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727 lines
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<head>
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<title>TUX&GNU@school - 7th edition</title>
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<h1>TUX&GNU@school - 7th edition</h1>
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<p><i>More or less regularly the column <a href=
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"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool7.en.html">TUX&GNU@school
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[2]</a> reports about free software, a homepage on topic and an
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easy to implement idea. This month I talk about <a href=
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"http://www.kalzium.org/">Kalzium [3]</a>, a free chemistry
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education program, about the homepage of <a href=
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"http://www.schoolforge.net">OFSET (Organisation for Free Software
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in Education and Teaching) [4]</a>, and about the idea "An
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extension for Kalzium" ;-).</i></p>
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<p>Welcome to the seventh edition of TUX&GNU@school.
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Unfortunately it's still not possible to receive the column as a
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newsletter. Though I will try to make it possible till the next
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edition. Furthermore I want to devote this edition to a very
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valuable member of the Swiss (and international) Free Software
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community, Mathias 'turrican' Gygax, who left us far to early.</p>
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<h3>Kalzium - The Periodic Table of the Elements (PTE)</h3>
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<p><a href="http://edu.kde.org/kalzium">Kalzium [3]</a> is a piece
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of free education software (GNU GPL) from the <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">KDE Edutainment project [5]</a> and shall
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first and foremost offer a simple access to the Periodic Table of
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the Elements (PTE). I tested the version 0.5 (KDE 3.1.5) on the
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'testing' version of <a href="http://www.debian.org">Debian
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GNU/Linux [6]</a>.</p>
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<p>After the first invocation of the program you see the beloved
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(or hated) Periodic Table (see screenshot 1). Some of you will feel
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reminded of their chemistry lessons in school days. All the
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presently known (state 2002) chemical elements are listed simply
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and clearly. A simple mouse click on one of these over 100 buttons
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further information about the selected element appear. Then a new
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window is opened which is devided in three sections containing
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information in a general way (as name, symbol, atomic weight or
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density), about the state of matter (melting and boiling point) and
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about energies (ionisation energy and electronegativity).</p>
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<p>As you see in screenshot 2, which shows this information for the
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element Iron, there is a button labelled with "Web Lookup" too.
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Through this you can reach the website of the University of Split
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which displays further information about the corresponding element
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in a new window. This information is displayed in one of the
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following five languages: <a href=
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"http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni">Croatian [7]</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/de">German [8]</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/fr">French [9]</a>, <a href=
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"http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/en">English [10]</a> and <a href=
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"http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/it">Italian [11]</a>.
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Incidentally you change this setting through the menu bar
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<i>Settings -> Configure Kalzium...</i> and there in the item
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<i>Web Lookup</i>.</p>
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<p><img src="./img/kalzium.en.png" alt=
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"Screenshot 1: Kalzium after the frist start" width="889" height=
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"573" border="0" /></p>
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<h5>Screenshot 1: Kalzium after the first start</h5>
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<p>In this settings dialog you can change the <i>Colors</i> too.
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But for what? For this we go again back to the main window (see
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screenshot 1). The Periodic Table of the Elements, as perhaps still
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some of you know, is divided in different groups which are
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emphasized in different colors. In the tool bar you can choose
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among the international usable groupings <a href=
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"http://www.iupac.org">IUPAC (International Union of Pure and
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Applied Chemistry) [12]</a> and <a href="http://www.cas.org">CAS
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(Chemical Abstracts Service) [13]</a> or, for whom this is as
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meaningless as for me, you can completely deactivate them. Further
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on the PTE can be displayed by characteristics as <i>Acid
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Behavior</i> or <i>State of Matter</i> or simply in <i>Blocks</i>
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or <i>Groups</i> too. Now all these highlighting modes and their
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different colors can be set to your preference in the above called
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setting entry. This allows the teaching person to precisely
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highlight what he or she is talking about right now.</p>
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<p>In this tool bar a selecting menu is located too with the two
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items <i>Complete</i> and <i>Mendeleev</i> which show two
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"different" PTEs. And before we finally leave the tool bar of
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Kalzium I want to say something about the time bar (rightmost).
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After clicking on this button at the bottom of the Periodic Table
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of the Elements a sliding controller appears which stands on 2002.
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With this you can now go back in the history and see which elements
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were already known at which point in time (whereas some elements
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aren't discovered yet but only predicted). And as we are talking
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about the sliders, in the tool bar you can select the display
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according to the <i>State of Matter</i> and explore which element
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are vapor, liquid or solid at which temperatures ;-).</p>
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<p><img src="./img/kalzium-fe.en.png" alt=
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"Screenshot 2: Information about the chemical element Iron" width=
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"597" height="489" border="0" /></p>
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<h5>Screenshot 2: Information about the chemical element Iron</h5>
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<p>Some of you perhaps already noticed the menu item <i>Quiz</i>.
