A swim in icewm, and a choice of applications.
Last developer gathering, organizer Trond Mæhlum told us how they used
Skolelinux (and other Linux platforms) at the local schools.
http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/2005/09/msg00115.html
One detail; they used the icewm window manager, and for two reasons:
1) It's lightweight. For reasons of work, I can very much understand the
idea of fitting as many terminals onto a server as is possible.
2) The menus are very easy to edit, even for an amateur. It's just a
text file, and can easily be spread over the whole site.
(The kde menu editing apps are not in user interface heaven yet,
sorry. :) )
Another issue is the choice of applications. Based on more than one and
a half year of bugging and ideas from teachers, it's a great step
towards functionality.
I've used some time reimplementing this in a Skolelinux setup.
Skolelinux-Sarge-pr05, that is. And, as always, I learnt something.
Time to share and see what happens.
The Linux programs used in Mæhlums list are:
* nautilus (standard file manager)
* openoffice.org (oowriter, oocalc, ooimpress)
* mozilla-firefox (standard internet browser)
School:
Language:
* kmessedwords (guess words from randomly ordered letters)
* ktouch (learn touch typing)
* tuxtype2 (learn touch typing)
* khangman (Classic hangman game. Guess words.)
Maths:
* geg (graphing tool)
* tuxmath (add, subtract, multiply and divide. Beat the
speed daemon)
* kmplot (graphing tool)
* kpercentage (learn percentage)
* kbruch (learn division)
Science:
* gperiodic (interactive periodic table)
* kstars (take a closer look at the sky, even in the
middle of the day)
* kalzium (interactive periodic table)
* atomix (atomic puzzle. Make molecules in a maze)
Geography:
* kgeography
Music:
* ScoreReadingTrainer (read scores)
Other:
* gcompris (collection of junior educational games)
* keduca (take multiple-choice tests on a computer (and
try again next time))
* keducabuilder (make multiple-choice tests on a computer)
Games:
* xboard (Chess. Can talk with chess robot (like
gnuchess) and other players on internet sites)
* sol (Solitaire game)
* gnomine (Mine sweeper)
Internet:
* nvu (HTML editor)
Graphics:
* tuxpaint (junior plays with paint)
* kolourpaint (paint tool)
* gimp (image editor)
Office:
* oocalc (spreadsheet)
* oowriter (text editor)
* ooimpress (presentation)
* oobase (database)
* oomath (equation editor)
* oodraw (draw tool)
* scribus (desktop publishing)
* acroread (pdf reader)
* gcalctool (calculator)
Note there are no mail applications in the list above. There should be,
not?
Packages already in Skolelinux-sarge pr05:
openoffice.org openoffice.org-debian-files openoffice.org-dictionaries
openoffice.org-help-en openoffice.org-help-es openoffice.org-help-fr
mozilla-firefox mozilla-firefox-locale-it mozilla-firefox-locale-nb
mozilla-thunderbird mozilla-thunderbird-locale-de
mozilla-thunderbird-locale-it
Packages not above, but in Debian Sarge:
nautilus nautilus-data nautilus-media
kmessedwords
ktouch
tuxtype (replaces tuxtype2)
khangman
geg
kmplot
kpercentage
kbruch
gperiodic
kstars kstars-data
kalzium
atomix atomix-data
gcompris gcompris-data gcompris-sound-en (gcompris-sound-da
gcompris-sound-de gcompris-sound-es gcompris-sound-fr gcompris-sound-it
gcompris-sound-pt gcompris-sound-ru)
keduca
xboard gnuchess gnuchess-book
pysol pysol-cardsets (replaces sol. Pysol has it all)
kmines (replaces gnomine)
tuxpaint tuxpaint-config tuxpaint-data tuxpaint-stamps-default
kolourpaint
gimp gimp-data gimp-data-extras gimp-svg gimp-help-common gimp-help-en
(gimp-help-cs gimp-help-de gimp-help-fr gimp-help-sv gimp-help-zh-cn
gimp-gap gimp-python gimp-texturize gimp-helpbrowser grokking-the-gimp)
scribus scribus-template scribus-doc
gcalctool
Packages not found in Sarge, but in Etch(testing) or Sid(unstable):
tuxmath(testing)
nvu(unstable)
Packages not found i the debian archives (due to licenses), but in
ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main
acroread acroread-plugins mozilla-acroread
Packages not found as a debian package:
tuxtype2 (tuxtype is found, see above, but in version 1.0.4 not 2)
http://tuxtype.sourceforge.net/
kgeography http://kgeography.berlios.de/
ScoreReadingTrainer https://sourceforge.net/projects/scret/
I've also installed the following packages:
sarge/main:
vym (A mindmapping tool. Seems stable enough, and very handy at times)
unignuplot (When this gets a little more stability (and perhaps a little
more coming and going of buttons according to need), this is going to be
a killer grapher)
sarge/contrib:
flashplugin-nonfree
debian-marillat:
mplayer-586 mplayer-doc w32codecs realplayer libdvdcss
The media wars aren't funny, this is hardly for immoral purposes, so up
to your own tastebuds.
Once this is done, installing Icewm is a matter of packages:
icewm icewm-common icewm-gnomesupport
Add (global) configuration files in /etc/X11/icewm. These are
self-documenting text files, and cover menus and everything.
Install gdm instead of kdm as login manager. Kdm won't see icewm as an
option. Configure gdm to allow xdmcp, this can be done in a menu.
And you should have icewm in working order.
My biggest problem with icewm so far is with nautilus.
Once you run nautilus, this beast takes over the desktop background and
basically never quits until you kill it. Not even when you try to log
out. Nautilus stops the logout, and you can't log out until you've done
"killall nautilus" (or similar).
Icewm lets you run a shutdown script, but it won't run before nautilus
is gone, so that doesn't work either.
Any ideas?
Planning to do a reportbug soon, but some more meat would be nice.
For my rewritten menu (plus this mail, and more), Ill put it up in
http://d.skolelinux.no/~harald/menu/
Download, have a look at it, and if you need it then put it in
~/.icewm/menu or /etc/X11/icewm/menu
And thus the basics are covered. Menu items not found won't show up on
the menu, so no worry with the MSwindows apps mentioned there.
Have a good night.
Harald
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