Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [technical discussion]

[mhancoc7]

Hi all,
I am working on what has been a dream of mine for quite a while. It is a customized Ubuntu LiveCD that is geared towards Christians. The intent is not to seperate Christians from the Ubuntu community. In fact the idea is to bring them into the Ubuntu community. The first release will be a very simple customization of Dapper. Basically added GnomeSword Bible program and made some simple graphical changes. The default Ubuntu setup is still the same. I also had to remove a few packages to keep the .iso size below 700mb. I plan to add more Christian software and make some additional changes, without changing the basics of Ubuntu. I am currently only working with the i386 Ubuntu. Hopefully I will be able to work on the other Ubuntu releases as well.

The next step is to find a server to host the .iso. My server simply does not have the capacity. I am humbly asking for someone who is interested in this project to donate some server space for the .iso. If anyone is interested please PM me.

Also if anyone is interested in helping with the development of this project or has suggestions please let me know. I am very excited about this project and would love to get feedback from this wonderful community.

God Bless, Jereme

[aysiu]

Will this CD include OpenLP?
http://openlp.org/en/

[mhancoc7]

Will this CD include OpenLP?
http://openlp.org/en/

Honestly I had never heard of it. It looks like a perfect addition to Ubuntu Christian Edition. I will put it on the list for the next release. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Do you know if there is a deb package for it? That would make things a lot easier.

Thanks again for letting me know about this.

Jereme

[aysiu]

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a .deb for it.

[mhancoc7]

That's a neat idea.

Thanks, Jereme

[Skia_42]

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.

[deanjm1963]

I think it's a great idea, but perhaps instead of creating a "Christian Edition", how about creating a repository with all the Christian software available for Ubuntu users to install, it would certainly save on bandwith, etc, and allow other Ubuntu users to install the software if they wish.

[aysiu]

Basically added GnomeSword Bible program and made some simple graphical changes. Is GnomeSword the same as this?
http://www.crosswire.org/sword/index.jsp

Also, did you include the gDesklet that has Bible verses... I forget what it's called.

[henriquemaia]

I think it's a great idea, but perhaps instead of creating a "Christian Edition", how about creating a repository with all the Christian software available for Ubuntu users to install, it would certainly save on bandwith, etc, and allow other Ubuntu users to install the software if they wish.

But one good thing about the CD is that you can give it for those people (or Churches or Christian communities) with bad or no internet connection.

[skull_leader]

Jubuntu?
:-#

[Arisna]

This does not sound like it will be very different from regular Ubuntu, so have you considered starting the project by distributing it as a binary diff against the Ubuntu ISO? Not sure how well this would work out, but if it worked it would require less bandwidth.

[RAV TUX]

Jubuntu?
:-#

be sweet. (Bubuntu?)


btw...I'm not Christian but I applaud your effort.

[mhancoc7]

Thank you all for your replies. I have considered many of the options that you all have suggested. I really want to put this out as a LiveCD distro because I believe that it will reach the greatest audience. I also agree that being able to hand someone a disk at Church or wherever is very beneficial. I mean that is how I got Ubuntu in the first place.
Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Is GnomeSword the same as this?
http://www.crosswire.org/sword/index.jsp

Yes GnomeSword uses the Bible Text from the Sword project.

Also, did you include the gDesklet that has Bible verses... I forget what it's called.

I have not included it in the first release, but will be in the next. Thanks again for your suggestions. They are very much appreciated.

I also want to to thank all of you who are not necessarily Christian for recognizing the potential for this project and not getting "hung up" on the Christian thing. I sincerly appreciate it.

God Bless, Jereme

[matthew]

Will this CD include OpenLP?
http://openlp.org/en/I read through a lot of the site and never completely understood what this does. Could you help me out?

Also, the requirements page said this:
requirements
to use openlp.org nicely, the following hardware would be a reasonable minimum specification:
500 Mhz CPU (that's about a 5 year old computer in layman's terms)
64 Mb RAM (that's, again, about a 5 year old computer)
25 Mb of hard disk space
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
multiple monitor support (you've probably got this if you're running a projector with a newish [last 5 years] laptop)
Microsoft DirectX 9 or greater - this can be downloaded from the Microsoft DirectX page (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/)
if you would like to use the text over video feature in openlp, a DV camera would be useful, linked to the computer by firewire.
for Powerpoint support, Powerpoint 2000/XP/2003 is required.

[PapaWiskas]

Yes, I know and I expected someone to feel this way. In my opinion there are many Christians who simply do not realize that there are Christian Linux programs. I feel like having a real Christian Linux distro available will only bring more users to Linux and to Ubuntu. That is just my opinion though.

God Bless, Jereme


I am not Christian either and well, I think you idea is a great one. And I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you complete your project.

[T700]

I think this is a perfectly reasonable project. I work quite a bit with non-profits (church, temple, mosque, medical clinic, etc.) and they are notoriously bad about using pirated (ie. "borrowed") software and copies of Windows. This is a great way to not only bring them to Linux, but to help them do things legally. I can see rolling out a Medical Ubuntu, Buddhist Ubuntu, and such. Hmm...I think I see my Fall project!

Paul

[mhancoc7]

I am not Christian either and well, I think you idea is a great one. And I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you complete your project.

Thank you very much! I am very close to being finished with the initial release. Now I just need a place to host the .iso.

Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

I think this is a perfectly reasonable project. I work quite a bit with non-profits (church, temple, mosque, medical clinic, etc.) and they are notoriously bad about using pirated (ie. "borrowed") software and copies of Windows. This is a great way to not only bring them to Linux, but to help them do things legally. I can see rolling out a Medical Ubuntu, Buddist Ubuntu, and such. Hmm...I think I see my Fall project!

Paul

Thanks, and you make some very good points.
Jereme

[schurtek]

I have an old PII laptop that I am converting into a wall mount Torrent Tracker and Seed Server as well as a download server. so if you want I can host the original Torrent Seed for you once my server is up. I just need to get a bigger HDD, 4GIGS not enough, but I think that an external USB drive will do the trick, (250GB Enuff)?

[mhancoc7]

I have an old PII laptop that I am converting into a wall mount Torrent Tracker and Seed Server as well as a download server. so if you want I can host the original Torrent Seed for you once my server is up. I just need to get a bigger HDD, 4GIGS not enough, but I think that an external USB drive will do the trick, (250GB Enuff)?

Thanks, that sounds awesome.

I am not too familiar with Torrent Seeds. How does that work?

I really appreciate your willings to help.

God Bless, Jereme

[richbarna]

I think this is a perfectly reasonable project. I work quite a bit with non-profits (church, temple, mosque, medical clinic, etc.) and they are notoriously bad about using pirated (ie. "borrowed") software and copies of Windows. This is a great way to not only bring them to Linux, but to help them do things legally. I can see rolling out a Medical Ubuntu, Buddhist Ubuntu, and such. Hmm...I think I see my Fall project!

Paul

WHAT?! Are you saying that all these religious, holier than thou people are using stolen, pirated software?.

That has made my day :) I am an Atheist by the way, but good luck on the distro. If you can turn ubuntu religious, there will be an extra million users by next year.

[Lord Illidan]

WHAT?! Are you saying that all these religious, holier than thou people are using stolen, pirated software?.

They are usually the people who don't have any money to pay for it. Linux would be a very good solution for them.

I applaud your distribution! Are you thinking about any artwork?

[PapaWiskas]

Are you thinking about any artwork?

That is a great idea. I would be willing to help in whatever fashion with regards to artwork should you decide to pursue that avenue. Just let me know, you can send me a private message if you wish, that way I can provide you my email address should you decide you would like my help.

[richbarna]

Mhancoc7

I think i've found you an Ubuntu Forums Avatar :)

12966

I think the Tux avatars are quite cool, mine's Barcelona FC.

[mhancoc7]

They are usually the people who don't have any money to pay for it. Linux would be a very good solution for them.

I applaud your distribution! Are you thinking about any artwork?

Thanks, I am not sure about artwork yet. I have put together a simple icon for the About program that I put together that will be on the Desktop. I think I am going to try and stay really close to the default Ubuntu.

That is a great idea. I would be willing to help in whatever fashion with regards to artwork should you decide to pursue that avenue. Just let me know, you can send me a private message if you wish, that way I can provide you my email address should you decide you would like my help.

Thanks, I will PM you. I am not sure what my plans are for artwork yet, but your help is most appreciated.

Mhancoc7

I think i've found you an Ubuntu Forums Avatar :)

12966

I think the Tux avatars are quite cool, mine's Barcelona FC.

That's funny! Maybe just minus the "Worship Me", but you have definitely got me thinking.

God Bless, Jereme

[brentoboy]

jereme,

if you had serverspace on some arbitrary "some-dudes-web-server.com" out there, how will you direct people to the iso?

will there be a download page on some dude's server? or will you host a webpage somewhere and have a hard link to the iso?

In other words, are you requesting a site? or a piece of harddrive space and a chunk of bandwidth?

Do you know how to make it a torrent? how are torrents originally seeded? Maybe using a torrent as well is the right idea -- it could lessen the burden on some-dude's webserver.

[mhancoc7]

jereme,

if you had serverspace on some arbitrary "some-dudes-web-server.com" out there, how will you direct people to the iso?

will there be a download page on some dude's server? or will you host a webpage somewhere and have a hard link to the iso?

In other words, are you requesting a site? or a piece of harddrive space and a chunk of bandwidth?

Do you know how to make it a torrent? how are torrents originally seeded? Maybe using a torrent as well is the right idea -- it could lessen the burden on some-dude's webserver.

I only need "a piece of harddrive space and a chunk of bandwidth". I will be using my LinuxForChristians.com for the site. I just don't have enough capacity with my web host.

I am not sure how to make it a torrent, but that sounds like a good idea. I really hope to get the full .iso hosted since many people do not know exactly how to use torrent downloaders. However, this might be the best route.

Thanks, Jereme

[Arnaud_B]

Hi,
I arrive a little late in this threat but I wanted to say that I find this project really nice too :-) congrats for your efforts.
However, I might have a suggestion (no idea if it's a good one though... ;-) )
From what I understand you want to create a Christian version of Ubuntu which will be effectively different from ubuntu only in terms of the sofware installed, artwork, and configuration... Am I right? So... releasing a whole new distribution seems like a lot of work for such little differences no? I was thinking that a good alternative could be to write a script that configure a existing ubuntu installations in the Christian version... How does it sound?
you could make the script remove/add packages, change the theme, but I think it is also interesting to download/install/configure non-deb sofware such as openlp... and you would not have to package the deb for it also... and finally the problem of server space would be far more manageable... ;-)
Hope this help!
Congratulation for your work,
A.

[schurtek]

A torrent seed is like a download server with out the stress of having 1000 people download at once. each person that downloads also becomes a download server. when they have a 100% download they then become a torrent seed. another beauty of this is that if the main seed goes down... people can still download... and the more people download the faster each persons download becomes, yet there is no need to get super powerful servers and highspeed connection. To let you know, I ran my last seed server at a quarter the speed of a telephone line modem, and never had any problems or even anyone notice that the server was so slow.

[brentoboy]

I'll host your iso

I just bought the domain guibuntu-server.org so that I can start hosting a project to create a simple sever centric lightweight GUI for using an ubuntu server in small business environements with minimal learning curve.

As soon as I sort out creating you an ftp account with access to your own little folder, I will PM you and get you started.

I figure if I dont have the bandwidth there to handle your iso, then I will be in big trouble when the guibuntu-server iso is ready to be distributed.

also, I am going to want your expertise in return for hosting the iso -- I am going to ultimatly make a custom iso for a guibuntu-server installer, and I would like to be able to pick your brain when I get started customizing the LiveCD.

is it a deal?

[mhancoc7]

Hi,
I arrive a little late in this threat but I wanted to say that I find this project really nice too :-) congrats for your efforts.
However, I might have a suggestion (no idea if it's a good one though... ;-) )
From what I understand you want to create a Christian version of Ubuntu which will be effectively different from ubuntu only in terms of the sofware installed, artwork, and configuration... Am I right? So... releasing a whole new distribution seems like a lot of work for such little differences no? I was thinking that a good alternative could be to write a script that configure a existing ubuntu installations in the Christian version... How does it sound?
you could make the script remove/add packages, change the theme, but I think it is also interesting to download/install/configure non-deb sofware such as openlp... and you would not have to package the deb for it also... and finally the problem of server space would be far more manageable... ;-)
Hope this help!
Congratulation for your work,
A.


Thank you very much.

I do agree that what you are suggesting would solve the server space situation. I also think it would be nice for those who want the Christian Edition but already have Ubuntu installed. However, my main reason for wanting to create a full distro is for the fact that it will get more exposure to an audience of Christian computer users who may have never heard of Ubuntu. I also want the ability to hand them a disk and say check it out.

I think I will put the script idea on the list for the future. I think it would be a nice addition to the project as a whole.

Thanks and God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

I'll host your iso

I just bought the domain guibuntu-server.org so that I can start hosting a project to create a simple sever centric lightweight GUI for using an ubuntu server in small business environements with minimal learning curve.

As soon as I sort out creating you an ftp account with access to your own little folder, I will PM you and get you started.

I figure if I dont have the bandwidth there to handle your iso, then I will be in big trouble when the guibuntu-server iso is ready to be distributed.

also, I am going to want your expertise in return for hosting the iso -- I am going to ultimatly make a custom iso for a guibuntu-server installer, and I would like to be able to pick your brain when I get started customizing the LiveCD.

is it a deal?


AWESOME!!! AWESOME!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

I am 99.9% finished with what I hope will be the initial release. I can't wait to get this up and going.

You can pick my brain all you want. I must warn you that there really isn't much to pick. haha

Thanks again, I am so very excited. Jereme

[erikpiper]

I cant help, but that is a REALLY cool idea! It would be great to give to some of my freinds, and I would use it as my live CD just because..

I didnt actually know of many christian users on the forums.. Great to see this! I never would of thought of it.. Good luck!

[brentoboy]

let me know when you go "live" so I can play with it -- if I'm hosting it i might as well give it a look-see and maybe some feedback.

[mhancoc7]

I cant help, but that is a REALLY cool idea! It would be great to give to some of my freinds, and I would use it as my live CD just because..

I didnt actually know of many christian users on the forums.. Great to see this! I never would of thought of it.. Good luck!

Thanks, I have not seen a very large Christian presence in any of the Linux forums that I have checked out. However, I know plenty of Christians that are using Linux or are curious about it.


let me know when you go "live" so I can play with it -- if I'm hosting it i might as well give it a look-see and maybe some feedback.

Absolutely! I plan to upload a pre-release tonight to test out the ftp upload. I would love to get feedback from you. Like I said it really is a simple customization of Ubuntu. I plan to add more software and changes in the future releases.

Thanks again, Jereme

[aysiu]

I wish more Christian organizations would use Linux and open source software in general.

Most of the churches and Christian organizations I know have the integrity (and fear of license audits) to not pirate software, but they don't have the sense to investigate open source alternatives, so a huge chunk of the offering and donations go into buying Windows and proprietary software.

Unfortunately, my current church is deeply entrenched in MediaShout, and apparently (I've researched a lot online) there's no Linux or open source substitute for it. It's the best on the market. I am getting my foot slowly in the door--I've converted my pastor (former IE diehard) to Firefox, and now he's even started "preaching" Firefox to other congregation members.

