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Post subject: Cambodian school project
 Posted: Jun 12, 2008 - 07:50 AM
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Joined: Jun 11, 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
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--- repost from the 'Anything goes' forum ---
Hello all,
Some of you might remember that in the Kanotix time I was involved with a project to donate PC's to a Cambodian school for orphans and poor children. I visited this school in Siem Reap in 2006, together with my wife and we got enthusiastic about supporting them in some way. One of the things I talked about with LuckyMan Samuth, the director of that school, is supplying them with some PC's. My original thought was to look to the OLPC project but that proved to be a dead end as they only sell those PC's to governments and you have to buy at least 100 pieces with them. Moreover, I was most unhappy to read that the OLPC organisation seems to quit the Linux and OpenSource path they had chosen originally and now work together with M$ and deliver XO laptops with Win XP preinstalled. What the ... I can not understand this move, especially not since M$ says they will drop support on XP this summer.
I have thought of second-hand PC's but that would be problematic as Cambodia has a tropical climate, is dusty and humid in summer. And I don't think a second hand desktop PC would survive very long there.
I looked at the Intel Classmate PC then, but it seems not for sale either and only being sold to governmental projects. Now I found a third laptop that *is* actually for sale as single units: the ASUS eeePC. It's standard version is still supplied with Linux preinstalled (a Xandros version, adapted to the eeePC with a modified kernel) and using a mix seamingly of IceWM and KDE for the desktop.
The eeePC is a small laptop that comes in several versions, the 700 and the 900 series. Their specifications can be found on http://eeepc.asus.com The PC has no HD but only a SSD, depending on the model ranging between 4 and 20 Gb. The latest 900 series model is based on an Intel Atom processor. So it's extremely fast, shockproof and uses very little power. Usefull info can be found on wikipedia too and especially for Linux developments for the eeePC on http://forum.eeeuser.com It seems many people are working on special distros for the eeepc, using several base distros. But many of them are at least Debian based. But as one of the postings says: it's better not to fork off Debian as it would only mean a lot of extra work. So, let's stick to Debian here.
OK, that as an introduction. Now what are my plans?
1. Organise a fund raiser to enable me to buy a couple of eeePC's (5 - 10, depending on the success) and to be able to bring them to the school and help the people there use it.
2. I wrote a letter to ASUS Holland BV to ask them to support me here, either by giving me a good deal on the PC's or any other support, in exchange for free publicity for a good cause.
3. I don't want a PC running Xandros but was thinking of some special sidux version maybe with XFCE4, OpenOffice, a web-browser, mail-program, pidgin/skype/aMSN and for the rest all educational software. maybe closely related to Seminarix. There seems to be a good start here as a special small Debian version for the eeePC seems in development: eeeDebian. I couldn't find any details about it, but it will in the first place be a modified kernel I guess.
The OS and programs should, where possible, be bilingual: English and Khmer. That should be easy enough using the khmer localisation that is available. But I was besides that thinking of a 'quick switch button' on the desktop to make switching very easy for the children. A cambodian organisation already made a Firefox version doing exactly this (see www.khmeros.org )
4. As the organisation in Cambodia now has 3 schools, and at least one of them has no access to electricity, I was thinking of tuning at least one laptop and attaching a solar panel to the backside of the screen. The eeePC only needs 12 Watts so a relatively small solar panel should do. I can do this part myself. I have contacts in this area and worked with solar panels before.
5. I think the new main school has internet access but I am not sure of that. So to start with most software should be stable and not in need of frequent updates. But if they do have internet access somehow, of course that would improve the possibilities a lot. I am looking into this. For the rest I would be planning to stay inside the school for about 2 weeks. But that will not be enough to get them knowledgeable enough working with the CLI and doing dist-upgrades and stuff I am afraid, so the system should be rather self-examplatory, easy to use and low-maintenance.
OK, that as an introduction. I already asked mzilikazi if he would like to work with me on this project and he agreed. Now, I would like to invite some who were develloped in the Seminarix project if they would like to be involved too. I am willing to invest in the first eeePC for testing purposes myself and even lend it to someone to tinker with the OS to get it running perfectly. Maybe I could get ASUS to pay for some development work even if they see the advantage of it for spreading their product in develloping countries.
And think about the advantage for the Linux community. The ultra small laptop market seems the first real market where Linux is installed by default. This could mean a major breakthrough for Linux-based systems well worth supporting as well.
Ah, there is also a website about the Cambodian school now, set-up by a UK-based support group on: http://www.hspcco.org.uk but it seems off-line right now. The original cambodian site is at http://hspcco.org/ though it hasn't been updated for a while. The English site can still be found in the google cache though.
If anyone would like to get involved in this project, please e-mail me or reply on this forum. Thank you!
Dion |
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Post subject: Re: Cambodian school project
Posted: Jun 13, 2008 - 02:47 AM
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Joined: Dec 01, 2006
Posts: 842
Location: Hamburg
Status: Offline
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Hi Dion,
Quote:
8<
3. I don't want a PC running Xandros but was thinking of some special sidux version maybe with XFCE4, OpenOffice, a web-browser, mail-program, pidgin/skype/aMSN and for the rest all educational software. maybe closely related to Seminarix.
There are no problems with using of seminarix and xfce4, but I think, there are also no problems with Asus Eee and with sidux-seminarix based on KDE.
Info: I have made an inofficial icewm-sid-education-iso (based on sidux).
http://www.captagon.freehost.ag/index-en.html
Next days I'll upload a new version (some links fault because of changing the uploadserver for bigger files)
(for my educational-icewm-version I'll make an english version with an english menue- look for screenshot http://www.captagon.freehost.ag/screens ... narix3.png
Quote:
I am willing to invest in the first eeePC for testing purposes myself and even lend it to someone to tinker with the OS to get it running perfectly. Maybe I could get ASUS to pay for some development work even if they see the advantage of it for spreading their product in develloping countries.
I'm teacher in Hamburg, Germany.
Next year I'll try to build a notbook-class with mini-notbooks at my school (in the class most of the children are from migrants, they come from 12 different countries- Egypt, Peru, Ecuador, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey, Kroatia, Germany  , Afghanistan, 15-18 years old, 9-th class)
That's why it's not a problem for me to work with pupils from different countries (I'm teacher for mathematics, physics, informatics)
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If anyone would like to get involved in this project, please e-mail me or reply on this forum. Thank you!
I'm interested in exchanging of experience and for co-operation.
Thomas |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 13, 2008 - 06:38 AM
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Joined: Nov 27, 2006
Posts: 238
Location: Austria
Status: Offline
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 13, 2008 - 07:41 AM
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Team Member
Joined: Dec 04, 2006
Posts: 151
Status: Offline
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