[seul-edu] State of Debian Jr.

[Ben Armstrong <synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca>]

On Thu, Dec 28, 2000 at 09:46:26AM -0700, Harry McGregor wrote:
> I have not been following Debian Jr. as closely as I should, as it is an
> effort I am quite intersted in.

Well, as a reminder, we are at: http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr

There is some discussion on the mailing list currently about whether there
needs to be a separate debian-edu group devoted to education.  It seems a
number of educators are on the list and are interested in making use of
Debian Jr. in their own educational settings.

Here's a brief summary of where Debian Jr. is today:

- Discussion/design of menus has drawn to a close and we are readying
  ourselves to start making child-oriented menus.

- A first attempt at task-jr was created, but it is very minimal.  It
  will *not* populate your system with children's software.  It is just
  a base.  (In fact, I'm considering renaming it task-jr-base to clear
  up this confusion.)  More will go in task-jr as we write it.  See
  http://people.debian.org/~synrg

- Meta packages are planned (like task- packages, but don't appear in
  tasksel when you do a base Debian install) which will assist with easy
  installation of subsets of everything on our "Packaged" list.

- The "Packaged" list continues to be filled out.  Some thought has gone
  into choosing categories that make sense for children.  Our menu
  system is expected to mirror the structure of this list.  See
  http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/packaged

- The logo selection process is dormant.  We are waiting on a submission
  from Raśl Silva, the creator of the familiar Debian swirl logo.  See
  http://people.debian.org/~darke for current submissions.

- The Debian Jr. Install HOWTO document is in progress.  A draft is
  expected shortly.  With so little of Debian Jr. automated at this point,
  this document will simply amount to a ticklist of concerns to address at
  this point, with pointers to other resources as needed.  This will
  change over time as Debian Jr. evolves from a "bunch of packages for
  children" into a more coherent, integrated entity.

- Discussion is underway on whether a debian-edu group is needed as
  distinct from Debian Jr., as mentioned above.

- Some discussion has happened around what the minimum requirements are
  for Debian Jr.  Three basic minimum systems were proposed.  This needs
  to become a page on the website and eventually will be incorporated into
  install docs.

Since Debian "Woody"'s release is generally anticipated to occur sometime
in the coming year, my New Year's resolution to release Debian Jr. in 2001
may seem wishy-washy.  We are really quite at the mercy of the Woody
release schedule for the release of Debian Jr.  Nevertheless, with the new
"testing" distribution, many people will be able to try out what we have
done so far without resorting to installing "unstable" and therefore have
quite usable systems for their children before the year 2001 is over,
regardless of Woody's actual release date.

We are always looking for people to help contribute.  There is plenty of
work to do, and several jobs do not require the contributor to have Debian
maintainer status.

Ben
-- 
    nSLUG       http://www.nslug.ns.ca      synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
    Debian      http://www.debian.org       synrg@debian.org
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