Education Case Study: High school makes switch from Windows to Linux, notes reliability and security as benefits
Felixstowe
Suffolk
United Kingdom
Grade Range:
High School
Website
Submitted by:
John Osborne
Email: john.osborne
orwellhs.suffolk.sch.ukHow things got started...
Complete rethink and overhaul of our computer network was necessary. Cost spiralling upwards, reliability poor and likely to get worse as we expanded our network. Many 3/4 year old PCs which would have needed replacing, with a cycle of replacing 30 a year each year for ever... Servers old and in need of an upgrade from Windows 2000. No individual student accounts or email.Much of technicians time spent rebuilding PCs and installing software where security had been breached.
Why Free Software?
Core systems free. Reliability established. Reduced risk of virus infection. LTSP meant old workstations could be recycled as thin clients. Thin clients needed very little maintenance and very easy to add to network.
The plan...
We were very lucky in finding an organisation to implement the major changes necessary. Details can be found on their site www.cutter.org.uk where there is quite a detailed description of our case study. It is for this reason I have given their site as the link rather than the school one. If anyone is interested in the school site it is www.orwellhs.suffolk.sch.uk
Evaluation...
Network has now been running without problems for over four months, with tremendous security. Students can access work from home, have individual email accounts, and to date despite some of their efforts have not been able to break it. This technological solution should be considered by all schools. We would be happy to receive visitors to see it in action and will respond to emails from interested people. The solution was recently featured on BBC2 television on their Working Lunch program.
The Future...
More PCs to be added to the network. Looking to expand the range of software in use.
