DesktopLinux
Home  |  News  |  Articles  |  Forum  |  Polls  |  Blogs  |  Videos  |  Resource Library

Keywords: Match:
Linux displaces 2,460 Windows XP desktops in rural Italian schools
Sep. 01, 2005

Some 16,000 students in the mountainous South Tyrol province of Bolzano in northern Italy will find 2,460 classroom computers upgraded from Windows XP to Linux when they return to school this month. New multi-language educational applications resulting from this project are to be released to the open source community, the project's co-director told DesktopLinux.com.

Project co-director Antonio Russo, speaking for the Italian Scholastic Intendancy of the Province of Bozen, says that during the summer his team of 40 workers upgraded the computer infrastructure of all 70 of the province's private and public schools to FUSS Soledad GNU/Linux, a customized, multi-language distribution developed by a team of experts specifically for the region's schools, Russo said. FUSS Soledad is based on Debian GNU/Linux, he added.

Because of its proximity to Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary, the Italian South Tyrol region is a major intersection for people speaking multiple languages. New ideas in educational software -- especially those without licensing costs -- were needed, the project said.

Free liveCDs to be distributed to home users

That's not all. More than 20,000 liveCDs will be burned "with the same (Linux) software they will find at school," Russo said. "These will be given for free to students and their families" for use at home, he said.

"With the participation of all the public and private schools, this will give to all the students, families, teachers, and operators from the educational world the opportunity to use a entirely free operating system, both at school and at home," Russo said.

The initiative is supported and funded by the Province of Bozen, the European Social Fund, and the Center for Professional Formation in Italian language, Russo said.

New educational software may result

The specialized multi-language software developed in the project eventually will be released to the open source community during the academic year 2005-2006, Russo said.

Russo, co-director Paolo Zilotti, and technical director Christopher Gabriel of Italy's Truelite Srl are continuing to direct the team, whose main duties are to offer support for systems administrators and individual teachers, and to develop research tasks on technical and educational topics for all the schools.

What sort of research tasks are being planned?

"On the technical aspect, our software team has analyzed and satisfied all the software requirements for all the schools, and many new research tasks will start soon," said Russo. "We're planning to develop more educational software with the collaboration of all the schools' teachers, technicians, and students."



Related Stories:


(Click here for further information)


Approaching the Linux Desktop
The purpose of this paper is to help organizations evaluate the Linux desktop against their own enterprise needs and discover what benefits the Linux desktop might bring to their organizations.

Migrating To Linux: Application Challenges and Solutions
Several solutions exist to help organizations migrate in an orderly fashion from Windows to Linux desktops. This paper establishes the characteristics of an ideal cross-platform solution and reviews these alternatives in light of this ideal standard. The paper takes a closer look at the pros and cons of various solutions and outlines the business benefits that can be achieved.

Linux Advantages: Publicly Available Information on Linux Software
This paper offers a brief summary of readily-available Linux information to help businesses sort out this widely misunderstood operating system.

Top 5 Strategies for Managing Linux
Despite continuous evolution in the manageability of Linux, a 2006 survey cited manageability concerns as a top reason why organizations are hesitating to adopt Linux. Levanta believes Linux can be as manageable, if not more so, than other operating systems by following key strategies. These strategic recommendations were developed from experiences in numerous customer environments, both large and small.

Why Choose Novell for Linux?
This paper outlines the benefits of switching to the Linux platform and choosing Novell as a high-performance, enterprise solution.

Enterprise Linux Selection Guide
Considering moving your enterprise to the Linux operating system? Since there are so many similar versions, choosing the right one can be tough. This paper offers a clear process to help you make an informed decision and get the features, support, and cost that are right for your business and technical needs.

Overcoming Challenges in Managing Linux
Levanta has created a new administration model with innovative technology that breaks down the barriers to making the most of Linux systems. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the workings of Levanta’s product, the first Linux appliance of its kind.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Retail Businesses
Discover why major retailers have switched to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in the back office. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a low-cost desktop that offers a complete set of productivity applications and interoperates seamlessly with the other Windows, Macintosh and UNIX desktops in your store.

