuxmath etc that give the kids jumbled sentences so they have to unmix the words and correct the punctuation and grammar Please download a copy at http://www.tuxedu.org.uk/ test it out and give it to kids to test - it's a work in progress - ideally we would like both locked and installable versions to be based on lubuntu but Tony had problems locking the lubuntu so the locked version is debian. Also the locked version needed to fit onto a cd so anyone could run it. We want feedback please via the mailing list you can find at the site. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 12:39 +0100, James Tait wrote: Gcompris [0] may provide some of that. I have a vague recollection of my eldest son playing a game where he had to put the correct word in the sentence, but glancing over the website I don't recognise it. Hi James we have gcompris on there but its more single letter and single words which is good but they are looking for sentence construction activities one of the other problems is that some of the word games we have included such as khangman and kanagram which the kids really like as well as gcompris are very americanised ie 'Pants = trousers' or my favourite kanagram which had me and 6 year old tester stumped 'winter headgear = tobogan' (that was news to me) another example is in gcompris where in amongst words such as jump, dry and green they use Colorado not a word most under 10's in the UK are familiar with. UK teachers tend to frown on this - they want UK relevancy and the ability to fit it to the UK curriculum - it may be a narrow view but they will not take it up unless it works for them. Also some of the english explanations in games from non-english speaking countries have odd grammar or use unusual word order - we really need to adapt them for UK use as it's a hurdle for teachers. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project - literacy
O n Wed, 2011-09-21 at 16:18 +0200, Barry Drake wrote: Maybe not trying to answer your specific question, my own pet hate is the insistence of teaching Microsoft Publisher in schools. I think we should challenge this on the grounds that MS Publisher does not conform to an open standard and is therefore going against the British Government call for open standards in all government IT. I'm not a desktop publisher user, but wonder how well something like Scribus would fill the bill for schools? On Wed, 2011-09-21 at 14:26 +, bod...@googlemail.com wrote: The difficulty is, you can't just replace one product. Publisher will probably be licensed with a volume software licensing agreement, along with front page, word, excel, outlook etc etc. - so they are just wasting a license by not using it. If you could replace all of the office suite, it will be much more appealing to the schools. This is exactly why we are running the project - we are going into schools with Tuxedu offering open source alternatives to the software they are currently using - its a complicated area because schools are locked into their MS licenses and we can't change that, so we have to think long term whilst meeting teachers short term concerns - the idea is that Tuxedu will be exciting and fun for the kids - the locked version means they can use it at home running live on family machines without their parents having to worry - and hopefully the schools will install it on their systems as a dual boot - we are talking to teachers and the school techs as we go. At the first school we visited the deputy head was asking me about alternative office suites - she runs XP at home and can't open .docx files which are sent to her by work colleagues so we had a brief chat about libre office and open formats. Feedback from kids is good so far but unless we persuade the schools and that means the ICT teaching staff and Head teachers to pick it up and also the tech staff to support it we will not succeed - so it has to be relevant to their teaching needs and that means the UK curriculum. Tony touched briefly on this in the ubuntu-uk podcast. Getting just a few schools in the county to seriously consider using a linux based system as part of their ICT resources would be fantastic so we are keen to make it as easy for teachers to accept and use as possible. so if anyone has any ideas for FOSS literacy software please let me know Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project
O n Mon, 2011-09-05 at 19:12 +0100, Rebecca Newborough wrote: Hi Sarah Thanks for sharing this and good luck with the project. Please post back with how it went. I would love to get our daughter's school to embrace Open Source computing, so would be very interested in reading any posts/write-ups you do about the success of this initiative, and how it was received by teachers, parents and kids alike. Regards Becky Newborough Becky thanks I will do - -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] animation program
Hi Can anyone suggest a good open source stop frame animation program - it's one of the requests we have had for our schools project Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] animation program
O n Tue, 2011-09-06 at 14:39 +0100, Alan Pope wrote: On 6 September 2011 14:30, Sarah Chard sa...@streetentertainers.co.uk wrote: Can anyone suggest a good open source stop frame animation program - it's one of the requests we have had for our schools project There's a program called 'stopmotion' in the repository. It's been recommended on this list in the past. Al. Al thanks - I've had a quick look at stopmotion and at Luciole which is also in the repository - stopmotion worked better on a first try out for me Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Open Source Schools Project
