Linux Learning - Taking a Step Forward

It's been a problem from the start.  Not a large problem...nothing that can't be overcome...

But a problem that eats time and resources.

As most people reading this already know, The HeliOS Project rescues or receives broken/decommissioned computers, refurbishes them, then gives them to financially disadvantaged kids in the Austin area.

One of the biggest challenges we face when we get on site is in familiarizing the child with their new Linux system.  Most kids have had Windows exposure from the first time they touch a computer.  Getting them through the initial system shock of a new environment has had its challenges.

In some cases, we've done a 30 day check-in to see how the child is doing with their new computer and have found the parent or guardian has put Windows on it.  Maybe because the child wasn't familiar with it...

Maybe because the parent wasn't familiar with it.

Nothing we can do about that...it is their computer.  We simply will no longer provide any software support for it.  Still, it shows a need for a more intense or comprehensive knowledge of the Linux Desktop...at least upon first exposure.

While attending the 2010 Linux Against Poverty event, I was approached by Dr. Neal Scogin.  Dr. Scogin resides in College Station Texas and made the trip to Austin to talk to me about one of his most important projects.

Neal has worked with computers in all sorts of ways since 1964.  He did his doctoral dissertation on acquiring computer based technologies by organizations - essentially coming to understand how acquiring the technology would change the way things were done and, in addition, coming to understand what was required for a successful acquisition of the technologies.   His area of teaching centered on Computer Integrated Manufacturing - that is using computers in all of the functions within a company - from design, management- purchasing, manufacturing, etc.  Now Neal's passion is to use computers as a tool to improve education - world wide.

Neal knows what many of us know...through the slow but steady processes already in place, Linux as a desktop will become an important part of the educational experience.  The operating system has become fully functional but much of the educational software as it applies to Linux itself is lacking.

What Neal sees as a critical need, is a way to teach kids about their Linux system.  What better way than through a game?

The biggest challenge is making sure we are not reinventing the proverbial wheel here.

There are tens of thousands of active Free Open Source software projects akin to this currently.  Some are public, some are not...if there are programs out there that are meeting this need, there is no need to waste time duplicating it.  Our efforts are best spent augmenting those programs.  If they do not exist, then we want to create it.

Let me give you an idea of what Dr. Scogin has in mind.  From one of the emails between Neal and myself:

"I continue to work on the Linux Learning Computer Game.  The basic structure I am working on is to have the learner be presented with a Given set of information and then be confronted with a Situation which is like a question where they have to Respond to get a Result.  The Respond time and Outcome (Correct or Incorrect) give a certain Score.  I don't have a Game background but from my earliest days (Super Mario Brothers) it appears to me this is the structure.  If anything the Linux Learning Game is simpler.  I am using this structure to learn (teach) the Linux file structure as well as the A+ Certification."

Or more aptly, a stepping stone to eventually taking the Linux + courses and tests.  The immediate function of this game would be to familiarize the child with her system in a fun but challenging way.  That of course, at least theoretically, would prompt further curiosity or interest.


I am not a coder, and neither is Dr. Scogin, however not knowing how to write the software doesn't preclude one from seeing the need for that software.


What I want to do here, aside from letting you know this project exists, is to ask you if you know of a learning tool such as this.  Time is of more value than money and finding that the six months work you just completed was to duplicate another effort is not acceptable to anyone.

I am soliciting researchers, ideas, coders, artists, volunteers, and bloggers to help us move this project forward.  Sure, the current parameters are pretty loose but that's why I have put this in front of you.

I cannot think of anyone more qualified to be a part of making this happen.

All-Righty Then

The Future of IT...Here They Are.

I am blessed in many ways, but the thing I value most is to work with kids.  I'd like to say that doing so keeps me young but I can't...that would take a miracle on the level of loaves and fishes...

I do own a mirror or two.

Most of our work...work done by The HeliOS Project involves working with kids one-on-one.  We find children that do not have computers due to financial disadvantage
 then we build them one from donated or broken machines.  It is indeed gratifying work.  I have not had many chances to work with kids in large groups before...I mean working with them in a technical environment.

Until last week.

Skip Guenter, who is our Director of System Engineering lives in Hutto Texas....about 15 miles outside of Austin.  Pastor Paul Gravley of the Discovery United Methodist Church of Hutto approached Skip and asked him if we would be interested in doing a summer camp at their location.

Well yeah...ya think?

