[sugar] USB Based Community Access - What could work technically?

[David Farning]

My thought is that it provides a low cost initial entry point for
introducing Sugar.

I am under the impression that personal student notebooks will be the long
term solution.  In the mean time we should do whatever is necessary to make
Sugar available given the existing technological and purchasing environment.

One of the main reasons for moodle's success is the extremely low barrier to
entry.  In terms of student infrastructure all that is needed is a web
browser.  At the IT department level, all that is required is a moodle
server.  The servers can be purchased as a server in a box or an off site
service from several moodle partners for 10s of dollars per month.

Many moodle installations started in a single classroom that was lead by a
early adopter teacher.  The installations spread by other teachers seeing
the usefullness of moodle and students requesting moodle in their other
classes.

Sugar Labs can mimic this approach by creating an USB stick which converts
existing students computers, at no perment risk, to Sugar.  Sugar partners
can provide server hosting either on or off site.

thanks
david

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 5:46 PM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>wrote:

> What is the current recommendation for a LiveUSB image?
>
> -walter
>
> On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 6:42 PM, David Farning <dfarning at sugarlabs.org>
> wrote:
> > Clinic next door to a School - A health clinic located right next door
> > Sasha's school has a close partnership with the school. Many students are
> > scene there so they decided to add a donated computer to their waiting
> room
> > just for kids to use Sugar. This computer still has its hard-drive, but
> its
> > dedicated for Sugar. Some of the basic sugar files are located on the
> hard
> > drive and it is set up to allow students to log out rather then shutting
> > down and restarting between each student.
> >
> > This is an very interesting idea. A hybrid harddrive usb solutions.  From
> a
> > technology perspective it would not be that hard to implement.  When the
> > computer boots from the hard drive it waits at a login prompt for the
> user
> > to either login or insert a USB with the users /home directory.  The
> current
> > generation of linux distribution has excellent support for DBUS to
> > communicate the status of hot swapped devices such as USBs.
> >
> > A big advantage of this method would be to take advantage of the
> hard-drives
> > speed while storing user data on the USB.  Furthermore, the users login
> > criteria would be stored on the USB.  This would allow passwordless
> login.
> >
> > The main concern that I have heard about storing user data on a USB is
> that
> > kids will lose them.  Kids can be trusted not to lose their textbooks and
> > folders.  Why not reverse the trend of shrinking USBs and make textbook
> > sized USBs for kids:)  We make big pencils and big crayon for younger
> > students. Why not big USBs?
> >
> > The Zoo: ....
> >
> > This seems very similar to the clinic.
> >
> > YMCA: After school and on snow days and vacations Sasha goes to the local
> > YMCA. There is a bank of 10 computers for kids to use. They are thin
> clients
> > run from one server. There is a USB port, and the user experience is just
> > like booting on a stand alone computer, except because it doesn't really
> > have to fully boot for each student switching users is much faster.
> >
> > The difficulty here seems to be defining what is a thin client.  One
> > interesting approach is the one taken in the Extremadura region in spain.
> > Several years ago they start putting computers on the desks of all of the
> > students in the region. Now, as the computers are becoming outdated (the
> > students have faster computers at home) they are adding high powered
> servers
> > to schools.  By configuring the existing laptops and desktops as clients
> for
> > the new servers, they are able to extend usefull life of the existing
> > equipment by several years.
> >
> > For this to become possiable with Sugar we will need to engage the LTSP
> > developers.
> >
> >
> > At School: Due to the E-Rate program Sasha's school and all the schools
> in
> > tow are well connected so the schools system decided to take advantage of
> > the economies of scale and hosts a large server centrally. In each
> classroom
> > there are thin clients and a USB port. The user experience is exactly the
> > same as at the YMCA, but in this case the server is located several miles
> > away.
> >
> > A current preference for US schools seems to be using E-Rate to finance a
> > client server system where student can log into their virtual desktop
> from
> > anywhere that has Internet access.
> >
> > This thinking seems to stem from the belief within the current generation
> of
> > school sysadmins that only they can be trusted with a student's data.  A
> > second reason is that schools tend to integrate students systems to
> closely
> > with teachers administrative systems.  As a result many districts are
> > putting a tremendous emphasis on backing up students data.
> >
> > Client Server systems allow sysadmins to backup a student's data to
> school
> > or district level SAN.  It has been awhile since I have gone to school,
> but
> > I can't remember anyone photo copying my notebooks so that I would have a
> > 'backup' if I lost my original.  On the contrary, I remember losing point
> > for losing my homework. It was called learning responsibility.
> >
> > This belief also seems to stem from the quirk of human nature that if we
> pay
> > a consultant to install an expensive system, we tend to be happier then
> if
> > we install an inexpensive system our selves:(
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Caroline Meeks
> > <caroline at solutiongrove.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> This is a request for technical assistance for "Sugar on a Stick".
> >>
> >> It looks like we have a pilot school for our USB boot project, and a
> grant
> >> proposal in so I am trying to think through various use cases around
> >> creating ubiquitous access with a USB storage device.  I've written up
> some
> >> use cases here:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> http://www.sugarlabs.org/go/DeploymentTeam/School_Key#Vision_of_different_ways_the_USB_might_work_in_the_students_environment
> >>
> >> I'd love thoughts on what is feasible, how hard, and how much benefit
> >> would each scenario actually provide.
> >>
> >> I've done tests to show that "Home" and "Grandma's" are feasible.  I'm
> >> curious as to whether putting some of the boot files on the hard drive
> (Zoo)
> >> could reduce boot time or have any other advanatages as most of our
> donated
> >> computers will likely have working disk drives.  I wonder if combining
> with
> >> a LTSP or other virtualization scheme is possible (YMCA/School).
> >>
> >> Note all scenarios are fictional.
> >>
> >> Write your ideas here or on the Wiki page as you see fit.
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >> Caroline
> >>
> >> --
> >> Caroline Meeks
> >> Solution Grove
> >> Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
> >>
> >> 617-500-3488 - Office
> >> 505-213-3268 - Fax
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Sugar mailing list
> >> Sugar at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Walter Bender
> Sugar Labs
> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>
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