KDE@school (using FreeNX)

Speaker: Mario Fux

Debian GNU/Linux with KDE as its desktop has been used in the Swiss primary school of Ried-Brig for two years. The school made use of their old computers as thin clients with (Free)NX as the client-server software which makes it possible to connect the different operating systems of the home PCs with the school network. As MS Windows education software is still an important part of the software in use, the possibility to run this programme was a precondition for the migration to a free system. In this presentation I want to show the main desktop over NX, how I installed the clients, and summarise what teachers and pupils like best on their desktop. I will also put forward possible ways of improvement. Finally I will demonstrate education softwarte (free and proprietary) the school uses and where the KDE Edutainment project could fill the gaps.

Mario Fux

My name is Mario Fux. I'm a 28-year-old student of education, computer sciences and computer linguistics at the university of Zurich, Switzerland. After growing up in the Alps in a village called Ried-Brig, I have been living near Zurich for almost six years. Before initiating my studies at university I trained as a primary school teacher. I was the author of a column about free educational software called TUX&GNU@school.