Concept behind Edubuntu

Welcome to the world of Edubuntu, a Linux distribution designed for schools and other educational environments. Built on the popular Ubuntu, it is a complete operating system that includes an office suite, web browser, many educational applications, and much more. Edubuntu is designed to allow a teacher or network administrator to be able to setup a complete classroom quickly and easily. Edubuntu is committed to the principles of free and open source sofware which means it is free of charge and will always remain that way. Open Source software aims to preserve the freedom to use, copy, make changes and distribute those changes. This means Edubuntu can offer higher quality software at no cost, while allowing everyone to modify Edubuntu to fit the exact needs of their particular environment.

Edubuntu is comprised of several key technologies, one of which is the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) which allows you to boot thin clients from an Edubuntu LTSP server. For educational environments, LTSP lowers hardware costs by enabling the use of older machines as thin clients, as well as reduced administration overhead by having only to install and maintain the software on the server. When a workstation fails, it can simply be replaced without data loss or reinstallation of the operating system.

Any good educational platform should provide applications specifically for it's target audience and Edubuntu is no exception. For the younger crowd, just starting out with computers, Gcompris offers a fantastic early learning environment. For slightly older pupils, there are a number of games and activities from the Tux4Kids and KDEEdu projects and for those in high school and older, there is a full office suite as well applications for instant messaging, graphics, sound and video. And that is just by default! Edubuntu also includes access to thousands of other high quality open source programs at no cost.