Operating systems in academic settings

[lgrant]

I don't think any of the FOSS OS's are "ready-for-prime-time", enough, for that environment. School districts are woefully inadequate at supporting hardware and software products. You need something that is stripped down to the essentials; ONE supported filesystem, ONE desktop/window manager, ONE browser, ONE productivity suite, NO "extra tools/services", NO config files, etc. Everything has to "just work". This is contrary to most FOSS that seems to strive to be "most flexible" (even if you hide the configuration files, they still exist... the device can "change" because it has support for that change as part of its very nature).

I've been developing a STEAM curriculum to supplement the "mainstream" curriculum in elementary/jr high/high schools. The idea is to teach programming (concepts, not a specific LANGUAGE) with "real world" problems. Not silly abstractions ("Let's write a program to compute the Fibonacci sequence!").

To that end, I've been repurposing laptops to be "teaching appliances". Stripping everything out of the laptop that isn't essential to teaching the courseware and allowing students to develop solutions thereunder. You want to surf the web? Go find someone else's computer. You want to draw pictures? See previous comment. Etc.

Initially, we plan to teach students how to program a "robot" to navigate a maze. Force them to think about how THEY would navigate a maze IF THEY WERE IN THE MAZE (with only their immediate surroundings "probe-able"). Then, expose them to a pseudo-language (that runs in the laptop) to command a virtual robot to explore a maze depicted on the screen. They can see their code executing (single step) and watch what the on-screen robot is doing to discover the flaws in their aproach.

One can then offer different mazes to show them how various algorithms can fail. Eventually, getting them to refine their INDIVIDUAL solutions to the point where they can solve a "random" maze generated by their laptop to exercise their solution (and let them experience conditions that they might not have previously imagined -- what if the starting point is IN the maze instead of at the periphery?? Ooops!)

You can imagine how you can "evaluate" the efficiency of their algorithms -- count the number of "instruction fetches" to solve a particular maze; count the number of robot motions, etc. This inroduces the notion that algorithms have costs and some can be better than other -- even if they ALL solve the maze!

[You can see a more advanced class teaching students to maintain and update a model of the maze (based on their robot's observations) and infer characteristics of the maze based on that knowledge.]

As (technically) "supporting" such a curriculum can quickly get costly (time), you want to minimize the number of things that can go wrong with their kit. AND, make it easy to restore/replace their "defective" device with something to keep them "up" (i.e., let all of their "files" reside on a thumb drive; no way to "save" anything on the laptop/appliance, itself).

The Ernie Ball company switched to Linux Terminal Server after Microsoft made an example of them in ads after what appears to be just sloppy accounting of repurposed machines (https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/rockin-on-without-microsoft/).

In one of the articles about Ernie Ball, it mentions that the users only have access to apps that they need. For example, if a person’s job is data entry, they don’t get a web browser, so they are not distracted by it. That idea might have application in academic organizations.

 

[lgrant]

Another aspect…we were helping a school in Belize (where we live) with their computer lab. The school is in a poor rural area. There computers are all donated Windows PCs. The problem they have is that the temperatures are often above 100º F, and they have no air conditioning. The computers, which were already old when they were acquired, are dying one after another.

I think they probably need fanless industrial computers (like https://www.gigaipc.com/en/products-detail/QBiX-EHLA6412-A1/), which have an operating range of 0 to 50º C. But they are in the $300 range ($600 BZ$), so out of reach for the school.

 

[Don Y]

The Ernie Ball company switched to Linux Terminal Server after Microsoft made an example of them in ads after what appears to be just sloppy accounting of repurposed machines (https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/rockin-on-without-microsoft/).

In one of the articles about Ernie Ball, it mentions that the users only have access to apps that they need. For example, if a person’s job is data entry, they don’t get a web browser, so they are not distracted by it. That idea might have application in academic organizations.

In my case, many of the students will be disadvantaged kids. I want to make it difficult for them (or a family member) to decide to sell the laptop for a few dollars. Obviously, we wouldn't want to penalize the student (even if they were at fault -- kids take a long time to understand the value of what you are trying to do) so we would replace the "missing" laptop. (The equipment is donated so the real cost is just TIME)

To discourage this sort of thing, I am trying to render the laptops "unusable" for anything once they've been "repurposed" to my needs. I.e., so you can't install ANYTHING on them -- ever. Then, mark them prominently (though not tackily) so anyone encountering someone trying to sell one would realize "Oh, that's one of those laptops that you can't install Windows on... no thanks, I don't want to buy it from you!"

Another aspect…we were helping a school in Belize (where we live) with their computer lab. The school is in a poor rural area. There computers are all donated Windows PCs. The problem they have is that the temperatures are often above 100º F, and they have no air conditioning. The computers, which were already old when they were acquired, are dying one after another.

I think they probably need fanless industrial computers (like https://www.gigaipc.com/en/products-detail/QBiX-EHLA6412-A1/), which have an operating range of 0 to 50º C. But they are in the $300 range ($600 BZ$), so out of reach for the school.

I live in the desert southwest (US -- a northern suburb of MX :> ) so high temperatures are common, here. Many of the poorer families don't have air conditioning, relying, instead, on evaporative coolers. This only really works during the "dry" season and still leaves homes in the 80+F range.

There are alternative platforms (e.g., true terminal servers) but they require external monitors. (So, a shady student could sell the monitor which would be a lot harder for me to "cripple" like the laptops).

If you have funding, I would have considered designing an interface that lets the students use their phones as the compute engine with an external (BT?) keyboard and "TV" for the monitor -- assuming TVs are somewhat ubiquitous, everywhere.

But, my goal has been to find uses for all this surplus equipment that is "generated" each year as businesses retire FLEETS of PCs and laptops regularly. Repurpose a set of laptops "for teaching purposes". At the completion of the course, when the student SURRENDERS the laptop (that I have spent a fair bit of time "crippling" and that has value for the NEXT class), REWARD him/her with a REAL laptop. So, you have a home for as many laptops as you have students!

 

[lgrant]

Obviously, we wouldn't want to penalize the student (even if they were at fault -- kids take a long time to understand the value of what you are trying to do) so we would replace the "missing" laptop.

You are a true educator. Bravo!

BTW, it just occurred to me that crippling the laptops is really a form of poka-yoke, the Japanese production concept of designing things in such a way that it is hard to make errors while assembling them. In this case you are protecting against the error of trying to sell them.

 

[astyle]

In my case, many of the students will be disadvantaged kids. I want to make it difficult for them (or a family member) to decide to sell the laptop for a few dollars. Obviously, we wouldn't want to penalize the student (even if they were at fault -- kids take a long time to understand the value of what you are trying to do) so we would replace the "missing" laptop. (The equipment is donated so the real cost is just TIME)

To discourage this sort of thing, I am trying to render the laptops "unusable" for anything once they've been "repurposed" to my needs. I.e., so you can't install ANYTHING on them -- ever. Then, mark them prominently (though not tackily) so anyone encountering someone trying to sell one would realize "Oh, that's one of those laptops that you can't install Windows on... no thanks, I don't want to buy it from you!"

if you want to make it difficult to resell a laptop - that has been accomplished with Windows already. I'd know, I was part of the system that does exactly that, the BIOS gets disabled remotely. There's the reason that business fleets have Intel vPro processors, and more.