Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [technical discussion]

[cvmostert]

Here is how I added the DRC translation.

Download the DRC module (http://www.crosswire.org/sword/servlet/SwordMod.Verify?modName=DRC&pkgType=raw).
Extract it.

Then I copied the "~/sword/modules/texts/ztext/drc/" folder from the the archive including all of its contents to the "/usr/share/sword/modules/texts/ztext/" folder. Then it should be available in GnomeSword. I do all this with a bash script of course to build the iso.

I hope that helps, Jereme


wierd, i started gnomesword again and used crosswire as remote server and i could install the texts i wanted... (after uninstalling the ones that failed before first of course)

thanx anyway.
ciao

[Scunizi]

I for one appriciate this version primarilly because it has Dansgardian pre-configured... sort of. At least it's installed and the gui is nice. I've wiped Windows off my kids machines and installed the CE version. Now I've set up seperate log-ins for each of them as desktop users. I would like to exclude all internet access to them without my approval. After looking at the gui and adding a user name to the restriction are for internet access it still doesn't block access. Also, on a side note, as a desktop user, Dansgardian startup icon is still visable and accessable to the user. Obviously I'm new to Dans... a little insight would be helpful if you can.

[mhancoc7]

I for one appriciate this version primarilly because it has Dansgardian pre-configured... sort of. At least it's installed and the gui is nice. I've wiped Windows off my kids machines and installed the CE version. Now I've set up seperate log-ins for each of them as desktop users. I would like to exclude all internet access to them without my approval. After looking at the gui and adding a user name to the restriction are for internet access it still doesn't block access. Also, on a side note, as a desktop user, Dansgardian startup icon is still visable and accessable to the user. Obviously I'm new to Dans... a little insight would be helpful if you can.

Hi,
The dansguardian setup that comes installed with Ubuntu CE is setup for a single user on a single desktop. To edit the dansguardian settings you need root priviliges. So even if it shows up to users, they can only use it if they have root privileges.

As far as the "Banned User" and "Users Not Filtered", you will need to enable proxy authentication. I am not sure exactly how this is accomplished. You may want to check out www.dansguardian.org to see if you can find an answer there. This was brought up once before and it is on the list of items for me to research. I just have not gotten to it yet.

If you find something please let me know.

God Bless, Jereme

[Scunizi]

Will do... thanks for such a quick response.

This might not be the right place to rant a little but others facing what I've had to deal with in the last week might be looking here just because of your version of Ubuntu and what it may provide.

I've been toying with different ways to "market" Ubuntu & Ubuntu CE. With receint developments with my teenager and subsequent contacts with his friends parents, we've all discovered an over abundance of poor judgement on behalf of our kids. Ie, explicit porn, anti-social behavior (meaning they don't take responsibility for their actions and either place the blame elsewhere or simply think it's ok.)

As a result of my being invited to examine one child's computer the parents hit the wall after discovering what was on it. They had me install Cyber Patrol or something similar since they are in a windows environment.

There's a side business in this nitch becuase there are so many people that are computer illiterate and are unaware how to protect their kids and their own computers. Although I wouldn't presume to tell someone how to raise their own children, I can't help but believe that there are lots of parents that would like to make sure their kids are not getting into anything that they object to. For a small fee (opportunity!) I'll examine their systems for spyware, adware, viruses and other objectionable material and make protective suggestions. Do kids really need to IM for hours on end, accumulate hundreds of "friends" on myspace with names like "a*al bi**h, or*l que*n" etc. etc.

Personally, as a geek, I took pride in the fact that my kids liked using the computer. Unfortunatly, I'm discovering that impowering them with all of today's technology just isn't neccessary and has resulted in reducing their experience as kids and exposed them to way too much for their age.

