On Mon, Nov 05, 2007 at 01:44:04PM +0000, Benjamin Ashton wrote:
> Hello. I wonder if you can help me.
Hi, we can try!
> The best that I could do, with my limited understanding of computers, was to remove windows from the Boot Up and allow John to play around with DOS. John has enjoyed very much learning and using the DOS commands, also downloading free DOS games from the internet at the library, putting them on floppies, and unzipping them on his machine.
>
> Unfortunately we've come to a bit of a standstill: (1) the laptop is becoming more and more temperamental and (2) we've never managed to get a USB driver to work for DOS and so John is limited to only downloading 1.44 Mb files.
>
> I had read about Ubuntu and, when I spoke to Alex at Jamie's Computer Club about purchasing a machine and heard that they had systems with Ubuntu on them, I was very excited.
>
> What I like about such a system is:
>
> a) I think it would be stimulating for John to work on a different Operating System
>
> b) I plan to spend ~£100 and I can get a lot more bangs for my buck if I don't have to spend half the budget on Microsoft
>
> c) From what I can gather, there are a multitude of programs written for Linux which John and I could download from the library internet on to a USB memory stick (we plan to get the internet some time in the future, budget allowing).
There are lots of programs available for Linux. Tens of thousands, in fact!
One of the advantages of Ubuntu (and similar Linux versions like Fedora) is
that they include the "best of breed" versions of each type of software as
standard. No need to download anything!
Typically you'll get a wordprocessor, spreadsheet, presentation package,
graphics program, text editor, calculator, media players and more.
> d) I understand that John would be able to use his digital camera via USB on Ubuntu and put his photos on to a DVD/CD
Most digital cameras "just work" with Ubuntu. If they appear as mass storage
devices, as most do, it will just appear when it is connected. Some cameras
require PTP support, which is also integrated with Ubuntu although there is
always a chance of an obscure model not being compatible with this library.
> e) I've been told that Ubuntu has a C compiler built in to it. I think that I would enjoy teaching, and John would enjoy learning, C.
The GNU Compiler Collection (gcc) includes a C compiler as well as compilers
for a number of other languages. One thing you will never be short of on
Linux are development environments and programming languages.
> f) I am interested in the whole OpenSource network idea and think that it would be of interest to John. From what I gather, Opensource programmes can be customised and improved and then offered back to the internet. I understand that this would be too difficult a process that requires a lot of computing skills for John at the moment, but I also know that he is a very determined little man that might well be inspired by such possiblities.
Everyone can contribute to Open Source or Free Software, from filing bug
reports, helping with documentation or art work, screencasts, advocacy or
fixing bugs. People tend to find what they are comfortable with and contribute
in that way. There are lots of projects out there, small to very large, that
would value more help.
> What does anyone think about my plan? Am I barking up the wrong tree? Are there any major drawbacks that I am unaware of?
The FLOSS community can be a bit rough and ready at times. IMO the LUG is a
good place to start where people tend to be very friendly.
> If we did decide to get such a set up then would John be able to accompany me to some of the HantsLUG meetings (judging from your emails, these would prob. be too technical for the near future), or would that be considered inappropriate bearing in mind his age ( I quite understand an adults only rule) ?
We welcome people of all ages to LUG meetings, although very young children
should be supervised.
Our meetings are not all talks and technicalities. A large part is social,
people sitting round chatting, talking about what interests them. At
Southampton we have a social seating area, often with nibbles as well as a
main room with networking and computers. A second room hosts the talks which
are usually given by LUG members and vary between entry level and advanced.
Regards,
Tony
