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Brochure

Page history last edited by Steve Hargadon 17 years, 9 months ago

Brochure

Three-fold

Page 1 - front

Hands-on

OPEN SOURCE

Lab

(Picture)

(Some text at bottom: date, location)

Page 2 - inside left, back of front page

What is Open Source Software?

Free and Open Source Software is software that is developed openly by a community of programmers. While it may seem like this would be a chaotic process, it actually produces extremely stable results long-term--comparable to the processes of democracy and open-market economies.

Linux is just one example of thousands of open source computer programs that have been “copy-lefted,” a licensing process that immediately puts the program's code into the public domain while at the same time guaranteeing it will stay publicly available. (Sometimes called “share and share alike”). The GNU General Public License, originally written by Richard Stallman, is the most popular of this type of license. The different movements which are generally referred to as “Free and Open Source Software” are motivated by both altruism and pragmatism; by a belief that the ability to work together to create and build upon computer code benefits both the programmer (who can produce better software by not having to start from scratch and can learn from others) and the ultimate users of the software (who get better software).

Recent studies have shown open-source software to have many fewer coding errors than proprietary software because of the process of peer review that takes place in the development process. The most widely known example of an Open Source software program is the Apache web server software, which runs over 70% of the world's websites. Most of the programs which form the backbone of the Internet are Open Source.

Page 3 - inside middle

What is Linux?

Linux (pronounced “linnuks”) is a computer operating system, like Microsoft Windows® or the Apple Mac OS (the Linux “desktop” or main screen, in fact, looks much like a combination of the two). Linux is most widely known among corporate computer users because of its quality, reliability, and price. Linux has matured to the point where it is now the preferred platform for most of the world's more robust and critical computer systems.

Who Created Linux?

In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki in Finland, started to write a computer operating system. By releasing early versions of the software under a “public” license, Torvalds provided an environment for many other programmers to work together to improve his software, which became known as Linux.

Common Linux distributions that you may have heard of are Fedora Core, SuSE, Ubuntu, and Knoppix. Some commercial versions are Red Hat, Novell Linux Desktop, and Linspire.

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What Does “Thin Client” Mean?

Thin-client computing is a “back to the future” technology. Before the advent of the personal computer (pc), mainframe computers powered “dumb terminals,” which were reliable, affordable, and centrally controlled. In a thin-client network, a powerful computer called a “server” does the actual processing tasks, while significantly less powerful computers act as “clients,” just providing the keyboard, mouse, and video-display interaction with the server.

How Does Thin-client Linux Work?

Linux is extraordinarily well-suited for the thin-client environment. The code-sharing capability of Linux allows a server that might be able to host relatively few Windows® sessions to handle dozens of Linux users. Older pcs are then converted to run as super-fast thin-client workstations, or new specialty thin-client machines can be purchased, and they are connected by a regular computer network to the server.

What Are the Advantages of Linux Thin-client?

Cost Savings. A Linux thin-client lab can cost 1/5th or less than a traditional computer lab, with no software licensing or upgrade fees.
Significantly decreased maintenance. This is due to both the stability and the reliability of Linux, and the fact that only the server requires any maintenance or updating.
Student exposure to the Open Source Software community and Open Source code
Hundreds of useful and free academic software programs.
Log-in independence.

Page 5 - back left, first seen inside flap

Open Source Lab Presentations

Podcasts for the presentations will be available at www.EdTechLive.com/NECC2006 immediately upon upload. These will be available at www.ConferenceWikis.com/necc2006

Wednesday, July 5

8:30-9:30am	When Best is Free: An Educator's Guide to Open Source	David Thornburg
10:00-11:00am	Use Your Noodle, Learn Moodle: An Open Source Learning Management System	Michelle Moore
11:30-12:30pm	Presenting CanDo 2006 -- A FREE, Web-Based, Competency Tracker	Dave Welsh
2:00-3:00pm	Learning With Blogs: Bringing the Read/Write Web Into the Classroom	Will Richardson
3:30-4:30pm	A Tour of Ubuntu with Free CD	Jeffrey Elkner

Thursday, July 6

10:00-11:00am	Hello World: Starting at the Very Beginning with PHP	Jenny Horn
11:00am-12n	Open Source Technology: Why Teachers Should Care	Bryant Patten
12:30-1:30pm	Great Web sites with Open Source Content Management Systems	Tim Frichtel
2:00-3:00pm	K12LTSP: Low-cost, Stable, and Reliable Computer Labs	Steve Hargadon
3:30-4:30pm	Use Your Noodle, Learn Moodle: An Open Source Learning Management System	Michelle Moore
4:45-5:45pm	(In Room 30B/C) Birds of a Feather: K12 Free and Open Source Software	Steve Hargadon

Friday, July 7

8:30-9:30am	Content is STILL King: FREE Blogging & Content Management Systems	Walsh, Chris
10:00-11:00am	Creating Communities with Open Source Tools	Klein, James
11:30am-12:30pm	SchoolTool: a Free, Open Source SIS and Calendaring System	Hoffman, Tom
1:00-2:00pm	Computer Programming for Everybody: Teaching Programming with Python	Ceder, Vernon
2:30-3:30pm	Use Your Noodle, Learn Moodle: An Open Source Learning Management System	Moore, Michelle