Hi everyone, We are now only a couple of weeks away from the launch of HLUG's Open Source Schools Project and it has been very interesting helping to set the whole thing up. The project is launching at our Software Freedom Day Event in Hereford and we have a lecturer from one of the local colleges speaking on open source in education and the importance of ensuring that students understand the fundamentals of computing - if you are anywhere near on the 17th Sept do come and support the event - details can be found at http://www.herefordshire.lug.org.uk/node/89 We are working on the project which is running during the autumn term with support from Hereford Councils education department and have had meetings with the engineers responsible for the networks at the schools we will be visiting to ensure that they are happy with our plans - we have been very pleased at the amount of interest and support there has been so far and our first in-school visit is on sept 19 following SFD. Ubuntu is the main OS that we will be demonstrating at our SFD event and also the one most likely to be suggested to schools we visit alongside our Tuxedu OS which has been designed (initially using lubuntu as a base) specifically for the project. We are not intending to convert schools wholesale to using open source but to start movement in that direction, helping them to increase their use and confidence in Open Source Programs and give them an experience of using a linux based OS. By giving teachers the information and the tools in an easily usable form which will not dramatically increase their workload we hope to encourage teachers, students and hopefully parents use of open source software. It's an ongoing project and I hope some of the people on this list will be encouraged to take it into schools in their area - as materials are finalised we will be sharing them online. cheers Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] HLUG Open Source Schools Project
O n Fri, 2011-07-29 at 18:13 +0100, Rob Beard wrote: I'm currently working on a project here in Torbay to provide a couple of old laptops to a local Sure Start Centre as a sort of mobile computer suite (well 2 laptops and a printer) and maybe something like this would work well rather than me re-inventing the wheel :-) I'll be sure to forward this e-mail to my local LUG, we have a couple of people in our LUG who have some involvement with schools and nurseries so maybe of interest to them. Hi Rob Tuxedu primary would definately be good for a surestart centre - it is ment to be run live and you will not be able to access the internet or any files on the computer while you are using it - so you can safely let small children explore - you might want to load lubuntu or ubuntu as the main OS for adults with full funtionality and have Tuxedu as the option for when children use them. As I said it's still being developed but should be ready fairly soon and once it is i'll let you know. We are developing it so that it can be shared and we will also make documentation we create for tuxedu and for the schools project generally available for everyone to share - we are hoping it will be a straightforward way to get children and teachers involved with and confident about using open source and moving away from completely windows based systems. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] HLUG Open Source Schools Project
Hi I wanted to let you know what is happening here in Herefordshire. As a part of ISFD we are running an Open Source Schools Project - partially inspired by discussions here on education and open source. Herefordshire LUG contacted schools across the county and we now have around 7 schools primary, junior and secondary who are interested in taking part. We are creating a lubuntu based distro called tuxedu http://www.tuxedu.org.uk/ for use in primary schools - this is designed to run live but is locked down so it is a completely safe and secure environment. We also intend to produce a secondary version that does allow internet access. Because it is based on lubuntu it is lightweight and will run on older less high spec machines. Following our HLUG meeting on weds we now have support from the ICT consultants at the council who organise ICT across the county's schools - they are introducing us to the schools network techs - so that we can explain our project and ensure that they will allow us access to run tuxedu on the schools networks. We intend to do workshops with students at the schools and also run a session with teachers and possibly interested parents at each school - this will all take place in the autumn term. If it is successful we may be able to expand the project to other schools in the county It is a very exciting project and our hope is that it can be used as a base for similar projects in other areas. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] meeting minutes and facebook page
O n Wed, 2011-06-29 at 22:23 +0100, Alan Bell wrote: we have CDs, we need to get them out there, Alan - HLUG will be happy to take some cd's - we have some left from our last Open Source event - they are mainly 10.04 and 10.10 we have no 11.04 so it would be good to have a few more for our software freedom day event in september - I can arrange pick-up or post as needed Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] What aren't we doing? What should we be doing?
