OSEI: Article about Linux Terminal Servers for Schools

[Warren Togami]

This is an excellent article about Linux Terminal Servers in schools now
being used in California, Virginia, France and Mexico.

http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/03/1616245

(quotes from article)
"Why pay $20,000-plus for a Windows computer lab when you can have a
super-fast Linux terminal-powered network for a third of the cost?"
"Nelson recently priced the cost of setting up a 20-machine computer lab,
comparing the cost running Windows 98 and running K12LTSP. The terminal
server, running a speedy Intel Xeon processor, cost about $2,000, and the
stripped-down, no memory, no-CPU workstations each cost about $200, for a
total of $6,000 for the whole lab, not counting monitors. Or if they want,
schools can use their old PCs with tiny hard drives and pokey processors to
connect to the terminal."
"Windows 98 computers running at a comparable speed would cost $800 each,
and another $200-plus for software such as Photoshop and Office 2000, Nelson
says, for a total of $20,000. A file server would be extra."
"Nelson has an answer for those critics who'll say students are missing out
by not using the industry standard Microsoft Windows. Students don't often
use computers to play the little educational games available on Windows;
they use computers the same way adults do --to send email, to research with
a browser, to create presentations. All those functions are available in
Linux, and running a Linux machine isn't a lot different than running a
Windows machine these days, he says."

Warren Togami
warren at togami.com
Mid-Pacific Linux User's Group
http://www.mplug.org