The following article is from a friend, an engineer, a computer science teacher in Chiapas, Mexico.
Today we will discuss programs that we can use at the high school level, especially the computer area, all based on the little experience of your server, which I hope will be useful and the initiative will be born in each teacher. So without further ado we begin:
The legal part
As everyone knows well in government institutions, all software that is installed on a computer must have original licenses in order to avoid sanctions by state or federal auditing bodies, sincerely it is fair because the work of all those programmers it has a price and for that they are rented. Fortunately there is also another alternative, one that is free, inexpensive, and offers the same quality as proprietary programs. So let's see a bit of:
Free software
It is the name of the software that respects the freedom of all users who acquired the product and, therefore, once obtained, it can be freely used, copied, studied, modified, and redistributed in various ways. According to the Free Software Foundation, free software refers to the freedom of users to run, copy, distribute, study, modify software, and distribute modified software.
It guarantees the following freedoms:
Freedom 0: the freedom to use the program, for any purpose.
Freedom 1: the freedom to study how the program works and modify it, adapting it to your needs.
Freedom 2: the freedom to distribute copies of the program, with which you can help your neighbor.
Freedom 3 - The freedom to improve the program and make those improvements public to others, so that the entire community benefits.
The business behind free software is characterized by the offer of additional services to the software such as: its customization and / or installation, technical support, donations, sponsorships or as an element of corporate social responsibility; as opposed to the predominant license-based business model in closed source software.
GNU / Linux
It is one of the terms used to refer to the combination of the free kernel or kernel similar to Unix called Linux with the GNU system. Its development is one of the most prominent examples of free software; all its source code can be freely used, modified and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GPL (GNU General Public License) and other free licenses.
Linux can work both in graphical environment and in console mode. The console is common in server distributions, while the graphical interface is geared towards both the home and business end user. Likewise, there are also desktop environments, which are a set of programs made up of windows, icons and many applications that facilitate the use of the computer. The most popular desktops in GNU / Linux are: GNOME, KDE, LXDE, Xfce, E-17, etc.
With all these brief definitions now we know that we are not pirating software so we can rest easy and install free programs on the machines we need.
Lack of knowledge or laziness
Ignorance is a factor that is the protagonist of not using free software, it is mainly due to the fact that higher institutions never use a live CD of x or Linux distribution in basic computing subjects, you limit yourself to mentioning other operating systems in mere theory and you work with Windows, Office, C ++ compilers, etc.
While another cause is laziness by not giving them practice with live CDs because he believes that this will not work in the student's work field, since proprietary programs are used at work from a simple secretary to a senior executive ( a) so many say so that we look for it more, but if it happened to us as in countries that have fully embraced free software, young people will already have basic notions and believe me they will thank you infinitely.
What can we do?
In the subjects that make use of word processors, spreadsheets and presentation with slides, schedule in your laboratory practices four to eight hours before ending the semester. The optimal solution It could be to use some of the free office automation packages which there is how LibreOffice, Openoffice, Caligra etc..
In the same way for vector drawing subjects if at school you have the CorelDraw license in your laboratory practices schedule four to eight hours before the end of the semester destined to work with Inkscape eg Or use it as main software when you do not have a CorelDraw license.
If you teach basic computer science subjects, it is recommended that you download the ISO image and burn one of these projects on CD or DVD:
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Fedora
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Ubuntu
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Linux Mint
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Tuquito
The activities that you are going to develop can be in pairs or thirds, it depends on the number of students you have in a classroom and what you want to spend on CDs, the time you can give this activity is three to six hours in the middle of the semester.
Another activity that could be carried out is to assign a documentary research on the Linux operating system, distributions, advantages, etc. In case the school has obsolete computer equipment, they can rehabilitate these machines by doing light distribution installation practices such as Lubuntu o PuppyLinux.
In case of an animation elaboration matter, give Synfig Studio downloadable from the following link a chance http://www.synfig.org/cms/en/download/ I can consider a good program like Flash, the hours that are required to work with the program are at the discretion of the advisor of preference before the end of the semester.
Other subjects that come into play is the creation of HTML pages, in it you can follow two paths: the notepad or a web design software, if you choose the first alternative there is no crime to pursue since all operating systems natively include a plain text editor. But if you want to use an application like Dreamweaver for ease, I suggest you try Bluefish It will do a good job of putting together HTML pages.
You can also complement the subject with PHP programming (download XAMPP) to make dynamic pages that will serve your boys in their future projects.
If you are the terror of programming and you are in the availability to learn a new language the options are Python y Rubí that are characterized by their ease of syntax, are quick to learn and cross-platform, but if you are one of those who prefer to teach the old-fashioned way with C or C ++ you can teach your kids in the same way as they would in Windows, this small installation tutorial can serve you.
As for programming fundamentals, you can make use of the tool DAY for the elaboration of flow diagrams and thus avoid using paper and pencil.
As my esteemed readers can appreciate the alternatives are given, what remains is to give free software a chance, get all the game you can from them and remember that the limitations are up to you.
Sources:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_libre
It is good that educational entities and not only schools and colleges but also universities, used free software in most activities, the tools we have in Linux are many and of great quality.
Well yes, as they say. You have to go "undoing donkeys" step by step. Here in Mexico it is rare (in my opinion) the school that has at least one free software program, so it is up to free software users to show others the benefits of it.
They tell me, I had to wait until after I entered college to find out what free software was?
Anyway, now here (in Uruguay) things are different. Most (and I'm not saying all because I don't know the whole country) of high school computer room computers run on Ubuntu and OpenOffice. Today, we are all taught "what is that strange thing that is not Windows."
hehehe ... I have edubuntu on 47 pc in a school ...
I was finally able to convince the director and since this year full edubuntu!
Hi, Alf.
Thanks for your last two articles. Diazepam says he had to wait until after entering "college to find out what free software was"; I had to wait until long after college, heh heh.
Thank you very much also for your last answer to my problem in the forum. Tomorrow I will try the solution that you detail there.
See you soon.
Hello, very good article, the truth is a shame the little interest in schools to teach free software, I have learned about what free software is on my own reading on the internet.
I study a medium degree in computer science (microcomputer systems and networks) and at least in the subject (Office Applications) I have managed to get the teacher to teach LibreOffice as well, now, after doing an exercise in Word or Excel, we do the same in Writter and in Calc, well, something is something.
A hug to everyone
Man is stupid by nature, and greedy too.
If instead of falling into the hands of private companies, such as Microsoft, who have to pay abusive prices for their licenses in exchange for poor quality software, we bet and join forces to promote free software, all would be advantages.
We have a quality OS like Linux, and a lot of projects around it that with a little push would grow enormously, favoring us all.
But instead of betting on Linux and its free software, many decide to look the other way. How stupid the man is, Einstein already said.
You know the operating system that you like so much, the Sanex… JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA. Terrific.
hey friends could you pass me a page to learn python in a simple way, thanks; It does not matter if it is in English or Spanish.
By the way, free software.
In my humble opinion, I think it would be useful to rely on electronic payment methods that are somewhat popular such as PayPal for example; Well, not everyone uses the same means of sending donations.
What do you think?
If I could donate to Linux Mint in the same way as I request a cell phone airtime recharge, that would be great.
@santiago, in the forum in the development section there is information about it, and in tutorials too.
@nosferatuxx, he stole my PayPal, and I know I'm not the only one, for me the most reliable way is direct deposit to the account or electronic transfer without intermediaries, nothing from PayPal.
The good thing is that other colleagues are also testing free software in their work centers, it is a wonderful experience to be able to work and spread the SL