Technology at
The Fourth Presbyterian School
These documents, written for the Fourth Presbyterian School in Potomac, Maryland, are based on versions originally started in the spring of 2003. With the change in administration at the end of that year, they were revised in the fall of 2003. The interim administration (under Dr. Grosh) never really seemed to make any decisions about this or anything else so they languished. With the new administration (under Doug Crow and Cindy Mutryn) in the fall of 2004 they were revised again to the form you see here. Although they were greeted enthusiastically and I was told that we'd move forward, funds for the server were never solicited. When the administration decided later that year to abandon plans for a Middle School, they became somewhat irrelevant.
Introduction
As The Fourth Presbyterian School grows and expands into the Middle School grades, the need for a complete computer lab becomes greater. Among other factors, financial pressures will affect how we implement this lab. Everyone agrees that it should be state of the art but, depending on its configuration, a state of the art facility may be outside the budget constraints.
In addition to the lab, the faculty and staff of The Fourth Presbyterian School depend on computer systems for many of the day to day tasks they perform. Lesson plans, grades, attendance, accounting, donor management, not to mention all the letters and documents that are produced on a daily basis are all produced on computers. The useful life of most computer workstations is about three years, leading to a plan to upgrade one third of all computers each year. This, plus all the software upgrades needed throughout the system can amount to a significant portion of our annual operational budget.
For the computer lab and for the faculty and staff computer systems, careful planning and implementation can reduce the costs associated with these systems considerably. I believe that judicial use of Free and Open Source Software and a Terminal Server configuration can meet our computing needs while saving the school significant amounts of both time and money without negatively impacting productivity.
This paper presents an introduction to Free and Open Source Software and Terminal Server networking in general with an emphasis on the K12 Linux Terminal Server Project. It discusses them in relation to the needs and resources of The Fourth Presbyterian School and makes specific recommendations for implementing cost saving technology solutions at the school. Multiple specific options are presented along with cost estimates. Supporting documents include a list of software applications used at the school and low or no-cost replacements, information on Linux consultation services available locally and articles about an organization currently running a thin client network.
Contents
- Part 1: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
- Part 2: Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP)
- Part 3: Middle School Computing Options
- Appendix A - Software Choices for The Fourth Presbyterian School
- Appendix B - Consulting Services Available to the School
- Appendix C - Why Write Free Software?
- Appendix D - Article 1 - Secretaries use Linux, taxpayers save millions
- Appendix D - Article 2 - Largo loves Linux more than ever
- Appendix D - Article 3 - City saves with Linux, thin clients
- Appendix E - Miscellaneous Resources
- Appendix F - GNU Free Documentation License
- Appendix G - Living With Linux
GNU Free Documentation License
Copyright © 2004 Henry Hartley
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document (including Parts 1, 2, and 3 plus the 8 (eight) appendices) under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".