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   1 [17:31] <highvoltage> I'll be talking a little bit about Unity lenses as well
   2 [17:31] <highvoltage> Welcome everyone to the "What's new in Edubuntu" session!
   3 [17:31] <highvoltage> I'd like to give a really quick intro to what Edubuntu is
   4 [17:32] <highvoltage> since many people are unfamiliar with the project
   5 [17:32] <highvoltage> Firstly, there's the DVD that we produce every six months with some customizations and additional software that might be relevant in Education.
   6 [17:32] <highvoltage> It follows the Ubuntu release cycle and we're very committed to doing things the Ubuntu way
   7 [17:32] <highvoltage> One of our main goals is to produce a system that's easy to install and maintain in environments where people don't necessarily have lots of system administration skills available.
   8 [17:33] <highvoltage> my involvement in Edubuntu came about installing computer labs in South Africa a few years back
   9 [17:33] <highvoltage> we were using K12LTSP (a Fedora-based distribution) that had similar goals that Edubuntu has today
  10 [17:34] <highvoltage> seeing what a turn-key system could do in schools was amazing. If a teacher can install their own system and have it up and running within minutes, it makes a *huge* difference
  11 [17:34] <highvoltage> On the Edubuntu DVD we include LTSP (a thin client implementation for Linux), educational suites like gcompris, kde-edu, tux4kids and more.
  12 [17:34] <highvoltage> We also include some system administration tools that make managing a classroom or educational environment easier.
  13 [17:34] <highvoltage> Secondly, Edubuntu is also a project that's bigger than that. We aim to get software packaged into Ubuntu and also help maintain it.
  14 [17:35] <highvoltage> There are also other Ubuntu projects that work and help us out on this
  15 [17:35] <highvoltage> Most notably, the Kubuntu team who maintains the kde-edu suite and also the MOTU team who helps maintain educational software and games in Universe.
  16 [17:35] <highvoltage> It's also worth mentioning Debian- that's where most of our packages come from. Recently we've also been collaborating more and more with Debian-Edu, they are doing some really great work.
  17 [17:35] <highvoltage> The Edubuntu team is small, at any time we have around 2-8 contributors with varying involvement.
  18 [17:36] <highvoltage> Some people are only around for about a month a year, but we value their contribution while we have it. We value any contributions even if it's just once-off.
  19 [17:36] <highvoltage> So, I hope that gives you somewhat of an idea of the Edubuntu project
  20 [17:36] <highvoltage> so on to the topic of what's new?
  21 [17:37] <highvoltage> wubi - install Edubuntu from Windows
  22 [17:37] <highvoltage> this is a somewhat old Ubuntu feature that we're getting now
  23 [17:37] <highvoltage> we couldn't use it before since we used the text-based installer
  24 [17:37] <highvoltage> it basically allows you to install Edubuntu from an existing Windows system.
  25 [17:37] <highvoltage> since it's not that exciting I'll swiftly move on :)
  26 [17:38] <highvoltage> installer - sssd integration
  27 [17:38] <highvoltage> One of the biggest things we'd like to achieve in Edubuntu is make it as easy and as turn-key as possible in any environment.
  28 [17:38] <highvoltage> One of the ways we do this is by adding to the default installer so that users have some specific control and out of the box configuration for some things.
  29 [17:38] <highvoltage> In this release cycle, we're adding an installation step for SSSD. SSSD stands for Systems Security Services Daemon. What it allows you to do is integrate easily with an existing LDAP or Active Directory (AD) solution.
  30 [17:39] <highvoltage> This would make Edubuntu really easy to integrate into existing schools which already has centralized authentication.
  31 [17:39] <ClassBot> burli_ asked: ​ which DE is used by Edubuntu?
  32 [17:40] <highvoltage> so the Desktop Environment
  33 [17:40] <highvoltage> we offer both Unity and Gnome Fallback (or sometimes called classic Gnome)
  34 [17:40] <highvoltage> Unity is great and has some features I'm going to discuss a little bit later
  35 [17:41] <highvoltage> we need Gnome Fallback for thin client setups since most of the other alternatives are very resource hungry on the network
  36 [17:41] <highvoltage> some older machines also don't work with Unity yet
  37 [17:41] <highvoltage> that actually brings me to my next point...
  38 [17:41] <highvoltage> unity lenses - something we want to do more of
  39 [17:42] <highvoltage> one of our goals for 12.04 is also to figure out how we can better use unity lenses
  40 [17:42] <highvoltage> I didn't realise I'd be following a session on it :)
  41 [17:42] <highvoltage> if you missed the previous session, check out this page:
  42 [17:42] <highvoltage> http://askubuntu.com/questions/38772/what-lenses-for-unity-are-available
  43 [17:42] <highvoltage> it gives a nice overview of what Unity lenses are and which ones are available.
  44 [17:43] <highvoltage> we want to get in touch with educators and find out what kind of functionality could be useful to them
  45 [17:43] <highvoltage> and then adapt it to unity lenses
  46 [17:43] <highvoltage> having quick and easy access to information and activities could work tremendously well
  47 [17:44] <highvoltage> we'll soon be doing a call for ideas for that on the edubuntu blog and try to reach out to educators via other means
  48 [17:44] <highvoltage> if you'd like to get involved and even want to help work on the lenses themselves, please get in touch!
