OllieBray.com

BETT 2009 – MissonMaker and Elenox

We have Missonmaker software in the school and some of our classes have started to use it to develop computer games. It’s powerful stuff with a real education focus that can be used to develop literacy and whole host of other skills. I’m particularly keen to explore the use of games design software in modern foreign languages.

MissionMaker lets students rapidly create visually 3D rich worlds for first-person 'Missions' - complete with sets, animated characters, dialogue and music.

Students can:

• select elements from an extensive object library to create a unique game world
• create and animate 3D characters
• import their own music, graphics and video
• set rules for game play.

The Consolarium have completed some good work on using MisionMaker in schools.

At BETT 2009 the guys from Immersive Education (the makers of Missionnmaker, Mediastage, Kar2ouche and other great software) were sharing their stand with Elonex. Now Elonex make some good products as well, including a £100 netbook. The big, personal, problem that I have with Elonex is that I ordered my netbook back in March 2008 with a £10 deposit and I Still haven’t received it yet. This is despite several emails and attempts to get through their switchboard. Anybody else having similar problems?

BETT 2009 – SUMS ONLINE (Maths content for your PSP, Netbook or Mobile Device)

I made a point of popping by the Sums Maths stand at BETT 2009 as they had been kind enough to send me some of their maths software for the PSP. We are thinking of buying some of their software (and PSP’s) for one of the local primary schools.

Sums Maths is a set of fun interactive exercises and games designed to help children with their learning. The activities are built as flash animations and are accessed locally through the devices web browser. This means there is no need to be connected to the Internet and you don’t need to install complicated software.

The nice thing about SUMS Maths is that it is also designed to be used on mobile devices as well as traditional computers and projection facilities. It works will on the PSP, Windows Mobile Phone and Net Books – I’ve been really impressed with how well it works. It also looks like a lot of other people have been impressed with SUMS Maths as they won an NASEN ICT Accessibility Award in 2008.

I’m going to include a more extended post on SUMS Maths when I write my series of posts on the PSP in Education that I will get round to doing sometime in the next few weeks.

Some examples of some on-line SUMS Maths activities can be found here and if you like what you see you can also order a 120 Day demo CD to give you a real chance to make up your mind.

Eee PC 900 - Available from 1st May 2008 in UK

The little Eee PC from Asus has created quite a stir since its launch at the start of the year. I was really impressed with my opportunity to try one out for East Lothian Council earlier in the year. The next Eee PC model (the Eee PC 900 launches in the UK on May 1^st)

It looks like the 900’s most noticeable difference is the bigger display, now at 8.9in, versus the 7in from the original EeePC. It also has a better resolution of 1,024 x 600, up from 800 x 480. Battery life is a healthy 3.5 hours and memory has been boosted from 512MB to 1GB. There are two new storage options available with the 900, a 20GB SSD in the Linux OS version and a 12GB SSD in the new Windows XP model. Both models cost £329.

There is also an updated 7in model with 4GB of flash storage, 512MB of ram and running XP for £249

For more information see the Eee PC website or have a look at this article from Gizmodo.

Elonex £100 Laptop

Following my post on 1to1 getting closer, I've just pre-ordered myself one of the £100 Elonex Machines with a £10 deposit. I think I'll take it with me to the Cascades this summer and after all at only £100 I could hardly afford not to buy one!

It arrives in June and similar to the Eee PC I will write a detailed evaluation of its performance.

1to1 keeps getting closer

2008 is really gearing up to be the year of the cheap laptop. The whole thing looks really promising for us to eventually implement 1to1 computing in the majority of Scottish Schools.

Excluding the XO-1 (previously known as the $100 Laptop or Children's Machine) which was originally designed for use within the Less Economically Developed Work. I think the three big contenders for the UK market in 2008 are likely to be:

The ASUS EeePC

A subnotebook computer designed by ASUS and Intel noted at the time of its introduction for its combination of light weight, Linux-based operating system, solid-state drive and low purchase price. In the UK, the ASUS Eee PC is distributed as the RM Asus Minibook by RM we have been trialling a few in East Lothian. ASUS plans to introduce second-generation Eee PCs in April 2008, featuring Intel’s Merom processors. They reckon the new design will reduce power consumption by 36%.

 

Elonex One

Again this will be a linux-based laptop with 1GB of Flash memory storage, a 7in display, word processing and spreadsheet applications, and the ability to wirelessly access the Web and email. It has internal speakers for playing MP3s and a socket for headphones, as well as USB slots. It weighs in at less than 1KG and is small enough –The battery is good enough for around 3 hours. There is a version with 2GB of Flash storage and Bluetooth planned too, for £120. The One laptop will be formerly unveiled at the Education Show at the NEC on February 28. The Times article talks about an innovative way that children will transport more memory around.

