Hi,

I'm a new linux user , just dropped in running openSUSE and debian on my 2 pc's .

At school we have 60 computers piled up in 2 classes with an internet connection , currently running windows xp , main problem being that the os gets slower by the day getting full of viruses and other bag modjo . it's hard to protecte them from the noob users or maybe just the ones that "work around" the limitations of an ordinary windows account and administrator password being cracked or reset (this one was me :P) .

A ideea i had and was supported by the school would be to use linux on the sistems , solving the stability problems and the "not so" legit software installed .

i was thinking about installing kubuntu being in my eyes easy to use and stable .
but i still need these :
-office
-C++
-Pascal
-Foxpro

the office part is covered by openoffice
but i need recomandations for the other 3 , we use the old borland pascal and c++ (dos versions) and an old version of foxpro .

Main requirement of the 3 is to be as similar to the original as possible , so even a newbie to pas/c++ can use them

last but not least is there any way to limit an user to not download anything but freely browse the net and use the different chat programs

Thank you waiting for suggestions

Most distributions would come with the GNU compiler already installed (the console compiler command for C++ is `g++`). That would cover your compiler part, but as far as a whole IDE goes - well for stuff I always do I don't usually use an IDE, but Dev-CPP is pretty popular with both the Windows and Linux crowd. I personally have not used Dev-CPP in Linux.

I'm unfamiliar with FoxPro, but have you looked into MySQL?

i would vote for mysql but the educational system dictates what we learn .

i know that command but i was looking for something with a gui where u write the code compile and make it like those old dos progs .

thanx any more ideeas

Hi, xj39eldiablo.
-C++ IDE - Kdevelop for KDE, Anjuta for Gnome, Code::Blocks works too.
-Pascal - Run it with Wine, or use Lazarus with freepascal, looks like Delphi 6, not above.
-Foxpro - Run it with Wine or maybe Xbase?, never tried it.

C++ on dos? I understood wrong?. I don't know, maybe you can find a GUI for DJGPP, like Uniforms.

EDIT:
I forgot this:
Yes, a Squid + Dansguardian solution. You can do a lot with it. For stopping downloads from chats you have to block ports in the network firewall, every IM server have different ones, they're all on a google search.
Cheers.

OpenOffice is not fast and it has a lot of limits. I recommend the following programs to equal the quality of MS Office products.

Document: Abiword or Kword
Spreadsheet: Gnumeric or Kspread
Presentation: Kpresenter
Database: Kexi or OpenOffice Base


gnu compiler is all you need to create programs that works the same in DOS. Also mingw can be used to compile programs in Linux and then be able to run them in DOS or Windows, but it supports C better than C++. There are several IDE programs to choose from if the students needs help organizing big programs. Third, you can look into the dialog projects to create simple GUI with out the knowledge of GUI widgets like Gtk, KDE/QT, wxWidgets.

ncurses dialog - http://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html
Gtkdialog - http://linux.pte.hu/~pipas/gtkdialog/index.html
KDialog - http://www.kde.org/

Use Crossover Office to run Foxpro. WINE can run Foxpro, but WINE is still experimental that may corrupt the database. For any Windows programs, I still recommend VMware.

Proxy servers are used to cache web pages and limit bandwidth. To limit users from downloading, write an extension for Firefox.

Yes, Electro's idea is good, but what if they manege themselves to use some other browser or download using wget or any other download manager?. I never had a problem with a Squid+Dansguardian combination, and editing /etc/dansguardian/bannedextensionslist file, it has a pretty self explaining name too.

thank you very much , you are of great help , I'll be looking into your suggestions and hope we'll be switching soon to Linux .

Hi, xj39eldiablo.
Unfortunately, these days I don't have time enough to try Xbase for you and tell if it will work as a replacement for foxpro (I'm a highschool teacher too, you know).

OK, I'll add two obvious things just in case: Squid+Dansguardian is a solution for your gateway/firewall, not for every single workstation there.
Second obvious thing: Try those suggestions and document installing and uninstalling steps and commands on a dedicated trial machine. With documented steps you can make a simple script after default install, to let installing an uninstalling automatically what you want to every single of the sixty workstations.
Greets.

you can run fox pro 5 with wine, but it does have a few bugs, but it works ok for what's thought in a highschool... That's how I do my (occasional) homework... version 9 doesn't work. I haven't had the chance to try others, and I hope I won't have to after I finish highschool...

For c++, you can use gcc, but it doesn't have an IDE.
For Pascal, you can use fpc, with the IDE fp that comes with it... which is quite similar to borand pascal...
Although, for these, I would recommend using a text editor such as Kate, to write the files, and compile them from the console...

This is how I do it all...
Plus, I think that at the international algorythm contasts (or at least the national one in my country), they use linux and gcc/fpc to compile the programs...

thanks for the replies extremely helpful , I'm hoping we're going to switch to Linux sometime soon .