encarta or brittanica for linux

[mighk]

hi
i have a small school in sunvalley in the cape, sa, telkom can't provide adsl so
anyone know of a digital encyclopedia for ubuntu/edubuntu
or maybe a way to get some of the wikipedia offline ?
thanks
mighkhttp://www.ubuntuforums.org/images/smilies/guitar.gif

[mips]

I would not use wikipedia as a tutoring/research tool. Can you not get wireless access in your location ?

The Britannica DVD says win/mac compatible so i do not know what interface they use. If it was a straight web browser then it could be used in linux. Maybe email them.

Would it be possible to mirror the website ?

[mcglnx]

If it requires Windows, you can try to run Encarta with Wine,... ?

[Ghil]

good news, Britannica has a launch script for Linux:

http://support.britannica.com/linux/linux.htm

:)

[mips]

good news, Britannica has a launch script for Linux:

http://support.britannica.com/linux/linux.htm

:)

That really is good news.

[nalmeth]

or maybe a way to get some of the wikipedia offline ?
Only a german version is available now. In the future there will be other languages available.

[mcglnx]

That really is good news.

aga

[DoctorMO]

Interesting how the EB uses Java, requires the JDK (Development Kit) not the JRE (Runtime environment) then goes on to say that animations and sounds won't work because they require quick time which doesn't work on liux (even though we know it does) perhaps there is some way to fix this.

[Mateo]

anyone been able to get the script to work? where is the java_home located?

[JAPrufrock]

I would not use wikipedia as a tutoring/research tool.

I would under some circumstances. Depends on the grade level and the purpose of the research. Let's try to support community-based projects.

[Polygon]

i know all of my teachers say "dont use wikipedia" just because of the fact that everyone can edit it, even though i later find out that all the information is correct with further research

its a shame that they will take some random college students home webpage but not take something that has been edited / checked / improved upon by lots of people.

but it is cool that that EB at least tries to support linux.

[mcglnx]

You right!
About the W. it's a long debate: Do you prefer to beleive in a 10/100 guys living on the same country and working for the same company, or do you prefer to believe in 1,000 and 1,000 people from different countries - interesets?

Frankly, I prefer the 2nd.

[ShirishAg75]

I did download wikipedia in a cd format about a yr. ago. The articles were of 2k4. Looking forward whenever they have the english dvd up for download :) Or u can also download stuff from http://static.wikipedia.org/ & make multiple copies of it on dual-layered dvd's :) Just for e.g. http://static.wikipedia.org/downloads/November_2006/en/

[mighk]

thanks for all the suggestions
tried to download wikipedia dump as per these instructions http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Running_MediaWiki_on_Ubuntu_GNU/Linux
and these
http://www.blindedbytech.com/2006/08/31/how-to-install-wikipedia-for-offline-access/

succesfully downloaded the bz2 file ----- 13 hours, 1.9 G
successfully installed media wiki
succesfully downloaded mwdumper to unpack the wiki bz2
started unpacking , lasted 15 hours
now i can't find where it has got to, after unpacking it said it 4 million pages and now they are just missing, can anyone suggest how to retrieve them ?

thanks
mighk

[mighk]

I did download wikipedia in a cd format about a yr. ago. The articles were of 2k4. Looking forward whenever they have the english dvd up for download :) Or u can also download stuff from http://static.wikipedia.org/ & make multiple copies of it on dual-layered dvd's :) Just for e.g. http://static.wikipedia.org/downloads/November_2006/en/

Hi shirishag
how do you download and use the html pages ?

mighk

[ShirishAg75]

mighk are u doing this on Windows or Ubuntu, for the usage & commands would be little different. Also if ur doing it on Windows http://www.blindedbytech.com/2006/08/31/how-to-install-wikipedia-for-offline-access/ there is a tip at the end which tells what to do. I have been meaning to go the whole hog but haven't just been upto it. 13 hrs. is a long time. Perhaps there should be a .torrent for it so people can access it :) As far as packages are concerned http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help_talk:Running_MediaWiki_on_Ubuntu_GNU/Linux is also good to know. I would be trying out the full thing in few days only then I would be able to suggest something or the other :)

[mighk]

thanks again

am trying all this on edubuntu 6.06
mysql running
can access and use moodle installation
just can't find where those four million pages have got to. Is there a log somewhere that would help.

thanks mighk

[Stephen_A]

That link for Britannica under Linux is only for the 2004 version; and if it runs, there are many functions that don't work. Britannica says they are 'aware' of this. The 2008 version is available for Windows and Mac only, it seems.