On Thu, 24 Feb 2000, Roger R Dingledine wrote:
> I've been asking various groups for a few months now if they could grab
> the seul-edu applications and build rpms and debs out of them.
>
> It suddenly occurred to me that lately we've had two distributions (Mandrake
> and Debian) coming to us thinking that linux in education is wonderful and
> is there anything they can do to help.
>
> We've got a bunch of applications on our projects page and elsewhere. Many
> of them are just tarballs. I bet they'd get a lot more use (and thus a lot
> more testers -> more feedback -> faster development) if there were pretty
> packages available for the popular distribs out there.
>
> Any interest, now that we've got a few distribs watching this list?
While Debian-Jr is about making Debian for children, not necessarily
education, there is sufficient overlap so that we are definitely
interested.
We're in the process of trying to identify, first, what we have that
is suitable for children, and then what there is "out there" that is
suitable for children, so we can package it.
To kick off this effort, I have looked at the packages listed under
http://www.seul.org/edu/software.html
I have checked the Debian status of each package, listing the Location on
http://www.debian.org/ if it is packaged, and adding any comments of my
own. I have also checked the "not packaged" packages against the WNPP
(Work-Needing and Prospective Packages) list and added to the Comments if
it is listed under the "Packages that someone is working on" section:
http://www.debian.org/doc/prospective-packages.html
However, given the length of time most packages have been on this list,
appearance of a package on the list doesn't necessarily mean someone is
*actually* working on it ;) Perhaps an email to the maintainer who
announced their ITP (Intent to Package) would spur them into action (or at
least give someone else a chance to package it).
I encourage others to add their own comments, and especially members of
Debian-Jr to consider whether they might adopt these packages and announce
a formal ITP on debian-devel.
First, the console apps:
Package Debian Status Location/Notes
------- ------------- --------------
01: addpsx not packaged
02: dvorak7min packaged /Packages/frozen/games/dvorak7min.html
03: FoSaT not packaged
04: Glosan not packaged
05: learn not packaged non-free, cannot appear in Debian main
06: lrnkana.pl not packaged
07: Maxima not packaged
08: multpsx not packaged
09: nolan not packaged
10: nut not packaged
11: quiz not packaged there is a program called 'quiz' in
the bsdgames package, but I don't
think that's the same thing
12: Simpla not packaged
13: SVT not packaged
14: typespeed packaged /Packages/frozen/games/typespeed.html
15: typist packaged /Packages/frozen/games/typist.html
16: uspell not packaged
Then, the X apps:
Package Debian Status Location/Notes
------- ------------- --------------
01: Dr Geo packaged /Packages/frozen/math/drgeo.html
02: English - Slovak dictionary
not packaged
03: First_math not packaged
04: Free Physics not packaged
05: GQuiz not packaged
06: GRASS not packaged listed in WNPP, but no action on
it for a year and a half!
Federico Di Gregorio ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(521 Days in Creation)
07: JTypist not packaged I'm the 'typist' maintainer, and
this is on my personal todo list
although I haven't announced a
formal ITP (Intent to package)
08: Kibble not packaged
09: KMol not packaged
10: Learning Logic not packaged license unspecified
11: LingoTeach not packaged
12: Lingvisto not packaged
13: Linux Letters and Numbers
packaged /Packages/unstable/games/lletters.html
14: MuPAD not packaged non-free license (even for free trial)
so cannot go in Debian main.
Listed in WNPP but no action on it
for nearly 3 years! Christian Meder
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
(997 Days in Creation)
15: NetMath not packaged
16: Nightfall not packaged
17: PingoS-Tipptrainer
not packaged
18: QVocab not packaged
19: Skill Literature
not packaged
20: Solfege not packaged In WNPP, but not as an ITP (i.e.
nobody has volunteered to package it)
Appears in section "Programs that
aren't available yet in Debian"
but there has been an expressed
interest to include them.
21: xletters not packaged
22: xplanets not packaged Debian does have ssystem, though,
which is a pretty slick solar
system simulator. I'm surprised
it's not listed here. (It's on
Freshmeat, but categorized as
"X11/Scientific Applications".
Can Freshmeat enter an app into
multiple categories?)
Finally, I have reviewed the list of SEUL/edu projects at:
http://www.seul.org/edu/projects.html
Just curious ... why aren't these also listed at Slashdot?
I'll make a couple of general observations about this listing. First,
it would be nice if the license were listed directly on this page.
Second, some of these are for school administrators, which puts them
outside of Debian-Jr's mandate.
Anyway, here's the status:
Package Debian Status Location/Notes
------- ------------- --------------
AUC not packaged
adhoc not packaged
WWW Cell Biology Course
not packaged license seems to restrict
for-profit use, which makes this
non-free & not eligible for Debian
main
Dr Geo (listed above)
EduML not packaged
Educational HOWTOs
nothing to package yet?
Experimental Math
not packaged SEUL/edu status:
"development stalled; running but
not useful"
GPeriodic packaged /Packages/frozen/misc/gperiodic.html
Debian's version looks rather
old. Current is 1.2.6, but Debian
only has 1.1.1
K12Admin not packaged
KTeacher not packaged due to ongoing KDE license issues,
Debian may not be able to include
this (and it's for teachers, not
for children, so not likely to
interest Debian-Jr anyway)
LUC not packaged depends on a lot of non-free
packages, so it's unlikely Debian
will ever be interested
LearnLoop not packaged
LingoTeach (listed above)
The Open Book Project
not packaged we don't package Project Gutenberg
either. it's just too big, and
it's easier to just direct people
to Gutenberg itself and download
the texts from there.
ProMath not packaged anything to package yet? couldn't
find it on the web page
QZB not packaged still in design, nothing to
package yet
Roster not packaged
So there's my start at it. I'll do the same with kidsgames shortly, and
also linuxforkids, and post these lists to the Debian-Jr page as I have
time to format them.
It would be nice if there were a more detailed system for listing packages
than Freshmeat - some place where a "Distribution status" for each distro
could be listed with the following fields (per distro):
- Status: "packaged", "not packaged", "in progress"
- Comments: comments from the distro as to status (could include link
to work-in-progress or discussion in public archive)
- Version: version(s) available for this distro
- Download: link to page(s) at distro web site where package(s) can be
downloaded
I'd like this sort of listing to be broader than just SEUL/edu listings
and encompass also "edutainment" or games & other packages suitable for
kids. The question is, since such an effort would not only crossover
multiple projects (SEUL/edu, kidsgames, linuxforkids) but also multiple
distros (Debian-Jr, Mandrake, etc.) I'm not sure where it should be
hosted, or who would spearhead such an effort. Perhaps Freshmeat itself
would consider extending their database with such "distro status" fields
to help developers and users alike to find versions for their particular
distro. Or perhaps not -- they may see this as being the task of the
individual distros. If someone wants a package for their distro, they
will likely get the most up-to-date info from their own distro. The only
thing that they're missing is the comments of developers/users asking for
an "in progress" or "under consideration" package. But it might be argued
that there is little value in such comments until something is actually
produced. Well, I do ramble on. I guess what I'm looking for is just
something a bit more organized than an emailed text-only list. It need
not be as grandiose a plan as I have suggested -- simply something to save
the Debian-Jr developers some time & help keep things organized, and at
the same time might also be useful to other distros/projects.
Ben
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Debian http://www.debian.org [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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