Skolelinux

Infobox OS
name = Skolelinux



caption =
developer = [http://www.skolelinux.org/ Debian-Edu/Skolelinux]
family = Linux
source_model = free software
latest_release_version =
latest_release_date =
kernel_type = Monolithic kernel
ui = KDE
license = Various
working_state = Current
website = [http://www.skolelinux.org/ skolelinux.org]

Skolelinux is an operating system intended for educational use and based on Debian (hence it is also named Debian-Edu).

Skolelinux is a free software project founded in Norway, now supporting all languages present in Debian. Its name is derived from the Latin word schola through Norwegian word "skole" (school). Skolelinux offers four different installation profiles on one compact disk that will easily install a pre-configured educational network, including a main server, workstations and thin client servers. In short, its major goals are to:

* Enable teachers to provide high quality IT teaching to their students.
* Create a Linux distribution tailored for schools -- based on their needs and resources.
* Simplify maintenance of computer facilities.
* Provide a thin client-solution, which eases maintenance, reduces costs and allows use of old hardware.
* Cut costs by using open source software and re-using old hardware.
* Localize the IT infrastructure by translating the software pages to all officially-supported languages in Norway -- Nynorsk and Bokmål as well as Sami.
* Identify and facilitate suitable programs for use in the schools.

History

The Skolelinux project was started on July 2, 2001. Twenty-five computer programmers and translators agreed to improve the use of software in education. They disliked that the next generation of computer users were not able to have access to source code, arguing that children who are interested should be able to learn from expert programmers to create their own software. Other developers, especially the translators, were interested in providing computer programs in the students' native languages. These developers thought that students should be able to navigate the internet by having "road signs" they would understand.

The Skolelinux project was associated with the member organisation "Linux in schools", which was founded on July 16th, 2001. "Linux in schools" later changed its name to "Free Software in Schools" by the annual meeting on October 16th, 2004. German teachers, developers and translators joined Skolelinux throughout 2002. In 2003, Skolelinux was included step-by-step as a standard part of Debian.

Since 2003, many developers from around the world have joined the project, with developers in France, Greece and Germany being the most active. The Skolelinux project also cooperates with many other free educational software projects such as LTSP.org, gnuLinEx, Edubuntu, KDE, and OpenOffice.org. Similar organisations have also been established in Spain, Germany, Latvia, France and Brasil.

Skolelinux has been a major contributor to rewriting the Debian installer. In addition, Skolelinux has conducted extensive testing of thin clients (diskless) as a part of the new LTSP.org version 5.

Releases

* Skolelinux 1.0 - codenamed "Venus" (after the almost concurrent Venus transit), is based on Debian Woody and was released on June 20, 2004.
* Skolelinux 2.0 - codenamed "DebianEdu" (after Skolelinux was adopted as part of the Debian sub-project with that name), is based on Debian Sarge and was released March 14, 2006.
* Skolelinux 3.0 - codenamed "Terra", is based on Debian Etch and was released July 22, 2007. [cite web
url=http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/PressReleases/PressRelease_DebianEdu-3.0_Terra
title=Press release DebianEdu-3.0 "Terra"
author=DebianEdu
work= [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu DebianEdu Wiki]
date=2007-07-22
accessdate=2007-07-24] Due to the tight connection between the Debian project and the custom Debian distribution (CDD) Skolelinux, this distribution is sometimes also referred to as Debian Edu 3.0.

Funding

Skolelinux development is sponsored by SLX Debian Labs on a yearly basis.

References

External links

* [http://www.skolelinux.org Official site]
* [http://www.skolelinux.org/no Official Norwegian site]
* [http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu DebianEdu project wiki]
* [http://wiki.skolelinux.de/ German skolelinux wiki]