[mhancoc7]

I wish more Christian organizations would use Linux and open source software in general.

Most of the churches and Christian organizations I know have the integrity (and fear of license audits) to not pirate software, but they don't have the sense to investigate open source alternatives, so a huge chunk of the offering and donations go into buying Windows and proprietary software.

Unfortunately, my current church is deeply entrenched in MediaShout, and apparently (I've researched a lot online) there's no Linux or open source substitute for it. It's the best on the market. I am getting my foot slowly in the door--I've converted my pastor (former IE diehard) to Firefox, and now he's even started "preaching" Firefox to other congregation members.

I feel the same way. I converted a local paster to Ubuntu this past year and he loves it.

Just think soon you will be able to hand your paster a Ubuntu Christian Edition disk. Who knows maybe that will help push him over the edge.

God Bless, Jereme

[wthanna]

I love the idea and will do whatever I can to support it including keeping the torrent active. Have you thought of doing this in a project similar to "automatix" ? People could download something like this and select from a list of programs, enhancements, etc? It would greatly reduce your bandwidth requirements.. you would not need to host the entire 700MB .iso, etc.. could just mirror the additional software..

On a slightly off-topic subject, maybe someone on this thread has used e-sword, which I consider to be the best Bible study software out there regardless of price (it's free). I know previous versions have worked with Wine, and I would really like to get this working on Ubuntu if anyone has a version that works. ??

I work with sound/video in my Church and would love to get them away from Powerpoint and MS, and over to Ubuntu / OpenOffice.. I would also like to make presentations for OpenOffice available to the community for use in the Church, and should be able to host them on my server soon.

[aysiu]

I haven't used them myself, but GnomeSword and BibleTime are both in the Universe repositories:
http://gnomesword.sourceforge.net/
http://www.bibletime.info/

[Torstein_V]

I agree as well, this is a great initiative by mhancoc7.

Making Ubuntu and GNU/Linux available to more people is just great, and customizing the distros for each purposes and target groups is the right way to make it happen.

Though I think you could change the Ubuntu theme a bit from the original. Maybe change the earthly brown into heavinly blue and white? :) Changing the desktop wallpaper into a christian one, and ofcourse rename the distro to,Christubuntu, og perhaps Jesubuntu?

I'm also a Christian, and I'm really loving this project! Though I support the 700 mb CD-suggestion over the installation script. Not all churces has access to broadband.

Another reason why this project is so great, is because of the lack of knowledge among a lot of the "old-school-christians" thinking GNU/Linux' Satans work and all, which it is not. (Thinking of programs like daemons etc etc) This is a chance for us to convince them otherwise!

I'll sure talk to my church about switching to Jesubuntu ;)

By the way, anybody else loving the Hillsong United music group? I know, off-topic, but still... :)

[matthew]

I didnt actually know of many christian users on the forums.. Actually, there seem to be quite a few here, and not that annoying, in your face type either, just all around good people who belong to a specific faith. It's refreshing. (There are a lot of pretty great people of other faiths/philosophies here as well.)

[matthew]

I haven't used them myself, but GnomeSword and BibleTime are both in the Universe repositories:
http://gnomesword.sourceforge.net/
http://www.bibletime.info/I like GnomeSword quite a bit.

[aysiu]

Actually, there seem to be quite a few here, and not that annoying, in your face type either, just all around good people who belong to a specific faith. It's refreshing. (There are a lot of pretty great people of other faiths/philosophies here as well.)
I think if you're a Christian Linux user, you learn pretty quickly not to be obnoxious in evangelizing about either Christianity or Linux!

[mips]

Whatever happened to “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” with people starting to call it Jesubuntu ?

Why not just have a list of religious packages that people can install ?

My personal opinion is that religion is a man made thing to control mankind and it does more bad than good. Just take a look at history and you'll see how many wars were fought in the name of religion and people invoking the name of God to further their cause, even GW Bush did it although church and state should be seperate.

To each their own but I wish people would start to think for themselves and believe in themselves.

[aysiu]

I don't see how creating a version of Ubuntu tailored to churches is taking the name of the Lord in vain. And the reason not to have just a list of religious packages has already been explained--not every church has broadband, and the tailored version would run as a live CD for demonstration purposes as well.

Do you know how well a demonstration would go with, "Yeah, here's a live CD... let me download some religious packages... oh, wait there's not enough RAM to store all these in a live session... can I install it to your hard drive? Also, the installation of the religious packages may take a while... you're on dial-up, right?"

[mips]

I don't see how creating a version of Ubuntu tailored to churches is taking the name of the Lord in vain....

Also, the installation of the religious packages may take a while... you're on dial-up, right?"

I was referring to the name Jesubuntu suggested here.

I used to be on dial-up and I know it is a pain for something like Ubuntu.

[richbarna]

That's funny! Maybe just minus the "Worship Me", but you have definitely got me thinking.

God Bless, Jereme

Yeah, your right, a plain avatar always looks better. As long as nobody gets offended by the image of Jesus as a Linux penguin.

Also, I found some really nice Christian wallpapers that I feel have the right colours to blend-in with Ubuntu.
http://www.fci.crossnet.se/wallpapers3.html

Every distro has it's own wallpaper.

[Torstein_V]

Okay, I realize implementing the name of God into the Distro's original name may occur blasfemic, but it was just a name found out of the blue, to state that the customized Ubuntu distro needs a catchy name that explains people what kind of packages it contains, and what purpose it is meant for.

What it needs is a name that doesn't distinguishes too much from the other distros' names: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu.

Perhaps Christiuntu? Pronounced Khristioontoo, as in Christians, not Khraistiooontoo as in God's name; Jesus Christ.

[T700]

Cubuntu?

Paul

[Brunellus]

perhaps simply changing the name of the distro to "Agape" would do.

[aysiu]

Just don't call it Jesux (http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Node/4081/).

[matthew]

Just don't call it Jesux (http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Node/4081/).LOL
Also, we are seriously considering changing some fundamental OS features. The idea would be that function calls and features suggesting evil and otherwise pagan ideas would be changed.
abort(3)
kill(1)
references to "daemon"and This page last updated Wednesday, September 29, 1999, 13:51:07 PDTand especially (phew!)
http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Node/4081/jesux.html

EDIT: I forgot to say, that made my day. I needed to laugh that hard.

[mhancoc7]

WOW! I am blown away by the reaction that this thread has generated. I appreciate all your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming. I would like to address of few of them.

Changing the color theme:
Maybe, I am not sure if I want to though. The original idea was not to stray to far from the default. Still considering this one.

Changing the name (ie Christiuntu):
I appreciate all theses ideas. I want to be very careful here since I don't want to put someone off. I am really leaning towards just using Ubuntu "Christian Edition" since I really want to stay true to Ubuntu. I like the catchy names of Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. I just think it gets a little confusing for newbies. I mean if you are new to Linux you don't automatically understand that the "K" is for KDE. You probably wouldn't know what KDE was for that matter. Just my opinion, but I wish they were named Ubuntu "KDE Edition" or something to that same effect.

Thank you all again for the great feedback and support, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Yeah, your right, a plain avatar always looks better. As long as nobody gets offended by the image of Jesus as a Linux penguin.

Also, I found some really nice Christian wallpapers that I feel have the right colours to blend-in with Ubuntu.
http://www.fci.crossnet.se/wallpapers3.html

Every distro has it's own wallpaper.

Thanks for the link, I will check them out. I definitely want it to blend nicely, but I agree it needs to have its own look.

Jereme

[henriquemaia]

Maybe you can think on a distintive logo, following Kubuntu or Xubuntu trend, giving an imagetical idea to the distro.

You could add a Christian symbol to the ubuntu logo (an Ichthys, maybe). I have no idea if this is feasable or not, since I do not have skills in desing. But I know that an appealing logo can make a difference.

[mhancoc7]

Maybe you can think on a distintive logo, following Kubuntu or Xubuntu trend, giving an imagetical idea to the distro.

You could add a Christian symbol to the ubuntu logo (an Ichthys, maybe). I have no idea if this is feasable or not, since I do not have skills in desing. But I know that an appealing logo can make a difference.

Yes, I agree. I am working on a few things, but nothing set in stone as of yet.
Jereme

[scxtt]

what's w/ the ". . . Need Server Space" if i keep seeing talk of 'churches don't generally have broadband'? -- is it so some broadband-enabled 'christian' can d/l & burn it for a church?

(i find it funny that there's a red-devil 'icon for you message' - i couldn't resist)

[scxtt]

that was an honest ? on my part - i was curious ... i have no use for religion, but if Jereme does good work - more power to him ...

[aysiu]

what's w/ the ". . . Need Server Space" if i keep seeing talk of 'churches don't generally have broadband'? -- is it so some broadband-enabled 'christian' can d/l & burn it for a church? Yes. That's what it'd be for.

[Sef]

I am really leaning towards just using Ubuntu "Christian Edition"

You should check with Canonical about that. Ubuntu is a commercial product too, and the name would be trademarked. You don't need a letter from a lawyer telling you to change your name after your product is out the door.

[Somenoob]

I suggest you make an offical backgroud for it, a picture of Jesus durring his last meal with Tux somewhere on the left.

[mhancoc7]

The problem is WHERE do you stop making all these EDITIONS. isn't desktop environment enough?

P.S. i propose a Ubuntu "Terrorist Edition" CD loaded with all the missile launching and bomb detonate control programs! ;)

I understand what you are saying. I did sense a little sarcasm and that just isn't necessary. I agree that making more and more "fillintheblankubuntus" is kind of confusing and may even dillute the whole. However, I believe that the whole point of open source is the power of choice. The power to take software and make it fit your needs or a group's needs. So that is what I want to do. I also want to remind everyone that my original goal was to keep everything default ubuntu as much as possible. So this might not even really be considered a "true" distro to its own. I do want it to have its own identity, but not to the detriment of Ubuntu.


I also want to encourage anyone who reads this article to take the time to consider if your input is beneficial or just distracting. I love this forum because of its willingness to accomodate everyone. I have never preached my religion on this forum and I will never do so. I simply am who I am and I want to share myself with you all.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

You should check with Canonical about that. Ubuntu is a commercial product too, and the name would be trademarked. You don't need a letter from a lawyer telling you to change your name after your product is out the door.

Good call. I am going to email them asap.
Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Here is a basic idea for the logo. It is very rough, but it is just to demonstate the possible concept. Please let me know what you all think. I am not sure if I will even be using a different logo, but I want to explore the possibility.

God Bless, Jereme

[potrick]

Hey, Potrick here, Christian and student at Grand Rapid's Calvin College. I had a few ideas, sorry if I've jumped into the conversation a little late.
First of all, I was wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to define our audience. The term "Christian" means a large group of people, from Catholics to Calvinists to Evangelicals. Will the distribution focus on not drawing out these differences? I'm not accusing you of doing so, from what I've seen so far this seems like a great idea, I'm just wondering what your thoughts on this are. I think an attempt to create a distribution for all Christians would not only be a loving thing but very consistant with how I understand the Ubuntu philosophy.
Second of all, I'd like to suggest that you include some useful Christian links in the install of firefox, keeping in mind point one's lack of exclusion. I find Bible Gateway to be very useful, and I'm sure other people here can think of a number of useful online resources.
Third of all, if you don't mind me saying this, I think it might be a good idea to stay away from "Christian wallpaper". To me, this feels like a branding effort, and I personally am not comfortable with that.
I do, however, like the idea of the gdesklet that displays Bible verses being used in this somehow. However, gdesklets can be a bit of a pain to use (it crashes quite often on me to the point where I've never used it for longer than five minutes) I wonder if some more code-minded Christian here would be willing to write up a more lightweight program that does a similar thing without a gDesklets backend, perhaps depending on the (already installed) gnome-sword datebase?
I hope my points have been useful, let me know what you think and feel free to write me asking for more detail.

[cjm5229]

God Bless You! I think this is a wonderful idea. I have both GnomeSword and Bibletime in my Computer, they are great, however they don't begin to measure up to e-Sword. I have not been able to get e-Sword to work in wine either. Maybe some day Rick Myers will be able to port a Linux Version. I like the idea of Christian wallpaper, and maybe include some Christian websites in Firefox bookmarks. Contact Canonical about using "Ubuntu Christian Edition" That is a great name. What could be more "Human" than this?

Romans 11: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

[mhancoc7]

Hey, Potrick here, Christian and student at Grand Rapid's Calvin College. I had a few ideas, sorry if I've jumped into the conversation a little late.
First of all, I was wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to define our audience. The term "Christian" means a large group of people, from Catholics to Calvinists to Evangelicals. Will the distribution focus on not drawing out these differences? I'm not accusing you of doing so, from what I've seen so far this seems like a great idea, I'm just wondering what your thoughts on this are. I think an attempt to create a distribution for all Christians would not only be a loving thing but very consistant with how I understand the Ubuntu philosophy.
Second of all, I'd like to suggest that you include some useful Christian links in the install of firefox, keeping in mind point one's lack of exclusion. I find Bible Gateway to be very useful, and I'm sure other people here can think of a number of useful online resources.
Third of all, if you don't mind me saying this, I think it might be a good idea to stay away from "Christian wallpaper". To me, this feels like a branding effort, and I personally am not comfortable with that.
I do, however, like the idea of the gdesklet that displays Bible verses being used in this somehow. However, gdesklets can be a bit of a pain to use (it crashes quite often on me to the point where I've never used it for longer than five minutes) I wonder if some more code-minded Christian here would be willing to write up a more lightweight program that does a similar thing without a gDesklets backend, perhaps depending on the (already installed) gnome-sword datebase?
I hope my points have been useful, let me know what you think and feel free to write me asking for more detail.

Thanks Potrick,
You make some excellent points. I agree with the negative impact of "branding". I am only exploring those as options at this point. I want the "distro" to have its own identity, but I am not sure how I want to do that.

The firefox links is a great idea!!

I plan on making the "distro" as all inclusive as possible. It is not for me to judge on Christian over the next. From Catholics to Protestants or Lutheran to Holiness, I hope to make this distribution for all Christians.

Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

God Bless You! I think this is a wonderful idea. I have both GnomeSword and Bibletime in my Computer, they are great, however they don't begin to measure up to e-Sword. I have not been able to get e-Sword to work in wine either. Maybe some day Rick Myers will be able to port a Linux Version. I like the idea of Christian wallpaper, and maybe include some Christian websites in Firefox bookmarks. Contact Canonical about using "Ubuntu Christian Edition" That is a great name. What could be more "Human" than this?

Romans 11: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Thanks so much!!
Jereme

[ericesque]

Loving the concept of the whole idea.

Thought on your icon/logo though:
A well designed logo will be:

Distinctive
Simple
Scalable
Work in Black and white only

Your logo is distinctive and likely scalable. But it has become a bit complex and wouldn't work very well in black and white. I'm in class tonight, but I will try to work out some ideas later tonight if you're interested.

I'd also like to offer my services for any artwork necessary.


My concern with the project is that any church that uses Ubuntu "Christian Edition" would need some kind of support, someone to help train staff, and software alternatives that may not yet be available for linux. How can we resolve these issues?

[mhancoc7]

Loving the concept of the whole idea.

Thought on your icon/logo though:
A well designed logo will be:

Distinctive
Simple
Scalable
Work in Black and white only

Your logo is distinctive and likely scalable. But it has become a bit complex and wouldn't work very well in black and white. I'm in class tonight, but I will try to work out some ideas later tonight if you're interested.

I'd also like to offer my services for any artwork necessary.


My concern with the project is that any church that uses Ubuntu "Christian Edition" would need some kind of support, someone to help train staff, and software alternatives that may not yet be available for linux. How can we resolve these issues?


Thanks, I agree that the logo is way to complex. I mainly just wanted to throw out an idea and let the feedback roll in. I will take you up on your help with artwork. I appreciate all the help I can get. I will look forward to seeing what you put together.

I am not sure about the "support" issues. In fact I haven't really thought about it. My initial goal was to reach individual Christians. This definitely needs to be considered. Thanks for bringing it up.

God Bless, Jereme

[goobers]

As a designer type, i'd also be willing to help with the art side of things, i'll also try to help out as much as possible in other areas if needed.

I think that this is a really nice project and will be of benefit to churches everywhere :)

I also have a suggestion for a name :P Biblubuntu... sorry about that, you've had loads of suggestions already, but i thought i'd just throw mine in there too :D

[goobers]

I am not sure about the "support" issues. In fact I haven't really thought about it. My initial goal was to reach individual Christians. This definitely needs to be considered. Thanks for bringing it up.

One thing you could do is possibly ask for a section in the forums here...

Also, a wiki could be started for the project

[Skia_42]

One thing you could do is possibly ask for a section in the forums here...

Also, a wiki could be started for the project

I fully support the idea of having a Christian Edition of Ubuntu but I think that giving a section of the forums is a bad idea. I can see too many people getting anoyed that there are not other sections for other religions. It seems like it would be opening a Pandoras Box.

[mhancoc7]

As a designer type, i'd also be willing to help with the art side of things, i'll also try to help out as much as possible in other areas if needed.

I think that this is a really nice project and will be of benefit to churches everywhere :)

I also have a suggestion for a name :P Biblubuntu... sorry about that, you've had loads of suggestions already, but i thought i'd just throw mine in there too :D

Thank you for your comments. I also appreciate your willingness to help. If you have any ideas for the logo or wallpaper I would love to see them. I am still not sure if I am going to use a custom logo. Like I mentioned earlier my original intent was to stay as default Ubuntu as possible, but I am going to explore all options before deciding. I am also waiting on word from Canonical about what I can do.

I like Biblubuntu. It is the best so far. I am still leaning towards Ubuntu "Christian Edition", but your name idea is on the top of the list.

One thing you could do is possibly ask for a section in the forums here...

Also, a wiki could be started for the project

Great ideas. I am not sure how to go about either of those, but I am sure I will find out.

Thanks for those suggestions.

I guess I need to start making a list or something. I really didn't expect this kind of response. It is exciting. I want to be sure that this is done right and with all of your help I know we can do it.

God Bless, Jereme

[goobers]

I fully support the idea of having a Christian Edition of Ubuntu but I think that giving a section of the forums is a bad idea. I can see too many people getting anoyed that there are not other sections for other religions. It seems like it would be opening a Pandoras Box.

But it wouldn't be a section for Christians, more a section for the support of the distribution Christian Ubuntu. If people of other religions wanted to start their own distribution then they could get their own sections.

[T700]

But it wouldn't be a section for Christians, more a section for the support of the distribution Christian Ubuntu. If people of other religions wanted to start their own distribution then they could get their own sections.

Rather than segmenting by religion, why not a "Customized Distro" section, or the like. That way we avoid having 172 sub forums for every different interest group. Additionally, many of the questions regarding customization will be equally applicable to all groups.

Paul

[Athanasius]

I like your idea! I think that letting Christians know that Microsoft donates money to planned parenthood for abortions and the like may help them to migrate to Ubuntu. I will pray that all goes well with your project.

[T700]

I like your idea! I think that letting Christians know that Microsoft donates money to planned parenthood for abortions and the like may help them to migrate to Ubuntu. I will pray that all goes well with your project.

Careful--you're stepping out of the technical and into the theological. Remember that not all Christians hold your beliefs.

Paul

[mhancoc7]

Rather than segmenting by religion, why not a "Customized Distro" section, or the like. That way we avoid having 172 sub forums for every different interest group. Additionally, many of the questions regarding customization will be equally applicable to all groups.

Paul

I like this idea. I am definitely going to have to come up with a way to consolidate the information about this distro. I want to keep it on this forum if possible, but if not I will figure it out.

I like your idea! I think that letting Christians know that Microsoft donates money to planned parenthood for abortions and the like may help them to migrate to Ubuntu. I will pray that all goes well with your project.

Thank you for your prayers.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Careful--you're stepping out of the technical and into the theological. Remember that not all Christians hold your beliefs.

Paul

I agree, let's try to keep this thread on target. The target being releasing this distro and gaining new Ubuntu users. I don't want this project to spin out of control over differences in beliefs. I think we can all agree that Ubuntu rocks, I just want to spread it to the Christian Market.

God Bless, Jereme

[blitzd]

I have to say I think this is a pretty cool idea you have, regardless of my religious beliefs. I don't think creating a distro aimed at a certain group is a bad thing, especially if it's made to connect them to resources in the open-source world or intarweb specific to their faith. If you have the hosting capabilities maybe you could even set up a Ubuntu specific repository of the packages you want to include, not just for your distro but as something other Ubuntu users could apt-get as well. Doesn't even have to be you that hosts it, just connect people to the repositories. A server specific config would be pretty cool too. Just some thoughts... ;)

I too have had dealings with religious organizations who are not neccesarily tech-savy (not that they were using pirated software or anything). One of them got hacked though, and much to their horror became a pr0n distro ftp site (let me tell ya that was a difficult one to explain to the rabbi). Anyways, anything that makes available a more secure computing platform to 'the masses' is A-OK in my books... I'll even send some people your way once you're up and running. :)

[Thenotsowyzewun]

This is an excellent idea.
I'm not Christian myself, but know plenty of devout Christian's who run on stolen copies of Windows with piles of illegal software installed, and a few churches too.
They've always liked the idea of Linux, but never had anything specific to entice them except of course the "Thou Shalt not Steal" aspect...!

Anyway, this would be an excellent marketing tool - it's labelled for them in particular, tailored. How can Windows compete against that?!

I look forward to this release with interest, and I'll distributing a dozen copies next time I'm at church (I'm not Christian, but Church is cool (it's one of those really lively ones with loads of cool people!)).
It's like a really cool social club basically; I go clubbing a lot, and hang out with a few mates on their own, but I don't really have any groups of friends so it sort of fills that void.
Not that I'm lonely, check me out on dontstayin.com/members/thewyzewun!

[Skia_42]

Rather than segmenting by religion, why not a "Customized Distro" section, or the like. That way we avoid having 172 sub forums for every different interest group. Additionally, many of the questions regarding customization will be equally applicable to all groups.

Paul

I think that if we had a "Customized Distro" section, we would have to make sure that there are sub-forums for each group. Otherwise we would end up having one big list off all the posts from all the distributions organized by post date. On second thoguht, it may be more effective to simply have links in a "Customized Distro" section to the indevidual distros. (The forums, info and so on would be externally hosted.)

[brentoboy]

I imagine that a lot of you read newsforge, but for those who dont, there has been a fair amount of discussion with some ubuntu dev's about how willing ubutu is to help spliter distros. And the water seems clear. Ubuntu is willing to cooperate (or so the interview said).

I think that dapper is going to see a lot of spliter distros -- not so much major brances, like what mepis is doing, just minor customizations to target one mans dream, and a few hundred potential users who like things that way too.

I think that a forum for splinters with a single subforum for each splinter is absolutly needed in order to keep the splinter related questions out of the main forum area. rather than host thier own splinter forum, most people would be tempted to just use these forums in the main area, and most users of a splinter distro wont look much farther than the local ubuntuforums before they give up and just post here.

that's my two cents.

now is the time to do it right, and avoid the potential mess that is headed this way.

[GuitarHero]

How about "Jewbuntu". THe name is too perfect

[briancurtin]

How about "Jewbuntu". THe name is too perfect
haha. that made this already hilarious thread even more hilarious.

[Iandefor]

What special needs does the Christian demographic have that aren't met by Ubuntu as it stands? From the sound of it, there won't be very many differences at all. It sounds like you'll have some Bible-searching software tacked on and some new artwork.

My question is: is it worth the confusion of having Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu Christian Edition? Would it be so effective at marketing Linux to Christians that it would be better than mentioning that there's lots of free Bible software for it, which would certainly be much less difficult and cost less bandwidth?

These are just questions I think it might be prudent to ponder.

[aysiu]

Where would the confusion come from? It wouldn't be on the main Ubuntu site alongside Xubuntu, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu.

In fact, I don't think even Xubuntu and Kubuntu are on the main site.

[ericesque]

I honestly think it is a valid effort. The reason being is that by creating it as a distro, or sub-distro of sorts, you have the opportunity of giving out live cds which will allow Christians to experience not only Ubuntu, but get a feel for the Christian specific programs as well. So essentially, they're not just trying out the OS, they're trying the OS so they can check out the programs.

Personally, I think it creates a significant marketing angle. If I had never used Ubuntu or linux before, but a Christian friend of mine said, here, try out these bible programs and explained that they run on a different OS and such, I think I'd be much more inclined to pop in the cd and boot it up than if they were just like, check out how cool Ubuntu is.

That's just my thought on the matter.

[mhancoc7]

What special needs does the Christian demographic have that aren't met by Ubuntu as it stands? From the sound of it, there won't be very many differences at all. It sounds like you'll have some Bible-searching software tacked on and some new artwork.

My question is: is it worth the confusion of having Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu Christian Edition? Would it be so effective at marketing Linux to Christians that it would be better than mentioning that there's lots of free Bible software for it, which would certainly be much less difficult and cost less bandwidth?

These are just questions I think it might be prudent to ponder.

My goal was never to be a truely different "distro". I wanted to be able to hand a friend a LiveCD that has Christian software already installed. That got me to thinking and I decided it would be even better if people could also download it if they wanted. That way I could say go to the website and check it out as well as hand them the disk.

Again I want to enphasize the fact that I do not want to create a division among Christian Ubuntu users and the rest. This is just an effort to get Ubuntu into the hands of Christians by marketing to their needs and desires. I also hope that if this became popular maybe more Christian software would be developed for Linux. I am already working on a few Christian programs for Linux myself. The Christian market is huge. It is an untapped resource in my opinion. Let's please not get hung up on the Christian thing and just look at the possibilities.

I am hopeful that I will get permission from Canonical to use Ubuntu "Christian Edition". Then I would not change the logo or make any major changes to the default setup. I am already working on the website. I am trying to go for a similiar look of this forum and the main ubuntu site. Once I make sure that I have permission to use the name and what not I will let you all check it out.

God Bless, Jereme

[Iandefor]

Where would the confusion come from? It wouldn't be on the main Ubuntu site alongside Xubuntu, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu.

In fact, I don't think even Xubuntu and Kubuntu are on the main site. It strikes me that the human animal isn't necessarily always rational, and whether or not it gets official sanction from Canonical, it will create the impression that Ubuntu has a Christian slant.

Also, Mhancoc7 had mentioned somewhere earlier that he might have to remove other packages from the installation in order to get the Bible-study tools to fit. Imagine someone coming onto the forums saying "Why doesn't Bluetooth work?"
Someone spends an inordinate amount of time trying to diagnose what's going on, laboring under the assumption that bluez is installed; it's a hardware problem. Eventually, it comes down to the fact that this user had installed Christbuntu or whatever... and, to pare down space, the devs of Christbuntu had chosen to omit bluez. Because, seriously, who uses Bluetooth? While I'm certain that this specific example won't occur, it's entirely possible for other, similar problems to crop up.

Whatever packages get removed, it's going to have repercussions in the system down the line, and when the user comes asking for support, it's probable he won't be aware of any changes beyond the fact that there's Bible software installed. So he'll think it's just safe to say "Ubuntu" instead of "Christbuntu". And when we try to diagnose the wrong operating system... it can get hairy.

I know, hypothetical, but it can be a potential wellspring of confusion among new users.

[mhancoc7]

It strikes me that the human animal isn't necessarily always rational, and whether or not it gets official sanction from Canonical, it will create the impression that Ubuntu has a Christian slant.

Also, Mhancoc7 had mentioned somewhere earlier that he might have to remove other packages from the installation in order to get the Bible-study tools to fit. Imagine someone coming onto the forums saying "Why doesn't Bluetooth work?"
Someone spends an inordinate amount of time trying to diagnose what's going on, laboring under the assumption that bluez is installed; it's a hardware problem. Eventually, it comes down to the fact that this user had installed Christbuntu or whatever... and, to pare down space, the devs of Christbuntu had chosen to omit bluez. Because, seriously, who uses Bluetooth? While I'm certain that this specific example won't occur, it's entirely possible for other, similar problems to crop up.

Whatever packages get removed, it's going to have repercussions in the system down the line, and when the user comes asking for support, it's probable he won't be aware of any changes beyond the fact that there's Bible software installed. So he'll think it's just safe to say "Ubuntu" instead of "Christbuntu". And when we try to diagnose the wrong operating system... it can get hairy.

I know, hypothetical, but it can be a potential wellspring of confusion among new users.


I appreciate your comments.

So far I only had to remove the Example-Content from the default Ubuntu. I would never remove something that would cause someones hardware to not work. I may for instance replace OpenOffice with Abiword if I needed the space, but all this will be spelled out very clearly on the website.

I don't think this will give the impression that Ubuntu has a Christian slant. I think it will just be a niche marketed derivative of Ubuntu. Of course that is just my opinion.

Jereme

[Iandefor]

I appreciate your comments.

So far I only had to remove the Example-Content from the default Ubuntu. I would never remove something that would cause someones hardware to not work. I may for instance replace OpenOffice with Abiword if I needed the space, but all this will be spelled out very clearly on the website.

I don't think this will give the impression that Ubuntu has a Christian slant. I think it will just be a niche marketed derivative of Ubuntu. Of course that is just my opinion.

Jereme Oh, well, that's alright then. My concerns are settled (except for the one about a percieved Christian slant, but I'll let it rest).

[mhancoc7]

Oh, well, that's alright then. My concerns are settled (except for the one about a percieved Christian slant, but I'll let it rest).

Great, and I really do appreciate your comments even if we have different opinions. :)

Jereme

[OffHand]

In my opinion everyone is free to believe and think what they want.
I think relegion should stay out of a couple of things like schools, politics and Ubuntu though. Ubuntu, Linux for human beings. That means every human being no matter what race or religion he belongs to.

Why don't you right a nice how-to about installing the bible etc in the normal Ubuntu and put that on your website and/or the Ubuntu forums?

[Iandefor]

In my opinion everyone is free to believe and think what they want.
I think relegion should stay out of a couple of things like schools, politics and Ubuntu though. Ubuntu, Linux for human beings. That means every human being no matter what race or religion he belongs to.