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Chosen this item you can decide how many questions are asked to you
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and then you can enjoy a little quiz. From my school days I
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remembered at least that much that I mostly reach above 50 percent
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of correct answers ,although, as regular readers of this column
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know, my love to chemistry isn't that far reaching. Left of this
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quiz through the menu item <i>Calculations</i> you reach a simple
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calculation window (KMol) where simple formulas for calculations of
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the molecular weight (Mw in u) can be entered. By the way this tool
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can handle all the elements.</p>
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<p>According to Carsten Niehaus, the author of this program,
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Kalzium is suitable for all ages and students. A colleague of mine,
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who studies <a href="http://www.mat.ethz.ch">materials [14]</a> at
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the <a href="http://www.ethz.ch">ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institut of
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Technology Zurich) [15]</a>, uses this program relatively often.
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According to the handbook of Kalzium Carsten is interested in bug
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reports, new data and improvement proposals as well. You can write
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and send them relatively easy through the menu item <i>Help ->
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Report bug...</i> (well preferentially in English). And because I
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haven't got a good idea for this edition of TUX&GNU@school till
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now and I heard about a good one at a <a href=
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"http://www.lots.ch">Free Software event [16]</a> last week, I want
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to explain it right here (and sending it to Carsten as well of
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course). If I remember correctly last week somebody asked me the
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following: "Is it possible to simulate chemical reactions with
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Kalzium?" I think the person meant what happens if e.g. you take a
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carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms or more generally how does
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oxygen and iron react together. As a non-chemist and a
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not-often-programmer I don't know now how simple or impossible it's
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to implement this but Carsten, this as a food for thought ;-). But
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of course at this place a large thank you to you and your helpers
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for this wonderful piece of free education software.</p>
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<p>But now continues to the homepage or project of this edition
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respectively.</p>
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<h3>OFSET.org - Organisation for Free Software in Education and
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Teaching</h3>
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<p>This is the first time that the information this section is
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based on is not entirely collected on the corresponding homepage.
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But I asked some questions (borrowed of the <a href=
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"http://www.brave-gnu-world.org">Brave GNU World [17]</a>) to a
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person of this homepage/project too. For that reason thanks a lot
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to Hilaire Fernandes of the OFSET for the detailed replies to the
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questions. Some of you might know him as an important person in the
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development of <a href="http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd">Freeduc
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[18]</a>, the GNU/Linux-LIVE-CD for schools and education.</p>
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<p>The <a href="http://www.ofset.org">OFSET - Organisation for Free
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Software in Education and Teaching [4]</a> was founded at the end
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of 1999 as an organisation according to the French law. The aim of
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the OFSET is it to support and further the development of free
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education software for education and teaching. Thereby it's
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important that the whole thing happens as international as possible
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therewith the work isn't made double and triple. Currently the
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OFSET counts more than 40 members with a hard core of approx. ten
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people. On the one hand the <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/members/members.html">members [19]</a> are
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developers programming busily themselves, in the other hand they
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are e.g. secondary school teachers with whom they practise active
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exchange of ideas concerning education software. The activities of
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the organisation are supposed to speak to not only students and
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programmers but also parents, teachers and whole schools.</p>
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<p>For the concrete development of free education software the
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OFSET gives some guidelines concerning the deployed tools which you
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can read at their <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/charter.html">charta
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[20]</a>. They always start programming from the user interface
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which clearly is supposed to stand in the centre of their software
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development. Internationalization is aspired where it seems useful,
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translation and documentation at the places where it's feasible and
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people are available. The scriptability is another point where the
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members of the OFSET attach importance to. Therein they see a good
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possibility to give the prospective users a tool for the adaptation
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which seems to be central for free software. Currently they use C,
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C++, Python and Scheme as programming languages, but they does not
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have to limit oneself to these. They always use the <a href=
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"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#TOCGPL">GNU GPL [21]</a>
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and the <a href=
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"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#TOCFDL">GNU FDL [22]</a>
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as licenses.</p>
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<p><img src="./img/ofset.en.png" alt=
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"Screenshot 3: Front page of the homepage of the OFSET" width="800"
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height="600" border="0" /></p>
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<h5>Screenshot 3: Front page of the homepage of the OFSET</h5>
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<p>The current status of some <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/projects/supported/supported.html">projects
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of the OFSET: [23]</a> <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/gcompris/">GCompris [24]</a>, which hopefully
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is already know by some readers and whose author is a member of the
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OFSET too, reached version 5.2 (at the moment of the interview with
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Hilaire, the 16th October 2003, it stands at version 4.0). <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/drgeo/">DrGeo [25]</a>, a free geometry
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education program which exists since the foundation of the
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organisation stands with version 0.9.9 at the barrier to the famous
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and notorious 1.0. Further out of the countless education software
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productions a new subproject has arosen which is supposed to make
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contents (e.g. sounds and pictures) for education software
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exchangeable among the projects. To the best of my belief <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/assetml/">AssetML [26]</a> is currently
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inserted by GCompris and <a href=
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"http://childsplay.sourceforge.net">Childsplay [27]</a>.</p>
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<p>Thanks to the solid legal basis of the OFSET the collaboration
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with the <a href="http://www.unesco.org">UNESCO [28]</a> in the
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last version of <a href="http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd">Freeduc
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[18]</a> (Freeduc 1.4.1 in November 2003) was much easier. Not to
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be ignored is the collaboration with other projects in this
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environment as for instance <a href=
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"http://www.skolelinux.org">Skolelinux [29]</a> or <a href=
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"http://wims.unice.fr">WIMS [30]</a>. But of course the OFSET has
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got "other projects in preparation but it is to soon to talk about
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these ones".</p>
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<p>As an answer to my question, what they have for special
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problems, Hilaire answered shortly: "No, only solutions ;-)."
