Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Very useful thread. I am looking at a 2 GB pen drive to have the essential ubuntu and internet hosted applications operational. It can be distributed free or very low cost and can be used on PCs, without disturbing, whereever internet is available. May be internet can be made available by roping wireless providers Already in touch with Shantanu. would like to collaborate with people on this thread with similar interests. Thanks Arjun On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 5:55 PM, amachu ama...@ubuntu.com wrote: On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 11:01 +0530, Parthan SR wrote: [2] AFAIR, IndLinux was involved in some similar kind of effort. Gora can spell more light on this Make it a State List, not even Concurrent list. -- Sri Ramadoss M -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Anand Chitipothu wrote: I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. Only way to overcome this problem seems to have a distribution with most of the required software available out-of-the-box. Another way is to create an Addon CD using the package aptoncd Have fun! I looked around to see if there is anybody is doing the same. There were some initiatives like this[1], but looks like there are not under active development. (Please let me know if there is any such work in progress) [1]: https://launchpad.net/~ind-ubuntu So, I started building a new distribution with the following. * language support for all Indian languages (language-support-te, language-support-kn, ...) * all indian fonts (ttf-telugu-fonts, ttf-kannada-fonts etc.) * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) * indic-input-extension to firefox To save space on the CD, I removed foreign language support and some other less important packages. I'm also thinking of creating a companion CD with some packages to help people with no/slow internet connection to add additional packages easily. If you have are interested to participate or have any suggestions/comments, please let me know. Anand -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Hi Anand, On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.comwrote: However i would like to say 1. Don't compare pirated windows with Ubuntu - ethically for a school it sucks and they should know it - buying pirated software to teach kids thats not on. I'm taking about the *real world*. Am sorry but the *real word* does not mean piracy, esp, not in a school where fundamentals have to be straight - if kids are going to grow up learning piracy is ok then i feel sorry for the kids and their generation. This is a deep discussion with other aspects and if needed we could start a separate thread on this - but am interested in knowing what other folks think about schools using pirated software to teach or run their computer on. 2. Do you and the school have a clear reason for ubuntu - if so what is it - make sure everybody understands - changing over to ubuntu will not be pain free there will be some grief - even in the long run , however if your reasons are clear then the grief will be tolerable and even acceptable Many teachers are ready for the switch, only if the installation process is easier. As many people have said - try and get hold of a complete repository - on DVD / extenal HD - and use that in addition to the base install try and get an idea of what software they use and check what the alternatives are on Ubuntu - if you cannot find an alternative google or post to the list or forum you would be able to get a list of alternative software. ram -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 10:51 AM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.comwrote: May I ask where this school is located? Canonical also has partners who can provide support: http://webapps.ubuntu.com/partners/solution/#as Prakruti Badi, Chennekottapalli, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh. It is run by an NGO, Timbaktu Collective (http://timbaktu.org). Its a rural school and they don't have enough funds to buy professional services. They have 5-6 computers and they mainly use computers to: * prepare course material (work sheets, exams papers etc) open office, * type various documents (in English and Telugu) open office * play songs and movies for children vlc, totem, xine, xmms, mplayer (take your pick) * let children get familiar with computers * manage content for http://kottapalli.in (an e-magazine for children in Telugu run by that school) there is enough support for telegu and the fonts used are already unicode , infact one advantage of Ubuntu is that you could have multiple language interface options - people can boot into Ubuntu english, telegu and / or any other language of choice - again unlike Windows where you would need seperate installs for separate langauges Though their scale is small, they represent typical rural scenario (with no people with experience in Linux and no/slow internet connection). we too started off without an internet connection and survived on magazine distro's so its not a real problem - esp if you can get hold of the repos dvd's. ram -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
there is enough support for telegu and the fonts used are already unicode , infact one advantage of Ubuntu is that you could have multiple language interface options - people can boot into Ubuntu english, telegu and / or any other language of choice - again unlike Windows where you would need seperate installs for separate langauges. Mostly true, but there are some issues. People in the windows world have seen lot of beautiful fonts through proprietary software like Anu Fonts etc. and the number of fonts in the Ubuntu are limited. People type in Telugu using Baraha on Windows and there is no phonetic keyboard layout for Telugu in Ubuntu. (You can get one to work using scim-bridge and it is not reliable). Though their scale is small, they represent typical rural scenario (with no people with experience in Linux and no/slow internet connection). we too started off without an internet connection and survived on magazine distro's so its not a real problem - esp if you can get hold of the repos dvd's. Good to hear that. -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Am sorry but the *real word* does not mean piracy, esp, not in a school where fundamentals have to be straight - if kids are going to grow up learning piracy is ok then i feel sorry for the kids and their generation. Sad. But that is the reality. Lets not worry that it is a school. That is the case in any rural scenario. -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:17:50 +0530 Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. Only way to overcome this problem seems to have a distribution with