O n Fri, 2011-06-24 at 19:24 +0100, Paul Sutton wrote: we just need to co-ordinate efforts more. I agree with Paul - the wiki pages seem to have a lot of out of date info - which is quite off putting if you are coming in looking for an active community. it would be great to have more poster leaflet templates for use at events and other relevant material that could be tweaked if needed. Finding info and designing stuff, thinking up wording takes a lot of time and effort - we could share what we have centrally and make it easily accessible. If we know there are events coming up such as a release date or software freedom day - we can have material specific to that event for people to use. Install fests can happen at any point - so why not have some material ready - it all makes it so much easier for people to organise on the ground. as Paula said creating 'buzz' at local levels is the best way to get Ubuntu out there on a shoestring we can make it easier for those that want to get out there and create the 'buzz' by providing more info on what has worked at events in the past and up to date downloadable materials for local groups to use. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] influence in education
O n Tue, 2011-06-21 at 14:04 +0100, Sarah Chard wrote: Out here in Herefordshire our next event is 17 sept software freedom day and we usually target schools and get a few teachers and educators through on the day - but I am wondering this year if we can make more of an effort to get schools and students involved Well I took my thoughts and some of the comments from this list to our HLUG software freedom day planning meeting and we have decided to make education our main focus this year. We are looking to pilot a project starting with 2 schools (hopefully one primary and one secondary) to introduce some FOSS software to students and teachers -using local contacts to make initial approaches to the schools but letting all the schools in the county know what we are doing and giving an open invite to our SFD event - We are lucky to have one of the Vinux developers as a lug member and he has rashly offered to create an ubuntu based disc for primary use and one for secondary use so that we can run chosen programs from live cd or msticks. We plan to do the project in the month following SFD assuming we have uptake from schools - various LUG members already have CRB checks and are happy to give up time to develop a project plan and to go into a school and work with children as well as talk to teachers. We are in early stages but I thought it was worth letting you all know our plans - it's a small start but if it works we may be able to get other schools involved. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] influence in education
O n Thu, 2011-06-23 at 17:41 +0100, Bea Groves wrote: Can I say I'm teaching a full-length (i.e. 10 x 2 hours) unaccredited course for adults entitled 'Introduction to Linux' for North Tyneside Adult Learning Alliance next year. Date and time are still to be confirmed. This will be the first time we've ever had a Linux-based ICT course in the borough (to my knowledge). It didn't take much to convince the powers-that-be to include it in the curriculum; as long as there were people who wanted to attend then I easily got the go-ahead. And of course, I'm teaching Ubuntu. Hi Bea I read your intial post about this - it's really good and I hope you have lots of uptake . Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] influence in education
there has been quite a bit of talk on the lists about schools, school websites and teaching lately - this weekend it's not only Glastonbury Festival but also The Sunday Times/Wellington College Festival of Education http://www.festivalofeducation.org.uk/ in Crowthorne Berks - lots of speakers including apparently Bob Geldof but guess who is the main festival partner - Microsoft. This is why I think it really is very important we look at ways to bring FOSS into schools and show teachers how good the alternatives to MS are. Out here in Herefordshire our next event is 17 sept software freedom day and we usually target schools and get a few teachers and educators through on the day - but I am wondering this year if we can make more of an effort to get schools and students involved - it's a tricky date as it falls just after the summer holidays - but if anyone has any good practical ideas that we can implement locally I'd love to hear them - and if they work then other groups can pick them up. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] influence in education
O n Tue, 2011-06-21 at 14:25 +0100, suprengr wrote: Two identical laptops running side by side. One running MS only software, the other running Ubuntu and equivalent software. Stuck [prominently] to each laptop is a price tag ;) Bill yes that's a neat way to show cost factors - of course being volunteers we don't usually have identical laptops but we should have similar enough ones to incorporate that - we have labels for those who want to know spec and software details but blatent 'price tags' are a good idea - perhaps we could have a dedicated education space this year and incorporate that idea into information we put up showing how much you can potentially save. From experience I know parents tend to buy new laptops for kids for the new school term and are then horrified to learn that they have to pay again for MS office packages - at previous events we've had a lot of uptake by offering a disc with FOSS programs that run under windows and then talking to visitors about Linux and offering them Ubuntu discs Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] School websites
O n Mon, 2011-06-20 at 08:27 +0100, Jon Reynolds wrote: Well I was thinking perhaps I should approach them and offer to do them a new website (my contribution towards PTA and all that) :) I think a very simple Drupal installation would be worlds apart from what they have today. now that sounds like a good idea - perhaps this would be a way for all of you who are parents to talk to your children's schools about open source - if the websites are badly designed or could do with a make-over then why not offer to help and then you'll meet the staff responsible for ICT and you can talk to them about Ubuntu and FOSS - and if you are not a parent you can still offer to help. This loco could provide some back-up support for members who want to do this and/or create some guidelines for schools along the lines of website do's and don'ts (incorporating the criticisms made in this thread) in a simple and positive way plus suggestions of FOSS software schools could use and a plug for Ubuntu. Anyone interested? Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Example of difficulty to Convert MS users