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Nonetheless the OFSET can need helpers of course. Besides
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developers they also search translators, documentaion writer and
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people who represent the OFSET at Free Software events. Currently
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they miss e.g. a primary school teacher who could take over the
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documentation of GCompris. Automatically generated <a href=
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"http://www.openoffice.org">OpenOffice.org [31]</a> documents are
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already there, they only have to be filled. Interested people can
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simply send an email to <a href="mailto:ofset@ofset.org">ofset at
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ofset dot org [32]</a>. As a project for the somehow more distant
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future the OFSET strives to receive the RIP label for their
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software which is franchised by the French Education Office and
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serves as a quality label and increase.</p>
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<p>If you want to get more information about the OFSET, the best
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place to go is the <a href="http://www.ofset.org">homepage of the
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OFSET [4]</a> (English and French). Interesting pieces are the
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<a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/statutes.html">statutes
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[33]</a>, the already called <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/charter.html">charta
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(guidelines) [20]</a> or the <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/manifesto.html">manifesto
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[34]</a> of the OFSET. At this place and at the end of the
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presentation of the OFSET I want to wish you good luck for your
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further work.</p>
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<p>But now let's go to the today's idea - rubbish, I presented it
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already above - then to the news.</p>
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<h3>News and up to date program versions</h3>
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<p>As an improvement I want to incorporate here news from other
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internet pages. For the moment these are news from <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org [5]</a> and <a href=
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"http://www.osfet.org">ofset.org [4]</a>. Because this is the first
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time I'll include all news from the beginning of 2003. The messages
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from these pages are taken here one to one or translated
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respectively. The "I" in the edu.kde.org-news is refers to
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Anne-Marie Mahfouf by the way. If you have further proposals send
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<a href="mailto:foxman@lugo.ch">me [1]</a> an email please. Of
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course there will still be other news.</p>
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<h4>QtForum contest includes KDE programs <i>(<a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#QtForumcontestincludesKDEprograms">20.02.2004</a>)</i></h4>
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<p>The QtForum announced today that its <a href=
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"http://contest.qtforum.org/rules.php">contest [35]</a> is now open
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to KDE applications. The changes is as follow: "This folder must
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contain the source code to the program and, in source form, any
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code upon which it depends. As an exception, kdelibs version 3.2 or
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later stable releases are allowed as external depency." I was meant
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to be judge in that contest but I resigned from this position in
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order to allow entries of programs in which I helped. I will not
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present any of my own applications though, having had prior
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knowledge of the contest. I wish you all good luck if you enter the
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contest and I hope that new applications will soon join our
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module!</p>
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<h4>OFSET supports Skolelinux <i>(<a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a> - 15.02.2004</i>)</h4>
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<p>OFSET is officially supporting the <a href=
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"http://www.skolelinux.org">Skolelinux [29]</a> project. The goal
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of this project is to provide a free ICT infrastructure for schools
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and it is perfectly complementary to the OFSET goals of developing
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free software for education. <a href=
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"http://developer.ofset.org/cps/Public/communiques_de_press/ofset_soutient_le_pr/view">
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Read more [36]</a>.</p>
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<h4>New icons <i>(<a href="http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> -
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<a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#Newicons">22.01.2004</a>)</i></h4>
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<p>Several applications have new icons based on svg source and in
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crystal style. Thanks to <i>Chris Luetchford</i> and <i>David
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Vignoni</i> who took time to refresh and redesign our icons They
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look really great!</p>
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<h4>Klicker, the KDE metronome <i>(<a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#KlickertheKDEmetronome">20.01.2004</a>)</i></h4>
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<p>All musicians need it and now KDE provides it! <a href=
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"http://www.duskglow.com/personal/software.shtml">Klicker [37]</a>,
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the KDE metronome, has reached version 1.0. It provides visual and
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sound beats and the plan is to transform it into a more general
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music helper application with a tuning helper, a voicing component,
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a chords trainer and more! Well done, Russell, and carry on the
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good work! You can download it <a href=
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"http://www.duskglow.com/downloads/klicker-1.0.tar.gz">here
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[38]</a>.</p>
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<h4>An icon theme for kids <i>(<a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#Aniconthemeforkids">28.11.2003</a>)</i></h4>
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<p>Everaldo, the Crystal icons theme author, has come up with
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<a href="http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=9144">a
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new kids icons theme [39]</a>. Thanks a lot for those wonderful
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icons and congratulations to Everaldo who will soon be a father!