Why don't you right a nice how-to about installing the bible etc in the normal Ubuntu and put that on your website and/or the Ubuntu forums?
If you feel everyone is free to believe as they wish, then why is it that you believe that Atheism is the only religion that should be allowed in schools, politics, and Ubuntu? Nobody here is saying that everybody has to use the Christian Edition. Religion is what "Human" is about Whether you believe in God, or you believe you are god, we all believe in something. This isn't the place. Keep it out of Mhancoc's thread, please.

[mhancoc7]

In my opinion everyone is free to believe and think what they want.
I think relegion should stay out of a couple of things like schools, politics and Ubuntu though. Ubuntu, Linux for human beings. That means every human being no matter what race or religion he belongs to.

Why don't you right a nice how-to about installing the bible etc in the normal Ubuntu and put that on your website and/or the Ubuntu forums?

If you feel everyone is free to believe as they wish, then why is it that you believe that Atheism is the only religion that should be allowed in schools, politics, and Ubuntu? Nobody here is saying that everybody has to use the Christian Edition. Religion is what "Human" is about Whether you believe in God, or you believe you are god, we all believe in something.

This isn't the place. Keep it out of Mhancoc's thread, please.


Yes, please keep this sort of thing out of this thread. If you want to debate the existence of God please start your own thread in the "Backyard". I am trying to bring Ubuntu to even more Humans by creating a distro that will appeal to a specific group of them. This is what I was afraid of. I just hope that the folks at Canonical can see past this sort of stuff and realize that this project has merit.
Thanks, Jereme

[mips]

I would like to encourage people to either contribute something useful to the conversation or move on. If the project doesn't interest you that's okay. There are lots more out there. You don't have to rain on someone else's parade.

Back to the actual topic...

Well aren't all threads with a religious content supposed to be in the backyard ? Will the same tolerance be shown for a satanic or islamic ubuntu version ?

[mips]

I am really leaning towards just using Ubuntu "Christian Edition" since I really want to stay true to Ubuntu. I like the catchy names of Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. I just think it gets a little confusing for newbies.

With that I agree. I actually wish they would dropp the preceeding letters and just call them all ubuntu with kde, gnome, xfce, education, security, christiaan etc after the ubuntu name, ie. Ubuntu KDE

[Derek Djons]

Well, the topic starter did not opened this thread to become a political or religious debate. Jereme started his thread because he will need some help and services from the Ubuntu Community. So I do hope we can stay on topic without putting our opinions and believes into this!

[matthew]

Well aren't all threads with a religious content supposed to be in the backyard ? Will the same tolerance be shown for a satanic or islamic ubuntu version ?This isn't a thread promoting or even discussing the merits (or downsides) of any religion. It is discussing making Ubuntu more easily accessible to a certain group of religious adherents. As such it does not need to go in the Backyard.

Yes, if another thread was started, for example, by a Muslim wanting to create a version that would make Ubuntu more accessible to adherents of Islam by including the Qu'ran, a Kibla guide, a prayer time clock and so on that would not only be tolerated, but just as welcome as this thread.

Now, can we please dispense with the meaningless and unnecessary controversy and allow the thread to stay on topic? Thank you.

[frodon]

All the religious discussions about this thread can continue there :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219526

Any new post which start or try to start a religious discussion will be moved in the backyard thread where this kind of discussion is allowed

Thanks

[mhancoc7]

All the religious discussions about this thread can continue there :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219526

Any new post which start or try to start a religious discussion will be moved in the backyard thread where this kind of discussion is allowed

Thanks

Thank you very much. I apologize if I made more work for you guys. It was not my intention. I am just excited that so many seem to be on my side in principal. I am truly not trying to "evangalize". I just love Ubuntu and want to bring it to a community that I feel has not been fully tapped.

Thanks again, Jereme

[swamytk]

Dear mhancoc7,

I appreciate your work and wishing all the best! Why can't you visit this site (http://jesuscalls.com) and approach them for hosting. They are doing good work in spreading christianity here in India (I am a hard core hindu, not christian!).

[Lord Illidan]

Regarding the artwork, I was referring more to wallpapers and stuff. The themes are already good enough. No need to waste time there.

I would preserve the original ubuntu icon. The image of people holding hands is a symbol of unity, which is an essential part of christianity.

Regarding wallpapers, I think beautiful landscape pictures would be excellent, especially if they have a bible quote on them or something..

An example : http://www.kde-look.org/content/download.php?content=37129&id=1

I'd like to help out, myself. I can imagine giving a copy of this distro to my parish priest!

[mhancoc7]

Dear mhancoc7,

I appreciate your work and wishing all the best! Why can't you visit this site (http://jesuscalls.com) and approach them for hosting. They are doing good work in spreading christianity here in India (I am a hard core hindu, not christian!).

Thank you very much. Brentoboy has graciously donated some server space and bandwith so for now I am good for that. I will keep the site on my list of possible mirrors if that becomes a need.

Regarding the artwork, I was referring more to wallpapers and stuff. The themes are already good enough. No need to waste time there.

I would preserve the original ubuntu icon. The image of people holding hands is a symbol of unity, which is an essential part of christianity.

Regarding wallpapers, I think beautiful landscape pictures would be excellent, especially if they have a bible quote on them or something..

An example : http://www.kde-look.org/content/download.php?content=37129&id=1

I'd like to help out, myself. I can imagine giving a copy of this distro to my parish priest!

I agree with you about the themes and artwork. The only major graphical change that I want to make at this point is a nice clean wallpaper that integrates well with the default look of ubuntu. I really like the look of your example. I would like something just like that that would fit the color scheme a bit closer. If you would like to submit a "candidate" I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your willingness to help.

God Bless, Jereme

[Lord Illidan]

I agree with you about the themes and artwork. The only major graphical change that I want to make at this point is a nice clean wallpaper that integrates well with the default look of ubuntu. I really like the look of your example. I would like something just like that that would fit the color scheme a bit closer. If you would like to submit a "candidate" I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your willingness to help.

God Bless, Jereme

Would a landscape of fields and grass sway you? I can photograph them from where I am.. They look more brownish, more ubuntuish, if you get what I mean.

I also think that you should start on a wiki or a forum, not neccesarily even a sub forum. It depends on how successful this project is.

Regarding programming, is there any specific app you want done?

[mhancoc7]

Would a landscape of fields and grass sway you? I can photograph them from where I am.. They look more brownish, more ubuntuish, if you get what I mean.

I also think that you should start on a wiki or a forum, not neccesarily even a sub forum. It depends on how successful this project is.

Regarding programming, is there any specific app you want done?

The landscape sounds great. I would love to see it. The "brownish" would be great.

I am working on the website right now. I am now sure about how to set up a wiki. I am trying to wait on word from Canonical before I go too far. I really hope that they will allow me to put it together. I have got the site looking pretty nice I think. I really want to post a link to get feedback, but I don't want to upset Canonical. I just really want to be sure this is done right.

I will look forward to seeing the wallpaper!!!

God Bless, Jereme

[teolemon]

a random thought slightly off-topic:
it would be nice to summarize the problems , solutions and every things you face doing this for other groups wanting to customize ubuntu.
It won't be the same kind of software, but for instance most people will want to add links to firefox or customize the logo.
So adding a step by step procedure on the wiki (logo, hosting,tweaks...) would be nice

Also, for the packages you intend to add in Ubuntu for Christians could be added in Universe, hence widening it.
And an additional solution might be to create a meta package as they did for u/k/x ubuntu : ubuntuforchristians-desktop

[bluenova]

I didn't read the whole thread but did a search on it for 'source forge' and didn't get anything. So why not use sourceforge? It sounds like a great project anyway, good luck.

http://sf.net

[RavenOfOdin]

I didn't read the whole thread but did a search on it for 'source forge' and didn't get anything. So why not use sourceforge? It sounds like a great project anyway, good luck.

http://sf.net

Yeah, if he wants completely random anon/main CVS outages to make it next to impossible to host a project on there.

There have to be better ways.

[RAV TUX]

I don't know if this has been brought up yet but you may want to contact Canonical Limited about their Trademark Policy:

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy

Trademark Policy

The objective of the Ubuntu Trademark Usage Policy is to encourage and allow widespread use of the Ubuntu name, device and logo by the Ubuntu community, maintain the value of their image and good standing, and protect them from inappropriate or unauthorised use. Trademarks must be protected or they lapse, allowing anyone to use or abuse them. We don't want that to happen to Ubuntu!


Ubuntu Trademark Usage Policy

Ubuntu, the Ubuntu logo, Canonical and the Canonical logo are all registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. Before using the any of these marks outside the scope of fair use (such as using these in a review to refer to the product), please send an email to http://www.ubuntu.com/htdocs/uweb/img/email.png trademarks@ubuntu.com (trademarks@ubuntu.com) with your name, contact details, and a short explanation of your proposed usage of the trademarks. We will answer these mails as quickly as we can, so you can spread the love!
As long as you follow the Logo Standards listed below, you do not need to contact us if:
You want to use the logo in a desktop background. Go right ahead! You can even share your work by listing it on our artwork page.
Logos can be found here (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuArtwork).
You want to link to our website from your site. Buttons can be found here (http://wiki.ubuntu.com/WebsiteButtons).If you have any questions at all about your proposed use, please contact us.


Websites and Domains

Where possible, we ask that Ubuntu related domain ownership be held by Canonical Limited or a Canonical-authorised organisation. Please ask for a trademark license before registering a domain which incorporates the Ubuntu name. In most cases, we will sponsor registration fees for approved domains, and leave technical administrative control in the hands of the website operator.


Logo Standards

It is important to maintain the visual integrity of the Ubuntu logo. We therefore ask that anyone considering use of the logo keep the following guidelines in mind. Following these guidelines will increase the chances that we will quickly approve your use of the logo.
When appearing in multiple colours, the logo should use only the "official" logo colors.
You may use transparency and gradient/depth tools, but should still maintain the Ubuntu colors.
A monotone version may be acceptable in certain situations, if the use requires it (e.g., desktop backgrounds).
Any scaling must retain the original proportions of the logo.
Other than the variations listed here, the logo may not be modified in any way.
Additional text may not be added in such a way that it appears to be part of the logo itself.

Canonical's policy on Websites and Domains can be very helpful in helping to deter cost and add credibility to your project.

[sanderella]

Hey! I just found this thread! I'm a Christian. Thanks for all the links and info folks!:)

[Lord Illidan]

Where possible, we ask that Ubuntu related domain ownership be held by Canonical Limited or a Canonical-authorised organisation. Please ask for a trademark license before registering a domain which incorporates the Ubuntu name. In most cases, we will sponsor registration fees for approved domains, and leave technical administrative control in the hands of the website operator.

Very generous of Canonical..

[Arisna]

There is supposedly a lot of profanity used in comments in upstream source code, most famously in the Linux kernel. This might not sit well with many religous folks.

Now, to make a rebuttal against my own point, Ubuntu by default does not include much (any?) source code for its packages.

Do you anticipate that this might cause trouble for your project?

[aysiu]

I think most people who would need to see a customized live CD for demonstration purposes would not be looking at source code, anyway.

[mhancoc7]

a random thought slightly off-topic:
it would be nice to summarize the problems , solutions and every things you face doing this for other groups wanting to customize ubuntu.
It won't be the same kind of software, but for instance most people will want to add links to firefox or customize the logo.
So adding a step by step procedure on the wiki (logo, hosting,tweaks...) would be nice

Also, for the packages you intend to add in Ubuntu for Christians could be added in Universe, hence widening it.
And an additional solution might be to create a meta package as they did for u/k/x ubuntu : ubuntuforchristians-desktop

Yes, great idea. Once I have my project online and have the time to sit down and compile the steps I will definitely share them. For now the packages that I am adding are already in the Universe repos. I know now people will say again then why do this at all. It is simple. I remember when I first got interested in Linux I had no idea what I was doing. It is almost like learning a second language. I am just trying to bridge the gap a little for Christians. Having just a few Christian programs "preinstalled" just makes it easier for them to get started. Once they get a bit more up to speed with Linux then they can worry about finding more software and how to compile it and what not.

I didn't read the whole thread but did a search on it for 'source forge' and didn't get anything. So why not use sourceforge? It sounds like a great project anyway, good luck.

http://sf.net

I have created a sourceforge account, but I thought I read where the file size was limited. Since I need space for at least one .iso (700mb) then I figured that would not work. Also Brentoboy has already donated some space so really that is not an issue for now.

I don't think bringing regligion in this is necessary, they can trick out there box with religious stuff I don't care but to make a OS addon just for christians is just ridiculous.

Your opinion has been duly noted.

I don't know if this has been brought up yet but you may want to contact Canonical Limited about their Trademark Policy:

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy



Canonical's policy on Websites and Domains can be very helpful in helping to deter cost and add credibility to your project.

Thank you. I noticed that yesterday. I had missed it somehow before. In fact I have already registerd a website for the project that has ubuntu in the name. I was just so excited that it was available. I have emailed Canonical and I am waiting to hear back on how to proceed.

There is supposedly a lot of profanity used in comments in upstream source code, most famously in the Linux kernel. This might not sit well with many religous folks.

Now, to make a rebuttal against my own point, Ubuntu by default does not include much (any?) source code for its packages.

Do you anticipate that this might cause trouble for your project?

As far as the profanity, there really isn't much I can do about it and I don't think it poses enough of an issue to stop the project.

Thank you for bringing up the source code issue. I read an article yesterday about Ubuntu derivatives and source code. I am hoping that Canonical will help guide me in this area.

I think most people who would need to see a customized live CD for demonstration purposes would not be looking at source code, anyway.

I agree.


Thanks to all the wonderful comments. Who new that my "little" idea would generate so much interest.

Jereme
God Bless, Jereme

[Iandefor]

There is supposedly a lot of profanity used in comments in upstream source code, most famously in the Linux kernel. This might not sit well with many religous folks.

Now, to make a rebuttal against my own point, Ubuntu by default does not include much (any?) source code for its packages.

Do you anticipate that this might cause trouble for your project? When you compile C code (I believe the Linux Kernel is written in a combination of C and ASM), it runs it through a preprocessor first which renders all the comments as whitespace. So the profanity doesn't get compiled in :).

[meldra]

I dont have time to read all 13 pages, but have you tried approaching Christian webhosts? Google reveals lots of them, and I'm sure at least one of them would give you space for at least low cost if you offered to let them put ads on the download website.

[mhancoc7]

I dont have time to read all 13 pages, but have you tried approaching Christian webhosts? Google reveals lots of them, and I'm sure at least one of them would give you space for at least low cost if you offered to let them put ads on the download website.

Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, that is definitely something that I plan to do. I decided to ask here first since I knew that I would also need some help in getting things together. Thanksfully Brentoboy has donated some space so for now that is taken care of. I have also started building the website for the project. Now I am really just sitting on go. I have completed what will probably be the first release, I have essentially finished the website, and I have the hosting for the .iso. Now I just need the green light from Canonical.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

A few people in this thread have suggested starting a WikiPage. I have a launchpad account and I am ready to create the Ubuntu Christian Edition WikiPage, but I wanted to check to see if there is any problem with doing that.

I am basically just waiting on word from Canonical on how to proceed. I know they must be busy so I want to be patient.

I have completed what I believe will be the initial release of Ubuntu Christian Edition. It is a very simple change to the default Ubuntu. I added GnomeSword Bible software and made some very minor graphical modifications. I will of course be adding more software, but I really do not want to change much of the artwork. I really like the way the default Ubuntu looks and functions. No need to reinvent the wheel. I just want to attract Christian computer users with a version of Ubuntu that is geared towards them.

