[plug] Linux in libraries

[Richard Henry]

I'm the second person you spoke to at Murdoch. :-)  As to the first person
saying we would need to stock other software as well if we had linux, I am
relatively sure they actually had nfi what they were talking about.

I personally don't see any problem with having a couple of CDs of each of
the main distributions at least (Debian, RedHat, Mandrake) on our shelves,
and if I had actually thought of it before I probably would have suggested
it. :-)  I'll definitely pass on the idea on Monday.

As to why we don't have it already considering the university has units
which require a home installation, it's more a case of us not being asked by
the departments to stock it.  We just need to know there is/might be a
demand - with stuff like this, as long as we aren't breaking the GPL, I
can't see there being a problem.  Then again, I'm not the person that makes
the actual decision.  :-)

Richard. (Library IT Support, Murdoch Uni)

> On this subject, I just contacted the library at Murdoch 
> university to enquire about Linux (an external unit I'm doing 
> this semester requires it), but they do not keep any 
> distributions for lend. The first person I spoke to seemed to 
> be aware of the GPL and the freeware status of Linux, but 
> said that if they stocked Linux they would have to stock a 
> range of other software as well. I'm not exactly sure what 
> that means. They did seem keen to help and the second person 
> I spoke to even canvassed the possibility of downloading me a 
> copy, if a local mirror could be found, but considering the 
> fact that the institution offers units that require a home 
> installation of Linux, you would think they would maintain at 
> least one distribution on the shelves.