January 29 2018 EmmaDE2 a Linux available to all

On January 29th 2018, we make Linux available to all with EmmaDE 2 1.01 !



On January 29th, 2018, the Emmabuntüs Collective is happy to announce the release of the new Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 2 1.01 (32 and 64 bits), based on Debian 9.3 stretch distribution and featuring the XFCE desktop environment.

This distribution was originally designed to facilitate the reconditioning of computers donated to humanitarian organizations, starting with the Emmaüs communities (which is where the distribution's name obviously comes from), to promote the discovery of GNU/Linux by beginners, as well as to extend the lifespan of computer hardware in order to reduce the waste induced by the overconsumption of raw materials (1).

Many thanks to the Full Circle Magazine, for publishing a paper about Emmabuntüs, in which they reported a bug tied to some Wi-Fi devices that we were able to fix quickly.

This release is intended to alleviate even more the refurbishing workload on all the associations using Emmabuntüs, notably our friends of the Eisenia with their reuse in solidarity project Linux & Populus, our friends from Ayiyikoh, from BabyLab, and from the JMSI in Ivory Coast, with Jerryvalentin, their future big reuse event, as well as this nice initiative from our WenakLabs friends who are using Emmabuntüs in a Chad camp to introduce refugee children to the computer world.

We invite you to click on the bold link below to discover all these nice projects enabled by Emmabuntüs.

Snapshot of the video clip made by Unicef and Mashable in the Gaoui humanitarian camp where our WenakLabs friends introduce computer to children.

As a reminder, this version includes the UEFI support for the 32 and 64bits architectures, and integrates the essential "Debian beginner's handbook", updated for the Stretch version by our friends of the 3HG Team led by our mate arpinux ;), this handbook being available in both French and English versions.

Also included are our latest presentation and installation tutorials already published on the Developpez.com site, as well as the one concerning the printer configuration under Debian, also available in both French and English languages.

This Debian Edition 2-1.01 version includes the following fixes and enhancements :


 * Based on Debian 9.3 Stretch
 * Workaround concerning the display freeze at startup bug in the Linux 4.9 kernel, by creating a extra entry in the Grub Menu to activate the nomodeset option (many thanks to François from Multisystem)
 * Update of Multisystem to integrate the management of international languages and keyboards, and a new entry in the live safe mode as a workaround concerning the bug mentioned just above
 * Wi-Fi MAC adress scan disabled in the NetworkManager configuration file (thanks to the Full Circle Magazine for reporting this bug.
 * Improvement in the non-free software installation scripts to use Internet when connected.
 * Addition of the rfkill packet for the Wi-Fi activation (thanks to Arnaud)
 * Addition of the firmware-realtek packet to support the Broadcom Wi-Fi chips (thanks to Arnaud)
 * Addition of the kde-l10n-fr packet to make Mr Patate speak French (thanks to Robert)
 * Addition of the bip deactivation in the logout window
 * Addition of the Audacious Equalizer presets (thanks to Jean-Christophe)
 * Addition of the libreoffice-gnome packet to allow LibreOffice to open documents located on the Samba network.
 * Reinstatement of Abiword and Gnumeric
 * Replacement of Pulseaudio-Equalizer by PulseEffects-Equalizer (thanks to Jean-Christophe)
 * Fix of the EmmaDE login
 * Fix of the missing icons within LibreOffice
 * Fix of the Sysinfo closing when opening the System Menu
 * Fix in the LXDE banner launch
 * Fix in the Lilo utilization
 * Fix of the network connection problem with Thunar and Samba, induced by the firewall activation ( thanks to Jean-Christophe)
 * Updates of HPLip 3.17.11, TurboPrint 2.44, Skype 8.13

As of January 29th 2018, this version can be downloaded from our emmabuntus.org site, or from this other link download.emmabuntus.org.

We encourage you to donate your old computers to charities, and to support our partner associations through the Lilo alternative search engine which finances social and environment friendly projects.

Here are some links to help you install, learn and use this distribution: List of applications, Installation, Personalization, but also the traditional F.A.Q

If you have any problems or comments, you can contact us on: Forum, Diaspora*, Mastodon, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, contact

Note :

According to the ADEME from manufacturing to disposal, through its use, each stage of the life of the computer equipment can be quantified by its environmental impact: making a computer and a screen requires 1.8 tons of resources (240 kg of fossil fuels, 22 kg of chemicals, 1500 liters of water).

For the Ecoinfo's group the priority is to act. Each member of the group does it by himself (purchasing, maintenance, development of networks), but everyone of us can also contribute by his personal behavior. Their conclusion: " If it is already possible to intervene at all stages of the hardware cycle, the most effective action you can take is to limit the environmental impact of these materials by reducing your purchases and by increasing their lifetime !".


 * Where does e-waste end up ?
 * 11 Facts About E-Waste
 * Environmental implications and carbon footprint