The Geek Department

… you’re better actually post something from time to time.

Yes I have been absent for awhile but definitely active.  We did a lot of cool things this year in the district and I have some big plans for this coming year.  With the release of Office 2010 we are at a crossroads on whether to upgrade or truly adopt a free alternative.  If we upgrade we take advantage of Microsoft’s features which are pretty good.  I’m impressed with the reappearance of the “File” button but can Google Apps do it all?  I’m thinking it probably can do most.

We also got the bond passed so I’ll be pulling a lot of new technology that we would not have otherwise been able to use.  Apple’s products are interesting but anything outside the iPod touch is probably too expensive to justify.  We’ll see.

So see!  It may have been since November since I posted anything but the future looks bright and you just might learn something around here.

If you didn’t know I’m a total Twitter addict now.  Hit me up at http://twitter.com/christensen143 or become my friend on Facebook (yes I want to be friends!).

Hmm… With blogging being this easy I might post more often than once a month. I got the iPhone a couple of weeks ago and I have to say I’m impressed. There isn’t much I can’t do. I remotes into a server the other day using a free app and was able to fix the issue from the iPhone. Closing tickets is a cinch using Safari (I use Spiceworks for help desk software. Easy and free.)

Now I’m blogging from the iPhone. As I said on Twitter, why do I have a laptop again?

Tech guys can be condescending, rude, impatient, we get such a bad rap mainly because the average Joe just doesn’t want to admit that the problem they are having just might be them.  Yes, this is a venting rant, perhaps you should surf away now… then again, maybe you are like me and sick of people insisting that there is a problem when in fact most likely that machine in front of them, controlled by zeroes and ones, isn’t the problem.  Calling the Tech Guy impatient is really funny because typically the issues we fix are due to impatient users.  These users hate to hear the dreaded “Did you reboot” but quite often that is all it takes.  They perceive problems that aren’t really there and then insist that you fix the issue that doesn’t really exist.

The point is that if you use a computer and an issue arises, take some initiative and reboot it.  If that doesn’t work, call the tech guy but try being friendly, and clear about the issue.  Be prepared as you would expect others to be that want your help.  If an error pops up, write it down, don’t just close it.

Nuff said.  Yep, I’m back!

I have written in the past about the awesome Microsoft Zune Marketplace membership that allows you to download unlimited songs to your Zune player.  A great program if you Zune player doesn’t bit the dust.  The problem is that a lot of Zune players are biting the dust and mine happened to do it 1-month after the warranty was over.  Excellent stuff.  Instead of running out and padding Microsoft’s coffers I decided to turn the tables and buy a Sandisk Sansa Fuze 4GB which only cost me $65 at Best Buy.  I’m cancelling the Zune membership and signing up for the Real Rhapsody To Go membership that is the same price but supports multiple players.

I’ve learned my lesson in the past with Microsoft hardware but sometimes you have to touch the stove a second time just to be reminded how bad it hurts.

As promised this segment covers the hardware and software compatibility of each operating system.

Ubuntu has impressed me again with their continued improvement on hardware compatibility.  This time there is no hoops to jump through to get the wireless up and working.  It works out of the box.  In fact, everything worked out of the box from what I can tell.  I’ll cover the interface of both in the next segment in more detail but the Netbook Remix interface is pretty interesting.  Not sure if I like it yet but I don’t hate it.

Windows 7 hit a home run here as well.  According to the Device Manager all drivers are loaded and I didn’t have to visit the manufacturer’s website for any of them.  This is potentially huge because despite the vast driver knowledge that Windows 7 has it is no where as bulky and slow as Vista is.  As a side note I am also testing Windows 7 on my laptop for use on the teacher laptops (already tested Ubuntu) and it has cleared up a lot of the errors I was getting related to the docking station.  I had been afraid that we might have gotten a lemon with the docking stations but it turns out the lemon was Windows XP.

The next segment will cover interface and accessibility.  Stay tuned!

During the school year we ran a pilot to see if Ubuntu would be a feasible choice for the OS on our Netbooks.  Ubuntu did fine as expected but using OpenOffice did not.  I had the students take a survey regarding their experience with the Netbooks and most had no problem with using Ubuntu.  In fact, they told me what I had projected all along and that is that the OS is irrelevent.  The students need a device to get them on the Internet and how they get there doesn’t matter.

Fast forward to now and the release of Windows 7 RC1 and Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix.  The Netbooks we ordered are Samsung NC10 that came with Windows XP Home.  Vista does not run on Netbooks, it hardly runs period.  I put Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex on the Netbooks and used a tutorials from the Linux on the Samsung NC10 to customize the OS to work with the netbook.

This first showdown is installation.  You can purchase netbooks with Ubuntu Netbook Remix preloaded (not sure if it is 9.04) and soon netbooks will be available with Windows 7 but a good test of an OS is how fast a geek can get it on the machine.  Here is how each faired:

Windows 7 RC1:  Windows 7 has a very easy installation, especially if you are not planning to make multiple partitions.  I went with the fastest possible route and it only took 5 steps to get the installation started and a total of 40 minutes to get both the OS and Office 2007 Pro Plus installed.  I decided to put Office 2007 on and not OpenOffice because if you are going to purchase Windows 7 you are probably going to put down the extra dough for the Office Suite.  There are differences but I still struggle with the value point of Office 2007 compared to OpenOffice.

Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix:  I won’t lie the install was a pain in the butt.  Mostly because I didn’t read the directions to start with and also because the Ubuntu folks had to go an get innovative and make this a USB stick install.  It makes sense because Netbooks don’t come with a CD drive.  I have been working with a USB CD drive so I didn’t stop to think about it.  After trying to get the IMG image on to a CD (done with Infrarecorder) and then trying to get it to work, I started looking around for some direction.  The site instructed me to use a 1GB USB stick and I just happened to have one sitting around.  It took two tries, one with Flashnul on the command line (didn’t work) and one with ImageWriter (did work) and the install finally started 29 minutes after I started.  The rest of the install was pretty straightforward and was actually faster than the Windows 7 install.  Take away those 29 minutes that I lost trying to get the image to work and the install only took 15 minutes.

Part 2 will cover hardware and drivers.  Out of the box what is supported and not supported by each OS.

You only have to read a couple of posts in this blog to know that I am a huge proponent of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software).  I have been fascinated with it since learning about it and have a lot of respect for the developers that donate their time to the great projects available out there.

The reality in both the corporate and education world is that not every user has that same respect or patience for software that is very similar to the programs they use everyday.  Sometimes they are downright blind to the fact that the software is a huge improvement over what they are using (OpenOffice 3.0 vs. Microsoft Office 2000).

There are issues with formatting which are causing the experiment at the school to fail.  We saved about $5000 by putting OpenOffice on the teacher laptops instead of Microsoft Office and at first blush it looked like it was going to work out very well.  However, teachers still use PowerPoint a lot and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations tend to format a bit differently in OpenOffice Impress.  My wife has been patiently using OpenOffice as well and it came to a head last night when one of her teachers for her Masters’ classes sent her document that did not format very well in OpenOffice.  This morning she was begging for Microsoft Office and I gave in.

Some of the teachers would smirk and say “I told you so” but those same teachers do not understand the power of FOSS and what it can do for a school district with a very limited budget.  They also don’t understand how it can force the hand of a company like Microsoft that gives a negligible discount to schools yet offers software to other non-profits (trust me public schools are VERY non-profit) for $20/license.

In the end, we do not have the budget to upgrade the teachers at this time, but I have given them the freedom to purchase Microsoft Office on their own if they choose.  I can support both and continue to use OpenOffice myself because I prefer it.  I view this as a lost battle and will continue on with the war against over priced software.

I am training for the Chicago Marathon in October and a long-time friend of mine just back from Iraq has agreed to run it with me.  We started a blog about our training since he is in Indiana and I am in Michigan.  If you like to run or just want to listen to us moan about the pain you might find it interesting.  Regardless, I thought some shameless self promotion wouldn’t hurt my following on here because I’m pretty sure that I am related in some way to everyone that follows this blog.  The rest of you are only here to learn how to get wireless working on Ubuntu Hoary.  For those people I highly suggest upgrading to Intrepid Ibex or you can even download the release candidate for Jaunty Jackalope now.

You can find the blog at http://www.marathonbrothers.com.

OK, so I’ve joined the bandwagon and begun to give meaningless updates on what I’m doing with Twitter.  I’ve yet to figure why I’m doing it but for some reason I feel I must.  My problem is that I don’t have the time or memory capacity (as shown by my blogging skills) to log into Twitter everyday and give the updates.  You think my blog post are few and far between you should see Twitter.

That changed today.  I was sifting through the Add-ons available for Firefox and came across TwitterBar.  TwitterBar allows you to update Twitter via your address bar.  Simply type in the update and hit the blue T and you are tweeting away.  Even cooler than that, I am now allowing Twitter to update my Facebook status so everytime I tweet it is posted to Facebook so that everyone on Facebook can know every meaningless thing (and meaningful) that I want them to know.

Here is a great YouTube video that talks about the Twouble with Twitter.

Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews!

The school website is a mess.  That is the honest truth.  Schools for the most part do a poor job with their websites but ACS is pitiful.  I don’t say that to demean the school district, heck they hired me so they must be doing something right.  :)  Just kidding, I’m not that conceded.

The current site was built on IIS using FrontPage extensions.  The code is atrocious and updating the site gives me headaches.  Fixing the code is a lost cause since the site needs to be updated and redesigned.  I have looked around some of the open source content management systems and all have something to offer.  Drupal comes the closest and they even have a school district based template that could work.  Plone also has a school template that was designed for a school district and then the designers were advised to release it open source by the school district.  That is just plain cool.

The need for a CMS lies in the fact that everything I do, I do with the thought that anyone could step in and take over for me if needed.  That is not exactly the way to job security but it is the right thing to do.  A CMS also helps me delegate updating the site.  For those that don’t know a CMS is a website that has a control panel for updating content.

In the end, none of the current open source content managment systems fit my need for modularity.  No doubt they can be customized but that requires knowing the code a lot better.  This has led me to a really good book by Kevin Yank titled “Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP and MySQL.“  I browsed the book and found that it had a section on building a CMS.  This interested me enough to take a deeper look and what I have found is a gem.  The book is for the intermediate to advanced web designer that is ready to take the plunge.  Those aware of my design exploits know that I design using CSS and PHP.  PHP is used mainly for the PHP include command that makes it a lot easier to keep content organized on a site.  Other than playing with some config files that have used the PHP mysql_connect command my experience with PHP is limited.  The book systematically teaches you what you need to know to make the two work together.  The small tutorial on building a joke database is a blast because right away you get to see results of your work which builds confidence.  I’m moving on to the building a content management system section which I am hoping with either shed some light on customizing a current CMS or if building a custom system is the way to go.

Either way, I am learning a lot and I like that.  I am getting really excited about the new ACS site and will keep all three of you updated on the progress.