A Distro for Indian Schools

[mehulved]

Arch is fine for demo but for final implementation, I have my reservations.
And don't forget to demo localisation, install all the required indic fonts, get hold of local language inscript keyboard map so you can demo typing in local language, you can use xkb or scim for that. You can localise the whole desktop if you like.
Focus on educational tools and games, you can search kde-edu for that, also edubuntu.

 

[infra_red_dude]

LXDE ? Which distro are you talking about ? PUDLinux ?

Yep.. *pud-linux.sourceforge.net/index.en.html#

PUD Linux = Latest Ubuntu - Bloat crap + LXDE + SquashFS + LZM compression + Insane tweaks to make it snappy.

The donwload size is 256MB.

Few screenshots : *pud-linux.sourceforge.net/screenshot/pud-lxde-2.jpg

*pud-linux.sourceforge.net/screenshot/pud-hardy-s.jpg

(zomg.. its only now I realize that PUD people used Mac4Lin for this screenshot )

You also haf a tool to build your own distro.

 

[FilledVoid]

Arch is fine for demo but for final implementation, I have my reservations.

I would be against it just because of one thing. If something goes wrong you will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to fix it. Second of all you aren't there only to convince the students but the Staff and management also. Ease of Use , Configuration and Maintenance are huge pluses.

Everything depends on how far you want to go. You could install Virtualbox and even show that you can run Windows on it if needed , Wine and other must use MS Apps. Also don't forget to package a cool dvd like the Matrix or some songs. you basically want to show that you could use Linux boxes for regular use if you wanted to.

And I don't mean to be funny. Its just that I keep getting pwned by Xfce whenever I use it.

Maybe it would help if you pointed to your actual problem. I don't see any problem with XFCE as is.

 

[4T7]

U don't need wine for Borland TC++ v3 as it runs fine on Dosbox and I've tested it myself on PCBSD btw I like the concept goodluck!

 

[MetalheadGautham]

Thanks guys. Today I am installing arch in a HDD and customising it. Tomorrow I will transfer it to my presentation system and see how phase one goes. Wish me luck.

edit: I FOUND IT

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?p=903435#post903435

 

[ray|raven]

There's a zenwalk fork called ZenEdu Live.
*www.zenwalk.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=50

Its meant for pretty much what you have in mind.
Try it out , maybe you can customize it/ fork it to meet your demands.

 

[k6153r]

Geany is a gr8 IDE.

BTW, I'm 17 and don't think that age group (11-18 ) are so dumb.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

There's a zenwalk fork called ZenEdu Live.
*www.zenwalk.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=50

Its meant for pretty much what you have in mind.
Try it out , maybe you can customize it/ fork it to meet your demands.

Thanks but no thanks. For my current project, in stage #1, ubuntu was the distro I used since Arch failed to install in an extra partition at school. There was an error installing grub, but till then, everything was absolutely giving me no trouble. If I find a solution for it, I will go with arch, else I am sticking with a customised ubuntu.

So I need help for the following:

1. Suggest me a good appearence set, with theme, wallpaper, icons, gdm theme, splash screen, boot splash, etc from gnome-look.org

Geany is a gr8 IDE.

BTW, I'm 17 and don't think that age group (11-18 ) are so dumb.

Geany ? Please give me some more details. And I am introducing the ease with which I can type a program in nano and save it then use g++ to compile it. But I doubt it will do wonders since nano lacks c++ syntax hilighting. Is this Geany a commandline app ?

 

[ray|raven]

^Geany is a Gtk+ IDE.Its very lightweight.

And if you decide to go with a customized ubuntu , try freezy linux.
They have a custom ubuntu with nice look-n-feel and a lot of apps we generally use.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

^Geany is a Gtk+ IDE.Its very lightweight.

And if you decide to go with a customized ubuntu , try freezy linux.
They have a custom ubuntu with nice look-n-feel and a lot of apps we generally use.

and do you know of any way by which I can make Xfce look like Gnome ? People seem to really like gnome's ease of use. I think Xfce menu is a bit cluttered with everything crammed into one single menu. I want to make it look organised like Gnome Menu. Any advice ?