As a result, I've removed all the computers from their rooms and put on Ubuntu or Ubuntu CE. Afterall, what do they really need a computer for? A little wordprocessing, spreadsheets, powerpoint and research for papers in school. So currently until I have a better solution, within my router I've blocked access to myspace and elimininated internet access by MAC address. I've also put guidelines in place for the amount of time spent on the computer. This is a hard lesson for my teenager and he's trying to make me suffer because of it. In the long run I think he'll enjoy life more.

Ultimately, I'd like them to earn the PRIVLEDGE of using the internet knowing that I've got something like Dansgardian dialed in to protect them from what's out there as well as from themselves. After they leave home, it'll be up to them and I won't interfear. I know some people out there will consider this a horrible restriction of personal freedom. Live and learn.

Sorry for the rant... I feel better now.

[mhancoc7]

Sorry for the rant... I feel better now.

No problem, I am concerned about this same thing. My son is too young right now, but one day I am going to be asking myself the very same questions.

God Bless, Jereme

[pneaveill]

This might not be the right place to rant a little but others facing what I've had to deal with in the last week might be looking here just because of your version of Ubuntu and what it may provide.

Fine line between a rant and a wakeup call. IMHO, I needed to read this (and probably need to read it again. My kids are too young to get into the porn and junk deliberately, but could easily stumble upon it.


I've been toying with different ways to "market" Ubuntu & Ubuntu CE.

I am working on this also through my church. If you have ideas, let us know. Perhaps we can brainstorm here a little.


Personally, as a geek, I took pride in the fact that my kids liked using the computer. Unfortunatly, I'm discovering that impowering them with all of today's technology just isn't neccessary and has resulted in reducing their experience as kids and exposed them to way too much for their age.

I guess this was the real "wakeup" call for me. How much is too much exposure to the computers. As Christians, most of us are familiar with the statement "with priveledge comes responsibility."

Lots to think about,

Paul

[Scunizi]

I had made my last post with a little trepidation, thinking I might get flamed. I appriciate that I haven't. The porn and popup ads are one thing. But, Myspace (and other social sites) are altogether another issue. On the surface it seems quite innocent, allowing kids the ability to communicate with their friends, post opinions, thoughts and ideas. Unfortunatly "friends" translates to anyone that makes contact, from anywhere, opinions run the entire human gambit as do the thoughts and ideas. If you're ok with that you then have to deal with the "polls" the kids send to each other like a chain letter asking all kinds of personal questions, straight, gay, when was your first kiss, have you ever... , and it gets worse. Ads that are placed on the pages are sexually oriented in an overt tone. There's nudity and porn. The porn dealers have figured out how to hijack a page and place a box on it with header lines like "Come see my videos" or "Free Porn Movies". It's pretty sick.

As for an approach to market Ubuntu, I had considered giving free siminars at church about computers in general, kids and computers, safety and above all alternatives to Windows and its' preceived low cost. The majority of people I know don't know much about computers and don't care to learn a lot about them. They want email, web surfing, some office apps, music, photo management etc. Ubuntu offers all that and more. It's also tough to break if you're not futzing around in the console. Sure there are quirks and a need for support on occation. If you're willing to go that far, for a small annual fee and a system that you can vnc or ssh into, support can be relatively simple.

What would be very helpful is a comprehensive database of peripherals that are functional with Ubuntu. The info is out there but sperad out. We even have OpenOffice Base to handle the search routines. But I think it would be a monumental task to try to compile that much info into someting that useful. Maybe a web page with a backend that has a script that will search the individual sites dealing with scanners, printers, modems etc. Still, it's daunting.

I feel like I've almost hijacked this thread and for that I appologize. If Jereme would like this discussion moved please let me know. Brainstorming is fun and often unusual productive things come of it. :D

[enopepsoo]

I would maybe flame myself, but not someone else.

T'ain't my business what you do with raising your son. I remember resenting various authority figures as a teenager, but it passes.

