COMP 3000 2011 Report Part I: Edubuntu

Background

Edubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu designed to be used in school classrooms and homes for education purposes. It is developed by Canonical Ltd and an international community of developers, in collaboration with Educators around the world. The primary target audience of Edubuntu is users within the 6-18 age group and educators. The main goal of Edubuntu is to allow educators with limited technical knowledge to set-up labs and online learning environments for students. Thus, it is designed to be very easy to install, use and maintain for users with limited technical knowledge (i.e. students, educators). It also promises to provide the best set of education related applications for free, such as the ones included in the KDE Edutainment and GCompris suites that come installed with Edubuntu. Edubuntu is being used in all primary and secondary schools of The Republic of Macedonia, as part of their Computer for every child program [1]. The Edubuntu community is working with the Qimo 4 kids project to bring Qimo games and artwork as an installable option in Edubuntu [2].

Edubuntu is built on top of Ubuntu and it incorporates the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) thin client and various education related applications. The LTSP thin client allows many people to use the same computer simultaneously. It does this by having one server containing all of the applications, where users can use an application by connecting to the server using a thin client terminal (low-powered, low-cost, quieter computers without a hard disk). LTSP thin clients also provide administrators more control over how computing resources are used on the network. LTSP thin clients can be used with Edubuntu to provide computing services in schools and classrooms (i.e. setting up a lab etc.).

Edubuntu can be downloaded from the Downloads section of the Edubuntu website directly, or via bittorrent (preferred method). It can also be installed on top of Ubuntu by installing the desired Edubuntu packages using the Applications menu in Ubuntu or a package manager. Edubuntu can also be accessed in a browser by using WebLive. Finally, it can also be ordered on a DVD disk from a list of vendors that carry it, such as OSDisc. The approximate size of an Edubuntu installation is 2.66 GB.

Installation/Startup

Edubuntu was installed in VirtualBox (version 4.1.2) on a Windows 7 host. Below are the system specs of the host machine:

• Processor: Intel Core i5 M 580 @ 2.67 GHZ
• Memory (RAM): 4.0 GB
• System type: 64 bit

Setting up the Virtual Machine (VM)

VirtualBox guest additions were installed prior to setting up the VM for Edubuntu which made the experience of using Edubuntu in a VM very smooth. The following steps describe how the VM for Edubuntu was set-up in VirtualBox:

1. Start VirtualBox and select the “New” option from the “Machine” menu at the top.
2. Press the “Next” button. In the “VM Name and OS Type” screen, type “Edubuntu” in the “Name” field and select Linux from the “Operating System” drop-down box. When done, press the “Next” button".
3. In the “Memory” screen, allocate 1500 MB of RAM to the virtual machine and press the “Next” button.
4. In the “Virtual Hard Disk” screen, check the “Start-up Disk” option and select the “Create new hard disk” option. When done, press the “Next” button.
5. Use the “Create New Virtual Disk” wizard to create a virtual hard disk for the VM:
   1. Select the “VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)” option and press the “Next” button.
   2. In the “Virtual disk storage details” screen, select the “Dynamically allocated” option and press the “Next” button.
   3. In the “Virtual disk file location and size” screen, set the size of the virtual disk to 20 GB by changing the value in the “Size” field to 20 GB from 8.00 GB. When done, press the “Next” button.
   4. Press the “Create” button to create the virtual hard disk.
6. Press the “Create” button to create the VM.
7. Select the Edubuntu VM in VirtualBox, and press the “Settings” button from the top menu bar. This will open the settings of the Edubuntu VM.
8. Allocate 128 MB of video memory to the VM, by selecting the “Display” option from the left menu in the “Settings” screen. In the “Display” screen, change the value of the “Video Memory” to 128 MB from 12 MB.
9. Select the “Storage” option from the left menu in the “Settings” screen. In the “Storage” screen, select the “Empty” option. In the “Attributes” section located to the right, click on the CD icon and select the “Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file” option. Browse to the Edubuntu ISO file downloaded on the host machine, select it and press the “Open” button.
10. Press the “OK” button to save the VM settings.

Installing Edubuntu in a VM

After the VM for Edubuntu is set-up, Edubuntu can be installed in the VM. The steps below describe how Edubuntu can be installed in a VM:

1. Start the Edubuntu VM. Select the Edubuntu VM in VirtualBox and press the “Start” button from the top menu bar.
2. Select a language and press the “Enter” key.
3. Select the “Install Edubuntu” option from the Edubuntu boot menu and press the “Enter” key. Wait for Edubuntu to load the installation files.
4. Once the “Install” screen loads, press the “Continue” button.
5. In the “Preparing to Install Edubuntu” screen, select the “Download updates while installing” option and press the “Continue” button.
6. In the “Edubuntu installation options (part 1)” screen, select the “Install” option under “Standard gnome 2.x interface” and press the “Continue” button.
7. In the “Installation type” screen, select the “Erase disk and install Edubuntu” option and press the “Continue” button.
8.  In the “Erase disk and install Edubuntu” screen, press the “Install Now” button.
9. In the “Where are you?” screen, type your geographical location and press the “Continue button”.
10. In the “Keyboard layout” screen, select the “English (US)” option from the left pane and press the “Continue” button.
11. In the “Who are you?” screen, create a user profile for the VM by selecting a name, username, password and computer name.
12. After Edubuntu has finished installing, it will display the “Finished” screen. In this screen, press the "Finish" button to restart the VM and complete the installation.