new skoleknoppix
ftp://ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux/knoppixes/skoleknoppix/
skoleknoppix-2004-02-10 is based on KNOPPIX-2004-02-09
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Normally I would wait a bit before releasing this CD
to the web. It has too many obvious flaws.
BUT I believe that in this case, it is important to hurry.
People are going to Brussels soon, and although they
can of course carry laptops, I thought it would be nice
if they also had some live CDs to give away.
What I want from you, the first generation of testers,
is bug reports and complaints. skolelinux is Debian
stable, and skoleknoppix is (mostly) Debian unstable.
It is not really possible for them to be identical,
but they should be as similar as possible.
Any comments or complaints should get back to me by
this weekend, so that I can incorporate the ideas
and re-release as soon as possible. The only reason
that I release this CD now is to get feedback!
What is the value of this CD?
-----------------------------
- XFree86 4.3
- KDE 3.1.5
- OpenOffice.org 1.1
Hardware detection and support is provided by Knoppix,
and it should therefore be excellent.
One way of thinking about this CD is that it gives a look
at what skolelinux might be in the not-so-distant future.
A Debian stable version of KDE 3.2 already exists, as does
a stable version of XFree86 4.3, although neither of these
can yet be found within the official body of Debian.
Language Support
----------------
My original hope had been to include all of the European
languages on this CD, but the combination of KDE 3.1.5
and OpenOffice.org 1.1 was too overwhelming. :-(
There is simply not space for everything. Because I was
in a hurry, I chose to include only Norwegian and German
in addition to the default US English. I could easily
include 3-5 more languages, depending how big they are.
When I remake the CD this weekend, there will be more
languages, but I want some discussion of which languages
should be included. Here are various suggestions:
1) Have KDE support for most European languages, but
OpenOffice.org user interface only in English.
2) Fully support 3-5 languages per CD, and make multiple CDs.
This is not especially difficult, but several CDs will
of course occupy a fair amount of disk space.
3) Build a live DVD. The technology is essentially the same
as for live CDs, but most people do not have a DVD-burner.
Nevertheless, even without a DVD-burner, it is possible to
download the compressed KNOPPIX image onto your ext2 or FAT
partition, and boot from floppy disk. This is my favorite
way to run Knoppix, as it leaves the CD tray empty.
Bugs/Errors I have seen already
-------------------------------
Only two. I have had essentially no time for testing.
1) I get warnings when I boot with knoppix alsa.
solfege does not work, and complains about the kernel.
I suspect that the newer Knoppix kernel has a flaw,
or that there is some problem with Knoppix alsa.
The worst case scenario is that I go back to the
kernel from the previous Knoppix, where solfege
was working, and alsa gave no warnings.
2) OpenOffice.org opens with the "timmons" font, a disastrously
ugly font, and no spell-checking. Neither of these flaws
is really so terrible, since you can change both of them
manually, but I will fix these problems on the weekend.
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conrad.newton@broadpark.no
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