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Additionally, you can find the desktop wallpaper <a href=
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"http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=9146&PHPSESSID=201559f2a8a8a4e52b1d613750ee229d">
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here [40]</a>. This theme is now included in kdeartwork in cvs HEAD
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and will be shipped in that module for KDE 3.2.</p>
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<h4>OFSET at the Solution Linux in Paris <i>(<a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a> - 18.11.2003</i>)</h4>
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<p>OFSET will be at the Solution Linux event in Paris, from the 3
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to the 5 of February 2004.</p>
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<h4>Freeduc-cd 1.4 <i>(<a href="http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a>
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- 30.10.2003</i>)</h4>
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<p>FREEDUC-CD release 1.4, see the <a href=
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"http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd/">FREEDUC page [18]</a> for more
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information. This version has been developped with the support of
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the UNESCO, see our <a href=
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"http://developer.ofset.org/cps/Public/communiques_de_press/copy_of_version_unesco_de_fr/view">
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press release [41]</a>.</p>
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<h4>Debian in Schools <i>(<a href=
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"http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/">Debian Weekly News (DWN)</a> -
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<a href=
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"http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2003/31/">05.08.2003</a>)</i></h4>
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<p>Thomas Lindemans <a href=
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"http://news.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/_News_search_news/content.cfm?ov=28498&lang=en&id_area=109">
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explained [42]</a> at the <a href=
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"http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/index_eun_corporate.cfm">European
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Schoolnet [42.1]</a>, a partnership of 26 Ministries of Education,
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why educators should try GNU/Linux. Debian is mentioned as being
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"built for stability" and good for those who enjoy a "fast and
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secure operating system". The article suggests that using Debian in
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a school would require somebody with knowledge of Linux because of
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text configuration files, however no mention is made of <a href=
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"http://www.skolelinux.no/">Skolelinux [43]</a> or the <a href=
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"http://wiki.debian.net/?DebianEdu">Debian-Edu [44]</a>
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subproject.</p>
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<h4>KLogoTurtle is a new promising application <i>(<a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
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"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#KLogoTurtleisanewpromisingapplication">
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23.07.2003</a>)</i></h4>
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<p><a href="http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle">KLogoTurtle [45]</a> is
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a LOGO interpreter for KDE. It helps to teach computing and
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mathematics to young children. You can have a look at the <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle/screenshots.php">screenshots page
|
|
[46]</a> and send as your teaching experiment with Logo as well as
|
|
your thoughts and wishes. KLogoTurtle is currently in the
|
|
kdenonbeta module and is meant for developers only at the moment,
|
|
<a href="http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle/obtain.php">please read
|
|
[47]</a> this page if you want to try it but as LOGO is a very
|
|
useful teaching tool, KLogoTurtle will become a must-have KDE-Edu
|
|
application!</p>
|
|
<h4>OFSET at the Libre Software Meeting 2003 <i>(<a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a> - 18.07.2003</i>)</h4>
|
|
<p>We were at the Libre Software Meeting 2003, at Metz. We met
|
|
several people we use to work with. We had a stand to demonstrate
|
|
Freeduc-cd. We also sell Freeduc-cd and new prestigious members
|
|
join our organization. Look at those picture album (<a href=
|
|
"http://redfox.redfoxcenter.org/gallery/LSM2003">http://redfox.redfoxcenter.org/gallery/LSM2003
|
|
[48]</a>).</p>
|
|
<h4>Kard needs more pictures <i>(<a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#Kardneedsmorepictures">04.07.2003</a>)</i></h4>
|
|
<p><a href="http://edu.kde.org/kard">Kard [49]</a> is a Memory-like
|
|
game for young children. You have some cards on a grid and you must
|
|
match the cards by pairs. The number of cards varies from 4 to 24
|
|
(multiples of 4). Kard is currently in the kdenonbeta module. At
|
|
the moment, there are only 2 themes which are colors and objects
|
|
related to a house. It would be nice to get more pictures for Kard.
|
|
For example, I have in mind pictures of musical instruments that
|
|
would be associated with the corresponding instrument sound.
