[ubuntu-za] Software for ISR computer redistriubtion project. Suggestions?

[Helge Reikeras]

Hi

The ISR computer redistribution project will be launching any day now. See  
http://www.firga.sun.ac.za/isr/images/ISR%20POSTER_3rd%20term_lowres.jpg  
if you still don't know about this project. The PCs to be redistributed  
will have Ubuntu (Xubuntu or Lubuntu for low-end hardware) installed on  
them. In order for the PCs to be as usable as possible for learning the  
plan is to run a post-install script after the clean Ubuntu install. The  
post-install script will install a few extra packages that we consider  
useful for high-school learners. The list so far includes educational  
tools (for obvious reasons) and support for restricted (but common)  
formats such as mp3, avi, flash and java (to make the PCs more useful as  
many of the receivers will not have Internet access). The list so far  
includes:

# Educational
'ubuntu-edu-secondary'
'edubuntu-docs'

# Support for restricted formats
'gstreamer0.10-pitfdll',
'gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg',
'gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad',
'gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse',
'gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly',
'gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse',

# VLC bundles restricted media formats such as mp3, avi
'vlc',

# Java
'sun-java6-jre',

# Flash
'adobe-flashplugin',

# Games
'gnome-games',

# Superior CD burning
'k3b',

I would please ask everyone (and especially those with experience using  
educational software) to make suggestions for additional software that can  
be installed to make the PCs more suitable for educational use and for  
users without Internet access. All information and experience that is  
gathered for this project will eventually go on a Wiki for similar  
projects to use. Note that the PCs will not go towards a school computer  
lab, but that the learners will take the PCs home with them. Thus, there  
must be software that is also useful for other purposes than educational  
only. If you are interested, the post-installation script (Python) is  
available on  
https://code.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-za-maties/+junk/isr-redist. You can  
download it with 'bzr branch lp:~ubuntu-za-maties/+junk/isr-redist'  
(install bazaar first).

Thank you,

-- 
Helge Reikeras
http://www.google.com/profiles/helge.reikeras