BSD systems for distance learning: was (How to improve FreeBSD)

[Kevin Kinsey]

Giorgos Keramidas wrote:

>Before we embark on yet another flame about the daemon or its relative
>religious significane to a certain percentage of the potential FreeBSD
>users, we need to think as members of the advocacy list and as users or
>contributors to FreeBSD what have WE done to actively promote FreeBSD
>lately?  What have WE done to make it more known to the masses?  Have
>we really solved ALL other problems and feel that our efforts are
>severely limited by the daemon logo, in a way that needs immediate
>action to discuss or change it?
>
>That's all.  That's why I'm in favor of direct and immediate action and
>my alarms go off whenever I see yet another (mostly pointless)
>discussion about what should be done.
>
>Don't talk anymore.  Go out there and do.
>
>	- Send an article about FreeBSD to your favorite online or print
>	  publication.
>	- Write the code for a new FreeBSD feature.
>	- Fix an existing bug.
>
>Just do :)
>  
>

And, if you were/are a person to whom religion is significant,
Giorgios, you should be a preacher/priest/pastor/cleric or
whatever your brand calls it.  We'd say here:  "Amen, brother,
preach it!!"</small bit of humor>.

Now, about "doing":

I've got a lady (I met at a church, incidentally) after me to help
her "get something going" with a program that seems to have
been developed by the Mexican Government.  I don't fully understand
it, but it's about remote learning, and IIUC, participants can
earn an educational certification ("High School" equivalency,
perhaps, or even more) from said Government from here in
the USA.

She showed me a site, a "Portal Educativo", and I looked around
for a while (at the time, I was in a "windows only" shop, so I was
on Mozilla/WinXP).

I didn't see much that looked like anything but standard web
content, but the sheet she gave me was a standard "Microsoft
Shop(ping) List" of technical requirements.

I'm going to try and obtain a Winbox or two, but I'm thinking
to also put some BSD boxes where they will be available for
use.  I may even put fvwm2 in the "WinXP lookalike" mode
just to see if I can freak anybody out, or show them that, for
the most part, standard apps on one platform look a lot like
standard apps on another.

I'm not fluent in Espanol; is anyone familiar with this program
(http://www.conevyt.org.mx/)?  Are these folks really going to
need Windows?  (Rich clients, perhaps?  ActiveX? --- so far, all
I've found are some java applets embedded in the sites.)  Of
course, I'm not able to access some pages . . . and not necessarily
sure why, since the error messages aren't English.  I know in
a few cases I can't see everything since I've not yet "registro"
<?> (I'm definitely challenged by verb endings)....

Anyway, I was curious if anyone else knows about this program.
I have no idea if I can successfully deploy FBSD alongside that
other product in this environment, but I'd like to keep the
possibility open, and try . . . no one in this part of the country
has implemented it yet, AFAIK, and we might get some local
or regional press if we could pull something off.

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.