Brentoboy has graciously donated some server space and bandwith to host the .iso. So for now that is taken care of. I would love to have additional sites hosting it, but for now at least I can get it out.

I have also created what will hopefully be the site for the project. In my excitement I missed the part of the Trademark Policies that discusses domain registration. Sorry about that! The About page is fairly complete. If you would like to see how it looks so far you can check it out here: www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com). I have not heard back from Canonical so they may just tell me to take it down and forget it, but hopefully not. I just want to get some feedback on the site from you guys so if they allow this project to continue I can go live quickly.

I have tried to make the site match as closely as possible to this forum and the main Ubuntu page. It is still a little buggy in IE (go figure), but looks good in Firefox. I look forward to any comments and suggestions that you may have.

God Bless, Jereme

[Soarer]

First of all, though not a Christian in the usual use of the word, I fully support this project. I have GnomeSword, and like it very much. Anything that gets more people to read the Bible, IMHO, is a good thing, especially the bit "Love... your neighbour as yourself"

I had a look at your website, and as you say it is very (maybe too?) Unbuntu-ish. One thing missing I feel is a clear statement that this software is FREE. I would have thought that would be important to many churches. You could make that more prominent to encourage people to have a try, maybe.

"Good luck, and may your God go with you" Dave Allen, Irish comedian.

[bluenova]

Yeah, if he wants completely random anon/main CVS outages to make it next to impossible to host a project on there.

There have to be better ways.
I don't think sarcasm was called for comic book guy. I belong a project which uses sf.net and think I can only remember there being downtime once.

[mhancoc7]

First of all, though not a Christian in the usual use of the word, I fully support this project. I have GnomeSword, and like it very much. Anything that gets more people to read the Bible, IMHO, is a good thing, especially the bit "Love... your neighbour as yourself"

I had a look at your website, and as you say it is very (maybe too?) Unbuntu-ish. One thing missing I feel is a clear statement that this software is FREE. I would have thought that would be important to many churches. You could make that more prominent to encourage people to have a try, maybe.

"Good luck, and may your God go with you" Dave Allen, Irish comedian.

Thank you for your support in this endeavor. Yes the website is very Ubuntuish! It is of course a work in progress. I will be tweaking the text on all of the pages quit a bit. I basically put that together so I could see how the site could look. I agree the "Free" part should and will be very prominent.

Thanks again and God Bless, Jereme

[christhemonkey]

I like the ubuntu christian edition website.

Seems to fit in very nicely with the general look of ubuntus homepage and the forums.
(just as you intended)

I had an idea for a logo,
The ubuntu circle, with a crucifix in the centre.

Just an idea.

I can host a mirror of your iso if you like,
and any other help that you want feel free to let us know.

[simonn]

Are you going to include Evolution in the distro ;)

[mhancoc7]

I like the ubuntu christian edition website.

Seems to fit in very nicely with the general look of ubuntus homepage and the forums.
(just as you intended)

I had an idea for a logo,
The ubuntu circle, with a crucifix in the centre.

Just an idea.

I can host a mirror of your iso if you like,
and any other help that you want feel free to let us know.

Thank you so much. I was happy with the overall look, but I am of course biased. I will take you up on the hosting. Please PM so we can discuss it. I appreciate your willingness to help.

The logo idea is a good one and one that I have considered. The only reason that I would not go with it is because there are some Protestant faiths that do not display the crucifix as much as Catholics or even other Protestants. I want to avoid anything that will exclude any Christian group. I am also hoping to simply use the default logo and themes with only the addition of "Christian Edition v1.xx". I might change the default wallpaper but other than that I hope to stay tith the default look of Ubuntu.

God Bless, Jereme

Are you going to include Evolution in the distro ;)

Of course. haha:) I am sure that there will be someone down the line that will email me and complain about some of the names and terminology in Ubuntu Chrisian Edition. That will just prove that we all get hung up on something.

God Bless, Jereme

[simonn]

Of course. haha:) I am sure that there will be someone down the line that will email me and complain about some of the names and terminology in Ubuntu Chrisian Edition. That will just prove that we all get hung up on something.

Actually, thinking about it, the evolution server daemon being a pain in the proverbial to remove would make great propaganda.

Hey what about converting other linux users... "Removeth thyself frometh thyne RPM hell!"

[matthew]

There's been some title confusion since the original thread was separated. Sorry about that. I have changed the titles in both threads as follows;

Backyard thread: Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [religion-related discussion]

Cafe thread: Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [technical discussion]

Hopefully that will help those sending confused PM's. Also, there was a request to re-merge the threads back together. I don't think that's a good idea. There really are two separate topics being discussed, one of which belongs in the cafe and the other in the backyard. If we merged them the whole thread would end up in the backyard and that would minimize the amount of traffic it sees.

Sorry for the thread interruption. Please continue your discussion. :)

[mhancoc7]

There's been some title confusion since the original thread was separated. Sorry about that. I have changed the titles in both threads as follows;

Backyard thread: Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [religion-related discussion]

Cafe thread: Ubuntu "Christian Edition" [technical discussion]

Hopefully that will help those sending confused PM's. Also, there was a request to re-merge the threads back together. I don't think that's a good idea. There really are two separate topics being discussed, one of which belongs in the cafe and the other in the backyard. If we merged them the whole thread would end up in the backyard and that would minimize the amount of traffic it sees.

Sorry for the thread interruption. Please continue your discussion. :)


Thank you for taking care of the confusion.

Jereme

[Redcard]

Couple of things.

One, regarding the logo, there are explicit rules for using the Ubuntu Logo and trademark. They're listed here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy

And a point is that you likely can't modify the logo outside their requirements.

Also, I have a solution to the Live CD/Repository debate. Ready for this?

Both.

Make the live CD contain ONLY stuff that is in the Ubuntu Main Distro repositories (minus a few artwork changes and the like that will be done on the CD.) Include in the live CD a repo for Christian-Ubuntu. That way, you don't have to worry about them installing extra "Christian Ubuntu" apps that are not available outside the Ubuntu tree.. and you don't have to worry about them not getting the customized experience.

[Redcard]

Also, a lot of the "Christian" ISPs offer content filtering for children, etc. Perhaps you can look into including "Family Edition" type software that will block hate sites, porn, etc.

[mhancoc7]

Couple of things.

One, regarding the logo, there are explicit rules for using the Ubuntu Logo and trademark. They're listed here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/TrademarkPolicy

And a point is that you likely can't modify the logo outside their requirements.

Also, I have a solution to the Live CD/Repository debate. Ready for this?

Both.

Make the live CD contain ONLY stuff that is in the Ubuntu Main Distro repositories (minus a few artwork changes and the like that will be done on the CD.) Include in the live CD a repo for Christian-Ubuntu. That way, you don't have to worry about them installing extra "Christian Ubuntu" apps that are not available outside the Ubuntu tree.. and you don't have to worry about them not getting the customized experience.

Thanks for your suggestions. I think your idea to do both is an excellent idea. The Ubuntu Christian Edition LiveCD is definitely only going to include software from the available Ubuntu repos. Adding a Ubuntu Christian Edition repo to the cd is a great solution. Now I just need some assistance in setting up a repo.

I have received an email from Canonical letting me know that as long as I don't modify the logo I will be ok to proceed.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Also, a lot of the "Christian" ISPs offer content filtering for children, etc. Perhaps you can look into including "Family Edition" type software that will block hate sites, porn, etc.

Nice idea! I think dansguardian is available in the repos. It would be great to have it installed for web content filtering.

Thanks, Jereme

[Lord Illidan]

I think this might have been said earlier, but what about loading up firefox with a host of religious websites or something?

Regarding the website.. Doesn't work for me.. Tells me

An error occurred while loading http://www.christianubuntu.com:
Unknown host www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com

[mhancoc7]

I think this might have been said earlier, but what about loading up firefox with a host of religious websites or something?

Regarding the website.. Doesn't work for me.. Tells me

Yes the firefox idea has been mentioned, but thank you for suggesting it. I have been working on adding it to the LiveCD as well. That will be a really nice touch.

Yeah, my webhost went down about an hour or so ago. I can't remember them ever being down in the past 3 years. I am hoping they will get back up and running soon. I am wanting to keep cracking away at this.

Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Ok, I have received word back from Canonical. They have given me the green light as long as I stay within the rules regarding the logo. That should not be a problem since I have decided to use the default logo.

The project site is now up and running. www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com)

I have tried very hard to make the site fit with this forum and the main Ubuntu site. Currently the About page is the only "completed" page. I am going to try and get the site finished up by next week and have the .iso up as well.

Anyone interested in helping with artwork or anything please PM me. I have had several already and I am going to read back through this thread to make a list and contact everyone. That way I can keep up with the "contributors" of this project. I want to give credit where credit is due:)!

God Bless, Jereme

[Lord Illidan]

Very nice site, very ubuntuish.

Thumbs up!

[mhancoc7]

Very nice site, very ubuntuish.

Thumbs up!

Thank you! God Bless, Jereme

[Soarer]

Small point Jereme - the 'whatwouldjesusdownload' link goes off the screen to the right on my monitor (using Firefox) :)

[mhancoc7]

Small point Jereme - the 'whatwouldjesusdownload' link goes off the screen to the right on my monitor (using Firefox) :)

Thank you for letting me know. Could you post a screenshot and your screen resolution so I can diagnose the issue a little easier.
Thanks, Jereme

[pchr]

Very neat site, for now your forum link could just link to this thread. I've been very interested in this project since I first saw this thread, not a christian myself (sorry everyone who's not a christian has to say that in this thread as if they'd pass out if someone thought they were a christian) but very good to see new derivatives I agree with other posters 100% that any derivative or new distro of Linux in general or any new OS is to be encouraged.

On another note, why don't they want you to play with the logo? Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu all have different logos. seems odd to me as I think it would be nice to have a little bit of distinction, should be very subtle though, just different colours, or perhaps with four people hugging instead of three and lined up so it looks a bit like a cross? Get what I mean? But if that's what they said I'd probably comply.

Am I right in understanding you'll have a Christian Edition package that depends on the packages that you're including. It'd be really cool for christians who have foolishly downloaded vanilla Ubuntu to be able to set up their PC as Christian Edition with just a click in Synaptic.

Good Project. =D>

[Iandefor]

This is a really lame attempt at a logo, but I think it might serve as a starting-point for coming up with an official logo.

[mhancoc7]

Very neat site, for now your forum link could just link to this thread. I've been very interested in this project since I first saw this thread, not a christian myself (sorry everyone who's not a christian has to say that in this thread as if they'd pass out if someone thought they were a christian) but very good to see new derivatives I agree with other posters 100% that any derivative or new distro of Linux in general or any new OS is to be encouraged.

On another note, why don't they want you to play with the logo? Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu all have different logos. seems odd to me as I think it would be nice to have a little bit of distinction, should be very subtle though, just different colours, or perhaps with four people hugging instead of three and lined up so it looks a bit like a cross? Get what I mean? But if that's what they said I'd probably comply.

Am I right in understanding you'll have a Christian Edition package that depends on the packages that you're including. It'd be really cool for christians who have foolishly downloaded vanilla Ubuntu to be able to set up their PC as Christian Edition with just a click in Synaptic.

Good Project. =D>

Thank you for your kind words. I actually appreciate when those who are not Christian but support the project let me know. That lets me know that this project is a valid effort.

I think the reason for not wanting me to change the logo is because this project is probably never going to be "officially' supported. Which for now is fine with me. I just want to be able to do it.

Yes, I am planning to implement something for those who have "vanilla" Ubuntu and just want to add the "Christian Edition". This project is of course a work in progress so that will come later.

Thanks again, Jereme

This is a really lame attempt at a logo, but I think it might serve as a starting-point for coming up with an official logo.

I really like it! For now I am going to be sticking with the default logo. Canonical has given me the green light as long as I abid by the logo rules which do not allow for altering it. I am fine with it since I want to stick very close to the default Ubuntu. Your concept if very nice though and will definitely be stored away in case things progress to a more officially supported effort.

Thanks, Jereme

[Iandefor]

I really like it! For now I am going to be sticking with the default logo. Canonical has given me the green light as long as I abid by the logo rules which do not allow for altering it. I am fine with it since I want to stick very close to the default Ubuntu. Your concept if very nice though and will definitely be stored away in case things progress to a more officially supported effort.

Thanks, Jereme Oh, alrighty. I'd not have bothered if I'd known about the logo rules :). I was just throwing it together as a bit of a rough draft.

If the cross looks too tall, I'd chalk it up to the fact that I had to manually hack it from a Greek Orthodox cross, which tends to be taller because it has two extra crossbars intersecting the vertical line.

[codypumper]

I'm very interested in this project considering I am a Christian. I think this project deserves its very own IRC channel, eh? Great place for meetings, and the like. Come up with a good IRC channel name and lets get it going.

[Soarer]

Thank you for letting me know. Could you post a screenshot and your screen resolution so I can diagnose the issue a little easier.
Thanks, Jereme

Actually, its fine now. Did you change it, or did my machine boot with a different resolution :)

[mhancoc7]

Actually, its fine now. Did you change it, or did my machine boot with a different resolution :)

Great, I did do some adjusting last night. It still has some issues in IE but looks good in Firefox.

Thanks, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

I'm very interested in this project considering I am a Christian. I think this project deserves its very own IRC channel, eh? Great place for meetings, and the like. Come up with a good IRC channel name and lets get it going.

Once I get the site done and the .iso up, I am going to rally those who have offered to help and see who wants to be "responsible" for what. I would like to have it to where those interested could choose tasks that they are interested in. For instance someone in charge of the Wiki, one person in charge of the IRC channel, and so on. I will continue to maintain the website and of course the LiveCD itself. This is a pretty straightforward project so the overall work should be minimal once it is up and running.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Well the site is pretty much complete. I will of course be tweaking it as time permits but for now I think it will suffice. There are still a few glitches with the site in IE, but it looks good in firefox. If anyone can figure out what is causing the banner issue in IE I would appreciate it. The download links are not live yet, but I plan to upload the initial release tonight.

The site address is www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com).

I would love to here what you all think.
God Bless, Jereme

[Blondie]

I understand what you are saying. I did sense a little sarcasm and that just isn't necessary. I agree that making more and more "fillintheblankubuntus" is kind of confusing and may even dillute the whole. However, I believe that the whole point of open source is the power of choice. The power to take software and make it fit your needs or a group's needs.


I agree. From a purely technical point of view I see little point over vanilla flavoured Ubuntu. From a "segmental marketing" point of view though it could have the potential to be a great success. It could be the biggest success story in promoting Linux so far in it's history or it could be a damp squib that goes nowhere (in popularity terms) and I'm not going to pretend that I know which it will be, but I applaud you for doing it. This is what it's all about. Choice. If someone wants to make something like this happen then they have the freedom to do it. Whether it becomes popular is determined by whether the demand is there. Nothing in this can do any harm to Ubuntu and it has the potential to do it some good.

[aysiu]

There's a naturally weeding out process. Sure, there may be over 400 Linux distributions, but only 100 make the DistroWatch list, and even some of those higher up on the list I've never heard of (tinysofa, Parsix, Kurumin?).

