April 1st, 2013, Emmabuntüs 2 celebrates Software Freedom Day

April 1st, 2013,Emmabuntüs 2 celebrates Software Freedom Day ;-)



The Collective Emmabuntüs is pleased to announce the release on April 1st, 2013, the third maintenance release of Emmabuntüs 2 1.04 based on Xubuntu 12.04.2. This distribution was designed to facilitate the refurbishing of computers given to humanitarian organizations, especially Emmaüs communities (where the name comes from), and to promote the discovery of Linux by beginners, but also to extend the life of the equipment and to reduce waste caused by over-consumption of raw materials ( * ).

This update is delivered to improve the use of Emmabuntüs 2 in Digital Public Spaces, and in organizations using Emmabuntüs. The goal is to expand opportunities for reconditioning machines with the addition of the environment LXDE/OpenBox included in this version after additional installation.



Emmabuntüs distribution is used by:


 * organization « les hommes fourmillent » on C@FISOL digital resource center,


 * Cyberbase SATI21 de Venarey-Les-Laumes,


 * Centre Autonome Solidaire & Artistique, CASA Poblano Montreuil,


 * Jerry Agor@ within the social center of Beaulieu on EPN of Saint-Etienne,


 * humanitarian organization Les Jardins de l'Espoir for the supply of laptops to kindergarden and primary school in Madagascar



For this version 1.04, the following fixes and improvements have been made:


 * Autorun DVD/CD


 * Access to the portal of cyber-bases


 * Updated packages for Xubuntu 12.04.2, codecs and extensions contained in web browsers (Firefox, Chromium), Thunderbird mail reader


 * Update Kiwix 0.9rc2, Teamviewer 8, and extension Language Tools 2.0 for LibreOffice


 * Adding the extension Public Fox to facilitate parental control in Emmabuntüs 2


 * Adding utilities gnome-disk-utility and system-config-samba


 * Tilting keyboard type during operation


 * Adding Italian, German, Portuguese, and Arabic


 * Ability to remove unused languages, to reduce the number of updates


 * Installing LXDE/OpenBox without internet, to extend the reconditioning, see in the dock : Utilities → Installing LXDE

This version is available on April 1st, 2013, from our homepage: emmabuntus.org, but also from this website download.emmabuntus.org.

We encourage you to give your old computers to charities after having migrated to Emmabuntüs or another Free ditribution of your choice.

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

If you have any troubles or remarks, You can contact us on : 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).

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


 * ''Extrait de la Lettre N°3 – Octobre 2008 : L'informatique omniprésente. Quel impact sur l'environnement ?
 * 24 fois plus de CO2 lors de la fabrication d'un ordinateur que lors de son utilisation

Acknowledgements:

The collective Emmabuntüs wishes to thank the organizations that have trusted us and had the courage to deploy Emmabuntüs in their activities, especially their leaders/volunteers Nicolas, Franck, Raphaël, Alexandra, Pascale, Marc, David, Damien, Falko, Simon, and Christian.

Version of this article ODT and PDF format