|
|
Another level would be the sounds without any pictures. If you are
|
|
an artist or a would-be-artist, here is the way to be known! Please
|
|
check out the <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/kard/screenshots.php">screenshots page [50]</a>
|
|
to know more about Kard.</p>
|
|
<h4>Kig 0.5.1 released <i>(<a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#Kigreleased">03.06.2003</a>)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>I'm currently releasing Kig 0.5.1, which is a bugfix release in
|
|
the 0.5 series. Major improvements in Kig 0.5 include much improved
|
|
undo support, a KSeg import filter, a full screen mode, a polar
|
|
coordinate system, multiline text labels, printing support, along
|
|
with a lot of UI improvements and bugfixes. Check out <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/kig/download.php">this page [51]</a> for
|
|
installation instructions.</p>
|
|
<h4>Édulinux: a new educational French (Québec) Linux distribution
|
|
<i>(<a href="http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#EacutedulinuxaneweducationalFrenchQueacutebecLinuxdistribution">
|
|
03.06.2003</a>)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>The University of Sherbrooke is proud to announce the release of
|
|
<a href="http://www.edulinux.org/">Edulinux 9.1 [52]</a>, a new
|
|
educational linux distribution based on Mandrake 9.1 and localized
|
|
in French. It consists of 3 CDs (ISOs available <a href=
|
|
"http://www.edulinux.org/spip/article.php3?id_article=23">here
|
|
[53]</a>) and includes several KDE-Edu programs (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.edulinux.org/capture/">screenshots [54]</a>). This
|
|
distribution is targeted to French speaking schools, students and
|
|
their families and is very easy to install. The KDE-Edu team wish
|
|
to thanks all the i18n teams for their hard work because they make
|
|
it possible to widely distribute our applications. Several articles
|
|
in newspapers backed up the launch of this distribution and that
|
|
will make more people aware of the existence of Free Software!</p>
|
|
<h4>Czech sounds in KLettres and code improvement <i>(<a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> - <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#CzechsoundsinKLettresandcodeimprovement">
|
|
30.05.2003</a>)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>KLettres has had a major code improvement (hard-coded data are
|
|
now gone ;-) and another language has been added. Czech is now
|
|
supported, thanks to Eva Mikul?íková. On the <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/klettres">KLettres website [55]</a>, there is a
|
|
<a href="http://edu.kde.org/klettres/add_language.php">page
|
|
[55.1]</a> where I explain what to do if you want to add a new
|
|
language. The new version is in CVS HEAD and will be shipped with
|
|
KDE 3.2. Please take a look at the <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/klettres/screenshots.php">screenshots page
|
|
[56]</a> to learn more about KLetttres.</p>
|
|
<h4>GCompris gained prize <i>(<a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a> - 26.05.2003)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>Again a new success for OFSET, GCompris won the 1st prize in the
|
|
category of educational application during the Trophees du LIBRE in
|
|
France!! See there (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.tropheesdulibre.org">http://www.tropheesdulibre.org
|
|
[57]</a>).</p>
|
|
<h4>KTouch major release (1.3 in CVS) with some new features and a
|
|
rewritten API <i>(<a href="http://edu.kde.org">edu.kde.org</a> -
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/news.php#KTouchmajorreleaseinCVSwithsomenewfeaturesandarewrittenAPI">
|
|
12.05.2003</a>)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>KTouch is available in a new version (1.3 in CVS) with some new
|
|
features and a rewritten API. Among the new features, you can now
|
|
change the fonts for the keyboard and hebrew support and a color
|
|
settings dialog have been added. You can have a look at the
|
|
<a href="http://ktouch.sourceforge.net">project webpage [58]</a> to
|
|
learn more about KTouch and of course you are encouraged to try the
|
|
new version in CVS HEAD.</p>
|
|
<h4>Freeduc-cd 1.3 <i>(<a href="http://www.ofset.org">ofset.org</a>
|
|
- 02.04.2003)</i></h4>
|
|
<p>Freeduc-cd release 1.3, see the Projects page for more
|
|
information.</p>
|
|
<h4>Wikipedia.org with more than 500'000 articles</h4>
|
|
<p>The free encyclopedia project <a href=
|
|
"http://www.wikipedia.org">Wikipedia.org [59]</a> counts meanwhile
|
|
more than 500'000 articles in most different world languages.
|
|
Wikipedia is a project of the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.wikimedia.org">Wikimedia Foundation [60]</a> which
|
|
contains several other projects too I want to talk about another
|
|
time. For the readers of TUX&GNU@school the following numbers
|
|
will be the most interesting: <a href=
|
|
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">English Wikipedia [61]</a>
|
|
- 221'275 articles, <a href=
|
|
"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseite">German Wikipedia [62]</a>
|
|
- 59'698 articles, <a href=
|
|
"http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accueil">French Wikipedia [63]</a> -
|
|
29'009 articles and <a href=
|
|
"http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huvudsida">Swedisch Wikipedia
|
|
[64]</a> - 22'487 articles (State: 07.03.2004).</p>
|
|
<h4>Duden software for GNU/Linux too</h4>
|
|
<p>All software of the Duden publishing house (the Duden is the
|
|
standard work of the German language) is now also available for
|
|
GNU/Linux. First of all schools which want to change their IT will
|
|
be happy about this.</p>
|
|
<h4>QCad in version II released</h4>
|
|
<p>QCad, a free 2D CAD program, which I reported about in the
|
|
<a href="http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool6.de.html">6th
|
|
edition of TUX&GNU@school [65]</a> is being released in version
|
|
II. Although you don't see it instantly on the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.qcad.org">homepage [66]</a> QCad is still propagated
|
|
under the GNU GPL which the author reassured explicitly. Certainly
|
|
if you want a packaged and for your favorite distribution perpared
|
|
version you are allowed to spend some money to the project team.
