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For a long time now, I've been wanting to put together an ISO with Free, Libre and Open Source software similar to the kind our Linux Users Group gave out on Software Freedom Day. I'd like to gear it specifically toward educational software so that groups like Schoolforge may make use of it. If you'd like to help, I would love to have suggestions for lightweight, portable software that can run in console or framebuffer mode. I'm specifically interested in educational, hobby-related, utility, information/organizing and/or word processing programs. Have any recommendations? Please let me know ( http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm ).
Since I'm creating this to promote FLOSS software, I thought it would be great if I could distribute the software on a remastered Linux ISO that could be run from VirtualBox or Qemu or that might boot from a DVD or flash drive. I'd like to try to stick with a console based distribution so that it's lightweight and runs well on older computers with low resources. That means all programs need to be command line, console based (ncurses/pdcurses) or work in framebuffer mode (using SDL 1.x, nano-x, nx11, FLTK, etc.) in order to run on the system without X Windows or Wayland. For efficiency, I'd prefer compiled programs (such as those written in C) to ones that require an interpreter to run. I'd also like to make it as accessible as possible as far as internationalization and for users that may have disabilities. I'm using internationalized language support when possible via gettext. There are utilities like flite and espeak for text-to-speech support. My goal is to put together a lightweight, low resource distribution that will work well for users with older computers and users with no or limited Internet access. There are plenty of things you can do with a computer even if you can't get access to the Internet. Why not make some of those options more readily available?
I'll list some of the software I'm currently considering for the distribution. I'm still missing functionality in several areas, so if you have any recommendations for programs that would fit the criteria I've mentioned, please let me know.
Graphics applications
grafx2 - graphics editor
lodepaint - graphics editor
graphicsmagick - command line graphics editor
picaxo - graphics viewer
perigee slideshow - slideshow viewer
gifsicle - command line tool to create animated GIF files
GLE - command line tool to produce charts
nanosvg - includes lightweight SVG viewer
Music creation/audio applications
I'm still looking for a good Karaoke program (written in C or C++). TiMidity++ does some lyrics display, but I've yet to see it display lyrics created by abc2midi using the console version of TiMidity++. Some educators have found Karaoke to be a good way to help students improve their reading skills.
abc2midi - create your own music using music notation and convert to midi format (command line)
abcm2ps - creates sheet music (command line)
sox - sound exchange, audio file converter and player (command line)
milkytracker - create and play music
TiMidity++ - plays midi files
Readers
Still need several suggestions in this area. I'm currently looking for lightweight PDF and Postscript viewers. Was thinking of using mupdf but I'd still need a decent front-end for it that will work in framebuffer mode. Xpost might make an interesting alternative for Postscript display, but it's still in the works. I found a cbr/cbz library, but don't have a good framebuffer based front end for that yet either. It could be integrated with mupdf or used standalone. Would be nice to include some educational public domain ebooks with the distribution too.
bard - epub reader with text-to-speech capability
pdftxt - converts PDF to text using libmupdf (Can be used with search tools such as grep.)
qpdf - command line PDF transformation tool
sdlbook - SDL front end for libmupdf (Recently found this and it may fill my needs for a PDF viewer.)
Audio/video players
flxplay - plays flx movies
theoraplay - plays ogg theora videos and ogg vorbis
Astronomy
nightsky - displays stars
pngphoon - graphically shows moon phase (command line)
lcal - command line based lunar calendar that outputs to PostScript
Word processing
I'm thinking of using one or more of the following editors as an alternative to the popular vi/vim and emacs editors. Other suggestions welcome.
nano - ncurses/pdcurses editor
textadept - programming editor that uses scintilla editor widget has ncurses/pdcurses front-end
wordgrinder - ncurses word processor
mp (maximum profit) - editor with ncurses/pdcurses front-end
Other text related utilities
I have a few dictionaries in stardict format that are Open Source. (Created one from the Mobi project.) I'm looking for other Open Source dictionaries in the stardict format or easily converted to that format. Also still looking for a good grammar checker program.
hunspell - command line spell checker
sdcv - command line version of stardict dictionary tool
style - readability tool
diction - readability tool
Information managers/organizational tools
This section needs some additions. Anyone know a good SDL based calculator? I'd love to find a decent command line utility to avoid repetitive stress injury. There are some great desktop ones such as (workrave and prevrsi).
pcal - command line calendar that outputs to PostScript
ckpass - possible command line keepass replacement
sc - spreadsheet calculator
Hobby related
Don't have much in this category yet. There are several good HAM radio programs available. Maybe some of them that will work in console or command line mode could be added. Other hobby suggestions welcome. Also, maybe some public domain ebooks on hobbies could be useful.
nut - nutritional analysis
Educational entertainment
If you have other recommendations, please let me know.
lpairs - memory game
dual-n-back - memory tool
anagramarama - anagram language game
scramble - anagram language game
hangman - language game
concentration - memory game
tuxmath - game for improving math skills
starlanes - interstellar commerce game
That's all I have so far. I still have to look into remastering a Linux distribution. If you have tips for a simple remastering tool to use or know of some good documentation on how to remaster a Linux distribution via command line, please let me know. Would also appreciate other suggestions for lightweight, portable, useful or educational software (preferably in C). I'm also looking for Creative Commons, public domain or Open licensed educational media (ebooks, videos, etc.). Know of a Linux distribution that's already doing a similar project and would like another volunteer? Please let me know. If you'd like to discuss this project further or help out in some way, feel free to contact me ( http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm ). Thanks.
