First, there is a local organization, management assistance programs for nonprofits (www.mapnp.org) that is working very hard at cornering the market at providing IT assistance to nonprofit organizations. The operating system of choice is Windows, but the software being promoted is (or was) a proprietary suite of applications. They have already set up a full tech support system, so you may want to at least investigate their set-up before you spend more time on this idea. Marc > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2003 00:42:22 -0500 (CDT) > From: "Wayne Johnson" <waynej at dccmn.com> > To: <tclug-list at mn-linux.org>, <nonprofit_tech_talk at communityforum.net> > Cc: <dcoats at mlla.org> > Subject: [TCLUG] Using Linux for Small Businesses & Non-profits Class > Reply-To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > My partner and I have been tossing around the idea of having a class on > "Using Linux for Small Businesses & Non-profits". The focus will be for > the accidental techies that get sucked (imagine a black hole) into the job > in their respective organizations. > > So far, I've been making a list of subjects to include. Here's just a > small start: > > Computer Basics (what is a CPU, memory, hard disk, I/O, video card, etc.) > Installing Linux (we have a lab with ~20 PCs, might as well give them some > behind the wheel). > Access Control (passwd, group, file system security) > GUI vs Command line (including a tutorial in Vi) > > Available packages: > OpenOffice > Samba > E-mail Serving > Printer Configuration > Networking (DHCP, Routing, Subnets, etc.) > Apache, PHP, MySQL, Postgres, Perl, etc. > Firewalling & Gateways (SNAT) & the Internet > Backups > > Hardware: > Modems > CD-RW > > At this rate, It'll be a 4 year course. > > Any suggestions? Frequent subjects at InstallFests? Text books? > Remember, some of these folks are pretty low end techies, so simpler is > probably better. > > Maybe we can tie the class in with an installfest? > --__--__-- > > Message: 5 > From: "David Phillips" <david at acz.org> > To: <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> > Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Using Linux for Small Businesses & Non-profits Class > Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2003 07:29:56 -0500 > Reply-To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > Wayne Johnson writes: > > Installing Linux (we have a lab with ~20 PCs, might as well > > give them some behind the wheel). > > This is a problem. What distro do you use? Do any of the distros with an > easy installer offer a free, automatic system for security updates? With > Debian, you could easily setup security updates to run nightly from cron. > Unfortunately, Debian does not have the easiest installer. > > As much as everyone would like to believe that UNIX software is magically > immune to security holes, it simply isn't true. Almost all popular > programs have had security holes that allow arbitrary code execution. > Setting newbies up with Linux systems that aren't automatically updated > with security fixes is just as irresponsible setting them up with Windows > boxes. > > Another issue is the operating system becoming obsolete. Some companies > such as Red Hat make their operating systems obsolete faster than even > Microsoft. How does the user upgrade without reinstalling from scratch? > Ideally, the operating systems needs a way to update itself from any > version to any version with no user intervention besides a few questions. > > > Access Control (passwd, group, file system security) > > There is a lot more to UNIX security than just that. Understanding file > permissions is almost useless without understanding process credentials. > Why shouldn't things run as root? Why shouldn't all daemons run as > "nobody"? If a process is compromised, what other files and processes can > become compromised? > > > GUI vs Command line (including a tutorial in Vi) > > Haha. The vi interface is not at all intuitive. Trying to teach newbies > how to use it is pointless and stupid. They have no need to use it. After > the course, if the user is so inclined, he can spend the months it takes to > learn an archaic interface designed for incredibly slow machines that were > accessed using terminals with different keyboard layouts. > > vi is not efficient in the default setup with the keyboards on most PCs. A > Happy Hacking keyboard or a mapping like it would make vi much more > efficient. But with the default setup, having to take your hand off the > home row to press escape slows you down and increases hand stress. Here is > an interview with Bill Joy, the original author of vi, along with a picture > of the terminal it was designed for: > > http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~kirkenda/joy84.html > http://www.tentacle.franken.de/adm3a/ > > The above is my opinion. Perhaps vim has better default key mappings, or > even a modeless interface. If so, I would love to hear about it. At any > rate, it is counter productive to attempt to teach vi to newbies. nano, > joe or ee would be a much better choice. > > My pick would be joe, because it almost as easy to use and has basically > any feature an advanced user would want from a text editor, except for > syntax highlighting. It even has a pico imitation mode, run by running > jpico. > > > E-mail Serving > > Make sure to pick a secure MTA, such as qmail or Postfix. > > > PHP > > If you need to teach a user what a CPU is, you should not be trying to > teach them a programming language in the same course, especially not one > that makes it easy to have huge remote security holes. This isn't to say > it's difficult to write secure PHP, but looking at all the security holes > in various open source PHP applications demonstrates that amateurs make a > lot of mistakes. > > > MySQL, Postgres > > Databases are an advanced concept that you probably shouldn't be trying to > teach. If a user doesn't know what a database is, a Linux intro course > probably isn't the time. If you want to give a two minute demo on > databases, MySQL would be my pick, since it's a lot easier to use. > > > Perl > > The thing for PHP also applies here, basically. Perl is not a good first > language. If the user wants to learn Perl later, recommend a good book. > > If you are really intent on an intro to programming, I recommend Python. > It is much more elegant, user friendly and makes it easier to teach > concepts. The interactive interpreter can be a wonderful teaching tool. > This book is excellent, even for non programmers: > > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201748843 > > > At this rate, It'll be a 4 year course. > > Yep. > > > Any suggestions? > > Don't. Newbies should not be deploying machines on the Internet, period. > Teaching them how to setup a Linux operating system for a desktop machine > that will be behind a hardware NAT router is probably alright. > > Take a hint from Apple on usability. How many average Mac users know about > UNIX permissions? The average user doesn't care and shouldn't need to. > Focus on what the user needs to do, not on general UNIX concepts. > > Need an email server? Web hosting? Outsource it. If an organization > can't afford $15 a month for that, they certainly can't afford to be > deploying machines on the internet. > > Businesses exist to make money, not do something a certain way because you > think it is cool (case in point: vi). Make sure a solution's total cost of > ownership is cheaper than the alternatives. Software cost is usually a > small factor. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list