Announcing Edubuntu 6.10 - Edgy for Education

[Richard Weideman]

The Edubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Edubuntu 6.10,
codenamed "Edgy Eft". This release includes both Installation CDs and
installable Live CDs for several architectures.

About Edubuntu
--------------

Edubuntu is the education-focused variant of Ubuntu, with a fast and
easy install, regular releases, and a tight selection of excellent
packages installed by default, including education and productivity
applications. Almost every other package you can imagine is available
with a few clicks from a global network of mirrors, and professional
commercial technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other
companies around the world.

Edubuntu 6.10 will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and
servers. Note that the previous stable release (6.06 LTS) is a long-term
support release, and so users requiring a longer support lifetime may
choose to continue using that version rather than upgrade to or install
6.10.

To Get Edubuntu 6.10
--------------------

Download Edubuntu 6.10 here:
http://www.edubuntu.org/Download

To burn these CD images, you will need 700MB media.

About Edubuntu 6.10
-------------------

Highlights of this release include:

On the Desktop
--------------

Edubuntu includes the very recent versions of well known free
educational software like:

* The KDEedu suite in version 3.5.5

* Gcompris 7.4

* Schooltool 0.11

* The tux4kids applications

and many many more. 

This version introduces a host of new features, an improved interface
and a wide variety of new applications and desktop tools making Edubuntu
6.10 flexible and user-friendly.

Enhancements in our Ubuntu base provide these benefits for Edubuntu:

* GNOME 2.16, which in addition to new features such as enhanced power
  management, makes the GNOME desktop more secure, faster and more
  stable

* Substantially faster startup and shutdown with eye-catching
  high-resolution graphics

* The latest Firefox web browser, which offers inline spell check
  support in web forms, easy recovery of crashed sessions, built-in
  phishing detectors, enhanced search engine management with built in
  OpenSearch support, and better support for previewing and
  subscribing to web feeds

* Proactive security features, preventing many common security
  vulnerabilities even before they are discovered

* Evolution 2.8.0, which brings new features such as vertical message
  panes

On the Server
-------------

The Edubuntu classroom server install builds on the functionality from
the previous release simplifying common Linux classroom server
deployment processes. It is the first distribution that ships with a
deeply  integrated out of the box working pre-release of the upcoming
LTSP-5 (Linux Terminal Server Project). LTSP-5 offers clients a lower
TCO (total cost of ownership), simpler installation and easier
maintenance than typical IT deployments. With all data stored on the
server, administrators have substantially eliminated the cost of
updating individual workstations to ensure their security.

Installing from the CD will provide you with an out of the box working
thin client environment, including sound and thin client block device
support.

Features of the integration work for LTSP-5 in Edubuntu include: 

* Automatic network configuration with DHCP service for servers with
  two or more network cards attached

* Language and session selection from the LTSP login manager –
  allowing a user to choose from any of the languages and desktop
  sessions installed on the server

* Student Control Panel
  Control LTSP connections in a school environment
  Additional features added in edgy to make it more effective

* Support for locally attached devices on thin clients – allowing
  users to access cameras, ipods, USB sticks or CDRoms on the thin
  client

* Printing support - enabling printing on a local printer from the
  thin client

* Full support for Etherboot

* Network swap memory by default which drops the minimal requirements 
  for Thin Clients to 32Mb

* Centralized logging by default

* Sound support switched on by default

* 16bit colors by default for Thin clients to save network bandwith

Localization
------------

  * Automatic setup of non-Latin input methods

  * Menu item translations included in language packs, for faster
    integration of new and updated translations provided through
    Rosetta

  * Ongoing translation updates from the Rosetta web service:
    https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/edgy/+translations

Under the hood
--------------

 * GCC 4.1

 * Glibc 2.4

 * Linux 2.6.17

As always, Edubuntu includes the very best of the 100% Free / Libre
application software world, and each new release incorporates  countless
new features and bugfixes from the global development community. More
detailed release notes are at

  http://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdgyReleaseNotes

Helping Shape Edubuntu
----------------------

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways
you can participate at

  http://www.edubuntu.org/Community

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but
aren't sure, try asking on:

* The #edubuntu channel on IRC.FreeNode.net
 
* The Edubuntu Users or Edubuntu Developers mailing list:
  http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users

* The Edubuntu Developers mailing list:
  http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel

* Or on the Ubuntu forums:
  http://www.ubuntuforums.org

More Information
----------------

You can find out more about Edubuntu and about this release on our
website:

  http://www.edubuntu.org/

To sign up for future Edubuntu related announcements, please subscribe
to Ubuntu's very low volume announcement list at:

  http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

-- 
Richard Weideman
richard at ubuntu.com

Ubuntu Education Programme Manager
http://www.edubuntu.org
http://www.ubuntu.com