Hi Ron,
    Thanks for your reply.
RM-->I was suggesting here that working with the CLI (command line
RM-->interface) is probably pointless since so much is now done
RM-->using a GUI... The GUI also helps prevent "accidental" damage
RM-->being done which is all too easy using CLI...
I understand. It's the functionality of the machines that determine the
kind of interface. In my school we seem to be playing a catchup game
that we will never really win because so many of our machines are
donated by people who are upgrading to better systems. It's a good deal
for them because they get better than salvage in the tax write off
and a good deal for the school because we get working computers that
are good to learn on. Given this, school budgets, and the rapid advance
of the systems themselves I think that it's best to make do with
whatever I can get my hands on. Dealing with obsolete systems is also
something we have to learn to deal with ( I'm still in mourning for the
crash last month of my trusty old 8088)
RM-->I went on to suggest that it may be overkill to hit all the
RM-->GUIs around, as they function in much the same fashion...
That makes perfect sence, I'll try to do that as much as I can given the
nature of the stuff.
RM-->BA>Yup, old donated 286s and 8088s to learn on.
RM-->This pretty much kills any ideas of heavy-duty graphics..
RM-->Might make desktop publishing a difficult task as well.
RM-->Just not enough horsepower!  Also limits you to Windows 3.1,
RM-->as there isn't enough horsepower for Win95, OS/2 (except for
RM-->the 1.3 version), NT, UNIX, etc...
It's funny how thing have changed this last month , a parent had a
meeting with the principal and he (the parent) will build some pentiums for 
us 
get to help) I think we'll be running windows/95 or windows/nt they'll
be routed through a Frame Relay Devise for use on the internet I think
there will be four of them. So there will be some state of the art, the
problem is student acess.
RM-->BA>Wonderful idea. This brings up another point though,programing.
RM-->BA>The utility of batching in dos is self evident, but what about other
RM-->BA>kinds of programing.....say in qbasic, or, logo?
RM-->Serious batch files are not all that self-evident!  They can
RM-->get quite involved!  Imnsho, programming is useless unless
I was thinking of the easy batch (list) of commands. something like
begin.bat
   a:
   dir/w
   copy a:*.* c:\works\data\stu-1
   c:
   cd c:\works
   works
   copy c:\works\data\stu-1\*.* A:
   dir/w a:
   c:
   echo  You got it dude!!!
        If they learn to write them it would demonstrate an
        understanding of basic dos commands and it empowers students to
        be able to do all that with 5 keystrokes.( at least I'd hope it
        empowers them, it did me when I learned how to do it.)
RM-->it is structured, and if you're going to teach structured
RM-->programming, you have a year's work right there!    ;-)
hmmm This does make sence, but I'm not sure I agree, I guess because
even though it's programing, it's very simple (keeping it simple for the
6th grade) to learn once you have an understanding of basic dos
 commands. I wouldn't go too deeply yet. Just enough to be useful at
 what I'll be asking of them and what they might be wanting to do. I
 can't do a whole year of just programming .
RM-->This is the gist of what I wrote; you have enough in mind to
RM-->keep them occupied through high school!
  I hope they refine these skills even beyond that.
RM-->For what it's worth, here're my suggestions.... You want the
RM-->kids to learn, but also to continue to view the computer as
RM-->"fun"...  If you get tied up in things that are abstract,
RM-->you're going to lose them.... Let them "play" with a GUI..
RM-->Any formatting, etc, let them do from the GUI.
     Because of the nature of the machines they'll be learning on and
     the expanse of technology encompassed I'll need to expose them to
     command line interfaces.
RM--> Forget
RM-->programming; if one out of 200 goes anywhere with programming
RM-->it'll be a miracle...
    That's one vote for no programming for the 6th grade
RM-->Communications is big; learning to find
RM-->people to talk to, and from whom to find information will be
RM-->both fun and useful down the line (the emphasis here is on
RM-->the down the line aspect, imo; I don't think looking for some
RM-->immediate gain is practical or adviseable)....
      Why not now? It seems most useful when it's used for a real
      purpose to me.
RM-->Wordprocessing
RM-->is big; they're going to need it, and it's easy enough to get
RM-->them to write a report on what they did on a given day...
    The writing process will never be the same. 
 RM-->The average kid is not going to use a spreadsheet for
RM-->anything that is remotely fun, so, sans fun, not worth doing
RM-->at this point...
 The fun will come as they use the thing, in the creation of
 charts, graphs ect, from data they collect over projects of inquiry
 they are assigned or generate (usually a combination of the two)
RM-->As to using the Internet as an encyclopedia
RM-->, maybe some kind of a scavenger hunt; awards to those
RM-->who find the most "stuff" online; or maybe looking for
RM-->updated drivers for hardware or software (let them "help"
RM-->you get things up and running well)?  Have them hunt around
RM-->and find the "neatest" stuff they can (one of my current
RM-->"neat" spots is www.id4.com - Promotional stuff for the new
RM-->film: INDEPENDENCE DAY)....
        I'll check it out, thanks. The scavenger hunt is a good idea.
        I'm not sure about having them help me set things up though,
        perhaps in later years I'll feel diferently , but for this year,
        I'll want to do all that.
Thanks again
Peace
Bob
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