Moving to a Linux Desktop
Migrating from Windows to Linux on the desktop can be a substantial undertaking because it has the potential for touching -- and perhaps disrupting -- every user in your organization. Unlike a data center (server and infrastructure) migration that is largely transparent to users, the cultural and administrative transitions and environment readiness required to support a Linux desktop migration are extensive.

Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange
This paper describes seven compelling reasons why you should switch from Exchange to Scalix.

 



Got a HOT tip?   please tell us!

ADVERTISEMENT
(Advertise here)

Resource Library


Popular recent stories:
• Linux an equal Flash player
• Linux, netbooks threaten Microsoft's fat profits
• gOS 3.0 goes gold
• Browser swallows OS
• Lenovo denies ditching Linux
• Lightweight, Linux-compatible browser evolves
• GNOME 2.24 gains "Empathy" IM
• Review: Pardus Linux
• Ubuntu to fund Linux development
• Ubuntu "Intrepid Ibex" available

All-time Classics:
• Choosing a desktop Linux distro
• Banshee -- the next best thing to Linux iTunes
• Running World of Warcraft on Ubuntu
• A simple Linux backup method
• The Best Free Desktop Linux . . . and how to make it better
• Linux-powered Asus Eee PC mini-laptop arrives
• The well-tempered Debian desktop
• Lenovo launches a netbook
• What's the best Linux for beginners?
• Getting to know Puppy Linux
• Xandros 4: The best desktop Linux for Windows users
• VirtualBox: The best virtualization program you've never heard of

Linux-Watch headlines:
• Amid controversy, Microsoft launches open source foundation
• As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat
• Open source lobbying group emerges
• Open source Linux device drivers submitted by -- Microsoft?
• Google names Chrome OS partners
• Google's new OS marries Linux and Chrome
• Debian plans draw sharp warning from GNU guru
• OpenSource World announces keynote speakers
• Linux 2.6.30 gets new filesystems
• Intel to buy Wind River for $884 million


Join our Desktop Linux discussion forums:
•  Moving to Linux
•  Linux/Windows debate!
•  Linux Q&A
. . . and more
Visit the...


BREAKING NEWS

• Knoppix Live CD distro rev'd
• Debian Linux-based Google Chrome OS debuts, goes open source
• Mint 8 achieves RC1, and Fedora 12 goes final
• Dell PCs cram multimedia power into tiny package
• OpenSUSE 11.2 and Novell's Mono Tools ship
• ABI's Jeffrey Orr on rising Linux netbook sales
• Moblin v2.1 goes beta, adds 3G support
• Linux owns 32 percent of netbook market, says study
• Skype working on open source VoIP UI
• Ubuntu 9.10 final ships as IBM spins Ubuntu-based cloud distro
• CentOS rev's to version 5.4, tries on KVM
• Fedora 12 optimized for Atom-powered netbooks
• Puppy Linux 4.3 gains bugfix, rave reviews
• Hulu comes to Linux
• Reviews praise Ubuntu 9.10, knock Ubuntu Moblin Remix



Linux Netbooks


Linux smartphones!


news feed

Or, follow us on Twitter...


Home  |  News  |  Articles  |  Forum  |  Polls  |  About  |  Contact
 

Ziff Davis Enterprise Home | Contact Us | Advertise | Link to Us | Reprints | Magazine Subscriptions | Newsletters
Tech RSS Feeds | White Papers | ROI Calculators | Tech Podcasts | Tech Video | VARs | Channel News

Baseline | Careers | Channel Insider | CIO Insight | DesktopLinux | DeviceForge | DevSource | eSeminars |
eWEEK | Enterprise Network Security | LinuxDevices | Linux Watch | Microsoft Watch | Mid-market | Networking | PDF Zone |
Publish | Security IT Hub | Strategic Partner | Web Buyer's Guide | Windows for Devices

Developer Shed | Dev Shed | ASP Free | Dev Articles | Dev Hardware | SEO Chat | Tutorialized | Scripts |
Code Walkers | Web Hosters | Dev Mechanic | Dev Archives | igrep

Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.