Re: Remaining task packages ...
>Each time I face our "packaged" list I'm dismayed at my categories. First
>off, I hate "misc" categories and we have at least one of those (see
>"Education" top level category which is perhaps more aptly named
>"Education - Misc"). But I am equally uncomfortable with categories with
>only one or two things in them. So I have therefore attempted to build
>the junior-* meta packages using a "most populated first" rule of thumb.
>That would make these four the next on my list to create.
>
> junior-sound
> Depends: bplay, cdtool, grip, timidity, vorbis-tools, xmms
>
Timidity only 'suggests' timidity-patches, since technically timidity can
use patches from anywhere, but it won;t work without any patches at all. I
would recommend including timidity-patches, just to be sure that it works
directly after installing.
> junior-puzzle
> Depends: codebreaker, gbatnav, gtans, lmemory, rocks-n-diamonds, xjig
>
> junior-system-tools
> Depends: lavaps, mc, xcruise
>
I know that there is a file system explorer that will let you 'fly' through
your file system like a spaceship through solar systems. Let me check a few
sites. It's not much use, but my daughter thinks it's cool!
There is also some source-code for a 3-D file system explorer available from
SGI. It only kinda works on SGI machines, but has some doc's and info for
porting to other platforms. If we can get a programmer to have a look and get
a Linux port working, this might also be of interest!
I also know that there is a Doom-style system admin tool that might be of
interest. Basically, each process is attached to a 'monster' and you, as
SysAdmin can go around and try 'killing' these processes. Might want to save
this for the older kids, but it sure sounded like fun to me : )
> junior-3d-games
> Depends: armagetron, gltron, tuxracer
>
I installed tuxracer on my system. With a dual PII350, 256M and an
ATI RageIIc+ 8M AGP video card. This ran INCREDIBLY slow on my system.
Probably because I don't have hardware accelleration set-up. I haven't tried
the other two games. I'll have a look. But, if tuxracer is so slow, you might
want to seperate it out for those who have the hardware and software set-up to
use it.
>Followed by these rather poor or not-well-populated categories:
>
> junior-coloring
> Depends: gimp, xpaint
>
I'm sure I can add to this list, give me a chance to have a look through some
of my magazines. I know I've seen lots of reviews of graphics packages. I'll
get my daughters inputs for this category.
> junior-education
> Depends: gcompris, ssystem
>
> junior-card-games
> Depends: ace-of-penguins
>
> junior-simulation-games
> Depends: freeciv
>
> junior-text-games
> Depends: bsdgames, moon-buggy | moon-buggy-esd
>
> junior-network-games
> Depends: xblast
>
> junior-internet-tools
> Depends: mozilla
>
>I am certain if I combed the list archives I could supplement at least the
>games meta packages with some more. And I think we do need something in
>the way of junior-programming which is not represented here at all. Some
>ideas on that were tossed around and I'll have to see what I can come up
>with out of the list archives as well. Can anyone help me out with the
>rest? Start with the "poor or not-well-populated" list and feed me some
>suggestions.
As for programming, I'm trying to get my daughter interested in programming.
I've seen a few simple IDE's. I'll try a few on her and post her suggestions.
The big thing with programming is figuring out how to break a program down
to small steps. Linux has plenty of programming languages and tools, the
shortfall, for children, is proper tutorials. I do know that there is a
simple OpenGL programming tutorial/IDE. I was using it quite some time ago.
I'll have a look through my stuff and see if I can find it again. I seemed
to be quite good, covering things like drawing objects, moving objects,
applying various effects like fog and such. I think it worked on tcl/tk but
I could be wrong. I know I had a bit of trouble getting it to work at first
because it was looking for a different version of wish and I had got a few
sym-links messed up.
I'll have a good look around and see what I can add to these lists for you.
I'll also try a few rpm's on my daughters Mandrake system to get her
suggestions for requests to package.
Cheers,
John Gay
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