O n Fri, 2011-06-10 at 11:15 +0100, gazz wrote: We've previously found it difficult to do stuff in schools because policy has rather dictated an emphasis on Microsoft Office skills but this is changing and we're now looking at doing work in schools - particularly to develop a new generation of programmers. Regards, Paula Paula We've talked about this quite a bit at our LUG meetings and have put special emphasis on contacting teachers and students for our open source events - we had some success at our March event as we had a number of students from the local 6th form college who attended. we are looking to build on this for our event in sept for software freedom day - so any ideas gratefully received I would be interested in developing material to make it easier for teachers / students to get started - it would be useful to have a resource that local LUGS and others could then tap into if they are trying to get interest in schools and colleges in their area. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Example of difficulty to Convert MS users
O n Fri, 2011-06-10 at 12:17 +0100, gazz wrote: Hi Paula OK sounds good! I need to look for some funding to develop this - we're working on doing an Ubuntu-basics course for our non-profits and this could be adapted for schools. We're also looking at doing some programming basics workshops for schools. It's in the very early stages (and I keep getting sidetracked cos we lost the bulk of our funding in April and it's been a bit hellish) but I'll keep you posted. please do keep me up to date with that Let me know if you happen to visit London, maybe we could meet up? I think we're doing pretty similar work. Also, I'm in the process of setting up a women's FOSS advocacy network with Anna from Open Computers in Manc (who's also doing similar work) - I'll send you details when we get under way? If I am down in London I'll let you know - it tends to be fleeting visits but it would be good to meet and I would be very interested in the women's FOSS advocacy network - keep me posted on that as well By the way, do you know Richard Ross-Langley who used to be the circuit rider? He has good contacts with the VCS and comes down to the FOSS Fridays frequently. No don't think I know Richard Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Example of difficulty to Convert MS users
O n Thu, 2011-06-09 at 14:44 +0100, Avi Greenbury wrote: And here's the problem. odf is the better format, MS Office is the better office suite. I'm not at all convinced that the traction against OOo/LO is entirely (or even mostly) down to people being used to MS Office and, much as it might well be getting better in LO, MS Office has long been the more complete, polished, stable and predictable of the two. For the majority of people doing mundane office tasks as I do whilst running my business I doubt there would be a substantial difference using Libre/Open Office or MS Office MS Office may be better - I can't comment as I genuinely have never used it - I started with Lotus (because that was on the first machine I had) then switched to open source programs and finally made the move over to Ubuntu as an OS - my business has been running on Ubuntu for several years now. And that is the point - people use MS office because it's what is on their machines when they buy them and get used to using it. Most people don't want to change - I was interested in open source for a range of reasons and enjoy experimenting with programs but I know most people find it very boring. Because M$ have a monopoly the open source office programs are ham strung as they have to play catch-up trying to get their programs working easily with the closed M$ formats - which their users will need the programs to do as they will daily deal with others using MS office. If the open doc formats were enforced by govt - it would help to level the playing field and it would be easier for larger organisations to start a switch to open source in front offices. I'm sure you all know the arguments That's why getting schools to teach about Open Source and explore the alternatives is very important - then we may not need to 'convert' users. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Example of difficulty to Convert MS users
On Wed, 2011-06-08 at 17:12 +0100, Gordon Burgess-Parker wrote: The major problem (IMHO) in using Linux instead of Windows for ordinary users, is the difficulty with Office 2007 and 2010 documents, which are becoming more and more Email and web browsing is dead easy - it's the incompatibilities of OOXML format documents with the Office suites available on Linux (Open Office, Libre Office and all the others) that would seem to be the problem, particularly as a) prior versions of Office are now being replaced by 2007 and 2010 in which OOXML is the default and b) it would seem to be the norm that Windows hides extensions of known file types by default now such that the average user doesn't even KNOW they are saving and opening OOXML files... that's why it's really important to keep pushing open document formats It's the incompatibility issues which are a real problem not just for ordinary users but for take up by many businesses and in local government where problems using the Open Source office apps create a huge stumbling block to their adoption. It needs political will to really change things and force the use of open formats but in the mean time we all need to keep on making the case If you haven't taken a look at it, it's worth listening to Dr Wrights talk at HLUG's open source day in March as this is exactly what he was talking about http://www.youtube.com/user/HerefordshireLUG It's also the reason why it's vital to get schools and colleges at least thinking about teaching and using FOSS and Linux as has been discussed in other posts. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Microsoft proprietary file types?
