Creating a Custom Ubuntu for A University -Your ideas

[bigbrovar]

Am working on a custom Ubuntu for the Univeristy where i work .. i Need Ideas .. most of the students would coming from a windows background .. am trying to create something that contains the best software that open source has to offer .. i have pretty much gotten all the packages i feel are needed .. if u think there is something that should be there please let me know.. if i donut already have i will install it ..

what i want to implement right now is an interface that uses gnome but with tools that would make searching and navigation dead easy .. i intend on using AWN and Gnome do ... please i need tips on how to make this perfect ..
i just need a simple interface that the users wont have a problem with .. or should i just leave things to be default?

[zmjjmz]

KDE would be a good idea...

Maybe AWN on top?

Oh! Use Gimpshop (the one that looks more or less like Photoshop).

[billgoldberg]

I would switch awn with cairo (which looks and works 10x better).

I would also switch the Ubuntu default menu to this:

http://linuxowns.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/untitled.png?w=500&h=350 (http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/install-the-linux-mint-menu-in-ubuntu-hardy/#more-382)

I would make sure openssh is installed by default.

And some default themes and artwork.

I wouldn't go for the vista or mac osx ones, something like "elegant brit" with a nice icon set would be great.

[melrom]

I would switch awn with cairo (which looks and works 10x better).


Would you mind terribly if I bothered you about this...never heard of cairo and am dissatisfied with awn. Can you provide screenshot??

[bigbrovar]

I would switch awn with cairo (which looks and works 10x better).

I would also switch the Ubuntu default menu to this:

http://linuxowns.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/untitled.png?w=500&h=350 (http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/install-the-linux-mint-menu-in-ubuntu-hardy/#more-382)

I would make sure openssh is installed by default.

And some default themes and artwork.

I wouldn't go for the vista or mac osx ones, something like "elegant brit" with a nice icon set would be great.

WHAT IS THAT ! .. please can u give me the name of the menu in that screenshot.. that would be awesome

[MONODA]

if most people are coming from windows then I think you should use OpenSuSE 11.

[bigbrovar]

well the school decided to use ubuntu hardy heron .. we cant change that now ...

[billgoldberg]

WHAT IS THAT ! .. please can u give me the name of the menu in that screenshot.. that would be awesome

Click the image.

About the screenshot:

http://xs128.xs.to/xs128/08254/screenshot-3227.png (http://xs.to)

That's just one of the standard skins, one of the others includes a perfect mac osx clone.

Click in my customization guide for cairo install notes (not in repo).

It also has those osx leopard style things that pop up from the dock.

[bigbrovar]

Click the image.

About the screenshot:

http://xs128.xs.to/xs128/08254/screenshot-3227.png (http://xs.to)

That's just one of the standard skins, one of the others includes a perfect mac osx clone.

Click in my customization guide for cairo install notes (not in repo).

It also has those osx leopard style things that pop up from the dock.



i meant this menu .. what is it and how can i install it

[billgoldberg]

i meant this menu .. what is it and how can i install it

The picture is linked to the page to install it, but here's the direct link.

http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/install-the-linux-mint-menu-in-ubuntu-hardy/

[faytaliti]

Try Reconstructor. With it you can modify the given Ubuntu disc image to create a fully re modified version of Ubuntu with all that you want. You can also delete unwanted packages. This is truly "FOSS"......

[smartboyathome]

Try Reconstructor. With it you can modify the given Ubuntu disc image to create a fully re modified version of Ubuntu with all that you want. You can also delete unwanted packages. This is truly "FOSS"......

Remastersys is better imo. You can create your system how you want, and then remaster it using that tool.

[madjr]

Remastersys is better imo. You can create your system how you want, and then remaster it using that tool.

+1 to remastersys

[madjr]

Am working on a custom Ubuntu for the Univeristy where i work .. i Need Ideas .. most of the students would coming from a windows background .. am trying to create something that contains the best software that open source has to offer .. i have pretty much gotten all the packages i feel are needed .. if u think there is something that should be there please let me know.. if i donut already have i will install it ..

what i want to implement right now is an interface that uses gnome but with tools that would make searching and navigation dead easy .. i intend on using AWN and Gnome do ... please i need tips on how to make this perfect ..
i just need a simple interface that the users wont have a problem with .. or should i just leave things to be default?

add the gnome deskbar applet to the panel

it's like the ibar in mac i think

[damis648]

add the gnome deskbar applet to the panel

it's like the ibar in mac i think

It's called SpotLight.

