Copyright © 2006 Ichthux and members of the Ichthux Documentation Project
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Ichthux is a Linux operating system based on Kubuntu, that is developed by and for Christian computer users. Ichthux is based on Kubuntu to provide a base operating system that is solid, secure, and usable, without having to start development from the ground up. Ichthux developers add onto this base Christian programs and settings to provide Christians the best desktop environment. Ichthux is released regularly in order to provide you with the best Linux experience possible. The focus of Amazing Grace is to introduce the operating system to the Christian and Linux world. With a primary goal of serving God, Ichthux also strives for stability and polish.
We hope you enjoy the release of Ichthux 6.09, Amazing Grace.
In addition to the features found in Kubuntu (highlights below), Ichthux adds the following:
BibleTime Bible reader is a program that uses Sword modules to read Bible texts in various languages as well as Bible notes, commentaries, and Christian books, all for free. Ichthux packages for English (KJV), Spanish (SPARV), French (LSG), Hebrew (WLC), Greek (TR), Korean (Korean), Italian (Itadio) , Arabic (Arasvd), Russian (RST), and German (Gerlut1545) translations are readily available and translations for your language are installed by default if available.
kio-sword provides Bible reader integration in the Konqueror webbrowser. Just go to sword://
in the location bar and choose a Sword module to load.
With verse and bible-kjv console Bible tools you can learn about God's Word even from a terminal. verse shows a new Scripture quote each day and bible-kjv (run as bible) allows you to read the KJV translation of the bible from the console.
A Christian emoticon theme for instant messaging in Kopete allows you to chat with your friends and use Christian-themed emoticons. For instance, putting :amen: in your chat will send a little smiley emoticon saying "AMEN" and 0:-) produces an angel smiley.
kdict (KDE Dictionary) is installed with the Easton and Hitchcock Bible dictionaries so you can search for biblical places and terms along with other dictionaries
Ichthux ships Superkaramba (desktop widget tool for KDE) with the losungen theme that provides daily watchwords (Bible quotes) right on your desktop background.
Default artwork and settings designed with Christians in mind are installed by default in Ichthux.
Ichthux 6.09 is based on Kubuntu 6.06.1, Dapper Drake which includes some of the following features:
The new installer found on Kubuntu Desktop CDs provides the ability to install a brand new Ichthux system directly, instead of having to download a separate installer CD, saving both time and bandwidth.
Amazing Grace comes with KDE 3.5.2 (the K Desktop Environment). While there have been many changes to KDE since the beginning, 3.5.2 promises to be one of the most stable and secure releases. More information on the changes and enhancements to KDE 3.5.2 can be located at http://www.kde-org/announcement/announce-3.5.2.php
Ichthux, featuring the Debian package manager, Adept, is a great addition giving users the opportunity to easily add or remove programs. Other great additions include adept-updater
and adept-notifier
. The adept-notifier
will alert the user to new updates available for their Ichthux 6.09 system. The adept-updater
will apply the updates upon clicking on the adept-notifier
and providing a password. This sequence will update the system, ensuring stability and security within the Ichthux operating system.
Ichthux 6.09 provides the user with OpenOffice.org 2, as the default Office Suite. More information on OpenOffice.org can be located on the web at http://www.openoffice.org
Katapult is an application that provides a quick launch for other applications, bookmarks, and more just by pressing Alt+Space. Katapult automagically displays the matching application as the user starts typing it. Katapult is setup to start on load. Example, press Alt+Space, and then start typing konq. Konqueror
will automagically appear in the pop-up, so pressing Enter will start Konqueror.
Struggling with configuring your display and the X Window system? A new module is included in System Settings that can make this quite painless. Along with this addition, several changes have been made in the placement and order to make things more clear. Print Setup, Appearance (theme, fonts, and icon customization), networking, and various other settings are available via System Settings.
The recommended specifications for running Ichthux 6.09 is to have at least 192 megabytes of RAM and 2.5 gigabytes of hard disk space.
Ichthux 6.09 currently supports only i386 architectures. Ichthux is in need of 64bit and PPC platform support, so if you are able to assist the development team, please contact us at ichthux-devel@crosswire.org.
Ichthux can be downloaded from one of the mirrors found at http://www.ichthux.com/download and then burned onto a writeable CD.
Currently, Ichthux is available only as a Live CD edition. This allows you to try out Ichthux prior to committing and installing it permanently onto your computer. While this is a great way to install Ichthux, it does have it's limitations, especially on computers with:
LVM and/or RAID partitioning;
GRUB bootloader to a location other than the Master Boot Record;
less than about 192MB of RAM.
In these cases you can first install Kubuntu 6.06.1 from Kubuntu and then following the procedure from the section called “Installing from an Existing Kubuntu Computer” below.
Burn the downloaded .iso file to a writeable CD and then boot your computer with the CD. On the boot screen "Boot or Install Ichthux" to boot to the Ichthux desktop. You are free to try out the desktop as it has not been installed to your computer yet. If you reboot all your changes will be lost and you will boot to your usual operating system. If you decide you want to install Ichthux 6.09 on to your computer press the "Install" icon on the desktop.
If you have an exsiting Kubuntu (or even Ubuntu, Xubuntu, or Edubuntu) installation on your computer you can install Icthux quickly by:
edit your /etc/apt/sources.list
file and add the following lines:
deb http://archive.ichthux.com/ichthux grace main deb-src http://archive.ichthux.com/ichthux grace main
Add the Ichthux archive gpg key:
wget http://archive.ichthux.com/ichthux.asc sudo apt-key add ichthux.asc
Update your package list and install ichthux-desktop (replacing kubuntu-desktop):
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install ichthux-desktop
Install Bible language pack for your language. For instance, for French you would do:
sudo apt-get install sword-language-pack-fr
If you find a problem with Ichthux 6.09, please check https://launchpad.net/products/ichthux/+tickets before reporting bugs. If the problem is not reported there, please report a new bug on Ichthux Bug Tracker, the bug tracking database.
One of the great things about Ichthux and Open Source software is the ability to give back to the community and to help make Ichthux the best distro possible. For more information visit http://www.ichthux.com/contribute.