MX Linux Forum

Personally I think digital textbooks are a ripoff.
Especially for college.
Give them a textbook that they can choose to keep for future reference.

Considering the prices of textbooks these days, and remembering how many of my textbooks I kept, I would have preferred digital.

On the other hand, I do love the feel of books and love being able to read without electricity.

Easily searchable is an advantage of digital and with the Net almost nay subject can be researched forever.

Kids are no longer able to write cursive writing. Soon they will not be able to navigate a print book to do research.

Search engines are so important, and will continue to be so as kids look to what turns up in an Internet search to define their beliefs and answers to serious questions.

Tech can be great, or it can be poison, depending upon both how its used and who controls it.

Small kids were also being forced to carry large loads of books, almost too much to carry in some cases. You can fit thousands of books onto a tablet.

I did find some kid's school-issued Acer Chromebook left out overnight again on the coyote walk through the high school last night; that's the third one in a couple years. I turned it in like the others.

Richard wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:03 pm On the other hand, I do love the feel of books and love being able to read without electricity.

I do too, but it still takes a little for my eyes to adjust to the kerosene lamp.

@JeffA,
just have to read during daylight hours or by candlelight.
I used to have a kerosene lamp. :)

But books are available even when batteries are discharged.
(is probably what I should have said. :)

I can't spend too much time in front of a screen anyway. In about 4th grade they found that I could read just fine under natural light, but in the classroom, under those really noisy (and I mean freaking LOUD - yet I was the only kid in school who found it deafeningly loud) fluorescent lights I couldn't. Printing my lessons on colored paper helped out a little. Now, though not nearly as maddeningly loud as fluorescent lights, I find similar distracting "neural noise" from even the best screens. I need books, not screens, and natural light. The more things go on screens instead of paper, the harder it is for me. By law, though, my school must accommodate "special needs," so even when everyone else gets the digital textbooks, I get the old-fashioned, backpack-ripping hard copy.

Richard wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 8:03 pm Considering the prices of textbooks these days, and remembering how many of my textbooks I kept, I would have preferred digital.

On the other hand, I do love the feel of books and love being able to read without electricity.

I did not remember if you live in Colombia or Venezuela. Now I understand more clearly. Hope you're safe wherever you are and have enough kerosene for the days to come.

@cyrilus31, Thanks.
Lights on again.
Making up for lost time.
Charging everything possible.

Refilling water cistern.
Transfers to pay teachers, self.
"Modern" life is so dependent on electricity.
Reading the mail...

Richard.
I saw that the power had been restored, there are quite a few from your country downloading antiX via Torrents. And they are not all slow, think a user from US may hold
the record at present. He/she was there for hours with an upload from here less than 50 Bits/sec. Takes a while to collect a few gigs that way, even with many of us being the source.

I started the torrent for 17.4.1_386-base about 0130 (-4 UTC) but it was running pretty slow for me.
Tried the direct download and got it down in about 1.5 hours.

And that's using Cellular data plan via Hotspot. Surprised me. :)
Funny thing is that Cable internet is about 20 times more expensive.
So, I'm learning to love the Data Plan. Have to pay a bit extra for excess
but still affordable.

antiX torrents seem to be improving but MX torrents are my main download option.

Stevo wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 10:10 pm Small kids were also being forced to carry large loads of books, almost too much to carry in some cases. You can fit thousands of books onto a tablet.

I did find some kid's school-issued Acer Chromebook left out overnight again on the coyote walk through the high school last night; that's the third one in a couple years. I turned it in like the others.

Very true. When my daughter was in grade school she had a backpack with wheels on it so she could drag it around behind her (looked like a luggage carrier). Those textbooks were made stupid big and heavy.

Simples -school books to stay at school - ban homework

Books smell, are the real thing, you really read them, ebooks one tends to just "scan"...
Carrying books they train muscles, where else you get this chance nowadays, the only thing people carry nowadays are mobile phones... All the deliveries, shopping using trolley, cars, sitting in front of PC in the office, on the sofa in front of TV and ... MX at home !?

anticapitalista wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:17 am Simples -school books to stay at school - ban homework

Yeah, I used to wonder: "If they have this much homework--what are they doing all day at school? What are they teaching the kids while they are there if they have to learn it all at home?"

ebooks one tends to just "scan"..

.
Actually I read books "cover to cover" on my Kindle.

Carrying books they train muscles, where else you get this chance nowadays

I carry a golf bag.