Sorry for the totally non-technical post. :p

[mhancoc7]

I feel like I've almost hijacked this thread and for that I appologize. If Jereme would like this discussion moved please let me know. Brainstorming is fun and often unusual productive things come of it. :D

Don't worry too much about "hijacking" the thread. This was the original Ubuntu CE thread before we received our own subforum. So it is not as important for this thread to stay on topic. Of course if you really want to discuss your ideas you might want to start a new thread.
God Bless, Jereme

[greggfathead]

If you want to release a Christian Edition go for it. That is what is so great about Ubuntu, you have the freedom to do stuff like that. By the way, I consider myself an Agnostic.

Heard that Skia - I consider myself open-minded when it comes to each and every faith out there, this is the power of the Ubuntu community so more power to you releasing a Christian-skewed version of Ubuntu & good luck to you mhancoc7!

And honestly Cyraxzz, though I 100% agree with your point of "can't they just instll those programs after they download and install Ubuntu" because they *can* do that, well... can't they do that with windoZe or Mac as well?

I think mhancoc7's idea is admirble from many perspectives, I won't dare begin to approach the Christian aspects of it (fyi - I'm born Catholic, converted to Lutheran for my marriage and I'm non-practicing for quite a while) but whatever your religious perspective is let's give this person the ups he/she deserves for wanting to spread the Linux/Ubuntu message!

[closeyourwindows]

I am a computer teacher at a christian school and this is perfect. I have been introducing the students to linux but I can tie everything in now. I think this is a great idea. I will be burning many discs and passing them out to the students. Thanks.

[mhancoc7]

I am a computer teacher at a christian school and this is perfect. I have been introducing the students to linux but I can tie everything in now. I think this is a great idea. I will be burning many discs and passing them out to the students. Thanks.

That sounds awesome! Thanks for letting us know.
God Bless, Jereme

[NewWaves]

What would be really funny is if people started to sell the christian edition! OH NO, someone making money off of relgion again!

[greggfathead]

for the record - i'm agnostic (read my previous post, raised catholic and converted to lutheranism for my marriage but non-practicing for many years) and yet i think this is a fantastic idea. not because of the religious aspects of it, but because of the core belief in the open source movement...

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

[h2gofast]

well, I've read some of the snarky comments about a Christian edition, and they are aimed at ridiculing Christian stereotypes. Way to go with openminded discussion in an open source forum. My gentle advice is to forget what you know about organized religion and zealots, and go straight to the source. Yeah I know the bible was heavily edited by the early Catholic Church, and some of the editing was politically influenced, but the central message from Jesus is clear. Whether you believe he was the Son of God or not, his message is a good for every last one of us. IMHO that central message is in full alignment with open source values. If Jesus was a programmer his EULA would be the GPL.
Cheers.
h2.


p.s. how can more users be a bad thing?

[jimmygoon]

well, I've read some of the snarky comments about a Christian edition, and they are aimed at ridiculing Christian stereotypes. Way to go with openminded discussion in an open source forum. My gentle advice is to forget what you know about organized religion and zealots, and go straight to the source. Yeah I know the bible was heavily edited by the early Catholic Church, and some of the editing was politically influenced, but the central message from Jesus is clear. Whether you believe he was the Son of God or not, his message is a good for every last one of us. IMHO that central message is in full alignment with open source values. If Jesus was a programmer his EULA would be the GPL.
Cheers.
h2.


p.s. how can more users be a bad thing?

But source code can be compiled and seen, and tested for bugs

[mhancoc7]

What would be really funny is if people started to sell the christian edition! OH NO, someone making money off of relgion again!

Well, I have seen a few sites selling copies of Ubuntu CE. I think it is great for those who want it, but are on dial-up.

Edit: Here is the link
http://www.osdisc.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi/products/linux/ubuntuce

I think I will actually add it to the project site for those interested.

Jereme

[Books]

I just found this thread and I think UbuntuCE is a great idea.