On Fri, 2011-05-20 at 08:18 +0100, Alan Lord (News) wrote: On 20/05/11 00:01, Daniel Case wrote: know, apparently I was wasting time..) so the question is how can I educate these people, especially if they are willing to cancel a project over it? (I make my income from this stuff!) LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org will open most MS docs without complaint or issue. I'm really not sure what the issue is here? Al I run my own business and can open the majority of documents I get sent using open/libre office, I send most of my business documents as .pdf, knowing that everyone will be able to view and print them. I rarely mention the fact that i run my business on open source - I am not in the IT world and the majority of people i deal with would not understand / are not interested in document formats - the only time it ever comes up is when clients tell me about problems they are having with their windows systems - at which point I tell them I run Ubuntu and how stable it is! If you want to 'educate people' without causing problems with your business add a very short message to your signature saying that you prefer to use .odf with a link to site that gives a good explanation of what this is - and send relevant docs in both the closed M$ and in .odf formats when appropriate - give them a choice but don't make it hard for them to deal with you Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Dr Mark Wright - speaker at Hereford open source event
if you would like to listen to the speaker at HLUG's Open Source Day on Saturday - Dr Mark Wright talking about his experience of Open Source in local govt and the Q A that followed then here it is - filmed by Paul one of our members - it's in 4 parts http://www.youtube.com/user/HerefordshireLUG Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Herefordshire Open Source Day - event insurance
O n Sat, 2011-03-26 at 21:24 +, Paul Sutton wrote: What do you do regarding insurance at these events, in torbay if we wanted to use the library we have been told that all computers need to be PAT tested we also need public liability insurance or something just wondered if you have to deal with red tape such as this, and if you do how. Paul Paul Public Liability is often an issue with councils - we were lucky that our venue - Allsaints has not asked us for PL insurance - I assume the church has it's own cover as they often stage exhibitions and community events, likewise they did not ask us for PAT testing on any of our equipment - we did have circuit breakers on all our extension cables and were careful about where we ran them to avoid tripping hazards. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Herefordshire Open Source Day
O n Sat, 2011-03-26 at 19:42 +, Nigel Verity wrote: Hi Following Sarah Chard's posting of 23rd March, I attended the event in Hereford today. The LUG members were all extremely enthusiastic and did an excellent job of explaining the merits and benefits of FLOSS. In my view there were two important aspects of the event which the Herefordshire LUG got absolutely right: 1) The main message was to promote open source software rather than specifically Linux. This is the right approach as it gently eases Windows users towards FLOSS. To require a change of operating system as the starting point is probably just too big a step for most people. 2) The venue attracted visitors for reasons other than just the LUG event; an excellent coffee shop and an art exhibition. This means that there was a steady flow of people who might not otherwise have come in. To my mind the way this event was designed holds some useful pointers for any other FLOSS group considering staging something similar. Well done Herefordshire LUG. Regards Nige Nige thanks for such a positive post about the event and I'll pass your comments on at our follow-up lug meeting on wednesday We had members of our own lug at the event but also had support from members of neighbouring lugs which was great and everyone I have spoken to so far enjoyed the day - always a good sign We did not have as many visitors as we did at our SFD event in september - I think both the london march, the football match in cardiff and the fact that it was good weather in early spring all had an effect but we still had around 50 visitors over the course of the day (not including lug members) and have hopefully generated some good publicity locally. Events like this do take quite a bit of organising but are very worthwhile as you reach people who otherwise would not have heard of open source and linux. I am more than happy to share information about how we set up the event with others Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] java issues with Ooo Base