The idea was to gather 20 kids, ranging from 3rd to 5th grade and teach them how a computer works.  We were going to use perfectly good computers, take them apart, teach the kids how to identify the components, teach them the function of said components, put it back together and then install Linux on it.

Given it would even start after said exercise.

I had my doubts.  I personally felt that this age range was a bit young.  I just didn't think kids this age would sit for 4 days and participate in this program...much less understand what they were doing.

I was wrong....

We brought in 10 identical Dell computers with monitors, mice and keyboards and set up the stations so there would be two kids to a computer.  We took a collective deep breath and opened the doors.  22 kids flooded in.

What I believed to be probable mayhem stopped well short and developed into this great experience.

We started the program with an introduction to computers in general.  There was a short question and answer period to make sure everyone was understanding what we were going to do...and then we began doing it.

I have to admit surprise from the beginning.  Not only did these kids grasp the understanding of the parts and components of a computer, they were eager to understand what they did and how they worked.

And sure, we covered the basics...RAM, Video cards and chipsets, optical devices and hard drives, but we found that our class was so eager to learn that we shifted gears and drilled deeper into the machines.

We began talking about IDE vs SATA, 20 pin vs 24 pin ribbon cables,Molex connectors, power supply detail...

They wanted it all.

 I don't know how many of you have worked in a "teaching" environment but I sure learned a few things during Camp HeliOS. 

Keep them engaged or they will venture ahead of you.

A few things surprised me here.  First off, this was a first-come first-served camp.  That means that all the kids voluntarily signed up for this camp.  The second thing that surprised me was the number of girls that signed up.

Now wait, I know that statement smacks of sexism but given the top-heavy male numbers in IT, one would think that there is little to no interest in technical stuff in the female population.  I don't know if our little camp was an anomaly, but I can tell you that the number of girls in this camp was just short of 50 percent.

Another thing that surprised us was that we had few if any dropouts during the 4 days.

I have to attribute that to the great volunteers we had during Camp HeliOS.  Sam Woods, a long-time friend of the Blog of helios and The HeliOS Project volunteered his time to come in and help instruct these future geeks.  Pastor Paul and Sam Pritchett from the church helped greatly...and both being geeks at heart, they helped instruct as opposed to simply keeping massive bundles of energy contained.

 John Decker took the bulk of photos used here as well as many others and I want to thank him personally for his work.

I also want to give special recognition to a student aide during Camp HeliOS.  Madeline not only did many of the preparation tasks to get things ready, she also helped greatly in assisting the camp kids with questions they had. Thank you Madeline...you were more help than you know.

The first three days were devoted to disassembly, reassembly and then Linux installs.  To be honest, we scheduled this as a 4 day event because we thought kids this young would need that much time to complete and absorb the camp.


Wrong.

We ended up using the 4th day just to explore games available on Linux...and  guess which one was the favorite.

World of Goo.


Thanks 2d boy for the licenses.

Oh, and take another guess.  Guess who mastered the game twice as fast as the others?

Yep...the girls.

Bottom photos:  Pastor Paul talks about the importance of a cpu and cooling fan and explains how a fan shroud helps.

Ken troubleshoots a faulty USB connection.

Skip does some one-on-one about RAM and how it works for temporary storage...I think he tried to sneak in the North Bridge chip into the conversation as well.



 All-Righty Then

Relationship Stress Test...Here Honey, Try This...

Those closest to me know that I have a new...let's see, what is the politically correct noun...ah yes.

Significant.

I have a new Significant.

My Significant's name is Diane.

So girl friend, "GF", live-in...it's all the same.




We're under one roof and no one has been beaten, stabbed or shot as of yet.

So far so good.

So here I go trying to screw up a good thing.  We are a one computer household and dual-boot does not exist here.

We use Linux.

Now, Diane is well aware of the problems that Windows Users face.  She's been one of them for as long as she's been using a computer but once she sat in proximity to a Linux computer and someone who knew how to use it, that all changed.

Diane is retired from the Airline Industry.  She spent years in the Accounting and Purchasing Divisions of several airlines and companies so she's no stranger to spreadsheets and databases.  In the last part of her career she also used many on line applications to do her work.

So she is painfully aware of viruses and the nasties that come with the use of MS browsers.

And she is sick of them.

Diane now spends some of her free time doing contract work for a friend who is in real estate.   She takes on work to do postings through Smart Apartment Data and part of her duty is to post Chamber of Commerce-type pictures of apartment complexes.  To do that she must first download the pictures, organize them in folders on her computer then write corresponding text for each picture.

I mean it goes deeper than that but this is the part she has to do before she can do anything else.

