Monday, October 29, 2007

Explore your ideas with exploratree


Exploratree is a new web site that allows you to create what they call thinking guides. I was impressed with the wide variety of concept maps on their web site -- and they are still in beta.

This site would be great for any form of analysis or brainstorming.
T

Monday, October 15, 2007

Earth blog day and green pc

October 15th is blog action day for global warming. While this is a school technology blog, we all have to live on this planet. So, I picked a device that is about as friendly a computer as possible. The Fit-PC is a small sized PC that consumes only 5 watts of power. It also produces no sound due to not having a fan.

This unit would be great for a number of situations where electrical power is not ample or noise is a concern. The small size would allow a small computer lab to bolt the unit to the bottom of a bench. The down side is the lack of CD-ROM drive and its lower performance. But let's face it, even a low-end PC has more than enough power for word processing and for Internet browsing. This unit can be installed with Windows XP or Linux. They don't say what will happen when Vista is the only Windows OS.

And, this makes for a good firewall. It may cost a bit more than reusing an old PC and open source firewall applications, but it can live in a small closet in a way that an old 486 tower could not.

T

Friday, October 05, 2007

Puppy Linux

LifeHacker has a good review on the recently released new version of Puppy Linux. To be honest, I've not heard of this version. I'm a fan of small form factors of Linux for older computers. This version is also designed to run from a USB flash device.

Running from a flash device can be a good feature for students who need the same application at home -- a likely situation if you're using Linux in the school. This removes the issue of not having the required application at home.

T