Matt Weir / The Collegian
For several years, students could rent a laptop for only four hours. But because of a no-holds-barred licensing agreement from Linux, units can now be rented for almost a month.
“We have always wanted to extend the laptop rental hours,” said Associate Dean of Library Services, David Tyckoson. “Now, because of the Linux system, we can rent them out to students for up to twenty-eight days.”
Linux, which has an open-ended lease agreement with Fresno State, made it possible for the library to enact the extended laptop rental hours. Microsoft, which also has a licensing agreement with the school, had prevented the laptop rental program from renting out individual laptops for more than four hours at a time.
“We were able to use old faculty laptops that we acquired from Dell, but Dell didn’t want those computers back,” said Tyckoson. “Our industrial technology staff came up with the brilliant idea to use Linux on the laptops, since we would then be able to rent out more laptops longer.”
In addition to the new licensing agreement between Fresno State and Linux, the library has a collection of new Macintosh laptops, most of which haven’t been checked out yet.
“Our laptops for rent were checked out over 100,000 times last year,” said Tyckoson. “The program has been a huge success, just telling by the numbers and what students tell us.”
The rest of the laptops are Dell computers, of which there are 200. There are 50 laptops with Linux on them, which are the ones that students are allowed to check out for up to 28 days.
“We have enough to meet student demand,” said Tyckoson.
Matt Weir / The Collegian
The laptop lending program started in 1999 with only 25 laptops, all of which had to be used inside the library since the computers couldn’t connect to the network outside the building.
“The laptop lending program is super-convenient, since it allows students to rent a laptop, even if they have one at home,” said Lauryn Pitts, a student employee at the library. “They don’t have to bring one to school all the time.”