April 4th, 2008
The best Linux distro for a new breed of PCs
Clearly, small, low-powered laptops are here to stay, with the advent of Intel’s Atom platform and the success of systems like the Asus Eee. Classmates are coming to a little lap near you, OLPC America is hard at work, and vendors should be jumping on the Atom bandwagon shortly. While we’re all thrilled at the prospect of using Windows XP Home on these machines (*sarcasm drips here*), the real question is which Linux distribution is best-suited for this new class of machines that I hope will be invading our classrooms in the next year?
*buntu is an obvious choice because of it ease of use and installation and presence of an alternative installation for low-end hardware. However, there are hundreds of distributions floating around that might work quite handily. Mandriva Linux, Fedora, and OpenSUSE can all be tweaked to run well and install easily, but again, they only scratch the surface of what is available.
The OLPC Sugar OS, for example, has a very small footprint, and, although its performance is a bit sluggish, the interface is a step in a very new direction. So here’s your Friday poll. What’s the Linux distro of choice for ultra low-cost PCs? Talk back and let us know if your choice isn’t in the list.
Loading …April 3rd, 2008
Now we can have Windows XP Home!
A number of outlets reported today that Microsoft has extended the availability of Windows XP for manufacturers of ultra low-cost PCs for an additional two years. The catch? It’s not XP Starter Edition, but it is Windows XP Home. That’s right, no more XP Pro in June for these computers; XP Home, with its lack of important enterprise features, may be fine in some emerging markets or for home users, but users in many school settings will miss administrative and security features.
Read the rest of this entry »
April 3rd, 2008
So when can I get a Classmate PC?
As part of Intel’s press package released yesterday when they unveiled the 2nd-generation Classmate PC at IDF, they reminded us that OEMs in mature markets (read North America and Europe) could now begin selling the netbooks:
The second-generation Intel-powered classmate PC is a type of “netbook” - a new class of affordable, small form factor, internet centric devices - targeted at education and youth markets worldwide. These new netbooks have enhanced features and functionalities including a larger screen size, increased storage, more RAM and a built-in camera. Available for the first time in multiple SKUs to meet different needs, these netbooks are designed for classrooms in the emerging markets, and as second machines and educational mobile solutions for the mature markets.
ECS* (Elitegroup Computer Systems), the ODM that has built the machines based on the Intel-powered classmate PC design, is ready to ship to manufacturers interested in building their own branded products. The new design choices that come with the second generation offer more ways for manufacturers to tailor-make products for their customers. Educators, parents, students and youth can now have access to affordable, rugged and Internet-centric PCs designed for their everyday learning, playing and working needs.
So what I want to know is when I can get mine. And classroom sets for my elementary schools. And if I should hang on a while longer to snag Atom-powered Classmates. I’ve done the review and love these rugged little computers. My kids and students have pounded on them; quite frankly I’d rather have a couple classroom sets that can move around our primary schools instead of refreshing the existing labs. We’re short on classroom, storage, and office space, so all of the labs could easily be repurposed. Now I just need to find someone outside of India who is selling the little guys.
April 2nd, 2008
2nd-generation Intel Classmates reviewed
Intel recently sent me two examples of their second-generation Classmate PC for testing. The Classmates include numerous improvements on their already well-thought-out first-gen machines and mark the first versions that we can expect American and European OEMs to begin distributing in so-called mature markets.
My students, kids, and I spent quite a bit of time with the first generation Classmates, and all of us were impressed. Mini laptops (or “netbooks” as Intel has dubbed them) have their quirks and certainly aren’t for everyone. However, there are few of us in education who couldn’t find a lot of uses for cheap, highly portable, really rugged computing devices that get kids online, collaborating, and creating content. Frankly, there are a lot of adults (me included) who would rather toss a $300 semi-ruggedized netbook into my bag to take everywhere than always carry around my $1400 MacBook.
