CAMTP Center for Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics University of Maribor, Slovenia

The OKO Project: Introducing Linux into Schools

In 2003, the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sports started to support the introduction of open source software into educational institutions. They invited a number of open source experts from a wide spectrum of institutions to join the OKO project. One of the first results of the project is a Slovenian Linux distribution OKO/Pingo. The distribution will be installed on all of the 6.000 computers, commissioned for schools in spring 2004 and partially funded by the Ministry.

I will present the Slovenian Linux distribution OKO/Pingo, based on RedHat Linux. It features a Slovenian installation interface, and most of the important software packages translated to Slovenian. Further, it facilitates remotely controlled upgrading and installation of additional packages from the Internet repositories. I will highlight trends in some major Linux distributions and their impact on decisions we made within the OKO project. Some common misconceptions about free and open source software licensing will be clarified. Finally, I will discuss recent break-ins and attempted compromises of the open source infrastructure. Of special interest is the reaction of the open source community, in sharp contrast to the typical reactions of commercial vendors we have seen so far.

Links:

• The OKO Project homepage
• Slovenian distribution Pingo Linux
• Linux Weekly News
• Linux in academic environment (presented at the 1st Symposium)

The following slides (in Slovenian) were presented at the 2nd Symposium of Physicists from the University of Maribor, 19 December 2003:

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Last modified: 21 Dec 2003 by Igor Mozetic