Edubuntucation

-----------

I knew Ubuntu had reached a milestone when my friend John, a Windows expert of long standing, told me he now tests hardware combinations with Ubuntu. "When I loaded XP on this new box I put together yesterday, it was a nightmare. It couldn't find peripherals, wouldn't load all kinds of stuff. Then I booted it with Ubuntu and it found everything, just like that. So I knew the machine and the peripherals were fine."

But what's good for experts like Joh might still not be simple and easy enough for schools. That's why we now have Edubuntu, a new Ubuntu distro that's customized for classroom use. Says the edubuntu.org wiki, "As an educator you'll be able to set up a computer lab, or establish an online learning environment, in an hour or less -- then administer that environment without having to become a fully-fledged Linux geek."

Edubuntu is built on the 2.6 Linux kernel and Gnome 2.12. It contains more than 16,000 pieces of software and fits on a bootable CD. It is also pointedly non-commercial. The Edubuntu Manifesto begins, "Edubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no extra fee for the 'enterprise edition'. We make our very best work available to everyone on the same Free terms." The Manifesto also commits to a regular and predicable six-month release schedule interval. The first official release of Edubuntu 5.10 came out on 13 October of last year. The next should then be due in April of this year.

- Doc Searls