That being said, the second-generation Classmates were unveiled today at Intel’s Developer Forum in Shanghai and, based on the few days I was able to spend pounding away on a couple of early machines last week, I think Intel (and the OEMs that end up distributing these machines in mature markets) are going to have a serious hit on their hands, especially in the educational and home markets. I’ve created a gallery of pictures of my two test machines and a video highlighting new features. Read the rest of this entry »
April 2nd, 2008
Silverthorne-based MIDs likely too pricey for Ed Tech
Intel announced pricing on it’s Silverthorne (now Centrino Atom) processors at the Intel Developers Forum today. According to the Washington Post,
There will be five versions of the Atom processor, formerly called Silverthorne, available as part of the Centrino Atom package. These processors run at maximum clock speeds of 800MHz, 1.1GHz, 1.33GHz, 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz and cost $45, $45, $65, $95 and $160, respectively, in 1,000-unit quantities, a standard way of quoting chip prices.
These prices are lower than Intel’s Core 2 Duo mobile processors, which range in price from $637 to $209 in 1,000-unit quantities, according to Intel’s March 25price list. But the Centrino Atom prices are high enough to suggest that MIDs based on the chips will not be cheap when they hit the market.
The most basic of these first MIDs will likely cost US$500, “plus or minus a hundred,” said Gary Willihnganz [CQ], director of marketing at Intel’s Ultra Mobility Group, adding that MID prices will rise depending on what features, such as Windows or additional memory, are added to the device.
The good news? Forgo Windows and you’ll keep the price down on this new crop of slick little handheld devices called MIDs or Mobile Internet Devices. The bad news? With first generation prices in the $500 price range, most of us will need to look to Diamondville-based mini-laptops for cost-effective 1:1 solutions for now. No pricing is available yet, but Intel is expecting their 3rd-generation Classmates (which will feature Atom-family Diamondville processors) to be highly competitive in terms of price.
April 1st, 2008
XP Starter Edition…Give me some of that!
Mary Jo Foley wrote a piece today about Microsoft’s “stay of execution for Windows XP.” In particular, she is referencing the company’s June 30th deadline for OEMs to pre-install Windows XP on their systems. After that point, OEMs must install some version of Windows Vista. So far, the company has extended this deadline for manufacturers distributing systems to emerging markets, but will only allow the use of Windows XP Starter Edition.
As Mary points out,
From Microsoft’s September 27, 2007, press release:
“(S)ince some of the systems that ship in emerging markets don’t meet the requirements for Windows Vista, we will be extending availability of Windows XP Starter Edition to June 30, 2010. This will allow our OEM partners who sell PCs in emerging markets more opportunity to offer genuine Windows licenses.”
The new question that company watchers are asking this week is whether Microsoft will extend this 2010 date to cover “low-cost” PCs — like the Asus Eee ultra-cheap laptop — even if those PCs aren’t running XP Starter Edition.
Similarly, this means that systems like Intel’s Classmate that currently run Windows XP quite handily (and have been distributed, tested, and marketed with full-blown XP), would need to be sold beginning in June with XP Starter Edition. One word: Ubuntu.
Mary correctly points out that Microsoft is in a bit of a sticky wicket: either it shuts itself out of this market by preventing manufacturers of non-Vista capable hardware from distributing Windows XP, limits users to a stripped down version of an aging OS and/or gives XP another stay of execution. For those of us in Ed Tech eagerly awaiting a new crop of Atom-based cheap laptops, as well as the 2nd generation Intel Classmate making its way to mature markets, it’s certainly time to look elsewhere if Microsoft’s only offering will be XP Starter Edition.
March 31st, 2008
University of Massachusetts enters online degree deal with China
The University of Massachusetts announced today that it would be the first foreign university to offer courses and degrees via the Internet in China.
Plans call for UMassOnline to offer credit and non-credit courses, certificate programs, and degree programs from all five UMass campuses — through online and face to face programs — throughout China. Forty UMassOnline courses, four certificate programs, and one master’s degree program could be made available in China within a year.
“We are very proud to have been chosen by our partners in China to enter into this agreement,” said University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson. “We have developed one of the best online education programs in the world, and that is increasingly being recognized around the globe.”
