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View Full Version : Provincial govt in Pakistan distributes 125,000 ubuntu laptops



asifnaz
April 3rd, 2012, 03:59 PM
In Punjab government distributes 125,000 laptops based on ubuntu . It has plan to distribute 175,000 more similar laptops in year .
The original plan was to distribute laptops without any OS . I wrote to authorties to
Install ubuntu and informed them it is free (I am not sure if it was the reason but they opt ubuntu )
Now these laptops are given to very talented students .Once I was complaining being lonely as ubuntu user now imagine my university which has 24,000 students and literally everybody is carrying an ubuntu laptop:p

rg4w
April 3rd, 2012, 05:20 PM
Thanks for the post - I was able to turn up a couple link for more info:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/338373/laptop-distribution-shahbaz-sharif-urges-students-to-work-hard-for-the-country/
http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/31/laptops-for-students-of-evening-classes.html

BigSilly
April 3rd, 2012, 05:26 PM
Er...WOW!

/is seriously impressed with Asifnaz!

keithpeter
April 3rd, 2012, 07:05 PM
Hello asifnaz and all

Thats impressive!

Those people are going to need a bit of help getting the most out of their laptops, so you could be doing some coaching soon!

http://ubuntu-manual.org/downloads

if English is any good. There is also an Arabic version for 10.04

http://ubuntu-manual.org/?lang=ar

The Ubuntu team provide manuals for 10.04 (two versions) and 11.10.

Any idea about machine specs?

yetiman64
April 5th, 2012, 05:26 AM
Er...WOW!

/is seriously impressed with Asifnaz!
+1, very impressive Asifnaz.

jfreak_
April 5th, 2012, 07:35 AM
http://ubuntu-manual.org/downloads

if English is any good. There is also an Arabic version for 10.04



unless i am much mistaken, Urdu is much more used that Arabic

hughr2005
April 5th, 2012, 08:14 AM
Nice! :D I'm glad people are getting good service from Ubuntu :)

lz1dsb
April 5th, 2012, 12:06 PM
Wow! These are quite an impressive numbers...
I wish such things happened also here in Eastern Europe... But here most of the governments are bound to Windows and Open Source is quite week in the public sector. Which is pity, but it's the way it is...

PRC09
April 6th, 2012, 02:57 AM
from what is being posted in various areas it seems that the fact that they have Ubuntu (10.10) installed,which support for ends this month was not necessarily the best way to get Ubuntu to the masses.....


http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/04/03/city/lahore/laptop-scheme-a-scam/

dniMretsaM
April 6th, 2012, 03:01 AM
That is absolutely fantastic! I'm glad to see FL/OSS making an impact.

[wishful-thinking]Now if only something similar would happen in the US...[/wishful-thinking]

keithpeter
April 6th, 2012, 01:42 PM
from what is being posted in various areas it seems that the fact that they have Ubuntu (10.10) installed,which support for ends this month was not necessarily the best way to get Ubuntu to the masses.....


http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/04/03/city/lahore/laptop-scheme-a-scam/

Hello PRC09

Kind of guessed that might happen, even allowing for journalistic exaggeration.

Real opportunity for the colleges and universities to put some basic training on, and help with the upgrade to 11.10 (or downgrade to 10.04 even).

That machine looks really ok as it happens, better than my laptop!

asifnaz
April 6th, 2012, 03:51 PM
I have talked to many students and they said they are fine with Ubuntu and they have no intention to install windows .

As for ubuntu 10.10 it is because of gnome 2.x . Unity might turn those users away . But I am actively participating to educate my fellow students about how to use Ubuntu and how to upgrade to latest version .

Remember those are not ordinary people they are very talented students selected on merit .They are learning very fast and many of them have already upgraded .

Some of them(mostly females) have replaced Ubuntu with pirated windows 7 though .

If I am not wrong this is the largest Ubuntu based computer distribution ever (correct me if I am wrong).

Swagman
April 6th, 2012, 06:24 PM
IMO 10:10 (Maverick Meerkat) was the best version of Ubuntu to date.

Congrats

keithpeter
April 6th, 2012, 07:46 PM
I have talked to many students and they said they are fine with Ubuntu and they have no intention to install windows.

Good for them! I suspected journalistic exaggeration in the article that was linked above



As for ubuntu 10.10 it is because of gnome 2.x . Unity might turn those users away . But I am actively participating to educate my fellow students about how to use Ubuntu and how to upgrade to latest version .

Remember those are not ordinary people they are very talented students selected on merit .They are learning very fast and many of them have already upgraded .

Good for you. I'm sure that they will find out that Gnome Classic is quite a close approximation to Gnome 2 for the ones who really don't like Unity.

Just wondering why not 10.04 as it is an LTS, provides a direct upgrade path to 12.04 via software update and is really solid?

asifnaz
April 7th, 2012, 05:11 PM
Just wondering why not 10.04 as it is an LTS, provides a direct upgrade path to 12.04 via software update and is really solid?

As I said original plan was to distribute Laptops without any OS .

And in last minutes they changed their plan to install Ubuntu .I think that's why they did not do much home work

MisterGaribaldi
April 7th, 2012, 11:08 PM
asifnaz: That's very cool. Funny (and oddly stereotypical) about the women installing Windows instead. Not sure what that says, actually. Would be useful to know what they installed Windows for the benefit of.