If no one cares about the Christian Ubuntu project, it will fade into obscurity. Otherwise, it'll be a big hit... or even a medium hit, and that's worth the effort.

[Blondie]

What special needs does the Christian demographic have that aren't met by Ubuntu as it stands? From the sound of it, there won't be very many differences at all. It sounds like you'll have some Bible-searching software tacked on and some new artwork.

My question is: is it worth the confusion of having Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu Christian Edition? Would it be so effective at marketing Linux to Christians that it would be better than mentioning that there's lots of free Bible software for it, which would certainly be much less difficult and cost less bandwidth?

These are just questions I think it might be prudent to ponder.

My question to you would be that if someone is willing to do this with their own personal effort, and Cannonical is not diverting it's resources to it, what possible harm can it do to Ubuntu or existing Ubuntu users?

If it's a failure (in popularity terms) then there's no harm done. If it's a success then it can only benefit Ubuntu.

[mhancoc7]

I agree. From a purely technical point of view I see little point over vanilla flavoured Ubuntu. From a "segmental marketing" point of view though it could have the potential to be a great success. It could be the biggest success story in promoting Linux so far in it's history or it could be a damp squib that goes nowhere (in popularity terms) and I'm not going to pretend that I know which it will be, but I applaud you for doing it. This is what it's all about. Choice. If someone wants to make something like this happen then they have the freedom to do it. Whether it becomes popular is determined by whether the demand is there. Nothing in this can do any harm to Ubuntu and it has the potential to do it some good.

Thank you for seeing the potential in this project. To me it is already a success because I have been able to provide it. That is all I ever wanted. Now if it takes off like a rocket then I will be even more excited and if it wilts like a dieing flower then that is just life.

God Bless, Jereme

[RAV TUX]

Well the site is pretty much complete. I will of course be tweaking it as time permits but for now I think it will suffice. There are still a few glitches with the site in IE, but it looks good in firefox. If anyone can figure out what is causing the banner issue in IE I would appreciate it. The download links are not live yet, but I plan to upload the initial release tonight.

The site address is www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com).

I would love to here what you all think.
God Bless, Jereme


Nice site.

I thought you may want to include this in your set-up:

http://www.censornet.com/

It seems like it would be good to help.

[mhancoc7]

Nice site.

I thought you may want to include this in your set-up:

http://www.censornet.com/

It seems like it would be good to help.

Thank out for the link. I will definitely add it to the list of possibilites.

Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Well, Ubuntu Christian Edition just went "live". Thank you to all for your help in this project. It is already a success in my mind. The initial release is pretty basic. Just wanted to start simple and build from there. I would love to know what you think of the site and LiveCD.

www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://christianubuntu.com)

God Bless, Jereme

[GStubbs43]

HMM... for some reason the link in your last post doesn't work... but the other one does. I looked at the url's and they are exactly the same. :confused:

[KiwiNZ]

HMM... for some reason the link in your last post doesn't work... but the other one does. I looked at the url's and they are exactly the same. :confused:

In the URL properties the URL has an incorrect spelling.it has chrisitan instead of christian

[Harold P]

Working link...

http://christianubuntu.com/

Good luck with the project! :)

[GStubbs43]

ahh.. I only glanced and they were the same length when I looked at the properties... Good job on the Christian idea btw, I've been reading this thread for a while but haven't said anything. ;) Keep up the good work! :D

[mhancoc7]

HMM... for some reason the link in your last post doesn't work... but the other one does. I looked at the url's and they are exactly the same. :confused:

Yeah I got a little sloppy with my typing. Thanks

In the URL properties the URL has an incorrect spelling.it has chrisitan instead of christian

Thanks for catching it. I have fixed the link.

Working link...

http://christianubuntu.com/

Good luck with the project! :)

Thanks you very much.

ahh.. I only glanced and they were the same length when I looked at the properties... Good job on the Christian idea btw, I've been reading this thread for a while but haven't said anything. ;) Keep up the good work! :D

Thanks for the kind words.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Well my dream is now reality. Ubuntu Christian Edition is available for download at www.christianubuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com).

I would like to thank everyone who has helped in supporting this project. It could not have been launched without the generous donation of server space, the wonderful feedback, and the overall great attitude of this community.

The initial release is a very simple modification to the standard Ubuntu. It includes GnomeSword (http://gnomesword.sourceforge.net/) Bible software and some minor graphical changes. I will be adding more Christian specific software in future releases. There have been some great suggestions from the forum members. For now I wanted to concentrate on getting the project up and running with the initial release available asap. Now I can redirect my efforts towards the additional software and graphical changes as well as some other little add ons that have been suggested.

Thanks again and God Bless, Jereme

[RAV TUX]

Well my dream is now reality. Ubuntu Christian Edition is available for download at www.christianubuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com).

I would like to thank everyone who has helped in supporting this project. It could not have been launched without the generous donation of server space, the wonderful feedback, and the overall great attitude of this community.

The initial release is a very simple modification to the standard Ubuntu. It includes GnomeSword (http://gnomesword.sourceforge.net/) Bible software and some minor graphical changes. I will be adding more Christian specific software in future releases. There have been some great suggestions from the forum members. For now I wanted to concentrate on getting the project up and running with the initial release available asap. Now I can redirect my efforts towards the additional software and graphical changes as well as some other little add ons that have been suggested.

Thanks again and God Bless, Jereme

Congratulations! I am not Christian but I wish you the best.

[Johnsie]

That's a very interesting project... I think I'll let my Church know about that one. I'll let the devs know if I come across any good apps for it too. It would be nice if there was a shippit for this version but I understand that kinda thing costs a lot of money. Maybe that's something I could look into as a side project.

I would also like to see some kinda forum for that project so people can discuss things to do with it.

[Erik Trybom]

Doesn't this strike anyone as a bit... wierd? I can understand why there are religious books, schools and whole music genres, but a linux distribution?

Well, this is the nice thing about open source I guess. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to tinker.

Edit: Ah, didn't realize there are backyard threads for this discussion. Never mind. Congratulations on you achievement!

[K.Mandla]

Congratulations! I'm not a Christian, but I respect the time and effort it takes to get something of that magnitude realized. Good luck!

[RavenOfOdin]

If I find some blank CD's around here I might just burn the .iso files of this and hand them out at my church.

Great job. :)

(EDIT: Not to detract from GnomeSword, but does anyone know about some of this same type of software for KDE? I can't check Adept right now otherwise I wouldn't be asking the question. Thanks.)

[YourSurrogateGod]

That's a very interesting project... I think I'll let my Church know about that one. I'll let the devs know if I come across any good apps for it too. It would be nice if there was a shippit for this version but I understand that kinda thing costs a lot of money. Maybe that's something I could look into as a side project.

I would also like to see some kinda forum for that project so people can discuss things to do with it.
Hmm... that's a good idea. I'm an atheist, but if you ask me, making a distro centric to one's views and using that to spread it will only enhance the popularity of Linux.

Just curious though, why bother making a Christian version of Ubuntu? Seems kinda silly to me.

[Johnsie]

I dont think it's weird at all. Most churches either have or use computers. Having an all-in-one package is a good idea because it allows churches to get straight down to business.

The Christian Ubuntu is a lot like Edubuntu in the sense that it is based around learning. A lot of Christianity is about learning, that's why there's so many Bible colleges etc. However, while Eduntu is based around learning it doesn't specialize in Christian learning. I can see that kind of system being popular in Churches if it has good software and is cheap/free. Also, in the missionary field, where churches may not be able to afford Windows and Windows software Crubuntu would be a greate idea. Giving them Crubuntu (sorry for calling it that hehe) would be good because they wouldn't need to go online to install all the extra Biblical software.

[BWF89]

@mhancoc7: Just wondering, how are you able to use the Ubuntu name in your Christian revision of Ubuntu? Open source means your allowd to take someone elses work and modify it for your own needs but if your going to redistribute a changed version of something you'd have to remove all trademarked Ubuntu logos and mentions of Ubuntu wouldn't you?

[YourSurrogateGod]

I dont think it's weird at all. Most churches either have or use computers. Having an all-in-one package is a good idea because it allows churches to get straight down to business.

The Christian Ubuntu is a lot like Edubuntu in the sense that it is based around learning. I can see that kind of system being popular in Churches. Also, in the missionary field, where churches may not be able to afford Windows and Windows software Crubuntu would be a greate idea. Giving them Crubuntu (sorry for calling it that hehe) would be good because they wouldn't need to go online to install all the extra Biblical software.
*shrug* I suppose. I just figured that it would be easier to just download Ubuntu as a distro and then install all of the necessary software.

[Johnsie]

That's a good question.... doesn't Ubuntu distribute things with other trademarks also though? I know Ubuntu encourages people to modify their software on the back of their CD covers but I'm not sure how they would react to Christian Ubuntu.

[Johnsie]

*shrug* I suppose. I just figured that it would be easier to just download Ubuntu as a distro and then install all of the necessary software.

Why bother when you can do it all at once autmatically? Also, it's nice to have all ones' software on the CD without having to go online to get it. My personal opinion is that specialized distros make sense because they minimize the need for further tinkering and single installations after installation because it's all on one cd. It also saves bandwith on the official Ubuntu downloads.

[Cyraxzz]

to be honest: I'm not really interested in your idea...

but congratulations on your success :)

[Johnsie]

Well you could get the Christian Ubuntu and cut out the New Testament from Gnomesword and change the artwork hehe. I'm sure that wouldnt take too much work :-)

[BWF89]

Well you could get the Christian Ubuntu and cut out the New Testament from Gnomesword
I was thinking that myself :p

[asplode]

Well you could get the Christian Ubuntu and cut out the New Testament from Gnomesword

thats hilarious...

personally, I'm atheistic, but whatever sells people on ubuntu... be my guest. Churches usually have at least a few computers per, and if its that many less people running windows, glory be to god.

[Johnsie]

Yeah I agree... Their site has a pretty good self-justification in the FAQ.


Q: Why should I use the Ubuntu Christian Edition if I can install the same software to the default Ubuntu?

A: The concept behind the Ubuntu Christian Edition is not to deviate from the Ubuntu community. It is intended to draw a larger Christian base to the already thriving community of Ubuntu users. The Ubuntu Christian Edition simply makes it easier for Christians who are new to Linux to see the power of Ubuntu combined with the added benefit of having the best available Linux Christian software preinstalled.




I'm not part of this project, I just think it's a good idea.

[Iandefor]

If the changelog is anything to go by, so far all it has is GnomeSword.

Instead of installing Ubuntu Christian Edition, I just installed GnomeSword, since that's really all that's been changed :). All I can say is: the interface is a wee bit confusing, but it's actually a really useful tool. I'm personally not Christian, but I do have occasion to need to riffle through a Bible, and GnomeSword completely eliminates the need for the little orange Gideon's Bible and that copy of the New Testament in Standard English I got from those friendly Jehovah's Witnesses :).

Just thought I'd share that :).

[Johnsie]

I'm willing to allow a UK mirror for a single ISO (and more when I upgrade the disks over the next month or so) on my webserver. My email address is john@steeky.com if you're interested.

[richbarna]

Congratulations with your Distro, I'm not religious either, but I think that what you have done is great for your community.

[matthew]

Anyone willing to put this much work into something they are excited about deserves some kudos. Congrats!

[Iandefor]

Well you could get the Christian Ubuntu and cut out the New Testament from Gnomesword and change the artwork hehe. I'm sure that wouldnt take too much work :-) Maybe get some Hebrew fonts and locales installed? You could also have the Torah (In Hebrew, even!) and the Talmud, and maybe commentaries.

Oh, the possibilities!

By the way, congrats on a first release, mhancoc7!

[codypumper]

The official irc channel (if thats okay) is: #christianubuntu on the irc.freenode.net server. I plan to add a bot to the channel in my spare time. I'm glad to see this project going so well. If anybody disagrees with anything on the IRC channel, please post.

[Johnsie]

I can't download it from mirror 1....

[RAV TUX]

please keep all the post on topic:

Ubuntu Christian Edition Now Available

and refrain from dragging other religious groups into the thread, this could be deemed as offensive and just not nice.

remember be respectable.

[Johnsie]

Yeah... sorry about that. I guess we should be more careful when talking about peoples beliefs.

Umm.. If you guys have any banners please post them or let me know where I can get them. Also, I have a question. Will the christianubuntu automatically update itself to the latest christianubuntu (with any new packages that have been added) with dist-upgrade or whatever? Will it be possible to automtically upgrade to the latest version of the distro?

[T700]

@mhancoc7: Just wondering, how are you able to use the Ubuntu name in your Christian revision of Ubuntu? Open source means your allowd to take someone elses work and modify it for your own needs but if your going to redistribute a changed version of something you'd have to remove all trademarked Ubuntu logos and mentions of Ubuntu wouldn't you?

In another thread, I believe he mentioned seeking and getting permission from Canonical.

Paul

[aysiu]

This is why I'm in favor of megathreads...
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1289059&postcount=23

[RAV TUX]

I will be combining these two threads:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=218724
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1288701

[mhancoc7]

The official irc channel (if thats okay) is: #christianubuntu on the irc.freenode.net server. I plan to add a bot to the channel in my spare time. I'm glad to see this project going so well. If anybody disagrees with anything on the IRC channel, please post.

Sounds great, Thanks. I have never used an IRC channel. I will update the project site to give info on the IRC channel.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

I will be combining these two threads:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=218724
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1288701


Thank you for doing that. I should have put them together to begin with.

Jereme

[RAV TUX]

Thank you for doing that. I should have put them together to begin with.

Jereme


No problem, were you able to use the censor.net link I posted for you?

[mhancoc7]

Wow!! Thank you for such a great response. Thanks to all for the wonderful feedback. I even appreciate the comments that I don't agree with. Anything to keep the discussion moving is welcomed. I will try my best to keep up with everyone's questions, but this thread is moving quickly. If you have a question that you need answered you can also PM me.

I would also like to see some kinda forum for that project so people can discuss things to do with it.

Yes I would love to have a place on this forum for discussing it, but I am afraid it might just be too controversial. I have considered starting an outside forum, but that will just complicate things further in my opinion.

If I find some blank CD's around here I might just burn the .iso files of this and hand them out at my church.

Great job. :)

(EDIT: Not to detract from GnomeSword, but does anyone know about some of this same type of software for KDE? I can't check Adept right now otherwise I wouldn't be asking the question. Thanks.)

Awesome! That is exactly what I hoped for from this project.

BibleTime (http://www.bibletime.info/) is the KDE equivalent to GnomeSword.

@mhancoc7: Just wondering, how are you able to use the Ubuntu name in your Christian revision of Ubuntu? Open source means your allowd to take someone elses work and modify it for your own needs but if your going to redistribute a changed version of something you'd have to remove all trademarked Ubuntu logos and mentions of Ubuntu wouldn't you?

I simply sent an email to Canonical explaining what my plans were and gave them a link to this thread. They responded quite quickly letting me know how to proceed.

If the changelog is anything to go by, so far all it has is GnomeSword.

Instead of installing Ubuntu Christian Edition, I just installed GnomeSword, since that's really all that's been changed :). All I can say is: the interface is a wee bit confusing, but it's actually a really useful tool. I'm personally not Christian, but I do have occasion to need to riffle through a Bible, and GnomeSword completely eliminates the need for the little orange Gideon's Bible and that copy of the New Testament in Standard English I got from those friendly Jehovah's Witnesses :).