All parties are hopeful that this collaboration will pave the way for additional universities to offer curricula via the Web to Chinese students (currently, the Chinese Ministry of Education provides little recognition for online programs) and reach a very large and increasingly connected population.
March 31st, 2008
So I introduced my students to Twitter
And now half of them are tweeting like mad and really dig the idea of microblogging, while the other half just can’t see the point. It shouldn’t surprise me that absolutely none of the tweeting has anything to do with physics. I even tried letting them tweet in class, but only a few were fast enough with the cell phones to keep up. With some practice, it might avoid being a distraction, but I doubt it. That and the cell phone ban violations, of course, put a cramp on its utility in a regular classroom.
I have three Twitter experiments coming up with the kids that might give the streams a bit more focus (probably not, but I haven’t given up as I slowly morph into a social media nerd). The first will be a fairly lengthy and challenging assignment of the sort we would usually do together in class. I’ll have them do it for homework and set up some Twitter-time when I’ll be online and they should attempt to work through problems and collaborate usefully.
The second will be during an upcoming egg drop experiment (the usual impulse and momentum egg-breaking fun). We’ll use Twitter to report on the whole thing and archive our stream.
The final experiment will be to report collectively (and keep track of each other) on an upcoming trip to Six Flags. I promised the principal we’d relate it to the curriculum so we’ll let him follow our Twitter stream as we examine acceleration, angular momentum, centripetal forces, and all the other physics goodies that make roller coasters fun.
If none of these work, I’m swearing off Twitter in the classroom and leaving it for sociology professors. I’ll let you know.
March 31st, 2008
A “goldmine for Intel” and a treasure trove for Ed Tech
Tom’s hardware just featured a piece on Intel’s Atom processor. While this new low-end processor family for UMPCs and mobile Internet devices has already been well-covered by the media, the most interesting piece of the article related to the cost of the chips themselves:
Our source was “skeptical” that Silverthorne [the cheaper of the two Atom incarnations] will in fact be as successful as Intel claims the CPU will be, but noted that “it will be a good cash cow”. Intel is able to put 2500 Atom CPUs on one 300 mm wafer, which would put its production value at about $15,000 to $20,000. Intel should be able to easily hit a 90% yield, which would put the retail value of the CPUs on one wafer at about $100,000 or more. We’re currently digging for more details on the Diamondville and Poulsbo parts, to get a better idea of final bill of materials.
But if Silverthorne takes off in a spectacular manner and sparks a new generation of MIDs and UMPCs, the Atom lineup could end up earning more money than Core 2 does. And that really gives us some food for thought.
This sort of profit margin on Intel’s side means some seriously cheap hardware in the Classmate niche for Ed Tech. I’ll be very interested to see where this lands when Intel and OEMs announce Atom-based devices in the coming months. Suffice to say, this could drastically change my purchasing plans for the summer.
March 30th, 2008
OOXML vs. ODF - Should Ed Tech care?
Those of us in educational technology, at least in the K-12 segment, don’t tend to produce a lot of documents that someone will want to read in 10 years. At the university level, where the publish or perish dogma is a alive and well, researchers are producing plenty of documents that should outlive their own tenure.
Obviously, electronic versions of such documents need to be machine- and human-readable decades down the road (Have you ever used a microfiche? It’s not as much fun as it sounds.). Herein lies the crux of XML-based document formats. If you have the XML schema, you can read the document. Unlike previous versions of most Word documents, for example, that were proprietary binary formats, readable only with the correct software, XML document formats do away with such restrictions (you mean you don’t still have a copy of WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS on your computer and Office screws up the formatting of those old files?).
The ISO is currently deciding whether Office’s format (OOXML) will be an international standard. ODF, the XML format used in OpenOffice and related software is a competing standard (already published by the ISO), leaving academicians wondering which format should be used for document archival and leaving K-12 instructors saying “Open what?”
Should we care? Does it matter? As Microsoft is happy to point out, OOXML isn’t going anywhere soon, regardless of ISO’s vote on the matter. What do you think? Take the survey and talk back below.
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Christopher Dawson is a teacher and IT administrator for Athol, MA High School. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Recent Entries
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