  49 [17:44] <ClassBot> kbmonkey asked: Was there ever talk of merging Edubuntu and Skolelinux, the Debian Edu distro?
  50 [17:45] <highvoltage> Not specifically. There are some very similar goals between the projects though.
  51 [17:45] <highvoltage> Recently we've been collaborating more and more.
  52 [17:45] <highvoltage> Skolelinus does some really great work on the server. They already have centralized auth.
  53 [17:45] <highvoltage> In Edubuntu we abandoned the server part to focus more on the desktop
  54 [17:46] <highvoltage> Remember the authentication improvements I mentioned earlier?
  55 [17:46] <highvoltage> some of that also includes making Edubuntu easier to integrate in a debian-edu environment
  56 [17:47] <highvoltage> we're looking at more ways to collaborate, and the debian-edu people are amazing. but I don't think it's even technically possible for a merge
  57 [17:47] <highvoltage> so I doubt that would ever happen
  58 [17:47] <highvoltage> weblive - try edubuntu online
  59 [17:47] <highvoltage> we have a service called weblive, it allows you to try Edubuntu from within your browser:
  60 [17:48] <highvoltage> http://edubuntu.org/weblive
  61 [17:48] <highvoltage> recently it gained some new features
  62 [17:48] <highvoltage> instead of loading a full-blown session, you can also launch specific apps to demo it
  63 [17:48] <highvoltage> Edubuntu also has a great feature that other derivatives don't
  64 [17:49] <highvoltage> in Software Center, when you have an apps page loaded, you can click on "try it" and it will automatically spawn a weblive session for you with that app
  65 [17:49] <highvoltage> the weblive feature is really popular, we also have a user that uses it every single day since we launched it!
  66 [17:50] <highvoltage> epoptes - classroom administration
  67 [17:50] <highvoltage> epoptes is a new tool that helps you administrate a classroom.
  68 [17:50] <highvoltage> That is, see what's going on on a user's desktop, blank all the screens, broadcast what's happening on the teacher desktop, etc.
  69 [17:50] <highvoltage> it's really cool and I think it's an essential tool in any educational environment
  70 [17:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
  71 [17:51] <highvoltage> It's being integrated into Edubuntu 12.04. It's developed by alkisg,
  72 [17:51] <highvoltage> one of the Edubuntu developers and is also used actively in schools in Greece already.
  73 [17:51] <highvoltage> since I'm short on time I'll just post the link to it instead of babbling about it :)
  74 [17:51] <highvoltage> You can read more about it at http://www.epoptes.org/
  75 [17:52] <highvoltage> Edubuntu LTS
  76 [17:52] <highvoltage> Edubuntu 12.04 will be the first Edubuntu with official LTS status. It will be supported for 5 years
  77 [17:53] <highvoltage> We're also updating the LTSP installer and the ltsp live script to be more user friendly and support more languages
  78 [17:53] <highvoltage> language support is really great in Edubuntu. AFAIK we're the only derivative to ship all the language packs.
  79 [17:53] <highvoltage> On to the future
  80 [17:54] <highvoltage> I've covered quite a bit of our current work
  81 [17:54] <highvoltage> but I'd like to talk a bit about one of our goals past 12.04
  82 [17:54] <highvoltage> Edubuntu on ARM
  83 [17:54] <highvoltage> We want to have an ARM release for Edubuntu. Some people suggested the pandaboard - http://pandaboard.org/
  84 [17:55] <highvoltage> unfortunately it's not really a consumer device
  85 [17:55] <highvoltage> Personally, I'm more interested in targetting something like the Eee pad transformer: http://za.asus.com/Eee/
  86 [17:55] <highvoltage> It's a beautiful and powerful tablet machine that comes with a keyboard dock turning it into a fully fledged laptop. it also ads more battery power. It's a great educational device.
  87 [17:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
  88 [17:55] <ClassBot> Saviq asked: have you thought about the raspberry pi? it's supposed to be very small and cheap
  89 [17:55] <highvoltage> the raspberry pi looks really nice
  90 [17:56] <highvoltage> but it can't really handle a fully fledged Ubuntu Desktop session
  91 [17:56] <highvoltage> officially Ubuntu won't even be supporting the raspberry pi (unfortunately)
  92 [17:56] <highvoltage> but it certainly has many possible educational uses
  93 [17:57] <highvoltage> The challenge with the Eee transformer is that they are all bootloader locked
  94 [17:57] <highvoltage> and very hard to unlock
  95 [17:57] <highvoltage> so we'd have to somehow convince the manufacturers that we'd like it to be possible for someone to install Edubuntu on it
  96 [17:58] <highvoltage> Since we're running out of time, I'd just like to remind everyone that we have Edubuntu meetings on the last Wednesday of every month in #ubuntu-meeting
  97 [17:58] <highvoltage> you can check the Ubuntu website if you're unsure of the dates
  98 [17:58] <ClassBot> burli asked: so you will bring Edubuntu to tablets?
  99 [17:59] <highvoltage> burli_: yes. that's certainly the future goal
 100 [17:59] <highvoltage> the work that's going into the Ubuntu touch framework and also Unity is gradually making it easier
 101 [17:59] <highvoltage> tablets are *huge* in schools and we don't quite want to miss that
 102 [18:00] <highvoltage> we'd also like to integrate what's happning on the tablet with Edubuntu Desktops
 103 [18:00] <highvoltage> we have no idea how yet, but it's a dream we'll persue :)