State of Debian Jr.

January 1st, 2001

Well, just as a reminder to all who are not aware of what we're doing with Debian Jr. we are at: https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr

Here's a brief summary of where Debian Jr. is today:

Discussion/design of menus has drawn to a close and we are readying ourselves to start making child-oriented menus.
A first attempt at task-jr was created, but it is very minimal. It will not populate your system with children's software. It is just a base. In fact, I'm considering renaming it task-jr-base to clear up this confusion. Furthermore, since I wrote it, I'm really not happy at all with my choices of dependencies. Anyway, see https://people.debian.org/~synrg/
Meta packages are planned (like task- packages, but don't appear in tasksel when you do a base Debian install) which will assist with easy installation of subsets of everything on our "Packaged" list.
The "Packaged" list continues to be filled out. Some thought has gone into choosing categories that make sense for children. Our menu system is expected to mirror the structure of this list. See https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/packaged
The logo selection process is dormant. We are waiting on one more submission before we take the next step. See https://people.debian.org/~darke/ for current submissions.
The Debian Jr. Install HOWTO document is in progress. A draft is expected shortly. With so little of Debian Jr. automated at this point, this document will simply amount to a ticklist of concerns to address at this point, with pointers to other resources as needed. This will change over time as Debian Jr. evolves from a "bunch of packages for children" into a more coherent, integrated entity.
Discussion is underway on whether a debian-edu group is needed as distinct from Debian Jr. This would not duplicate related projects, such as SEUL/edu and OFSET, but would rather focus on the issues specific to preparing Debian for use in an educational environment, which Debian Jr. is not really geared towards. Our focus is more on children in the home.
Some discussion has happened around what the minimum requirements are for Debian Jr. Three basic minimum systems were proposed. This needs to become a page on the website and eventually will be incorporated into install docs.
There is a channel, #debian-jr, on irc.debian.org (the OPN network) where a few core members including myself hang out, socialize, and get some work done on the project.

Since Woody's release is generally anticipated to occur sometime in the coming year, my New Year's resolution to release Debian Jr. in 2001 may seem wishy-washy. We are really quite at the mercy of the Woody release schedule for the release of Debian Jr. Nevertheless, with the new "testing" distribution, many people will be able to try out what we have done so far without resorting to installing "unstable" and therefore have quite usable systems for their children before the year 2001 is over, regardless of Woody's actual release date.

We are always looking for people to help contribute. There is plenty of work to do, and several jobs do not require the contributor to have Debian maintainer status. Please visit the web site and list archives, and if you are interested, join the list and drop us a note.