I've been wanting to start a Computer Users Group at my church. We are a church with two locations, having started a church in the inner-city and recently have started a second location in the suburbs. Our downtown location has a lot of poor members, many without computers. But our members from the suburbs likely have some older computers gathering dust since they got the latest-and-greatest at Christmas.

My idea is to start a group that would take donations of older computers that aren't being used by the suburban members, refurbish them, put Linux on them and give them to families who don't have a computer. If I were an inner-city kid and didn't have a computer to do my homework, and someone gave me one I'd never forget it.

I think Ubuntu Christian Edition would be the perfect addition to this ministry!

I also think that having UbuntuCE available might go a long way in persuading the church leadership to go along. I know that they'll say, "But... won't you be running Windows???" After I explain that Microsoft has sued non-profits that put Windows on donated computers, I can tell them that there is this great Christian operating system... It's easier than trying to explain what "Linux" is (or how to pronounce it correctly). :biggrin:

Books

[kberglun]

I think it's a great project! I think that us christians need to check our computers more. OK we don't have porn or other obvious bad things, but we may have stolen applications worth thousands of dollars in our computers. That is NOT ok.

Especially our churches often have pirated applications, most often than not due to people not understanding how things work. But it's still wrong.

So I have been thinking about getting our church and others to migrate to Linux, and then I saw that there is a "christian Linux". It might make it a bit easier to get people to start thinking in a new way.

Continue your work!

[GrootBrak]

I am not even trying to pretend to have read all the replies! Great idea, I would buy into it if it means saving me the downloads! Now where can I find a decent list of Christian orientated apps for Linux? I already have Bibletime! The biggest personal need I have is to have Biblical educational games for my kids. I mean, one of the best apps for kids is Gcompris, now change that into Christian...

Do you have site or a wishlist somewhere for future reference?

[Josh1]

Sounds like a great idea, and would bring alot of new people into ubuntu, and would be great for church computers (They can now spend about $100-$200 USD buying old computers and then load a FREE operating system with FREE software!
Goodjob, and I love the site :D

[mhancoc7]

I am not even trying to pretend to have read all the replies! Great idea, I would buy into it if it means saving me the downloads! Now where can I find a decent list of Christian orientated apps for Linux? I already have Bibletime! The biggest personal need I have is to have Biblical educational games for my kids. I mean, one of the best apps for kids is Gcompris, now change that into Christian...

Do you have site or a wishlist somewhere for future reference?

I am not aware of any Christian Education programs for Linux. They would absolutely be a great addition to the Ubuntu CE project.

Sounds like a great idea, and would bring alot of new people into ubuntu, and would be great for church computers (They can now spend about $100-$200 USD buying old computers and then load a FREE operating system with FREE software!
Goodjob, and I love the site :D

Thanks so much.

God Bless, Jereme

[pneaveill]

Could almost start a whole listing of just stuff to put into UCE -lol

I have many of the "cleaner" games already loaded for my kids and have pulled quite a few from debian-edu and edubuntu.

Not sure how typical my kids are, but kicking around some ideas here: how about some Christian-themed variation on kgoldrunner or same gnome

[HAL90000]

I just wanted to comment on the what would Jesus drive thang...
He would drive a pickup truck with some ladders on top...he is a carpenter...

[themerchant]

A Christian edition of ubuntu, geared to the needs of Christians, its pretty cool, a good idea for christians. Now if muslims could gather around and do the same thing, it'd be great for me!