|
|
Already packaged demo versions are available at the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad_downloads.html">download page
|
|
[67]</a>.</p>
|
|
<h4>SelfLinux 0.10.0 published</h4>
|
|
<p>And right now the version 0.10.0 of the German project <a href=
|
|
"http://www.selflinux.org">Selflinux [68]</a> was published. It's
|
|
the aim of this project to simplify for novices the entrance to
|
|
this new world with numerous articles.</p>
|
|
<h4>Skolelinux is now an official subproject of Debian</h4>
|
|
<p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org">Skolelinux [29]</a>, a
|
|
school distribution from Norway based on Debian, was joined with
|
|
the Debian subproject <a href=
|
|
"http://wiki.debian.net/DebianEdu">DebianEDU [44]</a>. Furthermore
|
|
the project goes slowly but safely to the version number 1.0 and
|
|
these is also the reason why the last prerelease pr46 is that
|
|
stable. All up to date versions are ready for downloading on the
|
|
<a href="ftp://developer.skolelinux.no/skolelinux-cd/">Skolelinux
|
|
FTP server [69]</a>.</p>
|
|
<h4>Oralux - Knoppix for blind people</h4>
|
|
<p><a href="http://www.oralux.org">Oralux [70]</a> is a LIVE-CD
|
|
distribution based on Knoppix for blind and visually impaired
|
|
people. At the startup firstly the hardware is automagically
|
|
detected and configured. After that the user is lead, controlled by
|
|
voice, through an entrance menu and thereafter to a working
|
|
environment with voice output. Currently they use <a href=
|
|
"http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net">Emacspeak [71]</a> for this. But
|
|
for the future they plan also to better integrate <a href=
|
|
"http://www.baum.ro/gnopernicus.html">Gnopernicus [72]</a>. Oralux
|
|
is available in the current version 0.05 at the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.oralux.org/download.php">download page [73]</a>. By the
|
|
way on Oralux 0.05 you'll find TUX&GNU@school 6 in German as a
|
|
text for listing.</p>
|
|
<h4>Kalzium is getting rewritten</h4>
|
|
<p>As I saw just now at <a href=
|
|
"http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=11224">KDE-Apps.org
|
|
[74]</a> Kalzium shall be completely reworked and rewritten for the
|
|
version 1.0 (not yet released). It looks as we can be thrilled.</p>
|
|
<h4>Up to date program versions</h4>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="http://edu.kde.org/ktouch">KTouch</a> 1.3 - Type
|
|
writing course under KDE 3.2.1 (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool1.html">TGS 1</a>)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.ofset.org/gcompris">GCompris</a> 5.2 -
|
|
Education plattform with different boards (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool2.html">TGS 2</a>)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://edu.kde.org/kgeo">KGeo</a> 1.0.2 (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool3.de.html">TGS 3</a>) ---
|
|
<i>Substituted by <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kig/">Kig</a> 0.6.1 -
|
|
Geometry program under KDE 3.2.1</i></li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://bioinformatics.org/ghemical/">Ghemical</a> 1.01
|
|
- Chemistry program for modelling and computing molecules (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool4.de.html">TGS 4</a>)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint">Tuxpaint</a>
|
|
0.9.13 - Painting programm for children and for those who stayed
|
|
children (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool5.de.html">TGS 5</a>)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.qcad.org">QCad</a> 2.0.2 - 2D-CAD program
|
|
(<a href="http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool6.de.html">TGS
|
|
6</a>)</li>
|
|
<li><a href="http://edu.kde.org/kalzium">Kalzium</a> 0.9.3 -
|
|
Chemistry programm under KDE 3.2.1 (<a href=
|
|
"http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool7.de.html">TGS 7</a>)</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>Ok, that's it once more. This edition became quite large but hey
|
|
there're worse things ;-). Till soon...</p>
|
|
<h3>Links:</h3>
|
|
<p>[1] <a href="mailto:foxman@lugo.ch">Criticism, questions,
|
|
comments, ideas and more please to: foxman@lugo.ch</a><br />
|
|
[2] <a href="http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool7.en.html">The
|
|
homepage of TUX&GNU@school:
|
|
www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool7.en.html</a><br />
|
|
[3] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kalzium">The homepage of Kalzium:
|
|
edu.kde.org/Kalzium</a><br />
|
|
[4] <a href="http://www.ofset.org">The homepage of the OFSET
|
|
(Organisation for Free Software in Education and Teaching):
|
|
www.OFSET.org</a><br />
|
|
[5] <a href="http://edu.kde.org">The homepage of the KDE
|
|
Edutainment project: edu.kde.org</a><br />
|
|
[6] <a href="http://www.debian.org">The homepage of Debian:
|
|
www.debian.org</a><br />
|
|
[7] <a href="http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/">The Periodic Table
|
|
of the (chemical) Elements (PTE) in Croatian</a><br />
|
|
[8] <a href="http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/de">The Periodic
|
|
Table of the (chemical) Elements (PTE) in German</a><br />
|
|