I'm not interested in books' smell, I'm actually very happy with my Kindle, especially that I can read in the dark. Actually if I am asked to choose I would always pick a digital format over a paper book. I don't plan to live anywhere were I would not have access to electricity for a couple of hours once every 2 weeks.

A sign of things to come? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367

It's a pleasure to read a real book at the end of the day and give my eyes a deserved rest

Gordon Cooper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:11 pm A sign of things to come? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367

Like an on-line library, except you have to pay.

*sigh* bring back the good ol' days of free school books, free or subsidized school meals, free higher education...

anticapitalista wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:33 am

Gordon Cooper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:11 pm A sign of things to come? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367

Like an on-line library, except you have to pay.

*sigh* bring back the good ol' days of free school books, free or subsidized school meals, free higher education...

You know you can't generalise in every country and it depends on school grade. By the way what grade do you teach?

Gordon Cooper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:11 pm A sign of things to come? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367

That's why I'm careful about buying ebooks. I like to buy those free of DRM, and generally only buy ebooks I know I'll re-read. Otherwise I can get them for free through Overdrive. You never really own anything you buy digitally. You buy a 'license' which can be revoked at any time.

cyrilus31 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:03 am

anticapitalista wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:33 am

Gordon Cooper wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:11 pm A sign of things to come? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367

Like an on-line library, except you have to pay.

*sigh* bring back the good ol' days of free school books, free or subsidized school meals, free higher education...

You know you can't generalise in every country and it depends on school grade. By the way what grade do you teach?

I teach University students (during the summer in the UK), and I used to teach 17-18 year old Greek students who wanted to study in the UK.

In our house, all of the textbooks all stay at home-- but then, so do the kids. :)

The thing about ebooks is in that BBC article up there-- unless you download them from the Gutenberg Project, you don't actually own them. They belong to Amazon/MS/B&N/whomever and they can be erased anytime. It's like a library you pay for.

That's why there are verrrrrrry few ebooks in the house, and some of those get printed for the kids.

I could just see what would happen if Amazon erased the ebooks people paid to "rent'. They would be shooting themselves in the foot.

richb wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 1:24 pm I could just see what would happen if Amazon erased the ebooks people paid to "rent'. They would be shooting themselves in the foot.

They did that once with 1984 :(
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/tech ... mazon.html

KBD wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:08 pm

richb wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 1:24 pm I could just see what would happen if Amazon erased the ebooks people paid to "rent'. They would be shooting themselves in the foot.

They did that once with 1984 :(
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/tech ... mazon.html

For cause.

books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them,

“When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.

I only read the free ebooks available from the Gutenberg site which I download to my pc then transfer to Kindle by wire.

https://www.gutenberg.org/

... Myopia is progressing all over the world, and mainly among young people and mostly if digital textbooks are used at school (and home).

turtlebay777 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:29 pm I only read the free ebooks available from the Gutenberg site which I download to my pc then transfer to Kindle by wire.

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Project gutenberg is great. You can also often find the free versions in the Kindle store by adding the word 'free' to the title search. If you read on more than one Amazon device they will sync across devices if you get them in the Kindle store.
I have 2 Fire tablets, 2 Alexa devices, and 2 Fire Sticks with Alexa, so syncing comes in nice when I want to use text-to-speech.

KBD wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:59 pm

turtlebay777 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:29 pm I only read the free ebooks available from the Gutenberg site which I download to my pc then transfer to Kindle by wire.

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Project gutenberg is great. You can also often find the free versions in the Kindle store by adding the word 'free' to the title search. If you read on more than one Amazon device they will sync across devices if you get them in the Kindle store.
I have 2 Fire tablets, 2 Alexa devices, and 2 Fire Sticks with Alexa, so syncing comes in nice when I want to use text-to-speech.

Agreed. In addition to project Gutenberg, I find It's also worth checking the internet archive for epub, pdf, kindle etc., downloads > https://archive.org

oops wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:31 pm ... Myopia is progressing all over the world, and mainly among young people and mostly if digital textbooks are used at school (and home).

science-et-vie.com : young people are less exposed to sunlight especially in Asia where more than 80% are affected by Myopia

cyrilus31 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:28 am

oops wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:31 pm ... Myopia is progressing all over the world, and mainly among young people and mostly if digital textbooks are used at school (and home).

science-et-vie.com : young people are less exposed to sunlight especially in Asia where more than 80% are affected by Myopia

Yes, good article.
An other in french:
https://www.gatinel.com/recherche-forma ... la-myopie/