[teolemon]

I'm sure the guys from Christian Ubuntu would be glad to help a bit for this.
I think that it will be pretty the same process for artwork, but you'll have to find new apps kuran related (already found one @http://kuran.sourceforge.net/langs/en/index.shtml )
You should think whether it should be geared towards Arabic-speaking ppl or muslims with or without knowledge of Arabic. (and litterary Arabic or some dialect)
Anyway, there must be beautiful wallpapers to be done with calligraphy .
And and btw,
عيد الأضحى mubarak
(don't know how to type the latter ;))

[daniel1212av]

Thank God for Linux, and those who have put good work into it! I have tried different Linux distros including Ubuntu, but for me (a Linux newbie) and i suspect many others, if there is one thing it needs to do it is to auto mount the Windows drives at boot. Every other Linux distro i have tried does this, and my favorite (Knoppix) places icons on the desktop for them. One should not have to go thru the many steps to get Ubuntu to do this (i have two other drives/4 paritions), and Ubuntu makes even finding Windows drives a matter of searching. But i am sure in the future Ubuntu will become more of a viable replacement for Windows.
Thanks for listening.

[HareBall]

Thank God for Linux, and those who have put good work into it! I have tried different Linux distros including Ubuntu, but for me (a Linux newbie) and i suspect many others, if there is one thing it needs to do it is to auto mount the Windows drives at boot. Every other Linux distro i have tried does this, and my favorite (Knoppix) places icons on the desktop for them. One should not have to go thru the many steps to get Ubuntu to do this (i have two other drives/4 paritions), and Ubuntu makes even finding Windows drives a matter of searching. But i am sure in the future Ubuntu will become more of a viable replacement for Windows.
Thanks for listening.
I have icons on my desktop for all my partitions. I don't remember how I got them there, but it couldn't have been too hard. I did it:D I have had them for about as long as I have had Ubuntu. I installed Dapper back in September and had no previous experience with Linux(any flavor). I am running Edgy now with CE.

[mysticrider92]

My computer mounts my NTFS partition for me. I have read-only access right now because I haven't installed the packages for read-write access, but that is quite easy.

[daniel1212av]

Hi and thanks for your replies. I installed and used Dapper for some time but as i recall i had to make folders for each IDE drive and partition, and then run scripts to get them to mount. Right clicking in Computer and choosing mount only resulted in an error. Never could get the right script to auto-mount.

With the live UbuntuCE 6.10, it does not even show my windows fats32 drives (only Floppy, CD-RW and File System). They are listed under Device manger, but there is no option to mount or access them. The live is also quite slow, taking about 10 minutes till Desktop, versus 2 minutes for Knoppix or PCLinux (less than a minute for installed and fully loaded Windows 98se).

I understand Ubuntu programmers are most likely hoping to offer more security by not auto-mounting drives (even the Floppy), but for me i am looking for speed, versatility and ease of use. I have had virtually no problems with security issues or malware in years of extensive use, praise be to God!

Thanks again for your support, dan

[mips]

I just wanted to comment on the what would Jesus drive thang...
He would drive a pickup truck with some ladders on top...he is a carpenter...

I though he was a rabbi and his dad was a carpenter ?

[HareBall]

I though he was a rabbi and his dad was a carpenter ?
He worked along side his father and learned the trade before he started his ministry. He wasn't a Rabbi in the traditional sense. He was the Son of GOD.

[Ptero-4]

He was the Son of GOD

Actually. He is the son of GOD.

[HareBall]

Actually. He is the son of GOD.
You are correct:) More than that HE is GOD

[TrikkeDaddy]

I am so glad I have found this part of the community that is Christian oriented! I am beginning to love Ubuntu even more now, and this is a reason why. You know where all good things come from! :KS

[pmshirey]

A quick warning to anyone who uses this. There is a filtering software for it called DansGuardian. It is filtering for the Internet.:) Unfortunately it blocks a lot of uncommon stuff. From web mail to shopping sites,:mad: And when you try to un-install it in the terminal or package manager (I used the terminal) it won't let you connect to the Internet. So if you plan on installing it be prepared to fix web problems yourself.

[doobit]

A quick warning to anyone who uses this. There is a filtering software for it called DansGuardian. It is filtering for the Internet.:) Unfortunately it blocks a lot of uncommon stuff. From web mail to shopping sites,:mad: And when you try to un-install it in the terminal or package manager (I used the terminal) it won't let you connect to the Internet. So if you plan on installing it be prepared to fix web problems yourself.

