Re: [Sheflug] Sheffield Green Party: Linux for Sheffield CityCouncil

[Seb James <seb [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 2004-03-01 at 22:46, Julian R C Briggs wrote:
> Dear Shef-LUGers,
> 
> Sheffield Green Party is considering adding "Linux for Sheffield
> City Council" to its manifesto for the local elections in May/June
> this year.
> 
> One proposal is that Sheffield City Council use Linux initially in
> schools.
> 
> I'm looking for pointers to other city councils, schools in
> Sheffield etc who have explored or implemented this.
> 
> Basicly I'm a Linux enthusiast and I'm trying to assess, is it a
> feasible, sensible thing to put in a manifesto now?

Hello Julian,

We would welcome such a point in the manifesto of the Green Party. We
are a small company in Sheffield providing Linux systems to Schools.
>From the point of view of Linux in schools the idea is wholly feasible.

Linux provides a rich learning experience as the whole system is built
around a philosophy of learning and knowledge sharing. This was our
reason for setting up Hypercube Systems Ltd.

We provide systems running Linux on the desktop, as well as server
systems. Importantly from a green point of view, our systems are built
around the thin client architecture. Here you have a central computer
running as an application server, and low power clients at which the
children do their work.

This leads to 4 major environmental advantages:

1) You don't need fast PCs, so old redundant machines can be used as the
clients, reducing turnover in PC equipment. This is environmentally
sound because PCs contain lead, gold, cadmium and many other toxic
materials, as well has containing large amounts of plastic which is
non-biodegradable.

2) If a school installs our thin clients, they save power. Our clients
use 14 Watts of power (they require only a low power CPU), compared with
85 Watts for a standard PC (our measured values). Marry this with an LCD
screen, which saves about half the power used by a CRT and you have
overall savings of about 80-90 Watts per station or 2400 to 2700 Watts
per 30 machine classroom.

3) This power saving reduces heating in the classroom. In the summer
this reduces the requirement for air-conditioning. Building services
companies are already concerned about the requirement for large
air-conditioning units in schools and other buildings where large
numbers of PCs are installed. This is a clear way to improve this
situation.

4) Our thin client terminals are silent, which improves the immediate
environment of the staff and children. This should not be underestimated
in importance. The amount of noise created by a classroom of 30 Pcs
humming away is nothing short of oppressive.

These are merely the environmental benefits of going with a Linux
terminal server solution. As I'm sure you are aware there are also a
host of other benefits, such as quality of applications, system
stability and freedom from proprietary lock-in.

I hope this helps, and I look forward to seeing a pro-Linux/Free Libre
and Open Source Software statement in the Green Party Manifesto. If
you'd like to discuss any of this further, you can call me on the
numbers below.

with best regards,

Seb James
-- 
Managing Director,   Educational Systems,  Hypercube Systems Ltd
         Providing Open Source ICT solutions for schools.
Tel: 0114 231 2339                Web: www.hypercubesystems.co.uk
Mob: 07900 958964               Email: seb [at] hypercubesystems.co.uk

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