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On Mon, 1 Jul 1996, David H. Rothman wrote:

> At 09:43 AM 7/1/96 EDT, Barry A. Hollander (BARRY@uga.cc.uga.edu) wrote:
> 
> >      I think elementary schools are on the wrong track by playing
> >      up the Internet and computers in the schools.  We may pay
> >      for it further down the road.
> 
> If the schools just turn the kids loose on the Net, I couldn't agree with
> you more. However, there's no reason why students couldn't benefit from a
> mix of the structured and unstructured. 
> Coincidentally another Post story told how a New Jersey school had helped
> students through low-tech means such as a wide variety of books--not just
> through the Net and gadgetry. 

It actually takes very little to upgrade a "boat anchor" 286 machine to a
high-end web browser.  Breakdown is as follows.

	386 or 486 Mother board		$50
	4Meg Ram			$50
	SVGA video card (no accel)	$50
	Linux Operating System		$20 (or less).
	Netscape Browser		$40
	SVGA 12" Monitor		$80

	Total				$240

Labor for the upgrades can be done through the local technical high
schools.  Corporations can donate the "boat anchor" 80286, 80386, and 4
meg 80486 machines that are too puny to run MS-Windows/95 or Windows/NT.

For the price of one Apple II (about $1200) you could build 5 browser
stations.  For the price of a Windows NT workstation (about $3600), you
could build 15 Linux Browsers.

> But what if the Net itself were used as a distribution mechanism for
> high-quality, copyrighted books, and if we encouraged the development of
> small, sharp-screened book-friendly computers that weren't such a chore to
> read off? 

Actually, kids are better off with small SVGA 1024x768 12"-14" screens.
It keeps them closer to the screen and less open to distractions.  Older
people need higher resolutions because they have limited ability to focus.
With the "glitz" of modern web pages, 640x480 is a joke.  You also can't
have MS-Windows eating up all the "Real-Estate" with wide borders,
scrollbars, title-bars, and MDI interfases.

It is possible to get reasonably good pictures with 100-200 dpi.  It is
possible to get a nice picture into 640x480 or less.  Editors too often go
bananas with super high-resolution 1280x1024 imagemaps that not only can't
be run on any thing with less than 4 meg of video ram but takes 30 minutes
to download from a net 1400 byte/second (net throughput) link.

Actually, we could use something like NNTP or RDIST to deliver the content
to servers at the local schools.  The kids wouldn't have to be frustrated
by 90 second/page downloads (even if the school gets T1, they are likely
to put well beyond 24 stations on it.  Alternatively, you could just have
a caching server that reports cached hits back to the owner (yet another
patch for Apache).

> See http://www.clark.net/pub/rothman/telfaq.htm for details. 
> 
> Perhaps sooner or later, newspaper folks will get it--book-friendly
> computers would also be newspaper-friendly. But all that would require true
> portability, sharp screens and a good, easy interface, perhaps of the pen
> variety.

Try this.  A detachable keyboard, headset (phones and mic) and "goggles"
that plug into a belt-pack.  The keyboard has the trackball built in.
Use Dvorak's simplified keyboard with "calculator" type keys.  The wiping
motion used by Dvorak's keyboard users can let you shrink the keyboard by
as much as 40".  Of course, they could also plug in a full-size Shole's
(QWERTY) keyboard.  Read the patent on Shole's keyboard, then read the
research on Dvorak's keyboard.  Why should be push our 7 year old children
to spend a year learning how to type on a keyboard that will give them
Carpel Tunnel Syndrom by the time they are 20?

Finally, give it a 10-base-T ethernet connection for access to school and
home lans as well as the internet (fast router/modems and router/csu
adapters would give support for speeds from 28,800 to DS3).  More disk
drives and peripherals can be used at home or school using NFS/ethernet
drives.

> I get rather grouchy when I hear talk of  NC computers using third-rate
> screens or TVs as monitors. Over the long run, that's exactly what we don't
> need if we want to encourage sustained thought and an appreciation of text.

There are many school districts who still insist on ordering Apple II's or
Macs, bottom line of course, because "they can't get any educational
software for other machines".

> As Freud said, "Technology is destiny" :-;.
> 
> David Rothman | rothman@clark.net
> 
> +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> This message was posted to ONLINE-NEWS. http://www.planetarynews.com/o-n.html
> 

	Rex Ballard - Director of Electronic Distribution
	Standard & Poor's/McGraw-Hill
	Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
	the Management of the McGraw-Hill Companies.
	http://cnj.digex.net/~rballard





From rballard@cnj.digex.net Fri Jul  5 13:12:40 1996
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