African Linux Project

[cabinda]

I am currently a volunteer in Angola, working at a teacher training college. We just had an internet connection via satellite installed last week, and on the 15th of April we will be opening an internet cafe. (For now, I will be the administrator.)

I have decided to use Ubuntu Linux on all of the machines in the internet cafe and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about security considerations I should consider, or packages I should install. At the moment I only have a warty cd, but I have installed it and upgraded to hoary on two machines. (When the full release of hoary comes out I'll be downloading that as well.)

Right now we have 4 computers (we're starting small) and each computer has a static IP. I'm installing Firefox plugins for multimedia, flash, acrobat, sage, and java. I've also been asked to install a lot of other software (most people that use internet cafes here have no computer, so they need to be able to create new documents). Some of this software includes OpenOffice.org, Scribus, and a CAD application (pythonCAD or qCAD...any suggestions?)

At the moment, I am the only person here with any experience with linux, but starting next week I will be teaching a class to 3 of the professors here so they can be network administrators by the time I leave (August).

Thanks for any help.

(ps....if anyone is interested, I'll be documenting the entire project at http://www.africanlinuxproject.org ....both the internet cafe and the classes teaching linux.)

[occy8]

Hi,
I was looking for a printer driver the other day and came across this site of another group in Africa using Ubuntu.

http://finebushpeople.net

[primeirocrime]

I am currently a volunteer in Angola, working at a teacher training college. We just had an internet connection via satellite installed last week, and on the 15th of April we will be opening an internet cafe. (For now, I will be the administrator.)

I have decided to use Ubuntu Linux on all of the machines in the internet cafe and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about security considerations I should consider, or packages I should install. At the moment I only have a warty cd, but I have installed it and upgraded to hoary on two machines. (When the full release of hoary comes out I'll be downloading that as well.)

Right now we have 4 computers (we're starting small) and each computer has a static IP. I'm installing Firefox plugins for multimedia, flash, acrobat, sage, and java. I've also been asked to install a lot of other software (most people that use internet cafes here have no computer, so they need to be able to create new documents). Some of this software includes OpenOffice.org, Scribus, and a CAD application (pythonCAD or qCAD...any suggestions?)

At the moment, I am the only person here with any experience with linux, but starting next week I will be teaching a class to 3 of the professors here so they can be network administrators by the time I leave (August).

Thanks for any help.

(ps....if anyone is interested, I'll be documenting the entire project at http://www.africanlinuxproject.org ....both the internet cafe and the classes teaching linux.)

cool! Now there is a project I wouldn't mind embrace. If you need any help with translations or something that has to do with portuguese language I'll help.
Or even if you need graphics I'll help to if you like my artwork. WEll I'm just excited here. :D



.

[sabdfl]

(ps....if anyone is interested, I'll be documenting the entire project at http://www.africanlinuxproject.org ....both the internet cafe and the classes teaching linux.)

Good luck with the project. I'm interested to keep up to date with your progress, will you publish a blog at that site?

[jnoreiko]

I've also been asked to install a lot of other software (most people that use internet cafes here have no computer, so they need to be able to create new documents). Some of this software includes OpenOffice.org, Scribus, and a CAD application (pythonCAD or qCAD...any suggestions?)

Inkscape too maybe?

Can I ask how you got involved in this? I am considering volunteer work abroad for next year, and something like this could be just my thing.

[Jad]

How can we help ?
by default ubuntu installs mostly every needed peice of software.
I think you will need to install some fonts for their languages,

[cabinda]

Sorry about the delay in response....I'm on Angolan time.

Really the only help that I am looking for is anything to do with security considerations. I don't know what firewall software is good to use, or how I should set permissions for users of an internet cafe. Security has never been anything that I have really worried about before.

I have just finished updating the website (there is a blog included now). I could use some help with translating that into portuguese, if anyone is willing. (At the moment, my portuguese is broken at best. I know enough to be able to stand in front of a class and teach, but I think translating the entire site would take me a while.)

Thanks for the support. If you want to keep updated with the project, check the blogs. I should be updating them weekly. (And maybe in a few weeks you can check out newsforge. A reporter wanted to write a story following the project :grin: )

Website: http://www.africanlinuxproject.org
Blogs:http://blog.africanlinuxproject.org