Rubus
Latest News
Crouthamela 04:19, 14 June 2012 (UTC) Another Rubus project update video has been uploaded: http://youtu.be/vC-B60baORo
Crouthamela 01:24, 14 June 2012 (UTC) I have uploaded the first image for Rubus as a BitTorrent. Please see the Download section for details.
Crouthamela 01:44, 7 June 2012 (UTC) I have put together a short Rubus project update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNGTRgbnYr0
Crouthamela 12:38, 31 May 2012 (UTC) The first Raspberry Pi has arrived and is now being configured. It is booting, and having the software added to it.
Introduction
Rubus is a project to create a low-cost "classroom-in-a-box" by combining the Raspberry Pi with a lightweight Linux distribution, useful software, educational materials, peripherals and necessary storage. The intent is to eventually produce and distribute them as a charity via donations, as well as release Documentation on creating the image and providing it for download.
Language localization is a secondary objective, very much based on what storage restrictions arise. It is understood that not everyone speaks English, but most educational material slated for inclusion has the most work completed in English, and even large areas of Africa speak it as a secondary language.
The name Rubus comes from the genus name of the common raspberry; we feel it's fitting for a project based on the Raspberry Pi.
The project lead is Andrew Crouthamel.
Hardware
All hardware is as low-cost as possible while not sacrificing quality or durability. Another goal of the hardware choices are to keep the setup and maintenance as simple as possible. Below are example hardware items that may be used, if you know of a cheaper/better alternative please let us know!
- Raspberry Pi Model B - $35.00
- Raspberry Pi Case - $15.35
- Keyboard with built-in USB hub - $14.99
- USB mouse - $4.99
- RCA Composite video cable (6ft) - $1.28
- 64GB SDXC card - $59.95 (For OS, core applications, file storage)
- 64GB USB Flash drive - $45.99 (File storage)
- Micro USB power adapter - $3.99
- International power plug adapter - $9.99
- TOTAL = $191.53
Operating System
All core Operating System components are as lightweight as possible while still providing a pleasing and easy-to-use interface.
- Arch Linux ARM - Lightweight distribution, only install what we need
- LXDE Desktop Environment - Lightweight Desktop Environment
- Openbox - Window Manager
- GTK+ - User Interface Framework
- Qt - User Interface Framework
- Bash - Shell
Software
All software is as lightweight as possible while still providing a pleasing and easy-to-use interface. The software chosen is focused around basic office needs and for educational use only.
Internet
Office
ReadingMathematics
Science
Programming
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Electronics
Other EducationalAudio
VideoGraphics
Games
Other
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Educational Material
Materials chosen are intended to be as useful as possible to a classroom or training environment in a small village or impoverished area.
- Wikipedia - 8GB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wikibooks - 97.5MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wikiversity - 38MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wikisource - 1.2GB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wikiquote - 232MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wiktionary - 311.2MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Wikispecies - 59MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Khan Academy - 44GB - Directory of videos and example files.
- Global Village Construction Set - ~?GB - Unknown format.
- Project Gutenberg Top 100 (or more) books - ~30MB - Directory of files in EPUB format.
- Learn Python The Hard Way - ?MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Python Tutorial - ?MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Python Documentation (2 and 3) - 60MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Django Documentation - ?MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Learn Ruby The Hard Way - ?MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- Ruby Documentation - 318MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
- PHP Documentation - ?MB - Offline copy running on local web server.
Documentation
There is a full set of Documentation available.
Download
The latest image for loading onto an SD card is: Rubus Alpha 1
- Mirror 1 - Uncompressed .img (15.9GB) - SHA1: 73cf2308053093a7f4c9b25ec214016dd384afd7
- Mirror 1 - Compressed .tar.gz (1.6GB) - SHA1: d8b528c3a171cc945586a85df94800a6ebeae5ab
- BitTorrent - Uncompressed .img (15.9GB) - SHA1: 73cf2308053093a7f4c9b25ec214016dd384afd7
- BitTorrent - Compressed .tar.gz (1.6GB) - SHA1: d8b528c3a171cc945586a85df94800a6ebeae5ab
The image is currently designed for a 16GB SD card and will soon be upgraded to 64GB once the Educational Material is loaded onto it. Right now there are only applications installed.
The default user is "teacher" with a password of "teacher" (which has sudo privileges) and the "root" user has a password of "rubus".
Bugs
There is a bug tracker available for issues or feature requests: Rubus Bugs
Volunteers
Volunteers are welcome, lots of work is needed on files collection, database and web server setup, performance optimization, desktop cleanup and simplification, documentation, advertising, fundraising, etc. Please contact Andrew Crouthamel to get involved.
- Crouthamela - Project Lead
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