LOL'd when you said they were all pirated copies of Windows. Clearly they want what they want and they don't give a crap about how they get it. Kind of sounds like some ex-girlfriends of mine, actually.

terrykiwi83
April 8th, 2012, 12:46 AM
Great news for Ubuntu and open source in general, I myself am also currently working on a project to have Schools in a certain region of New Zealand switch over to Ubuntu. :)

+1

asifnaz
April 8th, 2012, 08:19 AM
Would be useful to know what they installed Windows for the benefit of.



First thing they tried on their Ubuntu Laptops was to install Windows software . When they come to know it cant install them they said Ubuntu was crap and they refused to take learning curve .

(just my observation may be wrong )

BTW very small number of students have install windows

keithpeter
April 8th, 2012, 03:14 PM
First thing they tried on their Ubuntu Laptops was to install Windows software . When they come to know it cant install them they said Ubuntu was crap and they refused to take learning curve .

(just my observation may be wrong )

BTW very small number of students have install windows

Hello asifnaz

http://www.linuxalt.com/

might help.

I think that Science and Maths students should have access to Linux anyway even as just a bootable CD or USB stick because of the huge range of specialised software that is available. Point any maths types to the sage project (http://www.sagemath.org/)

@terrykiwi83: keep us up to date how that goes! I know that NZ makes, or used to make, extensive use of Moodle in education.

@MisterGaribaldi: Microsoft software is very expensive in many countries, I think you will find that the use of pirated software is regrettably common. I don't think that is a gender thing especially.

terrykiwi83
April 8th, 2012, 08:44 PM
@keithpeter

Yes its still the case with Moodle, I know that the Uni of Waikato, Open Polytechnic, Uni of Auckland and a couple of more use Moodle. As do a few high schools.

mr john
July 30th, 2012, 06:42 AM
Sounds good. People here in Honduras go out of their way to install pirated copies of Windows/Office. I few weeks ago I was horrified when I realised a computer I bought had Windows 7 "Extreme Edition" and a dodgy version of Office. I'd rather have a copy of Ubuntu than something that could possibly be infested with trojans. One of the biggest reasons I've had people reject Ubuntu was also the learning curve. I'm trying to teach Open Office to my girlfriend but she's very sceptical.

usman777
December 10th, 2012, 09:41 AM
I'm glad to see in this forum that is absolutely fantastic and great number!.:D Provincial govt take very good step to help student

sdowney717
December 10th, 2012, 05:08 PM
Sounds good. People here in Honduras go out of their way to install pirated copies of Windows/Office. I few weeks ago I was horrified when I realised a computer I bought had Windows 7 "Extreme Edition" and a dodgy version of Office. I'd rather have a copy of Ubuntu than something that could possibly be infested with trojans. One of the biggest reasons I've had people reject Ubuntu was also the learning curve. I'm trying to teach Open Office to my girlfriend but she's very sceptical.

One good thing about the progress being made in Linux is less need or desire to install pirated windows software.
MS windows should do a deal with google to get paid for putting addvertising of product links onto their windows like Canonical does when users do searches. Then MS could get some decent cash back even on pirate copies. Also do a deal with Baidu in China, likely more pirated windows there than any other place.

snfo
October 9th, 2013, 06:28 PM
One good thing about the progress being made in Linux is less need or desire to install pirated windows software.
MS windows should do a deal with google to get paid for putting addvertising of product links onto their windows like Canonical does when users do searches. Then MS could get some decent cash back even on pirate copies. Also do a deal with Baidu in China, likely more pirated windows there than any other place.

I am also in Pakistan. What every child in Pakistan see when he/she see computer? They see Windows logo. In Pakistan, people even don't know the word "Operating System", they think that Windows is everything and Microsoft is giant in IT / Cyber / Computer world. I tried to convince many people to use Linux in my country but they became the Microsoft's slave. 0.001% of people in Pakistan really know about Linux world and they use Linux for everything.
But I am happy and confident, i am using Ubuntu since that starting of 2012.

Erik1984
October 9th, 2013, 06:41 PM
I am also in Pakistan. What every child in Pakistan see when he/she see computer? They see Windows logo. In Pakistan, people even don't know the word "Operating System" , they think that Windows is everything and Microsoft is giant in IT / Cyber / Computer world. I tried to convince many people to use Linux in my country but they became the Microsoft's slave. 0.001% of people in Pakistan really know about Linux world and they use Linux for everything.
But I am happy and confident, i am using Ubuntu since that starting of 2012.

It's not much better where I live. People may know the word "Operating System" but not what it means ;)

vegan.philosophy
November 2nd, 2013, 10:07 AM
In Punjab government distributes 125,000 laptops based on ubuntu . It has plan to distribute 175,000 more similar laptops in year .
The original plan was to distribute laptops without any OS . I wrote to authorties to
Install ubuntu and informed them it is free (I am not sure if it was the reason but they opt ubuntu )
Now these laptops are given to very talented students .Once I was complaining being lonely as ubuntu user now imagine my university which has 24,000 students and literally everybody is carrying an ubuntu laptop:p


Congratulations for doing such excellent work. State governments distribute laptops in India but almost all such PCs come with Windows.