Edubuntu 6.06 LTS Beta Released
The Edubuntu team is happy to announce the release of Edubuntu 6.06 LTS Beta. Aside from the usual install CDs for all architectures, this release includes the Edubuntu live CD that comes with a new live installer to install the Edubuntu Workstation flavour directly to the disk.
Edubuntu is a classroom distribution, shipping with a selection of educational applications and built around LTSP the linux terminal server project. Edubuntu aims for an as easy-as-possible installation of an LTSP setup, but also comes with a workstation flavour for home usage. The Edubuntu 6.06 LTS (long term support) release comes with 3 Year support on the desktop and 5 year support on the server.
Downloading Edubuntu 6.06 LTS Beta
To download Edubuntu 6.06 LTS Beta, use one of the following URLs, please use bittorrent if possible:
United States: http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/6.06/
United Kingdom: http://releases.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/6.06/
Rest of the World: http://releases.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/6.06/
The final release of Edubuntu 6.06 LTS Beta will be released on June 1st, at which time you will be able to order pressed install CDs free of charge.
Whats New ?
Edubuntu ships three themes by default in its -artwork package now,
with a simple dpkg-reconfigure edubuntu-artwork you are able to select the systemwide default look. The choices are Junior (6-10 age group), Senior (10-16 age group) *default* and Plain (less graphic rich).
Themed graphical login manager for the LTSP clients.
Support for multiple architectures for the LTSP clients (It is now
possible to build the client chroot on AMD64 systems for i386 clients by running sudo ltsp-build-client --arch i386 post install).
The first Edubuntu live CD is now available (it contains all of the
Edubuntu workstation install and is available for all 3 supported architectures).
Support for the PowerPC architecture was added
LTSP now finally supports the X_COLOR_DEPTH variable to force the
usage of 16Bit on the clients through lts.conf.
By default we now install only the linux-image package in the client
chroot, the excessive memory usage of the restricted modules package is gone
A special netboot mode was introduced to initramfs so only network
device drivers are loaded, this reduces the size to two thirds of a normal initramfs and speeds up the bootprocess
LTSP now understands the X_MOUSE_DEVICE and X_MOUSE_PROTOCOL
in lts.conf options and adds support for various serial devices including touchscreens and serial tablets.
3 button emulation of 2 button mice is now supported as well.
The bootprocess has seen a lot of speed improvements
Startup links in rcS.d and rc2.d are now started based on whitelists
(RC2_WHITELIST RCS_WHITELIST), only the bare minimum of processes is started on the thin clients
this results in a shorter boottime.
Usplash was included and enabled by default on thin clients - Many
patches were merged from the debian team to make the packages work on debian as well.
There is optional Sound support on the thin clients now.
The ltsp-build-client script now has options to manually enable
extra and security mirrors during chroot creation.
The default mirror of ltsp-build-client points to
archive.ubuntu.com now.
Feedback and Helping
If you want to help us developing, documenting and improving edubuntu, have a look at:
More Information from online ressources
For more information see the edubuntu website, wiki and mailing list: