Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Rationale
3. Technical Overview
4. Project Objectives
4.1 Immediate Objectives
4.2 Long-term Objectives
5. Strategy
6. Output
7. Inputs
8. Sustainability
9. Trainings Conducted So Far
10. In the News
11. Related Resources
12. Location

1. Introduction:
Nepal's first FOSS Training and Research Center is ready for use at Brihaspati Vidyasadan School (BVS) at Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal. This Center has been made possible with the financial help from Help Nepal Network and BVS Alumni and technical help from FOSS Nepal, the community involved in spreading free and open source technologies in Nepal.

All the machines in the FOSS Training and research Center are running Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Desktop edition. This mainly training facility is opened with the objective of training as many as possible about free and open source technologies specially GNU/Linux. Over the next year this facility hopes to attract and train, mainly younger generation especially students, on the use of FOSS technologies in Nepal.

2. Rationale:
In the last couple of years, LTSP and e-library has been implemented in a series of context in our country, Help Nepal Network being a key stakeholder and partner in almost all implementation. With many success stories and cases we should also focus on improving necessary skills and produce empowered human resources to take this momentum further to gratify our vision. Familiarization of LTSP concept, Training for resource persons, volunteers, testing and development of updated methodologies requires us with a structured lab suitable of performing technical and tutorial events throughout the time line. Finding and arranging new venue each time and starting everything from scratch not only hampers overall productivity but also makes it cumbersome. A centralized lab with well equipped infrastructure has been thought to be the best solution for the above stated problem.

3. Technical Overview:
The training and research center is structured to seat 24 participants in one to one configuration for the training. The lab has been setup in classroom style with users facing towards the the white board for a better teaching and learning environment. Each side has two computers in a single table so that while training they can be formed as client and server. Furthermore as the computers are standalone PCs, the lab is connected in bus topology. This will ensure that the lab is optimized not just for LTSP based trainings but also for other medium scale trainings based on FOSS. However, the primary objective of the lab will be for LTSP based training, research and development. As the lab is pretty well equipped for jobs other than training, i.e, grid computing, processor farm usages, etc, the lab can also be used for commercial OSS purposes for medium scale computing.

4. Project Objectives:

4.1 Immediate Objectives:
1.Train volunteers to design, execute and housekeep the LTSP lab.
2.Train the trainers to disseminate the Training required for LTSP establishment and operation.
3.Test new softwares, methods and content beforehand of deployment and produce basic fixes and optimization.
4.Design local content, methods and documents for contextual deployments.
5.Use lab for various FOSS related skill development tasks on leisure.

4.2 Long-term Objectives:
1.Act as a Long Term Support center for LTSP related activities.
2.Perform iterations of immediate objectives over times.
3.Pave a path to national level research and training center for low cost computing infrastructure and Free and Open Source Software related tasks.
4.Provide platform for integration of various computing center deployment over nation and become a hub for need basis social computing framework.

5. Strategy:
Major input of this system will be FOSS enthusiastic volunteers and Technical Graduates from various local colleges, along with stakeholder partners and important focal from user community. Besides that, occasional national and international researchers skilled professionals of the field will also be attracted through various awareness and events.

Training center will primarily focus on Skill development trainings, drills and practical sprints along with refresher and updater trainings for pre-trained mass. But without diverting from its primary focus training center will devote its fair share of time for Research and contextual adaptation of the technologies which address the diversity of each deployment site. The learned outcome will directly be implemented on the deployment sites.

Partners and stakeholders will organize, facilitate and manage each activities on the Training center.

6.Output:

7. Inputs:

8. Sustainability:
Since Training center is an auxiliary unit supporting LTSP cause , its sustainability is conjugal to success of LTSP project, various stakeholders have already deployed successful LTSP based centers in various sites, smooth running of such facility and commitment of such organization to replicate LTSP based centers throughout country rely strongly on the successful completion of training center objective which is to produce skilled resources for LTSP based deployments.

Besides that, the leisure moments of the training center can be utilized to disseminate the FOSS based training and different Open source certification and Skill development training for nominal fees to sustain the center, furthermore even LTSP based training can be provided to different organization looking forward to join hand in greater LTSP deployment goal.

9. Trainings Conducted So Far:
LTSP ToT for IOEians
2nd LTSP Training of Trainers

10. In the News:
LXer
IOSN

11. Related Resources:
Jitendra's blog on 2nd LTSP ToT
2nd LTSP ToT Photos

12. Location:
The school, where the Training Center is hosted, is located inside the Bal Mandir compound at Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal. The school lies in the heart of Kathmandu city and is within walking distance from most major centers of Kathmandu including New Road, Putalisadak, Baneshwor, Maiti Devi, Dillibazaar.