Ah, I see you haven't found the new GUI yet:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=312061

[mhancoc7]

A quick warning to anyone who uses this. There is a filtering software for it called DansGuardian. It is filtering for the Internet.:) Unfortunately it blocks a lot of uncommon stuff. From web mail to shopping sites,:mad: And when you try to un-install it in the terminal or package manager (I used the terminal) it won't let you connect to the Internet. So if you plan on installing it be prepared to fix web problems yourself.

Well, the filtering is very strong. However, the next release will include a much better dansguardian GUI that will allow you to easily disable the filtering if desired.

Ah, I see you haven't found the new GUI yet:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=312061

Yeah, the next release will contain an even better one!!

God Bless, Jereme

[fezzik]

When I was in Preaching school I had a program called Hermenutica. It had Greek Hebrew and several English Translations. It had cool features where you could click on words in the English or even the Originals and get a breakdown of the whole background on the word. Is there anything like that. Anything that has any thing even similar. It was handy for Exegesis. But just to have a program with several translations would be really nice. Maybe a cross referencing tool or something. I know nothing of programming so I couldn't help I would just like to see it. :)

[pneaveill]

When I was in Preaching school I had a program called Hermenutica. It had Greek Hebrew and several English Translations. It had cool features where you could click on words in the English or even the Originals and get a breakdown of the whole background on the word. Is there anything like that. Anything that has any thing even similar. It was handy for Exegesis. But just to have a program with several translations would be really nice. Maybe a cross referencing tool or something. I know nothing of programming so I couldn't help I would just like to see it. :)

For what it is worth, I too, would like to see this somehow ported to our favorite flavor of linux here. Alas, I am a preacher, not a programmer.

[bigern75]

I love the CE but after converting, my laptop is running über slow.
Is there a remove script or how can I go back to my prior feisty edition.

[mhancoc7]

I love the CE but after converting, my laptop is running über slow.
Is there a remove script or how can I go back to my prior feisty edition.

Threr is not currently a "remove" script. You can look at the script files to see exactly what was changed. Be sure to make "hidden" files visible.

There should not have been any changes that would slow down your system. Your internet speed will suffer due to the filtering, but that should be it.

Let me know more details about your issue so maybe we can look inti it deeper.

Thanks, Jereme

[bigern75]

Ive disabled all the parental controls.

I keep getting crash reports after crash reports. Never had any until I converted to CE

I can supply you with one if you would like.

[mhancoc7]

Ive disabled all the parental controls.

I keep getting crash reports after crash reports. Never had any until I converted to CE

I can supply you with one if you would like.

Sorry for your trouble.

Yes a screenshot of one of the crash reports may help.

Thanks, Jereme

[bigern75]

I read thru the crash reports. It was compiz, automatix and ubuntu system panel that was causing the crashes. Uninstalled them, didnt use them anyways and all is well. I will keep an eye out and see what else I can find. Thanks!

EDIT: And I did a kernal upgrade ;)

[mhancoc7]

I read thru the crash reports. It was compiz, automatix and ubuntu system panel that was causing the crashes. Uninstalled them, didnt use them anyways and all is well. I will keep an eye out and see what else I can find. Thanks!

EDIT: And I did a kernal upgrade ;)

Ok, great. Just keep me up to date.

Thank, Jereme

[Clayton South]

Hi everyone,

Just want to first say thanks for the CE dansguardian GUI - it's a life-saver and a true blessing. But I have an issue that I have so far not been able to resolve:

I use evolution to check my hotmail account, and with dansguardian CE for gutsy enabled, I can no longer connect to this. I know that I'm not the only one with this issue, so some help would be a big benefit to everyone.

What's the solution?

Thanks!

-Clayton South

[Clayton South]

Anyone?

-Clayton South