EdTech Avenue

Lisa Whitaker has a school board member that wants them to run on Linux.  Any thoughts? 

The school board member writes:

I have been looking into Linux and think we could do some travelling carts for pretty cheap. Or if not carts we could have some computers in the classroom. Linux runs well on old computers (Windows 98 or the Mac equivalent), which could be pretty cheap to get our hands on from places that are upgrading, and then you can run all sorts of free programs – word processing, etc. If you put Wine on the computer, it will emulate Windows and you can run many (not all) old software CDs. That would allow teachers to do keyboarding and art and math facts, etc. on the computers.  There is a guy on my work listserv who runs his whole law office using Linux, free software, and internet-based programs.

It might be something to look into for the future. Do you know much about Linux, or have you heard of any schools using it? We probably couldn’t do podcasts and things, but it might be a solution for the younger grades, which could free up tech room space for the older grades.

This post was requested by Lisa Whitaker.  Please see below and join the conversation!

I heard recently that not all features on Smartboards work with a Mac but I can’t find anything so far that shows me that.

Our librarian passed this onto me: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/14847-any-school-using-interwrite-pads-bluetooth.html

I found this free Promethean viewer at Promethean Planet. You have to register but that is free as well: http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.15853&ua_siteLoginRequired=1

I made a huge novice mistake yesterday using the Mac OS and as a result lost about 200 gigabytes of captured video footage.  Some had already been edited, some was waiting to be edited, some I don’t have the tapes anymore, some I do, and some I have the tapes but no longer the analog-to-digital converter I used.  I was nearly in tears at the realization, but helpless nonetheless.

This came a little too late!

After all I’ve heard and experienced about the user-friendliness of the Mac OS, I never imagined my Mac would allow me to do such a thing!  I was trying to copy files from one external hard drive to another, separating my work files from my personal ones.  I had trouble with a few that were Fat32 file size limitation issues, so I decided mid-way through the process I should re-format the school drive so I could get those files onto it.  In the process of moving what I had already copied BACK to my own drive, I moved a folder, chose Replace, and didn’t think twice.  Little did I know, the folder/copy “Replace” action on a Mac OS is VERY different from Windows!  And in an instant, it was all gone.  Everything I’ve ever captured on my Mac.  Gone.  I tried Undo when I first noticed it, but it was already too late.

I asked my husband who has much more experience with the Mac OS, and he seemed confused at first.  He, in contrast, didn’t know the Replace action was different either.  Unfortunately for me, though, had I made the mistake as a Mac user switching to Windows as he would have, it would not have had this devastating result.

So, a lesson learned.  For all you Windows users out there, beware — if you click Replace when copying a folder, the old folder is wiped out and truly replaced with what you copy!