Al thanks for the suggestion I already looked at this - my problem is I cannot revert to the .22 version without removing the .24 version and then getting the broken package problem (i have tried twice) it looks as if this java issue with Ubuntu 10.04 10.10 is a Bug #724217 which causes base to operate very slowly in both libre and openoffice I would like to revert to the .22 java version and lock it until a solution is found so that I can work at normal speed - I can't do it through synaptic without getting a broken package any suggestions? Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] java issues with Ooo Base
Hi I run a database using Open Office Base in Ubuntu 10.04 (i also run it on my laptop with 10.10 and have the same problem) - the database has become increasingly slow (i had the same problem with libre office which i want to switch to in the long term) research tells me that it's an issue with Ubuntu java and all the forums suggest reverting to sun-java version 1.6.0.22 (i am running version 24) Is it possible to add in the .22 version and then just choose it to use within base? or do you need to completley remove version.24 I tried this - by removing the .24 packages in synaptic and installing the .22 version from a deb package - the bin installed fine but the jre said it was version 24 and was broken what's the best way to do this as my database is running very slowly - its still usable but very frustrating thanks for any advice Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] java issues with Ooo Base
O n Wed, 2011-03-16 at 14:51 +, Alan Pope wrote: On 16 March 2011 14:47, Sarah Chard sa...@streetentertainers.co.uk wrote: Is it possible to add in the .22 version and then just choose it to use within base? You can, but it's easier to set it system wide.. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java - Choosing the default Java to use Cheers, Al. Al thanks for the suggestion I already looked at this - my problem is I cannot revert to the .22 version without removing the .24 version and then getting the broken package problem (i have tried twice) if I run sudo update-java-alternatives -l I get java-6-openjdk 1061 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk java-6-sun 63 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun I know I have the sun .24 version installed at present as if I try to mend the package after removing .24 and then installing .22 (which is the point I get a broken package)it just updates them to .24 Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] local council
On Sun, 2011-02-13 at 11:51 +, Sean Miller wrote: So I think that the argument that Councils will automatically save money through moving to FOSS is one that doesn't always stand up to scrutiny. Ultimately we should be promoting Linux on its merits, rather than on costs. The argument about moving to FOSS for Councils is about avoiding lock-in and having software that can be adapted by the councils for their use and shared with other councils because it is open source. It's the long term value of FOSS that matters. And yes absolutely we should promote linux and open source generally on it's merits - that's why we launched our county HOSS awards for organisations and individuals who have been promoting and using Open source in Herefordshire -( and we may have a nomination from the council itself ) - it's all about promoting Open Source as positive so that others will be encouraged to take it seriously and realise how many organisations/businesses/individuals actually already use it. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] local council
O n Sun, 2011-02-13 at 17:38 +, alan c wrote: Hi Sarah Would you find a FOSS leaflet (double sided A4) based on the OpenDIsc useful? If so can I email it to you? -- alan cocks Ubuntu user yes please - we are trying to put together as much info as possible for the event - we have adapted the Open Disc so it's our custom version - but having things people have already written to hand saves an immense amount of work - please email it through Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] local council
On Sun, 2011-02-13 at 20:04 +, Paul Sutton wrote: On 13/02/11 19:17, Jacob Mansfield wrote: the CDs and flyers would be useful for my meeting as well, could I get a copy Jacob Mansfield Programmer CyberKing Solutions www.cyberkingsolutions.co.uk i downloaded the iso file then made a basic press-it lable this is the best way to go really, you need dvd's rather than cds. paul that's why we made a custom disc so it would fit a cd and be cheaper to reproduce and therefor available for more people to use Jacob - the iso we have for the new cd is still a test version and the menu has hlug branding but if you are interested I can email you a link Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] local council
O n Sun, 2011-02-13 at 20:37 +, Rob Beard wrote: Sarah Sarah, are you using the updated menu system on there (I believe it's the one where everything is compiled into one file), or is it the original OpenDisc CD Menu which had individual HTML files? Ta, Rob Rob One of our lug members has done the work on the custom opendisc but I believe it has seperate html files Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] OT - Office suite choice?
