New Zealand (South Island)
Seth Kenlon is a UNIX geek, free culture advocate, independent multimedia artist, and D&D nerd. He has worked in the film and computing industry, often at the same time. He is one of the maintainers of the Slackware-based multimedia production project Slackermedia.
Authored Comments
Bob, PiNet doesn't actually know whether you are using wifi or not (a node on a network is a node on the network) but PiNet is warning you that if you have slow wifi performance, then your system performance will be slow. So if you can get good enough wifi, then you could give it a go, in theory.
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If not, then remember that the Pi is a Linux system; it's natively multi-user. Why not give each student a unique login so they can't overwrite one another's stuff? Without identity management, you'd have to create the users once on a master SD card, and then duplicate that card for all the other Pi's (presumably, you'll have to do that any way, though). Use those login credentials as the basis for your shared file backups and version control.
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Also, don't underestimate the kids. A local organisaiton, Makerbox.org.nz, runs lots of classes on Linux computers with a rotating student base. The teachers use one generic login and simply enforce that kids save their work in a folder with their name on it (which usually get "backed up" at the end of each day, by virtue of the fact that a teacher has to copy the directory to a thumbdrive so she can check their work) and it works fine. Nobody deletes any body else's directory.
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You might try posting your questions and thoughts over on http://linuxquestions.org; it's a support forum, so there may be better ideas there. Either way, I do wonder if a "classroom management" article may be in my future....
Yes, Darktable matches Lightroom, easily, but the problem with making a statement like that is it invites step-by-step comparisons of workflow, feature-per-feature checklists, and critique of both sides. If you're looking for a Lightroom "replacement", there is none; Lightroom is Lightroom, and Darktable is Darktable, and DigiKam is DigiKam, and so on. Every software is unique and will require adjustment in workflow and process; as long as you don't expect a facsimile,two applications in the same "league" can be interchangeable, if not the mythical "drop-in" replacements.