[damis648]

Also, doing a dist-backup with remastersys... I do not believe there is anyway to change the default theme (from human).

[madjr]

It's called SpotLight.

weird it doesn't start with "i"

also forgot the name of the ibrowser ..

[smartboyathome]

Also, doing a dist-backup with remastersys... I do not believe there is anyway to change the default theme (from human).

There is. Change it for root, and I think that changes it for everyone else too. ;)

[NikoC]

University people (science department) definitely need statistics, so I'm not sure if you have already put R on your software list? If you decide to go for KDE as your desktop environment, you could use rkward which is a nice gui for R.

Cheers.

[bigbrovar]

I use systemimager which is a pretty neat tool .. it it i customize the ubuntu i want .. send the image to the file server .. and from there boot all the desktops with the image .. its not quite easy to setup but it works and its very reliable ... plus i have the home directory of all the systems in the mounted on the file server through NFS.. and authentication is though open ldap .. for the most part the arrangement just works .

[songshu]

could i suggest to keep it simple?

assuming you will be installing a large number of machines and you do not want to receive numerous service calls a day because the eye-candy is jamming up the usability, does all the computers have trouble free graphic cards to load up compiz????

personally i roll out a slightly modified version of Xubuntu, replacing a few apps here and there. YES, boring it is!! but it gives me the least headaches and crashes in the long run. But this will always be a personal choice i guess.

about the remastersys, are you sure? how many machines do you need to install? there are more simple and flexible ways to do this, and if you are talking about a lot of machines think about using the network for installation. You could for example use FAI and or puppet, these will also enable you to control the users and configs centrally.

As another example i place the preseed.cfg that holds all the answers to the questions asked by the installer on the server and have all packages installed via apt-cacher. An install means popping in a disk, press enter, wait for 15 minutes, remove the cd and done.

just to give you some ideas.

[damis648]

weird it doesn't start with "i"

also forgot the name of the ibrowser ..

Finder is the file browser, Safari is the web browser.

[bigbrovar]

songshu
Re: Creating a Custom Ubuntu for A University -Your ideas
could i suggest to keep it simple?

assuming you will be installing a large number of machines and you do not want to receive numerous service calls a day because the eye-candy is jamming up the usability, does all the computers have trouble free graphic cards to load up compiz????

personally i roll out a slightly modified version of Xubuntu, replacing a few apps here and there. YES, boring it is!! but it gives me the least headaches and crashes in the long run. But this will always be a personal choice i guess.

about the remastersys, are you sure? how many machines do you need to install? there are more simple and flexible ways to do this, and if you are talking about a lot of machines think about using the network for installation. You could for example use FAI and or puppet, these will also enable you to control the users and configs centrally.

As another example i place the preseed.cfg that holds all the answers to the questions asked by the installer on the server and have all packages installed via apt-cacher. An install means popping in a disk, press enter, wait for 15 minutes, remove the cd and done.

just to give you some ideas.

oh thanks .. like i said earlier .. i use systemimager .. which allows u to customize the Ubuntu u want on a system .. ( i installed all the open source educational programs available to ubuntu -at least everything i could lay my hands on- )i gave it a unique default wallpaper .. (The school logo with some funky stuff) the i put some science ebooks, short videos on how to use ubuntu -ubuntu screencast- ...and i installed all multimedia codecs and some other things needed to have a functional desktop .. then i sent an image of the system i customized to the fileserver .. from .. then i configured systemimager so that i can through network boot populate the labs with the image in the fileserver .. then i had the home directory of the client systems mounted on the fileserver .. and authentication is through ldap ..

the above process is quite complicated and am yet to sit down to document all the process involved .. but the result is that i have a working system that is almost perfect .. and if a system is down or grows bananas .. i just restore by reloading it with the image on the fileserver through network boot .. without wiping out the personal files of the users ..

the same process too applies to the laptops ..except that their home directory is mounted locally and authentication is also local ..

the system has both Ubuntu and kubuntu desktop installed .. and yeah the desktops runs an intel card so they is no problem running compiz .. (normal settings) on the laptops its an ATI so i installed the proprietary drivers which seems to have worked .. except just recently am getting cases of x crashing and logging the user to a console .. am still checking up what the problem could be

[songshu]

never used system imager but sounds good.

how did you get the ldap authentication to work? last time i checked it was still partly broken in Hardy, i still like to finish that some day so would like to see your documentation if you have the time to scribble it all down.

