<div>I work in IT support for a Australian university primarily in supporting and developing our Linux environments.</div><div><br></div><div>We have a large number of laptops and workstations running Linux, mostly Ubuntu. That being said im pretty sure we are well ahead of most organisations on Linux use, and support.</div>
<br clear="all">-Matthew Lye<br><br>You can do anything you set your mind to when you have vision, determination, and and endless supply of expendable labor.<br><No tree's were harmed during this transmission. However, a great number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 5:07 PM, Tim Bowden <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tim.bowden@westnet.com.au">tim.bowden@westnet.com.au</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On Tue, 2009-09-15 at 14:59 +0930, Barry Williams wrote:<br>
> If there are any students or teachers/school IT support guys on these<br>
> lists I was wondering if you have tried to get your linux laptops<br>
> working on the school network and how helpful the IT information and<br>
> or support have been.<br>
<br>
</div><big snip><br>
<div class="im"><br>
> Anyway what have your experiences been.<br>
> Regards,<br>
> Barry<br>
<br>
</div>Largely the same in that there is rarely official support for linux<br>
*anywhere*. Having said that, if you strike the right person you may<br>
well get quite helpful support (whether it be uni or isp hell desk etc).<br>
In particular I'd like to call out <a href="http://westnet.com.au" target="_blank">westnet.com.au</a> here for good<br>
unofficial linux support; Often if the tech in question has no linux<br>
idea, they'll call on one who does if possible (though in many years<br>
dealing with them I don't think any of the problems have been 'linux'<br>
problems as such; they just haven't run and hid behind a 'not supported<br>
here' excuse).<br>
<br>
One thing I have noticed over the last few years is a willingness to<br>
accept and publish (with suitable disclaimer) user contributed docs. If<br>
you get something working, create a short howto, publish it publicly and<br>
give an electronic copy to the relevant support people. If you make it<br>
easy for them they're much more likely to post it somewhere meaningful.<br>
It might only be one snowflake, but one flake begets another and<br>
eventually...<br>
<br>
The only other advice I have is to learn the relevant protocols well (or<br>
at least the tools working with them). You never know what cool<br>
'features' you'll find on a school network if you know how it's supposed<br>
to work.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<font color="#888888">Tim Bowden<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>