On July 15th 2019, the Emmabuntüs Collective is happy to announce the release of the new Emmabuntüs Debian Edition 3 RC (Release Candidate) (32 and 64 bits), based on Debian 10.0 Buster 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 over-consumption of raw materials.
This new version of our distribution is based on Emmabuntüs DE2 under Debian 10 Buster, after we were able to manage a drastic ISO size reduction in its Alpha version. This RC version finalizes the streamlining of the embedded applications, brings some new fixes, like the boot speed-up in live mode, compare to the Alpha version, improvement in the dark/light theme handling, support of the language and localization in live mode, etc.
EmmaDE3 RC desktop screen capture
with the welcome window using the dark theme
Video presenting Emma DE3 (Alpha version)
made by BlaBlaLinux with English subtitles
We hope that this new version will further facilitate the repackaging work of the various associations using Emmabuntüs, and the task of our friends JerryClan from France and Africa. Notably our friends of the BloLab of Cotonou in Benin, who organize digital training sessions and workshops to produce Jerrys under Emmabuntüs, in order to popularize the digital technology, thanks to their mobile classroom installed in a truck’s trailer.
Production of two Jerry under Emmabuntüs by the students of the Lake Cotonou’s CEG
during workshops organized by the BloLab of Cotonou in Benin.
We currently plan to release the Emma DE3 final version in September 2019.
This Debian Edition RC version includes the following fixes and enhancements :
- Based on Debian 10.0 Buster
- Replaced the following Gnome applications:
- Added Kazam
- Added Redshift and Timeshift
- Added frei0r-plugins extension for Kdenlive
- Added the ClipIt utility
- Added the management of a dark or light theme
- Added English language support in Libre Office for Schools
- Added support for languages and localization in the GRUB live mode
- Fixed Gnome-Software startup
- Fixed startup slowness in live mode
- Fixed theme for Qt apps
- Fixed automatic partitioning issue during installation
- Fixed the disconnection by user change, within the XFCE action buttons
- Updated the English installation and presentation tutorials of EmmaDE3
- Updated the Flash Player installation scripts with permanent activation of deb-multimedia repository
- Updated package update options
- Modified the Thunar and Qpdfview configuration files
- Updated version for : HPLip 3.19.3, Multisystem 1.0430, Firefox ESR 60.7.2