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on January 16
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #6debateOS "Columbia" beta is out!
Post CommentFirst of all, many thanks to Jessika Merrill who donated her time and talents to making some very nice icons that went beyond what I had imagined. You can download the livecd/installation file from the website's "Download" tab.
We hope to have debateeeOS "Nanosat" beta available by tomorrow morning. "Nanosat" will look almost identical to "Columbia" for maximum squad compatibility and usability. In order to conserve RAM we have removed Gnome-Do and Chrome, opting for the gnome Epiphany web browser which uses only about 30MB of ram on starting up vs. Chrome's 150MB average/minimum. Compiz is also downgraded, which also helped save on resources.
"Nanosat" should be fine for a viewing laptop with 512MB of RAM, and, while a little slow, we believe that debate rounds can be managed with 768MB Ram, which is the minimum we recommend. 1GB ought to be a preferred starting point for anyone wishing to use "nanosat" on a primary debating laptop.
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on January 3
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #5debateOS: Columbia's public beta is nearing completion
Post CommentThe overall design has stayed the same, however, there are tons of changes that have occurred since debateOS: Columbia's wave1 beta to the version that will likely end up being the public beta (Wave 3).
With debateOS: Columbia being ahead of schedule, I'm also pleased to announce that I've begun work on debateeeOS: Nanosat, which will be targeted for netbooks and laptops 8-12 years old. Columbia targets high end laptops from the same era, but also laptops that were being built up until 2007/2008.
With luck, we will also be able to provide a 64bit edition codenamed "debateOS: Mission Control".
Updated:
- Calibre to version 8.3.3
Removed: These programs were found to be superfluous or redundant
- lxbdplayer
- MoviePlayer + totem plug-ins
- Gnome-Phone-Manager
- Ubufox Extensions and Xul-ext-ubufox
- Lacie lightscribe
- XBMC
- live-usb-installer
- Firefox
- Tux Paint
- Duplicate Install Icon
Added:
- Apps
- Chromium
- Gnome-Do
- Audacity
- Spotify (WINE) or Spotify Linux Preview (beta)
- GAMES
- SuperTuxKart
- PyChess
- Gnome Mines
- AisleRiotSolitaire
- Hearts
- Frozen-Bubble
- Chrome Plug-ins and Bookmarks
- Plug-ins
- Evernote clearly
- Eernote Web Clipper
- Gmail Checker
- AdBlock
- History Eraser
- Bookmarks
- Debate Folder
- JOT
- ForensicsTournament
- PlanetDebate
- The3NR
- PuttingTheK
- Cross-X
- NDCA
- NAUDL
- NFL
- Cloud
- Big Marker - Free Video Conferencing
- Dropbox
- UbuntuOne
Fixed:
- Gnome-Do starts at log-in, add-ons configured
- An issue where the debate panel icons would be out of order
- An issue where the log-in screen referred to the previous Linux Spin rather than debateOS
- All distributor logos replaced with debateOS distribution logos
Template Changes:
- Added: Paste Special macro, hotkey and template button
- Removed Move-up and Move-Down from toolbar and keyboard shortcuts
- Fixed "Highlight" macro to increase Font size to 12pt Bold
- Changed Hotkeys to reflect new buttons
Menu Changes:
- Removed duplicate Time and Date settings and GoldenDict
- Removed icons from all removed software
- Removed Trash, Desktop folders
- Moved DocFetcher, NixNote, Dictionary, Xournal, and Freemind to "Education"
- Removed RemasterSys from the Menu
- Added GTK Bookmarks and Recent Documents Tab
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on December 22
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #4Beta progress update and preview
Post CommentI am about to go into a self-enforced weekend off from laptops, computers, and thinking all together. For Seattle, this is the nicest December I've seen in over a decade and I have not been out enjoying the good hiking opportunities.
We have made several decisions regarding programs to be included or excluded from the public beta and final releases. We will replace Firefox with Chromium, remove KeepNote (redundant), for example. We also tested Darktable, a very promising photographic management and RAW editing application that might progress enough to overtake Shotwell by the final release.
Finally, I have also started on a Netbook edition of debateOS that I hope to have complete for a concurrent final release.
Here is a preview of debateOS "Columbia" in it's beta phase. It is a fresh installation and tours the desktop, features, applications and the debate panel.
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on December 19
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #3The "Closed" beta - Wave 2
Post CommentA few notes on changes that will happen in debateOS wave 2:
I hope that Wave 2 will be the only update during the "closed" portion of beta testing as it is proving to be very stable, so far.
Removing: Firefox, Gloobus, Frostwire, Supertuxkart and Keepnote (There's no unique advantage to it over NixNote, plus, if you're an Evernote user support for NixNote).I'm also still working on rooting out all the old logos and replacing them. Every now and then I catch one popping up.