The Cloud Book

Recommended to me by my friend Wang. The Cloudbook is an x86 subnotebook, or Ultra-Mobile PC, developed by Everex using a VIA processor and chipset. Unlike the above two laptops the Cloudbook includes a harddrive. Although its not yet out in the UK, it was released in the US on the 21^st February and retails at $400 (£200).

Interesting  times........

 

Windows on EeePC

I’ve been impressed with the Linux Operating System on the EeePC. I don’t pretend to be an experienced Linux user, but I did like the way you could swap the display options around to provide even more versatility.

I was however interested to see how well the EeePC supported Windows. If we ever use these machines with children in East Lothian it is highly likely that we will stick with the Windows Operating System rather than the Open Source Linux System.

Windows XP seemed to work well on the EeePC and could find no real problems. Open Office also worked well in Windows although I will be interested to see how well it copes with more complicated and larger software packages. One interesting thing that I noticed was that the Windows didn’t quite fit into the screen on the EeePC. But as you moved the cursor down the screen the Windows automatically scrolled down to the START menu. Clever stuff. There is probably a way to fix this – but I’m not sure how.

East Lothian Eee PC Trial (part 2)

Over the last couple of days I’ve spent a few hours exploring the potential of the EeePC. This has been a fairly easy task as I have just used the EeePC at home in the same way that I would use my desktop, it’s also been out and about with me around East Lothian. I’ve used it to surf the net, email, call people, up-load photographs, record audio and type up some of my next SQH assignment.

Here are some of my observations:

Battery Life – this could be a bit of a problem. I managed to get just under 3 hours out the EeePC that has been lent to me. Hopefully as new versions become available the battery life will start to improve.

Memory – Although the EeePC has minimum built in memory. This is not really a problem. My USB stick worked fine and it also recognised a cheap 2GB SD card that I bought in Aldi! I think the key with these machine would be to try and encourage on-line storage.

Keyboard – there is no doubt about it the keyboard is small but you quickly get used to it. The question is would I want to be typing a long document on this machine. Possibly not – but I’m not sure I would be using the EeePC for that. I did wonder if my roll up USB keyboard would work with it but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Has anyone else tested this?

Trackpad – A few people seem to have experienced problems with the trackpad on the EeePC. It was quite difficult to use a first – mainly due to its size. I found it easier to use by adjusting the sensitivity of the trackpad. If I was using the trackpad of a long period of time I would use a USB mouse (as I do with my laptop normally). I plugged in a spare USB mouse and it worked fine.

Sound and Video – Excellent (a lot better than I expected). It has a built in Microphone with pretty good record quality, it recognised my USB microphone no problem and also has a microphone jack. There is a head[phone socket for when you need to work quietly, or if you wanted to connect some external speakers.

Web Browsing – Fine. I checked out all of my regular sites and could view them with no real problem.

Screen Size – small, but I quickly got used to it. I didn’t find it hard on my eyes and the resolution was remarkably clear. However, I’m not sure what the long term effects of prolonged use would be. Remember you can plug the Eee PC into a larger monitor or data projector.

Operating System – Linux is great and easy to navigate, I really liked the short cut icons to Google Docs and iGoogle. But if we use these machines in East Lothian Schools I need to see how the machine performs with XP.

Other USB Devices – It recognised my Digital Camera with no problem.

Questions

Storage / Charging – Does anyone know if there is a storage and charging solution available yet for a class set of these machines. I guess this is something that RM could be working on

What next?

I need to get it in front of some children. But with our wireless network currently down at MGS this is going to be tricky. Maybe its time to get creative!

Eee PC makes it to the big screen

I took this shot as I was getting ready for assembly this morning. The S1 are about to start on a Curriculum for Excellence Project on Musselburgh: Past, Present and Future. The Social Subjects, Art and CDT Department are all involved and the final result will be a showcase of work at the school on the 29^th of February 2008.

All of our associated primary schools are also involved and on the 29th the exhibition will be open to the public between 13.00 – 15.00h. We will be burying a time capsule in the Garden of MGS at 14.00h.

However the main reason for this post is that I used the Eee PC for my assembly this morning. You will be able to see from the photograph that the Linux Desktop is showing on the big screen in the school hall. Even though the Eee PC is small it comes with 3 USB ports (two more than the Macbook Air!), a speaker socket (although I would always prefer to use a USB mic), a microphone socket, an ethernet socket and a VGA socket. The VGA socket is really useful as it allows you to connect the Eee PC to a larger screen or a projector if you needed to. It also comes with a MMC/SD card reader, 0.3 megapixel built in web camera and is fully equipped for wireless connectivity.