Just thought I'd share that :).

Yes for now the only real change is the addition of GnomeSword. I wanted to focus the first release on being a simple change to insure stability. I will be working to add more software in future releases. The concept was never really to make some "grand" change to Ubuntu, it was just to have some Christian software preinstalled. That way people could hand out Ubuntu Christian Edition CDs at Church and what not.

I'm willing to allow a UK mirror for a single ISO (and more when I upgrade the disks over the next month or so) on my webserver. My email address is john@steeky.com if you're interested.
Absolutely!! Thank you so much. I have sent you an email.

I can't download it from mirror 1....

I just tested the link and it is working fine here. Is anyone else having trouble?

Yeah... sorry about that. I guess we should be more careful when talking about peoples beliefs.

Umm.. If you guys have any banners please post them or let me know where I can get them. Also, I have a question. Will the christianubuntu automatically update itself to the latest christianubuntu (with any new packages that have been added) with dist-upgrade or whatever? Will it be possible to automtically upgrade to the latest version of the distro?

I will be working on some banners so people interested can link to the site.

That is a very good question about the dist-upgrade. I am not sure how I plan to deal with that. I may create a script that will upgrade to the latest release to avoid the trouble of reinstalling fresh. I figure that once someone has become familiar with Ubuntu Christian Edition they will probably feel comfortable tweaking it with a script. Of course I have never really had great success with the dist-upgrade with Ubuntu. I always end up doing a fresh install.

No problem, were you able to use the censor.net link I posted for you?

I did check the site out and I have added it to the list of sites/programs to add to furture releases. For the first release I wanted to focus on stability.

Ok, I think that catches me up.:)

God Bless, Jereme

[henriquemaia]

I fully support the idea of having a Christian Edition of Ubuntu but I think that giving a section of the forums is a bad idea. I can see too many people getting anoyed that there are not other sections for other religions. It seems like it would be opening a Pandoras Box.

I agree. Its own forum is good, but elsewhere.

[kigina]

I don't see the point of Xubuntu, Kubuntu, and Edubuntu either. After all, you can just install Ubuntu and add educational applications, right?

Xubuntu is very helpful, I installed it on a machine with on a 4 GB hard drive. If I installed Ubuntu then Xubuntu I would almost have no space left at all.

[aysiu]

Xubuntu is very helpful, I installed it on a machine with on a 4 GB hard drive. If I installed Ubuntu then Xubuntu I would almost have no space left at all.
Please don't take what I said out of context. I love Xubuntu. I was being sarcastic to refute the idea that branches off regular Ubuntu "aren't worth it." They are--they are very much worth it.

[codypumper]

I was looking at your logo, and I edited it a bit. Tell me what you think.
http://static.flickr.com/75/196596423_54c60405f4.jpg?v=0

[mhancoc7]

I was looking at your logo, and I edited it a bit. Tell me what you think.
http://static.flickr.com/75/196596423_54c60405f4.jpg?v=0

I like that quite a bit. I am adding that one to the list of ideas for future changes.
God Bless, Jereme

[henriquemaia]

I like that quite a bit. I am adding that one to the list of ideas for future changes.
God Bless, Jereme

Just to add my opinion here: isn't the use of the cross for the T a bit disrespectful? Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression, but it gives me the impression of a joke.

Atention: I'm not saying the artists idea was that, but this is the reading I make of it.

ps: I'm not Christian, so I think I'm not biased.

[mhancoc7]

Just to add my opinion here: isn't the use of the cross for the T a bit disrespectful? Maybe I'm getting the wrong impression, but it gives me the impression of a joke.

Atention: I'm not saying the artists idea was that, but this is the reading I make of it.

ps: I'm not Christian, so I think I'm not biased.

Well, the thing that I have found is that you are bound to upset someone. Especially when it comes to religion. I remember when I first started my site www.WhatWouldJesusDownload.com. I chose the name because it is easy to remember and I think catchy. I was astonished when someone suggested that it was disrespectful.

Anyway for now I will be keeping the default logo.

Thanks, Jereme

[henriquemaia]

Well, the thing that I have found is that you are bound to upset someone. Especially when it comes to religion. I remember when I first started my site www.WhatWouldJesusDownload.com (http://www.WhatWouldJesusDownload.com). I chose the name because it is easy to remember and I think catchy. I was astonished when someone suggested that it was disrespectful.

Anyway for now I will be keeping the default logo.

Thanks, Jereme

Yes, you're right. When I first suggested the use of the Ichthys, I was trying to give you an idea that would not be disrespectful and would embrace christianity as a whole.

I still think that a good logo can make the difference, but using the cross can be read on not so good way. The mockup you made of an logo had a good idea - i liked the earth on the middle, it makes an interesting read. Maybe the codypumper could grab that and make some improvements on it (giving a more professional look).

[Omnios]

Hi I think what you are preposing with a cristian Ubuntu is a greate idea. I would also persue a cristian Edition for the churches to use in there everyday operation. I know off hand that the church I attend has a computer and they use it to manage there church. A christain edition might be more likely accepted by a church for there managment uses as well as for the christian user.

Cheers

[codypumper]

henriquemaia and mhancoc7, I'd have to agree that it could upset someone. It could, in some way, send the message of Ubuntu being almighty. Either way I just wanted to have some fun with GIMP. I find making logos quite fun.

[Dogmudgeon]

Let me make a suggestion (and forgive my omissions if others have suggested similar ideas):

Why not ask members of other religious groups what kind of theological work they do, and combine the efforts? After all, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, etc., have long and extensive traditions of theological scholarship. Both Judaism and (non-militant) Islam have made education significant parts of their religious traditions. Muslim scholars, especially, are competing with the growing emnity of both the Hindu and Christian worlds, not to mention thousands of fanatics running madrassas that turn out firebrands seeking jihad A.S.A.P. (Not to be too smug, but the same thing is true these days in your own Christian community in the USA, except that the level of militancy is still somewhat lower.)

It is likely that there is a lot of commonality to be found. And a common, popular platform for doing theological work would be a boon to inter-religious understanding among academics.

No, it's certainly not the stuff of salvation/nirvana/what-have-you, but it is one less barrier to climb.

Here's my off-the-cuff list of the common functions scholars of religion would need:


Standard versions of scriptures
Concordancing, both traditional and modern "tagged" styles
Multi-language support (check sil.org)
Language/literary support (rhetoric, homiletics, apologetics, exegetics, critical theory); both this and the multi-language support are badly needed in Jewish theology for cantillation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantillation) marking, used by cantors for proper pronunication of scripture
Calendar and astronomical support (e.g., the Jewish calendar, Easter and Advent calculation, Islamic lunar computations that determine the times of prayers, and possibly even GPS support to provide the exact location of Mecca)
The standard suite(s) of scholars' tools for organizing information, but with the styles and formats expected by the academic theological community
Marketing tools for evangelical efforts
Congregation-management software
A cemetary finder for Fred Phelps (http://www.godhatesfags.com) (okay, that's a ba-a-ad joke)
Multimedia support
The usual database, library, on-line, etc., support
"G-d only knows what else ..."


Second, if you need server space, you could write a note to your favorite on-line theologian and ask if s/he can put in a word for you at one of the major seminaries. If you have an ongoing, non-proprietary project, you will probably not have to ask around very much. I know that places like Notre Dame, Fuller Theological, Union Theological, and Naropa (Buddhist) are very supportive of ecumenical projects. And even smaller religious colleges like St. Joseph's or Villanova in Philly (where I live) have active IT-related groups.

Obviously, to save time, you probably don't want to approach Bob Jones or "Liberty" College with the idea; likewise, the Church of Scientology probably has its own ideas on IT, thankyouverymuch. But you will find a surprising amount of support in theological academia, even from the non-believers with interests in religion, such as myself.

In addition, a number of quasi-theological groups also need better access to theological scholarship. Among these groups would be anti-cult organizations, philosophical groups, and groups working to foster peace in the Middle East and in other religious/political hotspots. And many atheist/anti-clerical/freethought scholars need both access to high-quality theological works which may be tough to find, as well as to better organize their own corpora, which are currently difficult to dig through for scholars and laypersons alike.

Good luck with your effort. Unless you want to create something like Auto-Da-Funtu, you'll probably find an enthusiastic subsection of the IT world.

--d!

[mhancoc7]

Let me make a suggestion (and forgive my omissions if others have suggested similar ideas):

Why not ask members of other religious groups what kind of theological work they do, and combine the efforts? After all, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, etc., have long and extensive traditions of theological scholarship. Both Judaism and (non-militant) Islam have made education significant parts of their religious traditions. Muslim scholars, especially, are competing with the growing emnity of both the Hindu and Christian worlds, not to mention thousands of fanatics running madrassas that turn out firebrands seeking jihad A.S.A.P. (Not to be too smug, but the same thing is true these days in your own Christian community in the USA, except that the level of militancy is still somewhat lower.)

It is likely that there is a lot of commonality to be found. And a common, popular platform for doing theological work would be a boon to inter-religious understanding among academics.

No, it's certainly not the stuff of salvation/nirvana/what-have-you, but it is one less barrier to climb.

Here's my off-the-cuff list of the common functions scholars of religion would need:

Standard versions of scriptures
Concordancing, both traditional and modern "tagged" styles
Multi-language support (check sil.org)
Language/literary support (rhetoric, homiletics, apologetics, exegetics, critical theory); both this and the multi-language support are badly needed in Jewish theology for cantillation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantillation) marking, used by cantors for proper pronunication of scripture
Calendar and astronomical support (e.g., the Jewish calendar, Easter and Advent calculation, Islamic lunar computations that determine the times of prayers, and possibly even GPS support to provide the exact location of Mecca)
The standard suite(s) of scholars' tools for organizing information, but with the styles and formats expected by the academic theological community
Marketing tools for evangelical efforts
Congregation-management software
A cemetary finder for Fred Phelps (http://www.godhatesfags.com) (okay, that's a ba-a-ad joke)
Multimedia support
The usual database, library, on-line, etc., support
"G-d only knows what else ..."
Second, if you need server space, you could write a note to your favorite on-line theologian and ask if s/he can put in a word for you at one of the major seminaries. If you have an ongoing, non-proprietary project, you will probably not have to ask around very much. I know that places like Notre Dame, Fuller Theological, Union Theological, and Naropa (Buddhist) are very supportive of ecumenical projects. And even smaller religious colleges like St. Joseph's or Villanova in Philly (where I live) have active IT-related groups.

Obviously, to save time, you probably don't want to approach Bob Jones or "Liberty" College with the idea; likewise, the Church of Scientology probably has its own ideas on IT, thankyouverymuch. But you will find a surprising amount of support in theological academia, even from the non-believers with interests in religion, such as myself.

In addition, a number of quasi-theological groups also need better access to theological scholarship. Among these groups would be anti-cult organizations, philosophical groups, and groups working to foster peace in the Middle East and in other religious/political hotspots. And many atheist/anti-clerical/freethought scholars need both access to high-quality theological works which may be tough to find, as well as to better organize their own corpora, which are currently difficult to dig through for scholars and laypersons alike.

Good luck with your effort. Unless you want to create something like Auto-Da-Funtu, you'll probably find an enthusiastic subsection of the IT world.

--d!

Thank your for your suggestions. They sound like great ideas. However they are not really the goal of my project. I am not really trying to create a full blown distro. I just wanted to create a "version" of the default Ubuntu that incorporated some Christian software. I figured it would help create a buzz about Ubuntu in the Christian world or at least give Christians the ability to easily introduce Ubuntu to there friends, family, and church. I think your concept is a great one, but just not what I am trying to accomplish.

Great idea about the seminaries for server space. I need to talk to my priest to see if he can give my some guidance on it.

God Bless, Jereme

[leetcharmer]

I second this suggestion -- and I'm a Christian. We should gain support from the community who may be interested, instead of just Christians -- who knows, perhaps we can share the gospel at the same time. The purpose of free will anyway is to give choice, isn't it? An educated decision on whether or not to follow Christ, or otherwise, is certainly better than remaining in ignorance. You may want to consider different derivs for different purposes:
1) Church office use (Finance management)
2) Church projection use (openlp / opensong - or something of the sort)
3) Church production use (Audio/Video)
4) Church regular use (internet + regular office apps)

OR -- if you can fit it all on one disc, go for all in one :D

[bricedebrignaisplage]

Hi

do you have a project page? I'm specially interested in seeing the list of packages you are planning to include. I didn't know at all that there were christian softwares, let alone for linux...
I am not into religion, but my girlfriend is; that might help me convert her to linux (she's always complaining that we don't have Windows at home).

thanks

[aysiu]

Here's the project page:
http://www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com/christianubuntu/2006/07/about-ubuntu-christian-edition.html

As of now it's basically just the GnomeSword program, but it's supposed to include more packages in the future.

[Terracotta]

mhm in risk of getting shot:

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4218186268.html

As detailed in Bruce Byfield's excellent NewsForge story, "A GPL requirement could have a chilling effect on derivative distro," Woodford recently ran afoul of the GNU GPL (General Public License) requirement that downstream distributors of GPL code are obligated to provide source code to users in an easily accessible format.


I hope it can help you a bit, and I'm sure you will be able to apply to the rules since the userbase seems to be quite growing. Good luck with the project.

Edit: typed the link twice ](*,)

[mhancoc7]

Hi

do you have a project page? I'm specially interested in seeing the list of packages you are planning to include. I didn't know at all that there were christian softwares, let alone for linux...
I am not into religion, but my girlfriend is; that might help me convert her to linux (she's always complaining that we don't have Windows at home).

thanks

Yes the project page is www.ChristianUbuntu.com (http://www.christianubuntu.com).

For now it is just basicaly Ubuntu with GnomeSword. I am planning to add more in the future releases.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

mhm in risk of getting shot:

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4218186268.html


I hope it can help you a bit, and I'm sure you will be able to apply to the rules since the userbase seems to be quite growing. Good luck with the project.

Edit: typed the link twice ](*,)

Yes, I read that article before I set out on this project. Since Ubuntu Christian Edition comes with the default Ubuntu kernel I figure the source code that Ubuntu provides should be fine. I am no expert on the GNU GPL (General Public License) requirement but I really am only releasing a Ubuntu with added packages from the Ubuntu repos so I don't see how I could be in violation.

God Bless, Jereme

God Bless, Jereme

[Terracotta]

Yes, I read that article before I set out on this project. Since Ubuntu Christian Edition comes with the default Ubuntu kernel I figure the source code that Ubuntu provides should be fine. I am no expert on the GNU GPL (General Public License) requirement but I really am only releasing a Ubuntu with added packages from the Ubuntu repos so I don't see how I could be in violation.

God Bless, Jereme

God Bless, Jereme

Well according to what Warren Woodford said I think that if you release an iso image you have to provide the source code of all programs that are under the gpl that are in that image, which is why he said it could be a real problem for derived distributions (he too had in the beginning nothing but a complete debian system with several other packages included and he got a letter which stated he should also release the source code of all the other packages that are in the iso, not only the ones he changed), it's not nice to have it like this, but perhaps you could send Warren Woodford a letter and ask him more about it. Since you are releasing your own .iso image I think it might be violating the GPL, but of course ask WW he knows more about it than I do, I just read it a couple of weeks ago, and I could be completely wrong about it.