Since I'm creating this to promote FLOSS software, I thought it would be great if I could distribute the software on a remastered Linux ISO that could be run from VirtualBox or Qemu or that might boot from a DVD or flash drive. I'd like to try to stick with a console based distribution so that it's lightweight and runs well on older computers with low resources. That means all programs need to be command line, console based (ncurses/pdcurses) or work in framebuffer mode (using SDL 1.x, nano-x, nx11, FLTK, etc.) in order to run on the system without X Windows or Wayland. For efficiency, I'd prefer compiled programs (such as those written in C) to ones that require an interpreter to run. I'd also like to make it as accessible as possible as far as internationalization and for users that may have disabilities. I'm using internationalized language support when possible via gettext. There are utilities like flite and espeak for text-to-speech support. My goal is to put together a lightweight, low resource distribution that will work well for users with older computers and users with no or limited Internet access. There are plenty of things you can do with a computer even if you can't get access to the Internet. Why not make some of those options more readily available?
I'll list some of the software I'm currently considering for the distribution. I'm still missing functionality in several areas, so if you have any recommendations for programs that would fit the criteria I've mentioned, please let me know.
Graphics applications
grafx2 - graphics editor
lodepaint - graphics editor
graphicsmagick - command line graphics editor
picaxo - graphics viewer
perigee slideshow - slideshow viewer
gifsicle - command line tool to create animated GIF files
GLE - command line tool to produce charts
nanosvg - includes lightweight SVG viewer
Music creation/audio applications
I'm still looking for a good Karaoke program (written in C or C++). TiMidity++ does some lyrics display, but I've yet to see it display lyrics created by abc2midi using the console version of TiMidity++. Some educators have found Karaoke to be a good way to help students improve their reading skills.
abc2midi - create your own music using music notation and convert to midi format (command line)
abcm2ps - creates sheet music (command line)
sox - sound exchange, audio file converter and player (command line)
milkytracker - create and play music
TiMidity++ - plays midi files
Readers
Still need several suggestions in this area. I'm currently looking for lightweight PDF and Postscript viewers. Was thinking of using mupdf but I'd still need a decent front-end for it that will work in framebuffer mode. Xpost might make an interesting alternative for Postscript display, but it's still in the works. I found a cbr/cbz library, but don't have a good framebuffer based front end for that yet either. It could be integrated with mupdf or used standalone. Would be nice to include some educational public domain ebooks with the distribution too.
bard - epub reader with text-to-speech capability
pdftxt - converts PDF to text using libmupdf (Can be used with search tools such as grep.)
qpdf - command line PDF transformation tool
sdlbook - SDL front end for libmupdf (Recently found this and it may fill my needs for a PDF viewer.)
Audio/video players
flxplay - plays flx movies
theoraplay - plays ogg theora videos and ogg vorbis
Astronomy
nightsky - displays stars
pngphoon - graphically shows moon phase (command line)
lcal - command line based lunar calendar that outputs to PostScript
Word processing
I'm thinking of using one or more of the following editors as an alternative to the popular vi/vim and emacs editors. Other suggestions welcome.
nano - ncurses/pdcurses editor
textadept - programming editor that uses scintilla editor widget has ncurses/pdcurses front-end
wordgrinder - ncurses word processor
mp (maximum profit) - editor with ncurses/pdcurses front-end
Other text related utilities
I have a few dictionaries in stardict format that are Open Source. (Created one from the Mobi project.) I'm looking for other Open Source dictionaries in the stardict format or easily converted to that format. Also still looking for a good grammar checker program.
hunspell - command line spell checker
sdcv - command line version of stardict dictionary tool
style - readability tool
diction - readability tool
Information managers/organizational tools
This section needs some additions. Anyone know a good SDL based calculator? I'd love to find a decent command line utility to avoid repetitive stress injury. There are some great desktop ones such as (workrave and prevrsi).
pcal - command line calendar that outputs to PostScript
ckpass - possible command line keepass replacement
sc - spreadsheet calculator
Hobby related
Don't have much in this category yet. There are several good HAM radio programs available. Maybe some of them that will work in console or command line mode could be added. Other hobby suggestions welcome. Also, maybe some public domain ebooks on hobbies could be useful.
nut - nutritional analysis
Educational entertainment
If you have other recommendations, please let me know.
lpairs - memory game
dual-n-back - memory tool
anagramarama - anagram language game
scramble - anagram language game
hangman - language game
concentration - memory game
tuxmath - game for improving math skills
starlanes - interstellar commerce game
That's all I have so far. I still have to look into remastering a Linux distribution. If you have tips for a simple remastering tool to use or know of some good documentation on how to remaster a Linux distribution via command line, please let me know. Would also appreciate other suggestions for lightweight, portable, useful or educational software (preferably in C). I'm also looking for Creative Commons, public domain or Open licensed educational media (ebooks, videos, etc.). Know of a Linux distribution that's already doing a similar project and would like another volunteer? Please let me know. If you'd like to discuss this project further or help out in some way, feel free to contact me ( http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm ). Thanks.
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