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[school-discuss] Debian Jr. readying for release
Hi,
I thought Schoolforge might be interested in how the Debian Jr.
project is going. So here's a copy of my latest news item with
a special thanks to OSEF at the end.
The contact between OSEF and Debian Jr. was established recently,
thanks to the formation of the Schoolforge coalition. This led to
their much appreciated donation to our project. I would like the
Debian Jr. project to continue to forge new relationships with
other members the Schoolforge community to our mutual benefit.
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/News/2002/20020204
It has been a while since I've reported on how Debian Jr. is going.
Yes, we're still here and still forging ahead. A number of
improvements have been made to the Debian Jr. web site to give people
a better idea of what we've accomplished, and where we are headed. So
please have a look: [1]http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr
Here are the important developments over the past year:
* Most of our energy today is focused on ensuring Debian Jr.
packages are all at least in a releasable state for Woody. We help
to deal with bugs against packages we list, or find suitable
replacement packages if the ones we have chosen cannot be made
ready for release.
* We have completed a good base set of 'junior-' meta packages for
Debian Jr. users. The task-junior package is now obsolete,
replaced by the new tasksel entry which is functionally
equivalent. Selecting "Debian Jr." in tasksel will populate your
system with most of the packages in Debian Jr. The rest can be
obtained by individually installing those 'junior-' packages that
are not installed by tasksel. See the junior-doc package for
details. The "quick guide" in this package covers installation.
* The logo page has been updated. It is linked from our home page,
listed above. I honestly cannot say if we're any closer to
deciding on one at this point. (Logo selection is fairly low
priority compared to getting things ready for release.)
* While continuing to look for someone to form a separate debian-edu
group, it has become fairly clear that since nobody has stepped
forward to do this yet, Debian Jr. will need to cover some aspects
of Debian in education. We have therefore taken membership in the
newly formed [2]Schoolforge coalition, a group of "independent
organisations that advocate, use and develop open resources for
primary and secondary education". Over the coming year, we'll be
on the lookout for developers who would like to see Debian used in
the schools and find work for them in Debian Jr.
* The child-oriented menus design discussion, as interesting as it
was at the time, fizzled, producing nothing. I blame first my own
lack of interest in carrying the implementation forward. Second,
it seems the principal work, that of simply packaging free
children's software for Debian, and ensuring it is all release
ready, consumes all of our energies for now.
* [3]OSEF, the Open Source in Education Foundation, has kindly
donated a vintage laptop (K6-233, 810M drive) to the Debian Jr.
project. It is en route to my house as I write this. We are
grateful for the donation which will be immediately put to use as
a Debian Jr. system in my household. It will be kept up-to-date
with sid and will be valuable in identifying strengths and
weaknesses of our packages on such older hardware.
1. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/
2. http://www.schoolforge.net/
3. http://www.osef.org/
Ben Armstrong (Mr. Debian Jr.)
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
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