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Linux is not a product, and because is not a product it doesn't has a single provider. Many companies ship their own version of linux. Linux would be something like water, you can get it from different providers like Red Hat, Canonical (Ubuntu) and also by government like LinEX (from the Extremadura Government).


There are also custom Linux versions like education driven versions. Different sub-versions grow from larger distributions of Linux. One example is Edubuntu which is a custom version of the popular Ubuntu. Other education distributions includes K12Linux which specialize on setting up economic computer labs where you only need 1 trusty computer and the rest could only be monitors and keyboards saving LOTS of money.

Children can be amazing when it comes to technology, having an amazing curiosity kids can play with GNU/Linux and explore the operating system. You can se the young blonde in the back showing really excited about what she is discovering things.

If you can get over this initial shock, things might come to be quite enjoyable experience for you and your students. ;)

So which Linux is right for your classroom?

Well the answer is usually the one you want. However as any school environment most of the decisions is not up to you but to the IT guy. Unfortunately the school is a somehow restricted environment in which teachers might not be able to freely dispose of the computers.

If this was water, it would be rather difficult changing water provider because a single teacher think so. However there are ways that you can try linux without disrupting the current infrastructure.

Getting to know LiveCDs

LiveCD's is a wonderful way to quickly have Linux on your classroom without even needing to install on the computer. This mean that you can play it from the CD and suddenly you can enjoy the software. But if you take it out and reboot the computer, it will come back to windows like nothing happen.

Here is one of the advantages that Linux is free software. You can make as many copies as you need without explicit permission from the provider. You can make verbatim copies of the Linux LiveCD and you can have each PC with their own CD.

You can download a LIVECD from the project websites respectively. A good resource could be to visit Distrowatch. Distrowatch is a directory of different distributions with their specific goals.