[olug] 2 computers for summer adoption, CFA

[Brian Wiese]

So, as I will be gone this summer, I am looking for some kind souls to
take care of a few older computers for me, and help computers 4 africa
(CFA - www.computers4africa.org).  I have two compaq deskpros with about
32mb ram and 160-200mhz cpus, and am looking for someone to nurture, care,
and feed these systems with some test gnu/linux distributions for use as a
workstation system in a school in Africa.

Next fall, CFA will be working on installing these new 'loads' on
basically identical hardware on dozens (hundreds?) of computers destined
for Africa in the winter/spring.  If theres any GNU/Linux distro install
hackers out there who would like the challenge of making these systems
fully usable (with a small install footprint and good response time,
teaching tools for valuable skills) to replace current Win95 installs -
please let me know. =)

Some of the things I was thinking about --
Xwindows: icewm (win95 theme) or kde (how would that run?!) ...
Browsers: phoenix, dillo, ...
Office apps: openoffice, other mini sotwares
Printing: CUPS to parallel dot matrix printers
Inet: modem inet connection sharing
NICs: realtek mostly
typing tutors: ktouch, gtypist, tuxtype
Some small games, etc... to help kids become efficient computer users and
have fun

other possibles...
FileSharing?: samba with swat?
Email client: sylpheed, kmail, (mozilla project?)

So I think the largest part of this project would not only finding the
functional software above, but educational ones as well to bridge people
(young and old) into using computers.  Some resources for info/possible
test sofware.

Debian Jr Project, GNU/FSF edu software, KDE Edu, SEUL/edu
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/index
http://www.gnu.org/education/software.html
http://edu.kde.org/
http://www.seul.org/edu/

And yes though LTSP would be nice (probably worth a test), it's got the
single point of failure problem where we would like each system to be
independent. (perhaps could easily ghost load a newer system as the LTSP
server... but need better hardware).

... also the thought of deployable server systems (email/smtp on
intermittent and low speed inet connections, chat utilities/servers,
apache/php for local web development/intranet..) is something to think
about.

peace, thanks 

  Brian Wiese | bwiese at cotse.com | aim: unolinuxguru
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