Re: Sacrifices made for Free Software
LM writes: > So, here's an opportunity to give a school an alternative to a > non-Free product and promote Free Software. I don't think it is an opportunity for us unless we get retributions. I do think that it is good for someone to have freedom. But that does not mean that the people who promote freedom are benefited for it. When someone uses nonfree software, they benefit the developer and the promoter (usually). But with free software, it is the other way around. It is the developer and the promoter that benefit the user. It is the ethical way to distribute software. But that does not mean per is obliged to produce or distribute per work without charging for it. It is our wish that all people are free. And it would help free software users that there is a critical mass of users for every niche. But the main source of benefit for the pushers of freedom is cooperation from the users, not just use. Use does not contribute to produce more free software. In fact, it is a payload that we must carry. But we do it gladly! ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
Re: Practicality of GNU project and libre movement (Sagar Acharya : 2)
On 7/25/20 3:12 PM, Matt Ivie wrote: "And, yes, I rely on a Mac, and MS Office for lots of things - " Hi Miles, this is not an attack bit a practical question. What functions does the Mac do for you that you're unable to do in a libre system? Same question on MS office. I have been an IT professional for some years now and I have been able to run my workstations using debian and I use LibreOffice without much of an issue. Do we need to start a new thread or discuss this privately since it is a little bit of a side topic. Not sure how much of a side topic it is - seems like it's right up there with "practicality of .. " To answer your question: - It's not about being "able" to do something, it's about being able to get real work done with the least amount of hassles. I'm a systems architect - computer hardware & software are just tools for getting the work done, and components in the end products delivered to customers. - When I'm trying to get work done, I like my tools to just work. The Mac is a nice piece of hardware, the GUI is polished, Apple Care is a pretty good deal for keeping stuff working, and Office is what everybody in business uses. Sure, one CAN do it all with Debian & LibreOffice (until you start sharing complex spreadsheets), but again, ease of use & support count for a lot. (Now, with Apple about to change the underlying chipset, and moving toward a more and more closed environment, there's a good chance that my next machine will be an MS Surface - but that's another matter entirely.) - On the server side, Linux & FOSS are the things that "just work." I've been running Debian, Apache, Postfix, Sympa, and MySQL for years. But what with systemd mucking things up, and MySQL now owned by Oracle, there's pretty good chance that my next upgrade is going to be to either BSD or SmartOS, or Erlang on bare iron. Now if someone would just come up with a good, FOSS, distributed file system... - And, of course, when it comes to delivering stuff to customers - more often than not it has to run on an MS platform. And, if not MS, then Red Hat (precisely because customers like to purchase service contracts). Cheers, Miles -- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. Yogi Berra Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but no one knows why. In our lab, theory and practice are combined: nothing works and no one knows why. ... unknown ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
Re: OS for schools (was Re: Practicality of GNU project and libre movement)
In terms of distros for education there is already https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/ I think there is something called SkolLinux and Edubuntu, But I agree, there is the FSF distros too. I am involve with ToriOS ( https://torios.top/ ) so if Jinnijus is interested we are always looking for help with that. We are aiming to just build a lightweight distribution. Hope this helps Paul On 27/07/2020 15:01, LM wrote: > jinnjus wrote: > This is why I am saying build a simple free OS for kids to use in > schools. I'd even go a step further and say make them dig out a > soldering iron and build their device from a kit themselves. > >This is something I'd really be interested in. I would love to help >put together a lightweight Linux or Free OS distribution that included >educational games and other learning tools. Preferably, it would be >something that they could duplicate by building the entire distribution >from source themselves as well. It would be great if I could do it all >on my own, but at the rate the project's going, there won't be any >concrete results any time soon. It would be wonderful if I could find >some others with similar interests to collaborate on something like >this. If anyone knows of any viable projects in this area, please >share information on them. >As to encouraging using soldering irons in school, I personally >wouldn't recommend it. I still have a burn mark from when I used one >for a school project several years ago. > > > ___ > libreplanet-discuss mailing list > libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org > https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss > -- Paul Sutton https://personaljournal.ca/paulsutton/ gnupg : 7D6D B682 F351 8D08 1893 1E16 F086 5537 D066 302D https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsutton2019/ ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
Re: OS for schools (was Re: Practicality of GNU project and libre movement)
As to encouraging using soldering irons in school, I personally wouldn't recommend it. My local makerspace routinely runs soldering workshops with kids as young as 5. Has anyone ever been burned? Sure. But mt toddler is in more mortal danger when she jumps off high parts of the playground and no parent has ever complained, in fact they keep coming back for more soldering next time! PS. I am so bad at soldering. Some of the kids end up much better at it than me. ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
Re: OS for schools (was Re: Practicality of GNU project and libre movement)
Adonay Felipe Nogueira wrote: > If the goal is to get a user-friendly system distribution for use by > non-advanced users, then there's no need start anew, since Trisquel > ([1]) is still active and accepting contributors. It even has a Sugar > environment/flavor. A primary goal is to be able to build the entire operating system from source code (similar to Linux from Scratch). This gives the students a chance to find out more about how an operating system works, what it takes to put one together and how to customize their systems however they choose. The second goal is to be able to supply lightweight educational programs, games, utilities, hobby software, accessibility tools, ebook readers and CC/public domain reading materials and recordings. That way, if a user has an older machine and/or poor or no Internet access, etc., he/she can still perform educational activities with the computer. I'm finding less and less people who actually know how to program and more and more people just using what someone else did. Just had a conversation with someone today about measuring if a program would work well on an older computer and the other person's definition had nothing to do with the actual source code itself or how complex it was or what the dependencies were. Being able to have the source code so that you can modify it is one of the goals of the FSF. The aim is to encourage hobbyists/students to learn how to understand, modify, customize, improve and share code rather than just using whatever software they're given. ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
Re: Sacrifices made for Free Software
Adonay Felipe Nogueira wrote: > Another challenge that came to haunt me in 2018 (first bachelor's > degree) and is surely going to be repeated in 2020 and 2021 is the fact > that the teacher of the "final course work" class expects the student > perself to use a non-free software to scan for plagiarism, this involves > making an account to some service and using a Java (not JavaScript) > program to scan the .PDF comparing each phrase with lots of other works > in scientific repositories, in which case I resort to borrowing > computers again. Someone on the LibOER mailing list is asking about software to check for plagiarism. He's looking for an "interactive online discussion platform". He needs a system that "monitors and grades student online discussions for an instructor" and "tracks down plagiarism and monitors open ended discussion". He gave a commercial example of https://www.packback.co/ So, here's an opportunity to give a school an alternative to a non-Free product and promote Free Software. Is there a Free Software solution that does the job? If not, how do we expect schools to give Free options or replace what they're using? We have the opportunity to replace a non-Free product with a Free one. If anyone knows of any Free alternatives for this or a project that would be willing to work on one, please let me know and all pass the information on to the LibOER mailing list. ___ libreplanet-discuss mailing list libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org https://lists.libreplanet.org/mailman/listinfo/libreplanet-discuss
