[Tech] Partimus & Raspberry Pi, etc.

[Michael Paoli]

> From: partimus at boldandbusted.com
> Subject: [Tech] Partimus & Raspberry Pi 3 Model Bs
> Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2016 17:35:09 -0700

> I propose that we put a bit of money on the table, and replace all the
> computers, and their power-hungry motherboards, with Raspberry Pi 3s,

Raspberry Pi - great for many things, but I (mostly) don't see it as a fit -
at least at this time - for most of the, at least, "core" Partimus stuff.

Notably, e.g. school environments, school "labs" and such, I don't think
Pi will typically have the speed/power that many will want/require,
notably CPU horsepower, RAM, storage, etc.  Also, architecture, generally
much more available for "i386"/amd64 architectures that ARM (Pi).  I think
it's certainly good to consider - and occasionally revisit the question,
though.  Pi might later become a good/excellent fit ... but I don't think
it (quite) is ... *yet*.  There's also the bit too, about how too be
applied to what use.

Guess I'm still wrapping my head around the (non-technical) issue of
what's Partimus's core mission and installing computers into what
environments/infrastructures.  Schools and what would be best for that,
and, e.g. homeless shelters or such ... yes, certainly some overlap,
but also major differences in what's needed and does or would work best.
E.g. schools - teacher(s), etc., (mostly) teaching environment, majority
of users non-adult students.  Something, e.g. like DebianEdu/Skolelinux
probably an excellent fit (why reinvent the wheel?) ... but that would
generally be quite unsuitable to, e.g. a homeless shelter - mostly
adults using, not generally a "teacher" or lab instructed environment,
not the many-to-one instructor led environment ... seems a "kiosk" type
setup is much more suitable for homeless shelter type environment.

Anyway, must of that *not technical* issue.  So, ... know what
environment(s) Partimus is targeting, and then more feasible to plan
how to set up for the relevant environment(s).

"Partimus Mission Statement: Provide educational opportunities through  
open technology to educators and students."

There certainly are organizations that provide computers and related
technology, and often using/including open technology / open source,
to places/persons in need beyond and/or in addition to "educators and  
students".
But different needs, different target environments, etc., have  
different requirements,
and different things that work well/best for them, not to mention what  
is and isn't
feasible or a "fit".

And yes, "free"(/ very inexpensive / donated) computers/laptops ...  
good resource
to be able to (re)use and avoid it becoming that much e-waste that  
much sooner.
And yes, Raspberry Pi might fit somewhere in there, or in future ...  
not "free",
but not all that expensive either (got funding sources? ... how  
scaleable are the
different possibilities).  And yes, quite portable (advantage and/or  
disadvantage,
well, "that depends").  And with Pi, still need displays - HDMI (or  
adapters) -
those may be non-trivial part of cost, or hard to get lots of suitable  
donations
to cover.  But yes, ... portable, ... Pi, laptop ... student could take
to/from school, check out (like book) from school, or have their own also
for home.  Desktop boxes tend to fall down on the portability aspect - even if
one gets sent home with student (or whomever) - in many cases these folks may
more or resettle more frequently - probability of moving and successfully
resettling a desktop, not generally as good as probabilities with laptop - at
least that would be my guess ... Pi+display likely falls somewhere between
at successfully moving when patron relocates.

Anyway, various things to consider ... know the target environment(s),  
and then
planning for and deploying to them becomes easier.  If the environments are
more diverse and varied and have quite different needs, well, then the
planning becomes trickier, ... or one comes up with a more "generic"
answer/"solution" - here's your open source computer thingy ... it's very
generically configured 'cause the varying clients have lots of  
different needs,
we don't have resources to configure lots of different ways, good luck, ask us
if you have questions.

And, while I'm thinking of "kiosk" type setups ... I forget if I mentioned it
on this list before, but ... most drives have a read-only (ro) jumper ...
can potentially set up installation that way, have /var and /tmp on tmpfs,
and drive set ro on hardware.  Need to update?  Physically set it up so
one can use a keyswitch, or has reasonable physical external access to the
jumper (e.g. connect header, pair of wires, and connect/disconnect jumper or
keyswitch physically further from the drive - e.g. on the case somewhere - or
even a recessed switch that could be toggled).  Anyway, that's  
potentially a possible
approach to well "lock down" what folks can and can't do to the OS  
image - keeps
them from mucking with it (or at least reduces that a lot).  Now, ... such
approach would generally not be appropriate for lab/student/learning  
environment,
but may be quite suitable for a "kiosk" type environment - and could  
well help, e.g.,
prevent private information of one patron from being stolen by another.
Anyway, different environments can have *very* different needs, and be quite
different in what best suits a particular type of environment.