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It all started at the beginning of last week.  I wanted my American International School 11th and 12th Grade ICT students to start using Ubuntu Linux on their laptops/netbooks at the beginning of the second quarter.  I knew it would take me nearly two weeks to get them working Ubuntu Linux systems on their laptops or netbooks.  Tommy (11A), Michael (11A), Cindy (11B), Tyler (11B) and Wade (12) were instrumental in helping me get all the Linux systems running.

My students had four options to run Ubuntu Linux on their laptops or netbooks.  They could:

1. Use VirtualBox running an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine,
2. Install Ubuntu Linux in Windows with the Wubi Installer,
3. Install Ubuntu Linux through a dual boot with Windows, or
4. They could purchase a netbook and install Ubuntu eee.

Only a couple students used the VirtualBox option.  Most of my students were using Windows Vista wished had some issues running VirtualBox.  Others were running different versions of Windows XP which, due to hardware issues, was not fast enough to run VirtualBox on.  It took forever for them to install and eventually boot Ubuntu Linux.  Kids these days are quite impatient so I decided to give them other options.

For most, install Ubuntu Linux with Wubi proved the easiest and most successful way to install Linux.  I had no idea it was that easy to use.  They just installed it and never asked me any questions.  After the initial installation, my students rebooted and Ubuntu loaded up and finished the installation itself including the partition.  The Ubuntu Developers should be patted on their back for this one.  Finally, they gave something back to the Linux community worthy of praise.

So Remember, USE Wubi to install Ubuntu Linux for Window users.  It will save you time and headache.  Dual partitions can be a pain, even with the Ubuntu Installer.  I think I would have saved a couple of days if I had chosen Wubi initially.  The Install CD is great but even the partition graphic user interface can confuse the advanced Linus users.

At least one of my students accidentally loss her entire Windows partition when she installed Ubuntu right over it (she was the only one that did not ask for help.  Yes, my instructions were clear, BACK UP everything!!!).  Several laptops had errors during the installation yet they were able to get a successful install when using Wubi.  Interesting….

Finally, the last group of students had netbooks already, mainly Eee PC 1000s, Asus Aspire Ones, and MSI Winds.  My new bright student, Katherine, installed Ubuntu 8.10 herself without even asking me.  Yeah, that makes an IT teacher proud.  The rest used Ubuntu eee with my LiveUSB.

Several students have not finsihed installing yet.  They know by next week, they had to have Ubuntu Linux installed or I would deduct points from their grade.  My first lesson will focus on using the command line to update their systems.

This should be an interesting year.  Below are many pictures from this week.  This is my first time seeing many Ubuntu Linux systems in one room at a time outside of a Linux User Group meeting.  I get a chuckle out of this one since I am not a fan of Ubuntu Linux myself

Picture Gallery and Previous American International School Linux posts below:

(Ubuntu eee on Eee PC 1000)

(Ubuntu 8.10 on Sony laptop)

(More Ubuntu laptops – This was lost it’s Window’s partition)

(Ubuntu 8.10 on an AMD64 Asus laptop – Had some problems)

(Nice Ubuntu Install Picture)

(Another Eee PC 1000 Ubuntu eee install)

(Taking turns using the Ubuntu Install LiveCD)

(Finally got the Ubuntu LiveCD to run on an unknown brand laptop)

(My Korean student, Jinn, got Ubuntu running in Korean)

(Joanna installed Ubuntu herself using Wubi)

(Another Wubi Ubuntu installation in progress)

(Three new Ubuntu users in the back, they are first time users of Linux)

(Eagerly waiting for the Ubuntu Linux installations to finish)

(Fresh Ubuntu install with Wubi)

(Gwen installing Ubuntu herself, thanks Wubi)

(One Ubuntu installation finishing, another one close behind)

(My last Ubuntu eee install of the day)

Previous Using Ubuntu Linux at AIS entries:

• Using Ubuntu Linux at the American International School
• Another new Ubuntu User

AIS Linux Related Articles:

• My Students using the Asus Eee PC
• AIS Linux Lab Redesigned
• Using TuxType with my Vietnamese Students
• First Day of Python for my Vietnamese Students
• Linux Mint in the Classroom
• My Computer Lab Nearly Ready
• Introducing my Vietnamese Students to GIMP
• Students Using PCLinuxOS in Vietnam

Wow, another beginning to a busy week.  Several more meetings scheduled for this week plus a BarCamp Saigon organizational meeting.  Saigon Linux Group will be separated from Vscapeone and become it’s own company, finally.  It will be run by three Managing Partners from three different countries.  Our first potential client wants us to develop an e-commerce site.  It will be a busy week

Here is an update to the Browser usage at SaigonNezumi.com:

1. Mozilla Firefox – 47.9% (50.6%)
2. Internet Explorer – 41.2% (34.8%)
3. Apple Safari – 5.2% (5.0%)
4. Google Chrome – 3,2% (5.4%)
5. Opera – 1.6% (3.6%)
6. Konqueror – 0.6% (0.6%)

A big day for the Red Hat Fedora Core Community. Fedora Core 9 was just released. I am currently downloading it through bittorrent. Right now there does not seem to be a lot of torrents here in Asia but I suspect by morning, there will be many more.

If anyone in Saigon wants a copy of FC9. just let me know. I will burn a DVD for you.

I started my Linux days with Red Hat 7.3. At the time it was not interesting but when I was testing CentOS early this year, I found that I really liked Red Hat again. I plan to run FC9 on my Thinkpad T60 with Gnome 2.22, considered one of the better desktop environments in the open source community right now (Sorry KDE but I realy hate KDE4).

It has been nearly three weeks since I started to use the new Computer Lab Computer Lab (which I dubbed the Linux Lab) at the American International School. My students and I have experienced a lot of headaches but we are able to get some work done.

About three weeks ago, I was given a new group of Teen Immersion students to work with (these students are preparing to enter the mainstream student body). Since I am their Computer Science teacher, you guessed it, I had them using Linux during the first week of class.

With the help of Son from the IT Department, we managed to get Linux Mint working with VirtualBox in the Linux Lab. Since many of the students were new to VirtualBox and Linux, I talked them through the set-up and got them booting into Linux Mint. Since I created the linuxmint.vdi on my desktop at home, I had to help them change the screen resolution inside of xorg.conf. Can you believe it, I had several students actually editing xorg.conf on their own.

I will be using Linux Mint in my Teen Immersion classes mainly to teach my students how to touch type (TuxType and TypeSpeed) and use Pencil.

Linux Mint is great in the classroom! Eye candy sells very well to students and is one great way to promote Linux around the world. One of the first all of my students did after logging into Linux Mint was change the theme and configuration of their desktops. I just showed one student how to do it and the rest followed right after.

(Layla is configuring her desktop)

(Logging in)

(Carla configuring her desktop)

(Student on the right is trying to start Linux Mint with VirtualBox)

(They love TuxType!!!)

(I normally run PC-BSD on my teacher’s desktop but today I use Linux Mint as a demonstration)

My students have one more week left of touch typing. In about 2 weeks, they will start to use Pencil, a program many of my students know about.

Next week I will give a posting of my mainstream students and their projects using both PC-BSD and Linux Mint.