[bigbrovar]

Re: Creating a Custom Ubuntu for A University -Your ideas
never used system imager but sounds good.

how did you get the ldap authentication to work? last time i checked it was still partly broken in Hardy, i still like to finish that some day so would like to see your documentation if you have the time to scribble it all down.

wasnt easy and mostly done through trial by error .. i am setting up a wiki and i hope to post everything there .. cus right now i cant quite start recounting what i went through to get it to work .. but when it did work . it was like a charm ..

[delfick]

I would switch awn with cairo (which looks and works 10x better).

I would also switch the Ubuntu default menu to this:

http://linuxowns.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/untitled.png?w=500&h=350 (http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/install-the-linux-mint-menu-in-ubuntu-hardy/#more-382)

I would make sure openssh is installed by default.

And some default themes and artwork.

I wouldn't go for the vista or mac osx ones, something like "elegant brit" with a nice icon set would be great.

WHAT IS THAT ! .. please can u give me the name of the menu in that screenshot.. that would be awesome

that's the ubuntu system panel
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=156

:)

[bigbrovar]

thanks i finally figured it out ..

[Naralas]

KDE would be a good idea...

Maybe AWN on top?

Oh! Use Gimpshop (the one that looks more or less like Photoshop).

KDE would not be a good idea. As someone who switches between XP and KDE and XP and Gnome often, let me just say that KDE is NOT similar to windows. There are so many "feel" issues that are just OFF, and no XP habits translate to KDE whereas almost all XP habits translate to gnome. If you do a side-by-side with screenshots and think that means KDE is more similar your a fool.

Believe me, KDE is going to make windows users go "why the **** did it just do that?" Gnome feels new, but not foreign. It's a much better switch. Plus almost everything good that Ubuntu has to offer over other distros is mostly supported in Gnome.

[songshu]

wasnt easy and mostly done through trial by error .. i am setting up a wiki and i hope to post everything there .. cus right now i cant quite start recounting what i went through to get it to work .. but when it did work . it was like a charm ..

using a wiki i can recommend, have set up one myself and find it enormously useful, especially when doing maintenance later on
http://songshu.org/doku/

would really love to see yours, cause if you have a look at the link in my sig i got stuck after the chicken and intend to pick it up soonly to start migrating some clients to hardy.

[user11]

I started a project similar to what you are doing in hopes to accomplish converting my office.

I have been toying with remastersys and achieved a few things so far, but I was thinking of just having a live boot in place of using HDDs, to make a computer "bullet proof" in sense should it be used in a public place (no one finding each other's online passwords, system files can't be vandalized, GUI settings will go to my custom default on re-boot).

Here's a link to a post I made, hope it helps.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=893909

I decided to use the Xfce version of Ubuntu called Xubuntu, because it eats up a whole lot less RAM, and my college LOVES getting computers with a ram standard of the 90's (mostly 256Mb & 512Mb). Since your college agreed to use Ubuntu, you won't be violating and agreements by using this instead, I highly recommend it (It flies pretty well on my PII) and you can customize it just the same (use redmondxp in the appearance option to have the window frames look like XP)

On a side note, customizing the panels will probably achieve most of the "Microsoft Windows feel" you are looking for.

Hope this helps, please post on your progress.

[regomodo]

#

[bigbrovar]

using a wiki i can recommend, have set up one myself and find it enormously useful, especially when doing maintenance later on
http://songshu.org/doku/

would really love to see yours, cause if you have a look at the link in my sig i got stuck after the chicken and intend to pick it up soonly to start migrating some clients to hardy.

http://wiki.aims.ac.za/mediawiki/index.php/Thick_Client_Customization_Hardy_AIMS#Basic_Instal l
hope u find it useful

[songshu]

that looks mighty fine ;)

baie dankie

[uberdonkey5]

could i suggest to keep it simple?

assuming you will be installing a large number of machines and you do not want to receive numerous service calls a day because the eye-candy is jamming up the usability, does all the computers have trouble free graphic cards to load up compiz????

personally i roll out a slightly modified version of Xubuntu, replacing a few apps here and there. YES, boring it is!! but it gives me the least headaches and crashes in the long run. But this will always be a personal choice i guess.



+1 to this. Get a simple system working perfectly first. If there is demand for other applications they can be added later when all the bugs are ironed out (and people will be familiar with base system by then). Minimilism is the key to a good beginner experience. In terms of ubuntu promotion, there may be some argument for leaving it pretty standard (so ubuntu users feel at ghome as well).