Wow.
Seriously? One of our community members brought this up in a comment and I thought it was a joke until I realized that it was, in fact, not a joke.
Someone (or some group) has created a Christian Edition of Ubuntu and it appears to be the exact same thing with the addition of a few Christian applications.
Check out what’s included:
Features:
- Based directly on Ubuntu 9.10
- Xiphos Bible Study Software
- Dansguardian Web Content Parental Controls with graphical interface
- OpenOffice
- OpenSong for managing lyrics, chords, lead sheets, overheads, computer projection, etc.
- Wine to help with converting from Microsoft Windows to linux
- E-sword installer : to bring e-sword (one of the best bible software) to linux easily.
- and much more…
Not exactly sure what the “much more” means, but it might just be the Holy Spirit…? (Just kidding.)
Here’s a list of the contributors and current team members:
- Jereme Hancock — Project Lead
- David Kuntadi — Development Lead
- Matthew Gomez — Torrent Manager
- Oklahoma Christian University — Donated Server Space
- Xtianhosting — Donated Server Space
- Quality Christian Web Hosting — Donated Server Space
- Living Torrents — Torrent Hosting
Thoughts? Will you be using it?
Hey, at least it’ll stop you from going to some of those new .XXX domains…!
Bruce Campbell says
I looked at this distro, or at least one very similar, several years ago. I liked some of it but not enough to use it. The big wallpaper was a major turn off. Yes I know it’s very easy to change, but the fact is I was rather put-off by the image. The included firewall was way to restrictive. The version I tested (I would have kept better notes 3 years ago if I had know someone would be asking for reviews), blocked my own domain as well as several others since there was no rating service. I had the same issue with early versions of Microsoft’s privacy filters too.
Maybe by now things have changed, but as a long time user of *nix and Windows, I prefer to do my own flavors to my OS.
Oh, currently, my desktop is Ubuntu 10.04 and laptop Win7 (64).
Peace,
B
Chris Roberts says
No.
Stuart says
Nope.
I can see that it might benefit some – especially if you’re an Open Source fanboi and want to have an OS that also pre-installs some christian tools. Other than that my one main question is how often will it be updated? As often as the core Ubuntu is or ….?
dewde says
I’m guessing… rarely.
peace | dewde
Kevin says
Not a chance.
wvpv says
I don’t see the point.
I’m curious how many churches use dansguardian.
oschurch says
Well, definitely not a fan of the branding as the “christian edition” or the wallpaper. But you know what?! It doesn’t really matter if tons of people use it! This is what’s really cool about running open source software. You can customize things the way you like them and then release them into the public to share with others! I don’t really want what they are offering, but there are probably some people that do. I’m still waiting for a church branded or Christian organization branded distribution…hint, hint. You know, then churches could share the tools they use and have found helpful with other churches, therefore building community and the kingdom of God (without having to worry about getting a huge donation the next month in the offering plate). Of course, first you have to start using open source so I guess we’ll stick with baby steps…check out an open source alternative for something you do at church and stick with it and help make it better!
Kevin
http://opensourcechurch.com
Eric says
I’ll stick with regular ubuntu 10.04 on my old pc.
oschurch says
The “Christian Edition” was mentioned in the 12 most interesting and unusual Linux distros. Check out the link for more useful distros that people have decided have value…ah, the beauty of open source.
Kevin
http://opensourcechurch.com
dewde says
Nice! Thx for sharing.
peace | dewde
BenJPickett says
I do some work with a Christian non profit that distributes computers to other Christian non profits around the globe and we’ve been talking about using this on some of our systems, however I think the guy that was evaluating it is in Mazatlan Mexico right now but I don’t remember for sure. The issue that we’re finding with it, since we are a really new outfit (2 months old now) is the lack of support that we can provide to the users of linux distros, but linux isn’t my strong point. Our current process is scrapping our old personal computers and using the good parts to get working systems into the hands of organizations that need them. Current OS that we install is XP Pro based off of old licenses that we have lying around and are not currently installed on any computer (it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10). Remote support is being done through logmein free. This is all currently being run out of our own pockets but the overhead has been very small so far.
Anyways if anyone has any very constructive feedback on this release as a real and practical solution, I would really appreciate that for the next time that I’m able to meet with the entire team.
oschurch says
Hi Ben,
I would stick to main stream distros if you want easier access to support (especially free support). Probably Ubuntu or Mint would be best and have great docs and user forums to help you out. You can now purchase support contracts for Ubuntu through Canonical that might help you out in a pinch although they just got a bit pricier.
You might also want to check out some of the resources or organizations from this post about old machine reuse with Linux.
Hope that helps,
Kevin
http://opensourcechurch.com
BenJPickett says
That sounds great, thanks for the input. Reading through those a little it looks like we may stay away from that edition when we run out of our spare Windows licenses unless we’re able to get some funding. Team meeting coming up in about 2 weeks so we’ll see what our Unix engineer has in store for this release and the others he’s been testing.