In the past, she has used a Windows XP machine to get this done. She is painfully aware of how user-unfriendly Windows Explorer can be...especially when she is dealing with hundreds of pictures to be renamed, sorted and moved to different folders.

And yeah, there are third-party apps...but that only adds to the time and expense.

She used to dread getting a call for contract work.

Last week, we got the XP machine files transferred to the computer and I sat down with her to show her how the Linux file system works.

***hint...if you are in a troubled or stressed relationship, this might not be the time to do this....I'm just sayin...

For reference, I am running our version of Linux Mint (HeliOS) with a dual core AMD Opteron 1.7 gig processor overclocked to 2.5, Nvidia Graphics with the 185 driver, the PAE version of the latest kernel with 4 gigs of ram.

Sufficient for our needs I would say.

So I pull up a chair beside her and cracked open Nautilus to get to work.  For the sake of a new Linux User, I left the button navigation bar in tact just as a set of training wheels.  Visual location of the open folder has proven to help the learning process in my experience.



The Linux file system seems to be the intermediate stumbling block to many new Linux Users...not because it is difficult but because it is foreign to them.  It didn't take long for her to grasp the concept of "home folder" and those folders within.  She created the folders she needed via context menu or keyboard shortcuts and got to work.

It wasn't three minutes into her task that she laughed softly.

"I can't believe I struggled so hard to do this in Windows."

Of course, I had earlier added the "copy to" and "move to" scripts in Nautilus...I use them extensively but she used those or the drag and drop method, depending on her need.

It took her a grand total of five minutes to grasp and utilize the file system in Gnome.

Diane isn't "computer savvy" by any stretch of anyone's imagination.

Sure...I fully realize this can all be done simply from the command line...but it won't happen any time soon.

What...you trying to get me killed?

All-Righty Then

h4x0r3d No More.

It sucks getting hacked or defaced on the web...especially when you haven't done anything to provoke it.

Who knows...the Blog of helios has contained content that's pi$$ed some people off...some of the projects I've involved myself in have evoked less than kind remarks and accusations.  Chances are though that what happened to us was due to a noted vulnerability and not any focused maliciousness.



In the unlikely event that it was a purposeful act, I don't have much to say to that person except:

I hope your toes fall off you ��({1n9  pr1({

OK...venting done.  Fact is, it took us less than a week to get the new site up and the old one needed fixed anyway...but I need to talk a bit about some of the things that happened in the background.  Many of you offered help in site construction and hosting and I sincerely apologize for not getting back to you individually.  I will do so shortly but it turns out that we've found a solution and that solution is now in place.

Welcome to the new HeliOS Project website.

The old site was a mess to be sure...it was too verbose, contained too many links to things that didn't pertain to our mission and was formatted poorly.  It wasn't that way until I started editing it...

Lessons learned.

I want to take this time to personally thank Mark Van Kingsley for his immediate and dedicated help in getting us back up and running.  Mark is a long-time friend of The HeliOS Project and a personal friend as well.  Mark attended the very first Linux Against Poverty event here in Austin and made the trip all the way from the Ithaca New York area on his own dime....

Actually it was a lot of dimes.  Thanks Mark...thanks for being there when it was needed.

We hope to find someone that will translate the entire site to Spanish so if you have that talent and the time, let me know and we will get to work on it.  A Spanish translation of our site would aid this community greatly.

At any rate, hopefully the drama is over and we can go about our business.  While I have you here, I will fill you in on a bit of what we will be doing this summer.

Aside from our normal install schedule for HeliOS Project Kids, we will be conducting two computer camps.  The first one will be held from the 20th to the 23rd of July at the United Methodist Church of Hutto Texas.  This camp will be for the younger kids, hopefully to spark their interest in hardware and software technology.  We're going to be taking apart perfectly good computers and identifying each component and their function then putting them back together again.  We will also be doing a fresh install of Linux on each machine.

Hopefully to achieve a still-working machine.  We'll see.

We are doing a carbon copy of this Computer Camp at the Bruno Knaapen Technology Learning Center in Austin from August 16th thru the 19th.  The kids attending here will be a bit older but we hope to achieve the same things.

Skip Guenter is taking personal vacation time to help with these camps so I want to thank him as well.  Skip does an inordinant amount of work for us and I am deeply grateful.

So...aside from installing computers and doing a couple of camps this summer we will be holding another Organization day to get our shop back into shape after the infusion of equipment from Linux Against Poverty

It needs it.

All-Righty Then