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Custom Debian Distributions
Chapter 4 - Existing Custom Debian Distributions
4.1 Debian-Junior: Debian for children from 1 to 99
- Start
-
beginning of 2000
- URL
-
Debian-Jr
- Mailing list
-
debian-jr@lists.debian.org
- Initiator
-
Ben Armstrong
synrg@debian.org
- Release
-
Debian 3.0 (Woody)
- Goals
-
-
Make Debian an OS that children of all ages will want to use.
-
Making it so nice that they like it.
-
Making it a playground for children experiments.
Main target are young children, teens should become comfortable with using
Debian without any special modifications.
Debian-Jr was the first Custom Debian Distribution - in fact the idea of Custom
Distributions was born (these days under the name Debian internal projects but
this name was changed because it was also taken for some more technical related
projects like IPv6 etc.).
Debian-Jr not only provides games but also cares for their quality. So games
which are regarded as "not really for children of this age" are
omitted. Moreover choices are made which packages are best suitable to enable
children to "work" (simple text processing, web browsing and
drawing).
4.2 Debian-Med: Debian in Health Care
- Start
-
beginning of 2002
- URL
-
Debian-Med
- Mailing list
-
debian-med@lists.debian.org
- Initiator
-
Andreas Tille
tille@debian.org
- Release
-
Sarge
- Goals
-
-
Build an integrated software environment for all medical tasks.
-
Care especially for the quality of program packages in the field of medicine
which are integrated in Debian yet.
-
Building packages of medical software which are missing inside Debian and
inclusion of those packages.
-
Caring for a general infrastructure for medical users.
-
Efforts to increase the quality of third party Free Software in the field of
medicine.
4.3 Debian-Edu: Debian for Education
- Start
-
Summer of 2002
- Mailing list
-
debian-edu@lists.debian.org
- Former Initiator
-
Raphaël Hertzog
hertzog@debian.org
- Now responsible
-
Petter Reinholdtsen
pere@hungry.com
- Release
-
Sarge
- Goals
-
-
Make Debian the best distribution available for educational use.
-
Federate many initiatives around education (which are partly based on forks of
Debian).
-
Continue the internationalisation efforts of SkoleLinux.
-
Focus on easy installation in schools
This project started with the intention to bring back a fork from Debian which
was done by some people in France. Because they had some time constraints the
people who did initially started this effort handed over responsibility to the
Norwegian SkoleLinux
which
is currently more or less identical to Debian-Edu.
The Debian-Edu project gathered special interest in Spain because there are
derived Debian distributions which are intended to be used in schools. For
instance there are:
LinEX
-
Debian derivative distribution used in all schools in Extremadura
LliureX
-
Debian derivative distribution in development to be used in schools in
Valencia. The goal is to integrate as much as possible as a Custom Debian
Distribution.
Guadalinex
-
Not only related to education but might try also to integrate back their stuff
back to Debian.
4.4 DeMuDi: Debian Multimedia Distribution
- Start
-
Currently not announced as official Custom Debian Distribution but part of the
Agnula
project (founded by
European Community) (since 2000)
- Initiator
-
Marco Trevisani
marco@centrotemporeale.it
- Goals
-
-
Bringing back a fork from Debian.
-
Oriented toward music and multimedia.
-
Make GNU/Linux a platform of choice for the musician and the multimedia artist
The initiator is not yet Debian developer but you are able to work on Debian
without being an official developer.
4.5 Debian-Desktop: Debian GNU/Linux for everybody
Motto: "Software, which just works".
- Start
-
October 2002
- URL
-
Debian-Desktop
- Mailing list
-
debian-desktop@lists.debian.org
- Initiator
-
Colin Walters
walters@debian.org
- Goals
-
-
Try to build the best possible operating system for home and corporate
workstation use.
-
Desktops like Gnome and KDE should coexist well in Debian and work optimal.
-
Easy usage for beginners without restrictions of flexibility for experts.
-
Easy installation and configuration (hardware-detection).
This Custom Debian Distribution has many common issues with other Custom
Distributions. The latest move of Debian-Desktop was to care about more up to
date software which can be used as common base for all Custom Debian
Distributions. The common interest is described in detail in New way to distribute Debian,
Section 8.6.
4.6 Debian-Lex: Debian GNU/Linux for Lawyers
- Start
-
April 2003
- URL
-
Debian-Lex
- Mailing list
-
debian-lex@lists.debian.org
- Initiator
-
Jeremy Malcolm
Jeremy@Malcolm.id.au
- Goals
-
-
Build a complete system for all tasks in legal practice.
-
Add value by providing customised templates for lawyers to existing packages
like OpenOffice.org, SQL-Ledger or sample database schema for PostgreSQL.
The word lex originates from Latin word for law.
4.7 Debian-NP: Debian GNU/Linux for Non-profit Organisations
- Start
-
July 2003
- URL
-
Debian-NP
- Initiator
-
Benjamin 'Mako' Hill
mako@debian.org
- Goals
-
-
Address requirements of small non-profit organisations.
-
Prepare Debian for desktop use in non-profit organisations.
-
Provide software which handles fund raising issues.
-
Handling of membership lists.
-
Interfaces for conference organisation
Non-profits are often familiar with Free Software.
4.8 Debian Accessibility Project
Debian for blind and visually impaired people
- Start
-
February 2003
- Initiator
-
Mario Lang
mlang@debian.org
- URL
-
Debian-Accessibility
- Mailing list
-
debian-accessibility@lists.debian.org
-
-
Make Debian accessible to people with disabilities
-
Special care for
-
Screen magnification programs
-
Software speech synthesisers
-
Speech recognition software
-
Scanner drivers and OCR software
-
Specialised software like edbrowse (web-browse in the spirit of line-editors)
-
Making text-mode interfaces available.
-
Providing screen reader functionality during installation.
4.9 Debian Enterprise
Debian GNU/Linux for Enterprise Computing
- Start
-
End of 2003
- URL
-
Debian-Enterprise
- Initiator
-
Zenaan Harkness
zen@iptaustralia.net
- Goals
-
-
Apply the UserLinux Manifesto
-
Establishes the benchmark in world class Enterprise operating systems
engineered within an industry driven shared-cost development model
-
Vigorously defends its distinctive trademarks and branding
-
Develops extensive and professional quality documentation
-
Provides engineer certification through partner organisations
-
Certifies the Debian Enterprise GNU/Linux operating system to specific industry
-
Pre-configuration of server tasks
-
Install time options regarding to the intended purpose
4.10 Other possible Custom Debian Distributions
There are fields which could be served nicely by not yet existing Custom Debian
Distributions:
- Debian-eGov
-
Government issues, administration, authorities office, accounting
- Office
-
Cover all office issues
- Accounting
-
Integrate accounting systems into Debian
- Geography
-
Geographical information systems (GIS)
- Biology
-
perhaps taking over some stuff from Debian-Med
- Physics
-
Simulation
- Mathematics
-
even have a live CD - see Quantian in Building Live CDs of each Custom Debian
Distribution, Section 8.5
- ???
-
There are a lot off more Custom Debian Distributions thinkable
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Custom Debian Distributions
28 July 2004
Andreas Tille tille@debian.org