by Visvanath Ratnaweera.
Hi Alan
I have a different view on this. Unix/Linux has never been more accessible than it is today (in the western world, I mean). One can buy a computer magazine with Linux CD attached at any kiosk for the price of a sandwich. One can download an ISO file and transfer it to a USB memory stick in a couple of minutes making a bootable and persistant live system. Full desktop virtualization is free on all three common platforms - I mean VirtualBox. The problem is not in the technology nor in its accessibility, it is the human factor. You need to understand few basic things. That is where all sorts of things happen.
In our classes students work in all sorts of VMs. Some they get fully installed, but they never get Debian or Ubuntu servers as VMs from me. I have the official install CDs as ISOs in my machine which they download to their computers via FTP in the school LAN. With the help of an instruction sheet they install VMs on their own. The first try may take 30 min. but they realize that how easy it is. If the VM get damages, they install the next one in 15 min. They carry the VMs in an external USB drive which allows them to work also at home, or install again if the platform at home is different. As a side effect they get an understanding of a CLI OS - these are servers with no GUI - and they can already solve the most basic problems on their own.
The instruction sheet is not a big deal: Just two pages, a version of http://www.syndrega.ch/?p=14 adapted to the school LAN. If you or anybody interested in the German original, sent me a PM. There are all sorts of other documentation, this video series for example covers everything: "Video Tutorial - Install Moodle on a virtual Box from scratch"https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=199542.
I have a different view on this. Unix/Linux has never been more accessible than it is today (in the western world, I mean). One can buy a computer magazine with Linux CD attached at any kiosk for the price of a sandwich. One can download an ISO file and transfer it to a USB memory stick in a couple of minutes making a bootable and persistant live system. Full desktop virtualization is free on all three common platforms - I mean VirtualBox. The problem is not in the technology nor in its accessibility, it is the human factor. You need to understand few basic things. That is where all sorts of things happen.
In our classes students work in all sorts of VMs. Some they get fully installed, but they never get Debian or Ubuntu servers as VMs from me. I have the official install CDs as ISOs in my machine which they download to their computers via FTP in the school LAN. With the help of an instruction sheet they install VMs on their own. The first try may take 30 min. but they realize that how easy it is. If the VM get damages, they install the next one in 15 min. They carry the VMs in an external USB drive which allows them to work also at home, or install again if the platform at home is different. As a side effect they get an understanding of a CLI OS - these are servers with no GUI - and they can already solve the most basic problems on their own.
The instruction sheet is not a big deal: Just two pages, a version of http://www.syndrega.ch/?p=14 adapted to the school LAN. If you or anybody interested in the German original, sent me a PM. There are all sorts of other documentation, this video series for example covers everything: "Video Tutorial - Install Moodle on a virtual Box from scratch"https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=199542.