Last year at this time I downloaded a full copy of SUSE Linux to see how easy it would be to get it running. This year I decided to try the educational version, of Ubuntu. It’s called Edubuntu.
What a difference a year makes.
Last year the installation worked just fine. It was the same this time. I downloaded the ISO, burned a CD and booted from the CD. Edubuntu can now run from the CD without an install. That’s handy. I plan on using the OS a little bit so I did a full install.
After answering a couple of username/password questions, I was finished. When everything was finished, it kicked out the CD and told me to hit Enter to reboot.
When the OS booted I logged in and tried the acid test. I connected to my home server and grabbed some MP3 files. Last year SUSE couldn’t play an MP3. This time the Totem Movie Player told me the file needs a codec. It went online and found one that plays MP3 files. It worked just like you would expect. After giving the OS my admin password, it installed and played my MP3. Wow!
Edubuntu is designed for school use. It has Open Office installed for word processing, spreadsheets, databases and presentations. Gimp is included for graphics. Firefox is the default browser. There are some games but nothing particularly for education… unless you consider Sudoku educational.
I’m running Edubuntu on a five year old Dell Inspiron 2650 laptop (1.7 GHz, 512 MB RAM). It works just fine. I think I’m going to play around with it for a while.
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We have been running Ubuntu in one classroom this year. We began with Dapper Drake (6.04). The teacher in the classroom upgraded the computers to Feisty Fawn (7.04) a couple weeks ago. I have three words to say about Ubuntu. It just works! We have a computer loaded with Ubuntu in the high school office which the student teaching assistants use to lookup students who need to be called down to the office. We just purchased 30 additional computers and loaded them with Ubuntu. The teachers requested the computers because they just work. You can use the heck out of them and they don’t slow down or crash. We may purchase 75 more computers and load them with Ubuntu.
You may want to look at Ubuntu Studio (http://ubuntustudio.org/). It has all of the video and audio utilities and codecs. The site is down now (it was dugg on Digg), however, you can find it on bittorrent. I am seeding it as I write this.
If you want to try out something new in sudoku, try shendoku, using the sudoku rules but playing two people, one against the other, like battleshipps. They have a free version to download at http://www.shendoku.com/sample.pdf . Anything else they are bringing out or they are working on you can find at http://www.shendoku.com or at they´r blog http://www.shendoku.blogspot.com . Have fun, I am.