[9] <a href="http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/fr">The Periodic
|
|
Table of the (chemical) Elements (PTE) in French</a><br />
|
|
[10] <a href="http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/en">The Periodic
|
|
Table of the (chemical) Elements (PTE) in English</a><br />
|
|
[11] <a href="http://www.ktf-split.hr/periodni/it">The Periodic
|
|
Table of the (chemical) Elements (PTE) in Italian</a><br />
|
|
[12] <a href="http://www.iupac.org">The homepage of the IUPAC
|
|
(International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry):
|
|
www.iupac.org</a><br />
|
|
[13] <a href="http://www.cas.org">The homepage of CAS (Chemical
|
|
Abstracts Service): www.cas.org</a><br />
|
|
[14] <a href="http://www.mat.ethz.ch">The homepage of the
|
|
Departement of Materials at the ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institut of
|
|
Technology Zurich): www.mat.ethz.ch</a><br />
|
|
[15] <a href="http://www.ethz.ch">The homepage of the Swiss Federal
|
|
Institut of Technology Zurich (ETHZ): www.ethz.ch</a><br />
|
|
[16] <a href="http://www.lots.ch">The homepage of the Swiss Free
|
|
Software event LOTS - Let's Open The Source: www.lots.ch</a><br />
|
|
[17] <a href="http://www.brave-gnu-world.org">The homepage of the
|
|
column Brave GNU World: www.Brave-GNU-World.org</a><br />
|
|
[18] <a href="http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd">The homepage of the
|
|
LIVE-CD Freeduc</a><br />
|
|
[19] <a href="http://www.ofset.org/members/members.html">Becoming a
|
|
member of the OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[20] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/charter.html">Charta of the
|
|
OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[21] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#TOCGPL">Further
|
|
information about the GNU General Public License (GPL)</a><br />
|
|
[22] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#TOCFDL">Further
|
|
information about the GNU Free Documentation License
|
|
(FDL)</a><br />
|
|
[23] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org/projects/supported/supported.html">Projects
|
|
of the OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[24] <a href="http://www.ofset.org/gcompris/">The homepage of
|
|
GCompris: www.ofset.org/GCompris</a><br />
|
|
[25] <a href="http://www.ofset.org/drgeo/">The homepage of DrGeo:
|
|
www.ofset.org/DrGeo</a><br />
|
|
[26] <a href="http://www.ofset.org/assetml/">The homepage of
|
|
AssetML: www.ofset.org/AssetML</a><br />
|
|
[27] <a href="http://childsplay.sourceforge.net">The homepage of
|
|
Childsplay: childsplay.sourceforge.net</a><br />
|
|
[28] <a href="http://www.unesco.org">The homepage of the UNESCO -
|
|
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation:
|
|
www.UNESCO.org</a><br />
|
|
[29] <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org">The homepage of
|
|
Skolelinux: www.Skolelinux.org</a><br />
|
|
[30] <a href="http://wims.unice.fr">The homepage of WIMS - WWW
|
|
Interactive Mathematics Server: WIMS.unice.fr</a><br />
|
|
[31] <a href="http://www.openoffice.org">The homepage of
|
|
OpenOffice.org: www.OpenOffice.org</a><br />
|
|
[32] <a href="mailto:ofset@ofset.org">Drop-in center of the OFSET:
|
|
ofset@ofset.org</a><br />
|
|
[33] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/statutes.html">The statutes
|
|
of the OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[34] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.ofset.org/information/legal/manifesto.html">The
|
|
manifesto of the OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[35] <a href="http://contest.qtforum.org/rules.php">QtForum
|
|
programming contest</a><br />
|
|
[36] <a href=
|
|
"http://developer.ofset.org/cps/Public/communiques_de_press/ofset_soutient_le_pr/view">
|
|
OFSET press release of the Skolelinux support by the
|
|
OFSET</a><br />
|
|
[37] <a href="http://www.duskglow.com/personal/software.shtml">The
|
|
homepage of Klicker:
|
|
www.duskglow.com/personal/software.shtml</a><br />
|
|
[38] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.duskglow.com/downloads/klicker-1.0.tar.gz">Downloading
|
|
Klicker 1.0</a><br />
|
|
[39] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=9144">Kids - KDE
|
|
icon theme for children</a><br />
|
|
[40] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=9146&PHPSESSID=201559f2a8a8a4e52b1d613750ee229d">
|
|
Wallpaper for the icon theme Kids</a><br />
|
|
[41] <a href=
|
|
"http://developer.ofset.org/cps/Public/communiques_de_press/copy_of_version_unesco_de_fr/view">
|
|
OFSET press release of the freeduc support by the UNESCO</a><br />
|
|
[42] <a href=
|
|
"http://news.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/_News_search_news/content.cfm?ov=28498&lang=en&id_area=109">
|
|
Report of Thomas Lindemans at European Schoolnet</a><br />
|
|
[42.1] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/index_eun_corporate.cfm">European
|
|
Schoolnet</a><br />
|
|
[43] <a href="http://www.skolelinux.no">The Norwegian homepage of
|
|
Skolelinux</a><br />
|
|
[44] <a href="http://wiki.debian.net/?DebianEdu">The homepage of
|
|
the Debian subproject Debian-Edu</a><br />
|
|
[45] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle">The homepage of
|
|