most of the required software available out-of-the-box. I looked around to see if there is anybody is doing the same. There were some initiatives like this[1], but looks like there are not under active development. (Please let me know if there is any such work in progress) [...] * language support for all Indian languages (language-support-te, language-support-kn, ...) * all indian fonts (ttf-telugu-fonts, ttf-kannada-fonts etc.) * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) * indic-input-extension to firefox To save space on the CD, I removed foreign language support and some other less important packages. I'm also thinking of creating a companion CD with some packages to help people with no/slow internet connection to add additional packages easily. If you have are interested to participate or have any suggestions/comments, please let me know. [...] Shantanu at Sarai has been working on such an Indianised distribution for some time, and has made a fair amount of progress on both Ubuntu, and Fedora (though I do not think that his custom spins include .mp3 files. I am also not 100% convinced of the legality of including such codecs in India, though from what I understand of the law, it is not illegal to do so in India. Am copying this message to Shantanu. Please get in touch with him, as shared work would be great, and we would also love to have help on some simple cookbook-style documentation that we are planning. Regards, Gora -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 11:01 +0530, Parthan SR wrote: [2] AFAIR, IndLinux was involved in some similar kind of effort. Gora can spell more light on this Make it a State List, not even Concurrent list. -- Sri Ramadoss M -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 10:17 AM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files Why does a school needs to play mp3 files? * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) What is wrong with using only one font per language? * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. You are correct. Ubuntu is not one stop solution for all use cases. If you want most of the packages to be available on CD then you should use Debian. If you want to use ubuntu in school then you should use edubuntu and try to customize it. Onkar -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
* Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files Why does a school needs to play mp3 files? The teachers like to show some movies and play some songs to the children. * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) What is wrong with using only one font per language? The default Telugu font is not the best available. * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. You are correct. Ubuntu is not one stop solution for all use cases. If you want most of the packages to be available on CD then you should use Debian. I don't like to confuse the users to call what they already knew as Firefox as IceWeasel and so on. If you want to use ubuntu in school then you should use edubuntu and try to customize it. I looked at Edubuntu and find that it is heavier than Ubuntu. I felt that it is more convenient to take Ubuntu and add educational software to it. -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Onkar Shinde onkarshi...@gmail.com wrote: Why does a school needs to play mp3 files? May be some audio lessons are in mp3 format? What is wrong with using only one font per language? I think what he meant was all languages and not all fonts. Regards, Aanjhan -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: I don't like to confuse the users to call what they already knew as Firefox as IceWeasel and so on. This is a school. As long as you tell them that they need to use iceweasel if they want to for browse internet they should be fine with it. I don't really see a problem here. Onkar -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
you can install ubuntu , fonts , application on a single internet enabled computer and create a disk image of the os and copy it into a dvd , now you can install ubuntu easily on any computers . Vengadanathan --- On Mon, 26/1/09, Onkar Shinde onkarshi...@gmail.com wrote: From: Onkar Shinde onkarshi...@gmail.com Subject: Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution To: Ubuntu India Local Community ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com Date: Monday, 26 January, 2009, 7:06 PM On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: I don't like to confuse the users to call what they already knew as Firefox as IceWeasel and so on. This is a school. As long as you tell them that they need to use iceweasel if they want to for browse internet they should be fine with it. I don't really see a problem here. Onkar -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in Bollywood news, movie reviews, film trailers and more! Go to http://in.movies.yahoo.com/ -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
May I ask where this school is located? Canonical also has partners who can provide support: http://webapps.ubuntu.com/partners/solution/#as Prakruti Badi, Chennekottapalli, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh. It is run by an NGO, Timbaktu Collective (http://timbaktu.org). Its a rural school and they don't have enough funds to buy professional services. They have 5-6 computers and they mainly use computers to: * prepare course material (work sheets, exams papers etc) * type various documents (in English and Telugu) * play songs and movies for children * let children get familiar with computers * manage content for http://kottapalli.in (an e-magazine for children in Telugu run by that school) Though their scale is small, they represent typical rural scenario (with no people with experience in Linux and no/slow internet connection). I feel that If I can manage to switch them to Ubuntu without much pain, it can be done elsewhere too. As mentioned earlier, I'd suggest that you try the DVD, and you could ask the partners for any customization and support that the school may need. Thanks for pointing that. I have already started downloading the DVD. -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Hi, --- On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 10:51 AM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: | Prakruti Badi, Chennekottapalli, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh. | It is run by an NGO, Timbaktu Collective (http://timbaktu.org). | | manage content for http://kottapalli.in (an e-magazine for children | in Telugu run by that school) \-- Might also want to look at the e-Swecha project: http://eswecha.swecha.org/ SK -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.com -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
[ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. Only way to overcome this problem seems to have a distribution with most of the required software available out-of-the-box. I looked around to see if there is anybody is doing the same. There were some initiatives like this[1], but looks like there are not under active development. (Please let me know if there is any such work in progress) [1]: https://launchpad.net/~ind-ubuntu So, I started building a new distribution with the following. * language support for all Indian languages (language-support-te, language-support-kn, ...) * all indian fonts (ttf-telugu-fonts, ttf-kannada-fonts etc.) * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) * indic-input-extension to firefox To save space on the CD, I removed foreign language support and some other less important packages. I'm also thinking of creating a companion CD with some packages to help people with no/slow internet connection to add additional packages easily. If you have are interested to participate or have any suggestions/comments, please let me know. Anand -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
Hi, --- On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Anand Chitipothu anandol...@gmail.com wrote: | I can do that, but not the target audience. | I want people who are not used to internet start using ubuntu. \-- Sure. I had suggested that for a system admin who would be there in the premises. --- | It is not practical solution in many cases. It works only if there is | a system-admin to take care of the systems. \-- I was under the assumption that there was one. --- | What if an individual user wants to install ubuntu on his machine | without internet connection? \-- Take it from the local mirror that is setup. The local mirror can be updated in the night with cron job -- automatically. SK -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.com -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
--- | What if an individual user wants to install ubuntu on his machine | without internet connection? \-- Take it from the local mirror that is setup. The local mirror can be updated in the night with cron job -- automatically. Windows popular in local community because they can get windows CD anywhere and get all software they want by asking a vendor. Even if you go to a mandal head quarters and you will be able to get a copy of windows and any software that is commonly required. For ubuntu to be popular at that scale (atleast reach people at that level), it should be possible to use system without internet connection. -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 11:01 AM, Parthan SR parth.technofr...@gmail.com wrote: Anand Chitipothu wrote: So, I started building a new distribution with the following. * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) Am afraid whether it is legal or illegal to package this into a CD. IIRC, they are from non-free portion of the repository which is the reason why they're not included in the Ubuntu CD. Neither do any other distribution distributes them in their CDs. I have read flash plugin license and it allows you to distribute the binaries on a CD. However, it prohibits you from keeping it available online. I haven't found what kind of restrictions are there in distributing bad and ugly gstreamer plugins. Ubuntu website just gives the following warning. In some countries, the use of certain codecs may be prohibited by law. You should verify that you are permitted to use them before installing them. Do you know what kind of restrictions are there on distributing these packages? -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. You can try Linux Mint. It comes with all the software you want pre-installed. (except language support). Only way to overcome this problem seems to have a distribution with most of the required software available out-of-the-box. I looked around to see if there is anybody is doing the same. There were some initiatives like this[1], but looks like there are not under active development. (Please let me know if there is any such work in progress) [1]: https://launchpad.net/~ind-ubuntu So, I started building a new distribution with the following. * language support for all Indian languages (language-support-te, language-support-kn, ...) * all indian fonts (ttf-telugu-fonts, ttf-kannada-fonts etc.) * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) * indic-input-extension to firefox To save space on the CD, I removed foreign language support and some other less important packages. I'm also thinking of creating a companion CD with some packages to help people with no/slow internet connection to add additional packages easily. If you have are interested to participate or have any suggestions/comments, please let me know. Anand Regards, Sameep http://www.thelinuxblog.co.cc -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
Re: [ubuntu-in] Ubuntu India Distribution
I'm a user of Ubuntu and I try to promote it whereever I go. Recently I have been working with a school to covert their systems to Ubuntu and here are some problems that I faced. * Standard Ubuntu Distribution doesn't play mp3 files * Doesn't come with all Indian fonts (there are some by default but more needs to be installed) * Adding packages is painful when there is no/slow internet connection. You can try Linux Mint. It comes with all the software you want pre-installed. (except language support). http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/stable/6/LinuxMint-6.iso Only way to overcome this problem seems to have a distribution with most of the required software available out-of-the-box. I looked around to see if there is anybody is doing the same. There were some initiatives like this[1], but looks like there are not under active development. (Please let me know if there is any such work in progress) I had already done it a while ago. A person had on the ILUG Bom group had requested for a Customized CD with Educational Packages. So, I started building a new distribution with the following. * language support for all Indian languages (language-support-te, language-support-kn, ...) * all indian fonts (ttf-telugu-fonts, ttf-kannada-fonts etc.) * A/V codecs bad and ugly * flash plugin (from adobe) * indic-input-extension to firefox To save space on the CD, I removed foreign language support and some other less important packages. I'm also thinking of creating a companion CD with some packages to help people with no/slow internet connection to add additional packages easily. You can use apton cd for that. If you have are interested to participate or have any suggestions/comments, please let me know. Anand Regards, Sameep http://www.thelinuxblog.co.cc -- ubuntu-in mailing list ubuntu-in@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
