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Custom Debian Distributions
Chapter 4 - Existing Custom Debian Distributions


4.1 Debian Junior: Debian for children from 1 to 99

Start
beginning of 2000
URL
Debian Jr.
Mailing list
debian-jr@lists.debian.org
Initiator
Ben Armstrong synrg@debian.org
Release
Debian 3.0 (Woody)
Goals

The main target is young children. By the time children are teenaged, they should be comfortable with using Debian without any special modifications.

Debian Jr. was the first Custom Debian Distribution. In fact, at the time this project was created, the idea of Custom Debian Distributions was born, although then, we used the term "internal project". Over time, this name was changed because it was too broad, as it was equally descriptive of a number of quite different projects, such as IPv6 and QA.

Debian Jr. not only provides games, but is also concerned about their quality from a child's perspective. Thus, games that are regarded as not well suited to young children are omitted. Moreover, choices are made about which packages are best suited for children to use for various other activities and tasks that interest them. This includes, for example, simple text processing, web browsing and drawing.


4.2 Debian-Med: Debian in Health Care

Start
beginning of 2002
URL
Debian-Med
Mailing list
debian-med@lists.debian.org
Initiator
Andreas Tille tille@debian.org
Release
Sarge
Goals

4.3 Debian-Edu: Debian for Education

Start
Summer of 2002, since 2003 merged with SkoleLinux, which is now synonymous with Debian-Edu
URL
Debian-Edu Wiki
Mailing list
debian-edu@lists.debian.org
Former Initiator
Raphaël Hertzog hertzog@debian.org
Now responsible
Petter Reinholdtsen pere@hungry.com
Release
Sarge
Goals

This project started with the intention to bring back into Debian a fork from Debian that was started by some people in France. Because they had some time constraints, the people who initially started this effort handed over responsibility to the Norwegian Skolelinux, which is currently more or less identical to Debian-Edu.

The Debian-Edu project gathered special interest in Spain because there are derived Debian distributions from this country that are intended to be used in schools. For instance there are:

LinEX
A Debian derivative distribution used in all schools in Extremadura.
LliureX
A Debian derivative distribution in development to be used in schools in Valencia. The goal is to integrate as much as possible as a Custom Debian Distribution.
Guadalinex
This distribution is not only related to education, but might try also to integrate what they have produced back into Debian.

4.4 DeMuDi: Debian Multimedia Distribution

Start
Currently not announced as an official Custom Debian Distribution, but intends to integrate back. DeMuDi is part of the Agnula project (founded by European Community) (since 2000).
URL
Demudi
Initiator
Marco Trevisani marco@centrotemporeale.it
Goals

The initiator is not yet a Debian developer, but it is possible to work on Debian without being an official developer.


4.5 Debian-Desktop: Debian GNU/Linux for everybody

Motto: "Software that Just Works".

Start
October 2002
URL
Debian-Desktop
Mailing list
debian-desktop@lists.debian.org
Initiator
Colin Walters walters@debian.org
Goals

This Custom Debian Distribution has many common issues with other Custom Distributions. The latest move of Debian-Desktop was to care about more up to date software that can be used as common base for all Custom Debian Distributions. The common interest is described in detail in New way to distribute Debian, Section 8.6.


4.6 Debian-Lex: Debian GNU/Linux for Lawyers

Start
April 2003
URL
Debian-Lex
Mailing list
debian-lex@lists.debian.org
Initiator
Jeremy Malcolm Jeremy@Malcolm.id.au
Goals

The word lex is the Latin word for law.


4.7 Debian-NP: Debian GNU/Linux for Non-profit Organisations

Start
July 2003
URL
Debian-NP
Initiator
Benjamin 'Mako' Hill mako@debian.org
Goals

Non-profits are often familiar with Free Software.


4.8 Debian Accessibility Project

Debian for blind and visually impaired people

Start
February 2003
Initiator
Mario Lang mlang@debian.org
URL
Debian-Accessibility
Mailing list
debian-accessibility@lists.debian.org

4.9 Debian Enterprise

Debian GNU/Linux for Enterprise Computing

Start
End of 2003
URL
Debian-Enterprise
Initiator
Zenaan Harkness zen@iptaustralia.net
Goals

4.10 Other possible Custom Debian Distributions

There are fields that could be served nicely by not yet existing Custom Debian Distributions:

Debian-eGov
Could address government issues, administration, offices of authorities, accounting.
Office
Could cover all office issues.
Accounting
Could integrate accounting systems into Debian.
Geography
Could look after geographical information systems (GIS).
Biology
Could perhaps take over some stuff from Debian-Med.
Physics
Might look after simulation software.
Mathematics
There is even already a live CD - see Quantian in Building Live CDs of each Custom Debian Distribution, Section 8.5
???
There are a lot more potential Custom Debian Distributions.

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Custom Debian Distributions

12 August 2004

Andreas Tille tille@debian.org