KLogoTurtle: edu.kde.org/KLogoTurtle</a><br />
|
|
[46] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle/screenshots.php">The
|
|
screenshot page of KLogoTurtle</a><br />
|
|
[47] <a href=
|
|
"http://edu.kde.org/klogoturtle/obtain.php">Instructions to try
|
|
KLogoTurtle</a><br />
|
|
[48] <a href="http://redfox.redfoxcenter.org/gallery/LSM2003">OFSET
|
|
picture album of the Libre Software Meeting 2003</a><br />
|
|
[49] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kard">The homepage of Kard:
|
|
edu.kde.org/Kard</a><br />
|
|
[50] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kard/screenshots.php">Screenshot
|
|
page of Kard</a><br />
|
|
[51] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/kig/download.php">The download
|
|
page of Kig</a><br />
|
|
[52] <a href="http://www.edulinux.org/">The homepage of Édulinux:
|
|
www.Edulinux.org</a><br />
|
|
[53] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.edulinux.org/spip/article.php3?id_article=23">The ISO
|
|
download page of Édulinux</a><br />
|
|
[54] <a href="http://www.edulinux.org/capture/">The screenshot page
|
|
of Édulinux</a><br />
|
|
[55] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/klettres">The homepage von
|
|
KLettres: edu.kde.org/KLettres</a><br />
|
|
[55.1] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/klettres/add_language.php">How
|
|
to add a new language to KLettres</a><br />
|
|
[56] <a href="http://edu.kde.org/klettres/screenshots.php">The
|
|
screenshot page of KLettres</a><br />
|
|
[57] <a href="http://www.tropheesdulibre.org">The homepage of
|
|
Trophées du Libre: www.TropheesduLibre.org</a><br />
|
|
[58] <a href="http://ktouch.sourceforge.net">The homepage of
|
|
KTouch: KTouch.sourceforge.net</a><br />
|
|
[59] <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org">The homepage of Wikipedia:
|
|
www.Wikipedia.org</a><br />
|
|
[60] <a href="http://www.wikimedia.org">The homepage of the
|
|
Wikimedia Foundation: www.Wikimedia.org</a><br />
|
|
[61] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">The English
|
|
front page of Wikipedia</a><br />
|
|
[62] <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseite">The German
|
|
front page of Wikipedia</a><br />
|
|
[63] <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accueil">The French
|
|
front page of Wikipedia</a><br />
|
|
[64] <a href="http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huvudsida">The Swedish
|
|
front page of Wikipedia</a><br />
|
|
[65] <a href="http://www.unormal.org/alis/tagatschool6.de.html">The
|
|
6th edition of TUX&GNU@school</a><br />
|
|
[66] <a href="http://www.qcad.org">The homepage of QCad:
|
|
www.QCad.org</a><br />
|
|
[67] <a href="http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad_downloads.html">The
|
|
download page of QCad</a><br />
|
|
[68] <a href="http://www.selflinux.org">The homepage of Selflinux:
|
|
www.Selflinux.org</a><br />
|
|
[69] <a href="ftp://developer.skolelinux.no/skolelinux-cd/">The
|
|
download page of Skolelinux</a><br />
|
|
[70] <a href="http://www.oralux.org">The homepage of Oralux:
|
|
www.Oralux.org</a><br />
|
|
[71] <a href="http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net">The homepage of
|
|
Emacspeak: Emacspeak.sourceforge.net</a><br />
|
|
[72] <a href="http://www.baum.ro/gnopernicus.html">The homepage of
|
|
Gnopernicus: www.baum.ro/Gnopernicus.html</a><br />
|
|
[73] <a href="http://www.oralux.org/download.php">The download page
|
|
of Oralux</a><br />
|
|
[74] <a href=
|
|
"http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=11224">Kalzium on
|
|
KDE-Apps.org</a><br /></p>
|
|
<h4>About the author:</h4>
|
|
<p>Mario Fux finished 1999 the PrimarlehrerInnenseminar in Brig,
|
|
after which he then caught up on the mathematical and natural
|
|
scientifical matura. Currently he studies at the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.unizh.ch">university of Zurich</a> in the main subject
|
|
<a href="http://www.paed.unizh.ch">education (pedagogy)</a> and
|
|
<a href="http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/">computer sciences</a> as the
|
|
subsidiary subject. Together with two colleagues he founded the
|
|
<a href="http://www.edux.ch">"ALIS - Arbeitsgruppe Linux an
|
|
Schulen"</a> (Swiss work group for linux at school). And if he is
|
|
not spending his time in front of the PC, he sits at his nature
|
|
pond in the <a href="http://www.randa.ch">mountains</a>.</p>
|
|
<p align="center"><i>This document is distributed under the terms
|
|
of the <a href=
|
|
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#TOCFDL">GNU Free
|
|
Documentation License</a>.</i></p>
|
|
<p align="center"><i>Copyright (c) 2002 Mario Fux. Permission is
|
|
granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
|
|
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any
|
|
later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
|
|
Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
|
|
Texts.<br />
|
|
A copy of the license can be found at <a href=
|
|
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html">http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html</a>.</i></p>
|
|
</body>
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</html>
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