One of the things my Scout Group has been considering for a while is getting a computer.
We’ve been really lucky recently as I’ve been able to get a couple donated to us, so there is no cost to the Group. They’re not new or anywhere near top of the range, but they’ll do what we want them to do!
As well as computers, the other thought was to get the internet at the hall where we meet. Again not much of a problem as we can get a connection for a reasonable price that won’t be a drain on the finances. Although I will say that we’re only going to have it for 12 – 18 months initially (depending on the contract) and then see if we actually get reasonable use from it.
Now we’ve got the computers and we’re getting net access comes the ‘problems’. We have to be sure that the PCs are totally legal with regards to the operating system they run and the programmes on them.
One of the PCs comes with fully licence Windows XP, but no Office and the other is a laptop which is licensed for Windows ME (Mistake Edition!), but will happily run XP. However it has no XP licence and we can’t really justify spending any more money! Ubuntu to the rescue! This Linux distribution has OpenOffice included, so we have an Office compatible suite with an operating system which is, for a user, not too difficult to master. OpenOffice is also going on the Windows XP machine, along with a few other free and Open Source programmes. The computers will be locked up so only an administrator (me) can add or remove programmes. This means we won’t be breaking any licensing rules – and quite rightly so!
The other thing we have to be very aware of, is content on the internet. If our Beavers, Cubs & Scouts are going to use the web when they are under our supervision, it is our responsibility to ensure that they don’t access anything that is, for want of a better phrase, dodgy.
And this caused me to do a bit of head scratching. How to filter what they can see? In school, of course, young people access the internet behind very strong filtering, but in the outside world it is open to everything and therefore a bit more tricky!
Until that is I was looking at Kevin’s blog the other day (thanks Kevin) and I noticed a button on there like this –
So I clicked on it (try it, it works here!) and found that they offer a filtering service and it’s free! Well, you can pay for extra services, but the cost is not excessive. The good thing is that it’s not set up on an individual computer, but on the router you use to connect to the interweb! This of course means that if we let a Scout bring in their own laptop or PSP, for example, and let them connect to the net, then they will be safe (well about as safe as you can be) from inappropriate content!
The great thing is that if you have young kids at home and you want them to be safe on the net, you can do this at home as well (and I will be in a couple of years time!).
Ubuntu is awesome! I wish I could have it on my pc – I can’t because it’s shared by the family. I’m going to be buying a computer some time this year so I’ll be able to install it then hopefully
Free is good! I’m trying Open Office at work and the IT-department is thinking about scrapping the old fashioned First Class system and go on Google. So far it’s as good as Office, and Google has less spam than the heavy filtered FC.
Good luck with the computers! Keep them away from the windows though!
I like OpenOffice, it’s just a shame it doesn’t have an Outlook equivalent!
I’ve found Google mail to be very good at picking up spam which is very useful.
Of course the advantage of all this stuff, especially for schools and Scouts is it’s FREE!! OK I think your school will have to pay for its Google email accounts but I don’t think the cost is excessive.
Using Linux (Ubuntu) is good, but it’s still not quite as easy to set up as Windows or OSX. Once everything is installed however, it’s great. And that I think is what puts off the ‘average’ user.