[K12OSN] Software to do X

[Bill Kendrick]

On Fri, Nov 19, 2004 at 04:39:36PM -0500, Shawn Powers wrote:
> 1) Print Shop alternative.

I was starting to work on something, but didn't get too far.
OpenOffice.org or StarOffice might be useful here.  Lots of clipart
is available from third parties (those "10,000 pieces of clipart" collections
that come on a dozen CDs, for example), and these days should work fine
under Linux.


<snip>
> 4) Interfacing with TI calculators.  Is this possible?  Apparently they 
> have been able to copy/paste TI calculator images that were piped into 
> their macs.  Is there a TI emulator that could be screen captured?

I would be surprised if there /wasn't/ :^)


> 5) Streaming Media.  Real media, quicktime, wmv, mpg, whatever the 
> format -- is this possible at all?  (Especially via a browser)  How does 
> sound work?  Does it?

Well, RealPlayer is available for Linux (x86, at least).  Mplayer has done
an excellent job at playing various MPEG, AVI, WMV, MOV and RM files I've
thrown at it.

You can even use tools to grab a stream and turn it into a file, though
whether you can do it /legally/ depends on the copyright of the content,
and whether Fair Use applies.

(I saw someone throw out a set of 3- or 4-commands, all stuck on one simple
command line, to pull down an audio stream, save it, and then convert it
from PCM to WAV, then from WAV to MP3. :^) )


<snip>
> 7) Graphic editing (MS Level) -- something that our MS art class can use 
> that is more complex than MS Paint, but not quite The Gimp?

Inkscape might be worth looking into for vector art.  The Gimp's not all
that complicated, but for simpler stuff there's the likes of XPaint,
GPaint, etc.


<snip> 
> 11) Edutainment for elementary age.  Bill Kendrick has provided 2 lion's 
> shares of software in this regard, but I'm curious about others too. 
> (Thanks Bill!)

You're welcome! ;^)


> I guess that's it for now.  If there are software packages commonly used 
> in your district that don't match anything above, please pipe in!

LinuxForKids.org, if it ever comes back, is a good start.
The Seul/Edu Educational Application Index is even better :^)

  http://richtech.ca/seul/

Enjoy!

-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com                            New Breed Software
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/               Tux Paint 0.9.14 is out!