Codepad – The ClassHelper.org™ Blog

Written for school I.T. administrators and network professionals looking to test the open source Zimbra groupware system, the ClassHelper.org computer science section has a new tutorial explaining how to install Zimbra on CentOS 5. This comprehensive tutorial allows administrators to go from a “bare metal” machine to a completely functional Zimbra server. Enjoy!

When it comes to something as seemingly simple as editing text (programming, configuration files, etc), there are a surprising number of options available to Linux users. This review focuses on some of the more commonly used tools found in the Ubuntu repositories; most, if not all, of these editors can be easily installed in other Linux distributions. Most of these applications have similar core features, but some integrate more advanced functionality. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone needs a little down time every now and again. Whether you’re taking a break from hours of programming, trying to calm a conference-induced headache, or just relaxing at home, these Linux-based games offer a nice chance to unwind. The titles listed here are all available in the Ubuntu software repositories; just search for “games” in Synaptic if you want an idea of just how many choices are available. Read the rest of this entry »

Teachers seeking a way to help students explore geometric constructs in an easy to learn plotting environment might like Kig. Part of the KDE Education Project, this application is designed to (from the Kig documentation):

1. Allow students to interactively explore mathematical figures and concepts using the computer.

2. Serve as a WYSIWYG tool for drawing mathematical figures and including them in other documents.

Both of these goals are accomplished quite well; I found Kig to be easy to use, full-featured, and fun. Here’s a screenshot with a line vector, an ellipse, and an arc. Read the rest of this entry »

Various tech news outlets are running stories related to Intel’s planned launch of eight-core chips later this year, and there are questions about precisely how much performance will be gained with these CPUs under current operating systems. Some in the industry are expressing the view that today’s consumer-level Windows and Linux-based operating systems simply aren’t designed to really take advantage of anything beyond quad-core chips. Read the rest of this entry »

Tux Likes Learning

In my never-ending quest to find cool educational apps for teachers and parents, I’ve been introduced to SchoolForge. This project aims to provide everything a teacher or school network administrator could ever want for running a smooth, ultra low cost I.T. operation.

Applications are grouped by category; you’ve got antivirus and anti-spyware, Internet apps, multimedia software, office tools, and web-based systems to pick from. Representing the “best of the best” in open source software solutions in their respective fields, these are proven applications that can really shrink expenditures on traditional software systems. Many are available for multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, and MacOSX). Here’s a few examples from the project site. Read the rest of this entry »