[ale] Linux "course" at GT?

[Mike Kachline]

<snip>
> So my question to the GT (or GT affiliated) people on the list: has anyone
> offered an Intro to Linux course? Not a class credit course, but some sort
> of optional "extracurricular" night class (like the GT Edge program), say
> one night/week for 4 weeks, that eases someone into using Linux.  It could
> even begin (or end) with an installfest.
<snip>

	From my experiences of living the dorm live at Tech for the past 6
years, this sort of "linux night class" already exists. *Usually*, there
has been someone who lives on the hall who is either a diehard Linux
junky, or, at the very least, who has Linux installed on their machine.
Being a junky myself, I've helped many folks over the years get Linux up
and running on their machines.
	The problem, I think, with not having more people run Linux is a
simple one of resources. A lot of students like the idea of running Linux
for whatever reason, but, when it comes to the idea of writing one's paper
in something other than Word, losing the ability to surf for MP3's on the
network neighborhood, or play the latest cracked network games, then the
tables turn. For most "newbie" folks I've seen who have installed Linux,
Linux is used primarily as a fancy telnet client. It usually stays on
their (dual boot) machine for about a month (or however long it takes them
ti fill up the rest of their '98 disk partition[s]).
	However, where I *have* seen Linux survive amongst newbies, is
when there is a definate need for it. Perhaps the greatest need which I've
observed amongst, at least CS students, has been the need for a fast
compile environment. Classes like the old CS2430, were great for Linux, as
we were always writing little C programs, or having to look up man pages.
	This is where you, a professor, can make a difference. Make your
class more "Linux Friendly". Post all of your homeworks in postscript or
pdf on your web page. Perhaps more importantly, don't give assignments
which require the use of a Windows program to complete! For papers, insist
on the students writing .html papers and putting them on their acme
account. Basically, ensure that the assignments *can* be done on a Linux
machine. I highly suspect that, if classes were to become more "linux
friendly", we'd see a rise in overall usage of Linux to follow.


							- Mike
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Michael Kachline CS, Georgia Institute of Technlology
kachline at brightstar.gt.ed.net
http://brightstar.gt.ed.net/kachline
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