Ryan Collins

🕹ī¸ Do Something Great! 😄

Tag: linux

  • Linux for 1:1 instead of Chromebooks or iPads

    (This post is basically me thinking out loud…)

    Like many districts, my district is looking at devices for a 1:1
    program. The top three devices seem to be Chromebooks, iPads, Windows or
    OS X laptops. Costs are the main driving factor for a lot of districts,
    which basically means they are choosing between Chromebooks or iPads.
    While these devices have their uses, I’m wondering why we aren’t looking
    at Linux laptops (probably running Ubuntu). There are districts with
    districts with Linux laptops, with Ubermix being pretty prevalant.

    Ubermix has some neat features, the most important one is the ability
    for a student to re-set their laptop on their own with quick
    recovery    . In my mind, I’m thinking of extending this function along
    with what I’ve learned from my GozBrowserBox project. I would
    probably use the idea of Ubermix but with a straight Ubuntu install.

    Each laptop would be set up to use Puppet in a serverless manner for
    management and the student’s home folder would be synced to a Network
    Attached Storage device. The Puppet manifests would be synced and ran at
    startup, and the home folder syncing would happen only at log in and log
    off. Both of these to minimize any bandwidth issues. I haven’t quite
    figured out how to do user management. It could be done with Puppet for
    1:1 managed machines, and use our current directory for shared devices.

    This setup would be very, very powerful. Not only could they do
    everything a Chromebook could do, but they would give the students
    access to software that’s not available on the web. This is a very
    important consideration for students in 7th grade and lower, since most
    websites limit usage by those under the age of 13. Management becomes a
    non-issue with a quick recovery setup and Puppet.

    Cost per device would be between $300-$350 (without case). Comparable
    Chromebooks cost $280-$310 with Google Management, and the iPad mini
    starts at $329 (but can’t be used with the PARCC tests, so you really
    need to start at $399).

    What have I missed?

  • Skills You Should Know (SYSK) – vi

    I’m starting a new category, that goes along with my blog post
    Yes I will lead. The new
    category is called Skills You Should Know – SYSK. Little bits of
    information that through my experience aren’t something that you may not
    necessarily use every day, but may someday save you a ton of trouble.

    Today’s topic is vi.
    Vi may be the only editor
    installed on a new unix based system, and a few commands will get you to
    the point where at least you can edit a few files before installing
    something a little more user friendly such as pico (or nano).

    Vi has two modes, command and insertion. It was designed this way
    because sometimes the keyboard you would be using might not necessarily
    have all the keys we take for granted today, especially when it comes to
    the arrow keys. In command mode you can move the cursor around with the
    arrow keys or hjkl keys. To do an editing, you’ll need to switch to
    insertion mode. Vi defaults to command mode when it is started.

    i – Switches to insertion mode
    \ – Switches to command
    mode

    In a nutshell, you’ll start the editor with a file:

    vi somefile

    Once the file is open, you’ll press
    i to switch to insertion mode.
    Make the changes to your file. Press
    \ to switch back to command
    mode. To exit you’ll press the following (these all start with the
    colon):

    :wq – Write the file and then
    quit
    :q! – Quit the file without
    saving the changes. A great way if you mess up and just want to not save
    your changes

    These preceding commands should at least get you started. For more info,
    you may want to visit the following pages:
    vi – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Vi Cheat Sheet
    Mastering the VI editor