Cheers,
Terracotta.

[mhancoc7]

Well according to what Warren Woodford said I think that if you release an iso image you have to provide the source code of all programs that are under the gpl that are in that image, which is why he said it could be a real problem for derived distributions (he too had in the beginning nothing but a complete debian system with several other packages included and he got a letter which stated he should also release the source code of all the other packages that are in the iso, not only the ones he changed), it's not nice to have it like this, but perhaps you could send Warren Woodford a letter and ask him more about it. Since you are releasing your own .iso image I think it might be violating the GPL, but of course ask WW he knows more about it than I do, I just read it a couple of weeks ago, and I could be completely wrong about it.

Cheers,
Terracotta.

Ok I see now. I will definitely contact him to check.
God Bless, Jereme

[Terracotta]

Ok I see now. I will definitely contact him to check.
God Bless, Jereme

Ok, I hope to see the result/his answer if you don't mind, because well I might one day also start my own distribution customised to belgium, and based on Kubuntu of course (A).

[mhancoc7]

Ok, I hope to see the result/his answer if you don't mind, because well I might one day also start my own distribution customised to belgium, and based on Kubuntu of course (A).

Absolutely. I will try to remember to PM you with the answer, but if I forget I am definitely going to add it to this thread.

Jereme

[Terracotta]

Absolutely. I will try to remember to PM you with the answer, but if I forget I am definitely going to add it to this thread.

Jereme

Tx

[Redcard]

Thought I'd point out...that linking to a location where the source code is downloadable counts as making the source code available.

So simply having the Ubuntu Source Repos right now is enough to keep you GPL compliant. If you add more stuff that is under the GPL but kept in a personal repo, you'd likewise have to add the source repo for it.

Easy, huh?

[mhancoc7]

Thought I'd point out...that linking to a location where the source code is downloadable counts as making the source code available.

So simply having the Ubuntu Source Repos right now is enough to keep you GPL compliant. If you add more stuff that is under the GPL but kept in a personal repo, you'd likewise have to add the source repo for it.

Easy, huh?

Thanks, that is what I thought. I appreciate you confirming it. I have sent an email to Mepis (Warren Woodford) for his thoughts. I am waiting on his response.

God Bless, Jereme

[Terracotta]

Thought I'd point out...that linking to a location where the source code is downloadable counts as making the source code available.

So simply having the Ubuntu Source Repos right now is enough to keep you GPL compliant. If you add more stuff that is under the GPL but kept in a personal repo, you'd likewise have to add the source repo for it.

Easy, huh?

Fair enough.

Though I don't see why Warren Woodford would have had problems then since he used nothing but the Debian testing repos and his own for the changed stuff.:-k So no, not easy.

[Redcard]

It is easy.

From the GPL:

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

---

It's purposefully written into the GPL to support distributing linux. I don't know why Warren ran into his problems, but I know what I am reading in the GPL.

[Terracotta]

It is easy.

From the GPL:

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

---

It's purposefully written into the GPL to support distributing linux. I don't know why Warren ran into his problems, but I know what I am reading in the GPL.

Apparently it's not:

Your source code needs to be on the same place as your compiled code, that's what I read. But let's wait on Warren's answer won't we?

Edit: but let's perhaps move these posts to another thread regarding this issue since it may come in handy in the future for other people trying to make their own customised distro from ubuntu?

Edit2: evaluated the last line again (me and English huh), you might be correct, though I'm not completely sure.

Edit 3: typos :evil:

[Redcard]

Given that the distribution uses Ubuntu as a base, and will be upgraded when ubuntu is upgraded.. and ubuntu has agreed to it.. and this:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#SourceAndBinaryOnDifferentSites

Look, he's not adding any new programs right now. It's currently just a customized ubuntu live cd.

If he's breaking the rule, so is Ubuntu.

[Terracotta]

Given that the distribution uses Ubuntu as a base, and will be upgraded when ubuntu is upgraded.. and ubuntu has agreed to it.. and this:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#SourceAndBinaryOnDifferentSites

Look, he's not adding any new programs right now. It's currently just a customized ubuntu live cd.

If he's breaking the rule, so is Ubuntu.

According to Warren 450 out of 500 distros were breaking the rules so euh yeah there might be a problem. He's the one who knows what he sais and why he said it, and who has had the complaint mail from a developer. I'm just stating what I read, mhm could someone from the forums staff move these posts perhaps to another thread? Like "Ubuntu and derivatives?". I'm curious to what the rules are. And this conversation has nothing to do with the development of Christian Edition anymore.

[Redcard]

I agree.

However at this time, this is not a derivative of Ubuntu, per se. It's still all ubuntu. The artwork is about the only real changes (as well as various Ubuntu specific datafile changes). And the artwork is a different licensee.

We have to differentiate between variations of the livecd that are still using core Ubuntu and variations of the OS that are replacing critical Ubuntu packages with non-Ubuntu packages.

Currently it seems like Christian Ubuntu is no different than regular ubuntu followed up with apt-get install gnomesword. So.. that's just my thought. Right now, I don't know if this version suffices as a real GPL derivative.

[shane2peru]

Wow, a lengthy thread. I like the idea. I'm sorry I didn't have time to read all 24 pages of this thread. Where is it hosted?? I got into Linux, because of the copy right issue, I wanted software that could be copied, and re-distributed legally and freely! I'm a missionary, and work in Peru, where the people don't have the money for a legal copy of Microsoft, everything here is pirated (just about). The fact that there would be a 'Christian Ubuntu' would be even better. Thanks Jereme!!! I'm interested in seeing it!

Shane

[Terracotta]

Wow, a lengthy thread. I like the idea. I'm sorry I didn't have time to read all 24 pages of this thread. Where is it hosted?? I got into Linux, because of the copy right issue, I wanted software that could be copied, and re-distributed legally and freely! I'm a missionary, and work in Peru, where the people don't have the money for a legal copy of Microsoft, everything here is pirated (just about). The fact that there would be a 'Christian Ubuntu' would be even better. Thanks Jereme!!! I'm interested in seeing it!

Shane

www.christianubuntu.com

[kpurcell]

Honestly I had never heard of it. It looks like a perfect addition to Ubuntu Christian Edition. I will put it on the list for the next release. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Do you know if there is a deb package for it? That would make things a lot easier.

Thanks again for letting me know about this.

Jereme

Am I missiong something? I went to the site and it says in min. sys requirements (Windows). This is not Linux software unless it has a Linux versions somewhere on the site I could not find.

[kpurcell]

WHAT?! Are you saying that all these religious, holier than thou people are using stolen, pirated software?.

That has made my day :) I am an Atheist by the way, but good luck on the distro. If you can turn ubuntu religious, there will be an extra million users by next year.

For some, they are knowingly stealing. But others are just ignorant of the whole copywright issues. I once had a pastor had me a stack of 3.5 inch disks of a bible software program. When I suggested it might be illegal, he said, "It's the bible. Why would the not want me to give it away."

[Johnsie]

The back of the cd sleeve encourages people to modify Ubuntu. If someone modifies Ubuntu but it is still Ubuntu then it only makes sense to refer people to the Ubuntu source.

I think most people don't understand technical licensing laws. Most people I've spoken to seem to think that if they have a cd or disk then they have the right to do whatever they want with it. That's a general misconception that many people in the secular and non-secular world have... Because most people aren't fully computer literate and don't understand many of the aspects of computing, including licensing laws.

I mean seriosuly, who is going to sit and read through these laws? Most of us simply don't have the time. I only know because I'm a professional.

[mhancoc7]

Am I missiong something? I went to the site and it says in min. sys requirements (Windows). This is not Linux software unless it has a Linux versions somewhere on the site I could not find.

Looks like you are right. I just quickly read through the site and assumed it was for Linux since it was suggested.
Thanks, Jereme

[shane2peru]

Suggestion, for Christian Ubuntu, I think it would be great if it came with Dan's Guardian working already. Maybe a few setup questions to get it filtering how they would like, but I think that would be an excellent help. I have tried to setup Dan's Guardian, and have not had any luck. It is not easy at all, and if you do get it setup, it works via proxy so anyone can turn it off. That is not very good. Just a thought, if you can.

Shane

[mhancoc7]

Suggestion, for Christian Ubuntu, I think it would be great if it came with Dan's Guardian working already. Maybe a few setup questions to get it filtering how they would like, but I think that would be an excellent help. I have tried to setup Dan's Guardian, and have not had any luck. It is not easy at all, and if you do get it setup, it works via proxy so anyone can turn it off. That is not very good. Just a thought, if you can.

Shane

Yes, Great suggestion. I have Dan's Guardian on the list of possibilities for future releases. I have not messed with it in a while, but here is a link to a thread that I started back when I was using it.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=89267 (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=89267)

It gives a link to a How To that I found to be quite helpful.

Hope that will help.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Thanks to Johnsie (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=44267), a forum member, we now have another Download mirror for the UK. Thanks John!!

I have also contacted several Christian Universities in the states and Oklahoma Christian University has shown some interest in helping with the project. They are considering providing a download mirror. That would be awesome!!

I was having trouble with the site design in IE (who would have guessed:D). I have spent an hour or so tonight and I think I have it working ok in IE now. The banner was not displaying properly. It had a small white line in the middle. That seems to be fixed. I also had trouble with the grey "menu" box. It would not display in IE. I have fixed that as well. Now I think the site is pretty consistent in Firefox (linux), Firefox (windoze), and IE. If anyone notices any issues in IE please let me know.

Oh and I should also mention that my traffic across all of my sites has almost double since the previous year. In fact I had to contact my hosting provider to get more bandwith. I never thought I would ever need to do that. :-D

God Bless, Jereme

[alaaji]

Congratulations on your first release! I applaud your efforts and I'll be sure to mention this to my friends.

[Iandefor]

I have a suggestion for the next release- install more than just the King James Bible and Matthew's commentary for Gnomesword. The interface in Gnomeword to handle installation of commentaries and translations is... lacking, to put it nicely.

[forrestcupp]

I have a suggestion for the next release- install more than just the King James Bible and Matthew's commentary for Gnomesword. The interface in Gnomeword to handle installation of commentaries and translations is... lacking, to put it nicely.

That would be nice, but that may be hard to do since you have to install modules manually. If this could be done, it would be very helpful. I installed a lot of modules, and it took me forever.

Also, like aysiu said earlier, openlp would be a great addition for churches who want to display song lyrics or other presentations. I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but you should also include gnucash which would be good for a church to keep track of finances.

[Iandefor]

That would be nice, but that may be hard to do since you have to install modules manually. If this could be done, it would be very helpful. I installed a lot of modules, and it took me forever.

Also, like aysiu said earlier, openlp would be a great addition for churches who want to display song lyrics or other presentations. I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but you should also include gnucash which would be good for a church to keep track of finances. I don't think it would be too hard to package it with a bunch of extra stuff installed. I'll look into it.

[mhancoc7]

Congratulations on your first release! I applaud your efforts and I'll be sure to mention this to my friends.

Thank you very much!

I have a suggestion for the next release- install more than just the King James Bible and Matthew's commentary for Gnomesword. The interface in Gnomeword to handle installation of commentaries and translations is... lacking, to put it nicely.

Yes, that is a great idea. I looked at doing this with the first release, but decided to wait until the next release since you have to add the modules manually. Like I said earlier the first release concentrates mainly on stability.

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but you should also include gnucash which would be good for a church to keep track of finances.

That is an excellent suggestion! Thanks.

I don't think it would be too hard to package it with a bunch of extra stuff installed. I'll look into it.

Yeah, I don't think it will be too hard either. If it is basically copying the files to the correct directory then it will be a breeze.

God Bless, Jereme

[Iandefor]

Yeah, I don't think it will be too hard either. If it is basically copying the files to the correct directory then it will be a breeze.

God Bless, Jereme It's actually surprisingly easy.

I've personally installed a bunch of modules and examined the ~/.sword directory afterwards. There are two directories that handle all the configurations/texts:

~/.sword/mods.d
~/.sword/modules/texts

The first handles all the configuration for each module, and the second contains the modules themselves.

[mhancoc7]

It's actually surprisingly easy.

I've personally installed a bunch of modules and examined the ~/.sword directory afterwards. There are two directories that handle all the configurations/texts:

~/.sword/mods.d
~/.sword/modules/texts

The first handles all the configuration for each module, and the second contains the modules themselves.

Great, I will have to start tinkering with it. I also found a firefox extension that blocs xxx content. That might be useful since preinstalling it would be much easier than dansgaurdian. Any thoughts!

Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Good news to report!

Oklahoma Christian Univeristy (http://www.oc.edu/about/default.aspx) has donated server space and bandwith to the project. They have graciously set up a mirror for downloading the iso. It is now the Primary download mirror (we have 3 now).

God Bless, Jereme

[Iandefor]

Here's a list of GNOMESword-related packages in the repos, to save any packaging headaches:

sword-comm
sword-comm-mhcc
sword-comm-pers
sword-comm-scofield
sword-comm-tdavid
sword-dict
sword-dict-naves
sword-dict-strongs-greek
sword-dict-strongs-hebrew
sword-frontend
sword-text
sword-text-kjv
sword-text-sparv
sword-text-web

[mhancoc7]

Here's a list of GNOMESword-related packages in the repos, to save any packaging headaches:

sword-comm
sword-comm-mhcc
sword-comm-pers
sword-comm-scofield
sword-comm-tdavid
sword-dict
sword-dict-naves
sword-dict-strongs-greek
sword-dict-strongs-hebrew
sword-frontend
sword-text
sword-text-kjv
sword-text-sparv
sword-text-web

Thanks, do you know of any Catholic translations that can be used?

Jereme

[tonhou]

For your info I put together the howto for dansguardian (linked below) and also in this post include the link for updated blockxxx that works for Firefox 1.5

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=207008

I think blockxxx has good potential for Firefox users and is simple to install. It needs additional site blocking to stop changing of search engine preferences and also more undesirable words should be added to the default lists.

--Tony

[Iandefor]

Thanks, do you know of any Catholic translations that can be used?

Jereme Catholic? Not that I know of.

By the way, I managed to make a .deb with dpkg-deb as a proof-of-concept for packaging extra translations and commentaries. The only problem is, it's like, 40 megabytes. So... if you have an ftp somewhere, I could probably make good use of it to move the POC. Or I could just send you instructions ;).

[mhancoc7]

For your info I put together the howto for dansguardian (linked below) and also in this post include the link for updated blockxxx that works for Firefox 1.5

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=207008

I think blockxxx has good potential for Firefox users and is simple to install. It needs additional site blocking to stop changing of search engine preferences and also more undesirable words should be added to the default lists.

--Tony

Awesome thanks. Now I just need to figure out how to get it installed on the LiveCD.

God Bless, Jereme

[mhancoc7]

Catholic? Not that I know of.

By the way, I managed to make a .deb with dpkg-deb as a proof-of-concept for packaging extra translations and commentaries. The only problem is, it's like, 40 megabytes. So... if you have an ftp somewhere, I could probably make good use of it to move the POC. Or I could just send you instructions ;).

I will PM you with your temporary ftp account.

Thanks, Jereme