 

[ray|raven]

^Its damn easy to edit Xfce menu.
Goto Settings>Menu Editor and edit it as per your needs.

Each Xfce Menu applet can point to a different menu , Combine that with the Places applet and you can make a gnome-style menu , with the
Applications-Places-System.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

^Its damn easy to edit Xfce menu.
Goto Settings>Menu Editor and edit it as per your needs.

Each Xfce Menu applet can point to a different menu , Combine that with the Places applet and you can make a gnome-style menu , with the
Applications-Places-System.

Thanks. I am going to try this and see how good xfce becomes.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

UPDATE:, phase one rehersal and preparation went on very well.

We installed ubuntu first onto a 40 GB HDD, for which I had to shout instructions over the IRC to my friend, who had the HDD, and I got lots of help from QwertyM in automating the running of a few commands without interruptions via a shell script.

But at school, the install screwed up; we had forgotton to change the xorg resolution. Lots more screwings and fixations and workarounds later, including the much feared IDE jumper to small syndrome, when the distro finally started running, it was damn too slow. I couldn't pin-point the source of the problem though I looked for it everywhere, and double checked every setting. Finally I decided to transfer the contents of /var/cache/apt in the 40GB HDD to the same folder of the already existing ubuntu install. That install was much faster, even with full desktop effects enabled. Finally, after lots of waiting, hanging and installing, the system was patched up and given a good theming by us. Now hopefully nothing will go wrong tomorrow and Gnome on a brand new dist-upgraded ubuntu won't crash on a system with 256MB RAM and Pentium D 3.06GHz with HT technology. (I know the ram is too little, but our management sucks. We can do nothing about it.)

Wish me luck.

 

[ray|raven]

Disable dri , you wont be running compiz or games right?
It'll free RAM for use by apps.

Change

Load "dri"

to

Disable "dri"

in xorg.conf

 

[MetalheadGautham]

Funny problem: Round #1 of the competition is suddenly postponed for the next week, so its not on today. Guess I need to change the password to something other than just "password", so that nobody gains access to that system.

 

[Dark Star]

I installed edubuntu and Mandriva in my Mom's and my school all ran perfectly and the install was on more than 50 computers

 

[MetalheadGautham]

I installed edubuntu and Mandriva in my Mom's and my school all ran perfectly and the install was on more than 50 computers

You must be in a school with a decent management. Mine has idiots at the top level. You can't expect them to organise the systems properly and configure them using REAL brains.

 

[MetalheadGautham]

UPDATE: I installed xfce4. I started messing with it, and finally tweaked it to resemble a mac on the insistance of the resident macboy in our school. Since he installed gnome-do, the system became sluggish. I made a dock for Xfce, using the built in dock widgets and autohide feature for a pannel and the shrink feature of a pannel. Then we put in transparency effects using Xfce-Composite. Finally it looked heavier than gnome. I got rid of everything and made a simple uni-taskbar version, with only ONE menu instead of two. I replaced the wallpaper with a simplistic plain colour which still looked good. Finally I got Ubuntu to work at warp high speeds and I started congratulating myself.

BUT

Suddenly, when I accessed the user manager to create new users, the next time I started the system every user disappered. Root got deleted. Then GDM got deleted. Both these users are no more. What do I do now ? I am not able to do administrative tasks.

 

[nileshgr]

@Metal,

I being on a P3 500 Mhz 384 MB SD RAM (133 Mhz) am running Fedora 9 with GUI.... and you say your specs are low ?? lol man...

On your spec you could run Fedora or Ubuntu! Kerala schools run modified-Ubuntu (src:newspaper).

 

[Dark Star]

^^Yea . .Gnome is must for newbies.. Why are you installing XFCE . they wioll remove it right away.. Student in Moms college are hapy with Mandriva and teachers too like ooo