[IAEP] Printing in Uruguay

[nanonano at mediagala.com]

/>mokurai at earthtreasury.org wrote:
 >Shall we take this discussion back onto the mailing lists?
------------------------------------------------------------------------/



Sorry, I was replying your mails, and not replying to the entire mailing 
list.

The printing Problem is one of the issues that we are talking from 2008, 
and a lot of people wrote about it, but nothing practical  was decided.

-------------------------

I Know that printing is not necessary, but teachers ask us how to print. 
May be in 50 years nobody will print , but now is a issue that maybe 
someone can solve-.

Mr Mokuraui asked me what he can do to solve that problem. 

I'm  from Uruguay, and here the deployment is "monopolized" by Plan 
Ceibal, we (the volunteers) can only change little things, but we can't 
change big things, like installing something in the school servers, o 
installing printers, etc etc.

That's why it is very difficult for us to  try to install something to 
solve the printing problem.

For example: from other countries, many people told us: "do that and 
these, install that thing and this software, and the problem is solved"...

We can not go inside a school installing or touching thing that belongs 
to a school!. We are volunteers, that means in legal words: "less than a 
fly".

The server on each school is closed in a metal cage like a little 
fort-knox <http://mediagala.com/rap/varios/servidor-ceibal.jpg>, nobody 
can touch the server, and most of the times the server is in a separate 
room that the "computer-room", in the cases that the school have one.

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I Think that the "printing problem"_* may have two approaches: *_
"_the big centralized solution_", or _"the little solution in a little 
school_".

the "big solution" would be that Sugarlabs and/or Plan Ceibal install 
something in all the schools servers and all the Xos.

This solutions does not concern me, but maybe the second ...

_*T**he second approach could be to try something in a little school*_,  
. For example, using the printer that already have a school, with normal 
computer that already had that school, connected somehow to the Xos, 
with some software that can print.

For example: the first thing that may be done is printing a "Write 
document" (made on the XO), and printed using a school printer, 
connected to a computer with a web-printing software. or something similar.

-----------


At this moment the teachers has a lot of problems printing something, 
because they have to use a USB penDrive to copy the file, saved in pdf 
or rtf, then taking the pendrive to someplace and with the fingers 
crossed she have to hope that on that computer she can open the .odt , o 
pdf,. or whatever.

-------------

Connecting the School Xos with the normal PCs of the Scool it is 
impossible right now (on the Plan Ceibal Network).  The normal Computers 
can't connect with the "ceibal network".   The only PCs that connects 
are SOME teachers laptops and the XOs 1.0 .

You need a user and password to connect to the "ceibal network", that is 
made so the people can't steal internet from the schools.

----------


Possible solution N°1:
-*We need a school, that has normal Pcs and one printer *(there are 
schools that already had computers and printers before OLPC). This is 
possible (not for all the schools, of couse)

-*We need to connect that computer* (the one that has the printer) to 
the "Ceibal NEtwork". This is possible too, (in theory).  We need an 
user and a password from PLan Ceibal to do that.

-We also need an* USB Dongle to connect that computer* to the AP of the 
School.  That dongle cost less than U$S 20 (american dollars)

-_We need_ a "*printer administrator*", a teacher or someone that is 
paid to do that work. This is the most difficult part because that 
person will be paid by the Primary School , not by Plan Ceibal.

- *We need some web-based software to manage the printer*, and it have 
to be administrated by the teacher.

That software dont' have to be a printer server, because the XOs dont' 
have the "print button", but it could be a software where the children 
uploads the files and later the teacher authorizes to print.

Initially it could be made for .odt files, or jpg, .rtf or pdf, hat is 
easy to print, and later we can think about printing from Etoys, 
"browse" , or other Sugar programs.

-------------------------------------------------------------


_The Things that the volunteers can do:_
-going to a school and help the teachers installing all that stuff.

_Things that are very difficult to solve by  the volunteers:_
-Have the permission of The Plan Ceibal to connect an external computer 
to the "Ceibal network" inside the school.
-Have the permission of the "Anep" (the Primary School) to touch the 
computers of the school.
-Obtain funds to make sustainable the printer:  buying the paper for the 
printer, the ink, and the time of someone (a Teacher, maybe) that will 
be the "printer administrator".

-----------------------------------------------------------------

This solution it can be applied to_* solve a second problem "the backup 
of the children"*_ If we can install a server in the school where the 
children uploads files, that software could be used as a server file


----------------------------------------------------

The "printing problem" it's not the biggest problem that we have her in 
Uruguay, but it could be one thing that helps the Teachers to approach 
more and more to the use of Sugar.




Paolo Benini
RAP-CEIBAL
Montevideo




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