Archive for the ‘Ubuntu Linux’ tag
Celestia on Ubuntu 8.10 Demo Video
As a follow-up to my post about Celestia, here’s a video produced of the demo mode. It was created on my Toshiba Satellite laptop (AMD Turion X2, 3 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 3100 256 MB). If you create your own videos from Celestia sequences, please be aware that the real-time frame rate will drop considerably while video recording is in progress; this is normal, due to the need to grab a lot of information from the animation. Read the rest of this entry »
Practicing Fractions with KBruch on Ubuntu Linux
If you’re a parent or teacher looking for a neat fractions practice application, give KBruch a try. Easily installed from the Ubuntu software repositories, this free software allows students to practice an endless number of fraction problems. With support for just about any type of problem you can imagine, the application features one-click access to basic fraction addition and subtraction, comparison problems (less than, greater than), decimal conversions, and factorization. Read the rest of this entry »
Learning About Geometry with Kig on Ubuntu Linux
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 »
Programming for Kids with Basic-256 on Ubuntu
My first introduction to computers and the world of programming was through languages like GW-BASIC, QuickBASIC, and ANSI C. As a kid, I inherited an 8086-based PC from my father, along with a few operating system manuals and programming references. Later on, I spend endless hours playing with Apple II computers in elementary school. This was probably the single biggest influence on my future professional life, as it taught me that I could easily make a computer do exactly what I wanted. Read the rest of this entry »