Adding: Chromium, filezilla, Gnome-Do, gBrainy, darktable (must decide between Shotwell and Darktable for a photography management app).I'm also debating adding Spotify if I can find a stable build. They stopped supporting linux a while ago, though. Or, I might add the Windows version as an open demonstration of WINE in action.
As for stability, I have yet to force a crash of any sort on my 2006 macbook. It's a bit suped-up (core 2 duo, 4gb ddr 2, 80gb intel SSD). I have tried very hard to make it crash, hasn't happened, yet.I have begun sample notebooks for NixNote and a few debate Flash Card decks for Anki.
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on December 16
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #2The Spin is not the point. The target audience is.
Post CommentA major issue I foresaw in developing this project was blending the need to appeal to the linux development community with the need to be easily accessible to 14 year old debaters, debaters who have been working with a paperless system already, and teachers (often the most resistant to change).
For many in the linux community, I anticipated an attitude that would go along the lines of "so what? It's just another spin". The spin, itself, is not the point. The target audience is.
I have been downloading and trying most of the major distros and spin-offs that I can find over the past year. I have yet to come across any distro or spin that is dedicated to this specific a niche. The closest I've come across are dedicated to small child development such as doudoulinux, Qimo and One Laptop Per Child's Sugar. These projects, however, are still fairly broad in scope and are less focused on the adoption of linux and open-source as they are focused on basic mouse/keyboard literacy, math, vocabulary and other pre-k through 5th grade focused material. Even Edubuntu, with its much broader student demographic still lacks a component of adoption and acceptance in its development.
This is what makes debateOS special. The project's design is geared towards the adoption of Open-Source by demonstrating how easy and competitive it is to for-pay options like Apple and Microsoft and aims to bolster success by working on competitive technology requirements of high school and college debaters. It also hopes to demonstrate the viability of Open-Source to schools in a time when simply switching from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice/OpenOffice could literally save teaching jobs as a stepping stone to switching to an entire linux based system.
Here is a preview of the beta's desktop in liveboot mode. The background image is a powerful jet from a supermassive black hole.
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on December 9
Christopher McCool
backed a project
Estylo 1.1: magnetic dual tip capacitive stylus for iPad by Plai
Estylo is the only wooden stylus for the iPad. Eco friendly, no extra pressure is needed and magnetically attaches to the iPad 2.
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1,116% funded $39,076 pledged
- 1,243 backers
- Funded Dec 12, 2011
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on December 8
Christopher McCool
Posted project update #1FAQ section and Video coming soon!
Post CommentI honestly cannot believe I forgot to add a section to the debate community explaining why they should trust me with their money and this project! I'll also be putting together my Kickstarter project explanation video in the next week!
Quick rundown of my experience, though. I've been active in the high school debate community for 13 years and debated at Whitman College for a year in 2001-2002, adopting the Whitman template they had recently developed to get around cut-and-paste filing. From 2001 to 2003 I was a travel policy coach for my alum, Clear Lake High School (Houston) and from 2004 to 2009 I was the policy coach for Mercer Island High School (Seattle). At Mercer Island we went the full transition of paper, to hybrid, to paperless on the national circuit. During that span, my debate teams qualified to the TOC in policy debate every year, but two, and Mercer Island was WIAA policy state champions every year except one (Semi-finalists).
I started the Ballard High School Speech and Debate team (Seattle) in February of 2010 and made an early decision to go paperless and show that it can be done Open Source. I also decided to offer all NFL events, instead of only focusing on policy debate and saw areas where paperless can be used throughout the community.
We spent most of the 2010-2011 season developing the Open Office paperless template and macros, eventually going through 4 versions. This year I decided to put that knowledge together into an integrated system that will hopefully address many of the issues I had teaching novice debaters, of all types, the paperless system at the same time.
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on December 4
Christopher McCool launched a project
Debate OS - Columbia: An Ubuntu spin for debaters by Christopher McCool
I am putting together a user/novice-friendly linux distro that has been customized for high school and college debaters.
Funding Unsuccessful (02/02/2012) -
on August 26, 2010
Christopher McCool launched a project
The People of Guam: a look into chamorro culture and history by Christopher McCool
This project is to document the people and oral histories of Guamanians focusing on the tension that the military, U.S. colonization build-up brings.
Funding Unsuccessful (11/04/2010) -
on July 1, 2010Funded!
Ballard High School Debate by Christopher McCool
fundraiser for Ballard's High School debate team
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106% funded $318 pledged
- 14 backers
- Funded Jul 01, 2010
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Christopher McCool
Seattle, WA
I am a freelance photojournalist and fine art photographer who focuses as much as possible on local needs, in particular, things to do with youth and education. I'm particularly drawn to projects that are education based and provide access to empow... view more
