Developer | Skolelinux team |
---|---|
OS family | Unix-like |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | June 20, 2004 |
Latest release | 8.0+edu0 / 3 July 2016 |
Latest preview | 8.0+edu~b1 / April 26, 2015 |
Marketing target | Educational purpose |
Platforms | IA-32, x86-64 |
Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
Default user interface | KDE Software Compilation, GNOME, LXDE, |
License |
Free software licenses (mainly GPL) |
Official website | skolelinux |
Skolelinux/Debian-Edu is an operating system intended for educational use and a Debian Pure Blend. The free and open source software project was founded in Norway in 2001 and is by now being internationally developed. Its name is a direct translation of "school linux" from Norwegian, derived from the Latin word .
Skolelinux offers four different installation profiles on one compact disk that will easily install a pre-configured educational network, including a main server, workstations and Thin client-servers. In short, its major goals are to:
The Skolelinux project was started on July 2, 2001. Twenty-five computer programmers and translators agreed to improve the use of software in education. They disliked that the next generation of computer users were not able to have access to source code, arguing that children who are interested should be able to learn from expert programmers to create their own software. Other developers, especially the translators, were interested in providing computer programs in the students' native languages. These developers thought that students should be able to navigate the internet by having "road signs" they would understand.
The Skolelinux project was associated with the member organisation "Linux in schools", which was founded on July 16, 2001. "Linux in schools" later changed its name to "Free Software in Schools" by the annual meeting on October 16, 2004. German teachers, developers and translators joined Skolelinux throughout 2002. In 2003, Skolelinux was included step-by-step as a standard part of Debian.
Since 2003, many developers from around the world have joined the project, with developers in France, Greece and Germany being the most active. The Skolelinux project also cooperates with many other free educational software projects such as LTSP, gnuLinEx, Edubuntu, K12LTSP, KDE, Gnome, Firefox and OpenOffice.org. Similar organisations have also been established in Spain, Germany, Latvia, France, Brasil and Denmark.