O n Tue, 2011-02-08 at 16:04 +, gazz wrote: Yes, I removed OOo first and installed from the LO ppa. This is what I did to remove openoffice and install LibreOffice: sudo apt-get remove --purge openoffice*.* sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install libreoffice sudo apt-get install libreoffice-gnome There's instructions for different methods and discussion on OMG Ubuntu! http://tinyurl.com/5r7hfej thanks that's useful to know Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Open Source Day - March 26
Hi everyone Herefordshire LUG is organising an Open Source Day on Sat March 26 as a follow on from the very successful Software Freedom day event we ran in Sept. It's a free drop-in event open to everyone - we demonstrate Linux operating systems, OS cross platform software and promote and inform people about FOSS. Many of our LUG members are Ubuntu users and Ubuntu tends to be the Linux system we recommend to first time users - we gave away over 60 Ubuntu discs at our last event (thanks to canonical) to users who ranged from business people and students to not-for-profit organisations and home users - it was quite a mix as well as nearly 100 of our own cross platform Open disc (kindly copied and printed for us gratis by The Linux Emporium). For our Open Source Day in March we have created our own HOSS Awards - Herefordshire Open Source Star Awards - and are looking for nominations from businesses, organisations and individuals who have done the most to promote and develop the use of FOSS in the county. At this event we are also focusing on Open Document Standards and the need for compatibility and will be looking at Open/Libre Office in particular. Dr Mark Wright a Bristol City Council's cabinet member and an Open Source advocate will be speaking in the afternoon about his experience of Open Source in Local Government. So if any of you can come to the event we would love to see you there. There is more info up on our website about the event and the HOSS Awards http://www.herefordshire.lug.org.uk/ you can also follow us on facebook - http://tinyurl.com/3ym78gy twitter http://twitter.com/Hfd_LUG Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Open Source Day - March 26
On Fri, 2011-01-28 at 19:20 +, Will Bickerstaff wrote: I'll try my best to get there (though very close to baby due day) and would hope a few more from your neighbours in Worcestershire will be to. Will I hope you can make it - understandable if you can't! We will be sending the info out to nearby lugs shortly to get the word out and pull people in from neighbouring counties - one of the downsides of being out in the sticks is that we are spread out around the county - upside for anyone that wants to come is that Hereford is a lovely city - the venue for the event is right in the centre close to rail and bus links, fully accessible and has a great cafe attached. Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] buying a laptop?
On Mon, 2011-01-17 at 10:24 +, Alan Lord (News) wrote: Erm, I bet Tesco/PC World buy a shedload more machines than Linux Emporium could ever do and so will get much better volume discounts on the hardware even before you take into consideration the crapware kickbacks I mentioned above. Exactly a small company cannot compete with the economies of scale Tesco or PC World can make - I have not bought a laptop from The Linux Emporium but have bought wi-fi dongles back in the day when wi-fi was more problematic and they were very helpful. I also approached them for support for a software freedom day event our Herefordshire LUG ran last year as they are west midlands based and they kindly duplicated and printed (gratis) 100 copies of the Open Disc we created to give out on the day and were very supportive as well - Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] buying a laptop?
On Mon, 2011-01-17 at 11:41 +, Sean Miller wrote: In which case there is something amiss, is there not? Because they could buy a laptop retail from PC World for £299 by simply walking in, spend 5 minutes restoring a disc image and then sell at £399, £450 or whatever they do with a HEALTHY profit. So what advantage is the China/Taiwan thing gaining them? Unless, of course, they're overcharging. And it's actually costing them £150 to build these laptops and they just know that Linux advocates will pay anything to be seen to be supporting the cause. In which case, they don't deserve our custom. As we're being used. we all make choices about where and why we want to buy things including IT equipment - personally I choose to use refurbished/recycled where ever possible for both my business and personal use as this keeps the landfill down If there was a high profit in doing what you suggest - then someone would be out there doing it If you are just interested in buying the cheapest laptop with the spec you require then that's fine, do your own research and buy from a bigger company - if you want a laptop that has been checked to make sure the components work with Ubuntu or whichever linux install you want plus support if things go wrong - then buy from a specialist dealer you will probably pay more because they will be a smaller company but they are not 'using' you just offering a more select service It's entirely your choice but don't assume that because the price is higher for a product the company is always making more profit (they may pay their workers higher wages, have higher standards, not squeeze their suppliers on price as much as the large companies, not make economies of scale the large companies do) It's your choice Sarah -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
