What to Put onto the Disk Image for the Free Computers Going to Harlem Families?

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Steve Bergen

Cross Platform Software to go onto both Images

Summary of our Mac Image

Arthur Stein on January 3, 2008 at 1:28 AM wrote:
I downloaded everything on the list except for the
EdVenture Software, Tuxpaint games, and Notepad from Finale (*18), which requires registration.
AbiWord (*3) seems redundant with NeoOffice. 
Also, I thought the consensus was against installing an anti virus engine such as ClamXav.
  --> agreed, sorry for confusion ... Steve
Firefox, FLIP4MAC, Google Earth, NeoOffice, and Sketchup are already installed.
  1. Audacity
  2. Google Earth ... installed at our first session
  3. AbiWord
  4. TuxPaint
  5. Firefox ... installed at our first session
  6. ArtRage Starer
  7. Scratch
  8. Flip4Mac ... installed at our first session
  9. Arcade Typing
  10. Paintbrush
  11. GeoGebra
  12. NeoOffice ... installed at our first session
  13. Inkscape
  14. Circus Linux ... SB to download (done)
  15. Gem Drop ... SB to download (done)
  16. Flash
  17. Skype
  18. Notepad ... SB to register and download (done)
  19. iFlash
  20. Sketchup ... installed at our first session
  21. TextWrangler
  22. RealPlayer
  23. EdVenture Software ... should arrive today via CD
  24. Dan's Guardian (perhaps) ... from here or from here
  25. Perhaps we offer ClamAV in same capacity as a file on the computer?

Mac only? The Macs we are using are Emacs from 2003 & lamp Macs with 10.4, and then a batch of strawberry Macs with OS9

PC only? The PCs we are using are P2s unfortunately

Other Links

Suggestions from the ISED Listserv

Until I have time to incorporate into above ;-) 


from Pat Hough, Grammar School Technology Coordinator
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School
http://www.primarygames.com/langarts/slate/start.htm
excellent online software ... Steve

alsocuetype, which is a free or shareware typing program. Very good. Mac only.
I am using it with my fourth graders this year and they like it a lot:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18872/cuetype
looks good but I want to avoid shareware for honesty reasons ... Steve


 
Two others for a shortlist:
Freemind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Inkscape: http://www.inkscape.org/
Cheers, Bill Fitzgerald




Ann Hamel  on January 1, 2008 at 7:03 PM  wrote:
Sebran is great for pre-school/kindergarten aged students
http://www.wartoft.nu/software/sebran/ ... ... AG PC19
download for PC only ... looks good ... Steve
Sodaplay - my all time favorite website for the creative scientists:
http://sodaplay.com/  
Game Design  - great intro to programming (4th grade on up, PC only)
http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/ ... ... AG PC20
 



Norman Maynard from thorntonfriends.org on January 1, 2008 at 12:17 PM  wrote:
I'd suggest some sort of .zip handling program. And maybe CutePdf or an
equivalent.
There's also rocketdock, which would allow a set-up for online apps like
gmail, googledocs, etc (a la G OS)




Also some excellent advice from Bill Fitzgerald re freegeek.org
Hello, Steve,

You probably don't need to reinvent the wheel on this
one -- Free Geek has been doing this type of work for
a while, and would probably be glad to share the
details of their work -- see http://freegeek.org/ for
more details. 

Also, starting with an Ubuntu/Edubuntu, or another
linux distribution would extend the life of the
computers you give out. On the computers you send out
(whatever distro/config you use), it would also be a
good idea to extend the basic configuration by making
sure that all the necessary codecs, etc are installed,
and that the repositories for installing additional
software are enabled.

These two blog posts give a good overview of how to do
what I describe in Ubuntu; similar tutorials exist for
other distros as well:
http://onlyubuntu.blogspot.com/2007/03/install-mplayer-and-multimedia-codecs.html
http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com/2007/05/13-must-do-things-on-new-ubuntu-704.html

By completing these steps prior to handover, you will
give your users a more solid machine. Cheers, Bill




Demetri Orlando   AT battlegroundacademy.org> on January 2, 2008 at 12:39 PM  wrote:
Hey Steve,

Your list looks great. The Best Free Software page at the wiki has 39
categories of free software and I've added the ones from this thread.
Thanks all!

http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/Best_Free_Software

I would think about firewall and anti-spyware software, since one of the
biggest headaches for non-technical users is when their machines get
corrupted. Might be nice to have a disk image for re-install on CD/DVD
if that is possible.
 
Not sure I saw sketchup on your list... if the P2s will run it, it might
be a nice addition.

I'm assuming if they are Windows machines, they will have MovieMaker on
them as part of the OS install.

Internet plug-ins (all the obvious candidates)
Internet Filtering? (as a parent, I would want something)
iTunes is a pretty popular request
CutePDF doesn't leave a watermark like PrimoPDF does
Skype

Links to useful websites in a folder on the desktop



Karen Ortiz   on January 2, 2008 at 10:53 AM  wrote:
A couple more sites:

www.starfall.com - Pre-K to 2 Reading
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - online language arts and math
(facts) games grades 1-4

looks good ... nothing to download but definitely will highlight these ... steve 




Christopher Butler from St. John's Preparatory School, Danvers, MA 
on January 2, 2008 at 3:27 PM  wrote:
My favorite link:
    
    http://softwarefor.org ... ... AG PC21

Software for Starving Students.  There is a Downloads link that points to
two disk images -- one for Windows and one for Macs -- that contain all
sorts of free software.

Hope this helps,
Christopher
Last revised: 1.1.08 Steve Bergen