[Rule] Lightweight graphical configuration tools & suggested apps for a 100% non-English system

[Shae Smittle]

Of those packages that lack localization support, I backported Kazehakase
and PCManFM to UL.  Is there a problem in the packages that prevent
localization support or is it a problem with upstream?  If it is a bug in
the packages, I will try to dig around for a fix.  Furthermore I understand
your pain with a complete lack of some basic gui configuration programs.  I
originally slated work on getting gui programs to configure stuff to 0.9
because of early problems geting 0.8 out the door, but if you are willing to
help compile the list of needed programs for UL I will consider a "freeze
exception" for adding them to 0.8 since my work on an iso has stalled.

My honest suggestion is if this is your problem with Ubuntulite, help
contribute to fixing it.  I guess sometimes I am a little shortsighted in
terms of determining what is necessary because I am a native English speaker
and think nothing about just using the commandline for now.  But if it
provides a significant barrier to Non-English use, I will certainly try to
work on it, but help is really needed.  Furthermore I suggest fileing a bug
against Ubuntulite to help track the progress of the bug.

Sincerly,
Shae Smittle
Ubuntulite Project Manager

On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 4:39 PM, Michael L'Heureux <
michael.lheureux at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I'm setting up some old donated laptops (400-600MHz, 4-6GB HD, 96-256MB
> RAM) for educational use in Egypt.  These will be used by people who have no
> previous exposure to computers and cannot read English.  So the goals are as
> follows:
>
> - Set up an extremely light-weight system that can comfortably browse the
> web, use basic office apps and handle basic digital media formats (PDF,
> audio & video)
> - Set up a very easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate & intuitive desktop
> environment in Arabic
> - Install a set of graphical configuration tools (in Arabic)
>
> I've played with UbuntuLite (which is, I guess, the latest version of
> RULE?), but I found that there are practically no GUI-based config tools
> (without reading English, end-users will not be able to use the command
> line) and even after installing all Arabic localisation packages with
> apt-get,some key apps are not localised (Kazehakase, PCManFM, LeafPad).
>
> The problem that I've found is that (with some exceptions) the only
> packages for Linux that tend to be translated into Arabic are the popular,
> mainstream (ie. heavy) ones.  All main parts of XFCE (and therefore XUbuntu)
> are localised into Arabic, which is great, but the speed difference with
> UbuntuLite is noticeable.
>
> I've been thinking of trying the steps to trim down KDE that were posted in
> this list a while ago...
>
> http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%
> 2Fwww.guiadohardware.net
> %2Ftutoriais%2Fusando-kde-micros-32-mb-ram%2F&langpair=pt%7Cen&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8
>
> .... but I've always found KDE to be much more clunky (and less
> simplified/easy-to-use) than GNOME or XFCE and IceWM, etc. to be even worse.
>
> Any other suggestions?
>
> I've been following discussions on the list for a while and am hoping that
> someone out there might be able to offer me some advice on this.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Michael
>
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