[OS:N:] FLOSS on Windows for kids
Robert Citek
rwcitek at alum.calberkeley.org
Tue Nov 29 01:34:03 UTC 2005
On Nov 28, 2005, at 4:55 PM, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 10:11:38AM -0600, Robert Citek wrote:
>> Does a FLOSS for Windows CD exist that contains software geared
>> towards kids?
>
> I've never heard of one, but I think it'd be a great idea!
Actually, I'm beginning to think that what I really want is
broadcatching[1], but I'm not sure.
Ideally, I'd like something like podcasting[2] for Free/Libre/
OpenSource Software (FLOSS). Instead of using a podcatcher to
subscribe to a podcast which distributes the latest version of audio
files, I would use a flosscatcher to subscribe to a flosscast which
distributes the latest version of FLOSS packages. For large files
the flosscatcher can download torrent files which then can then be
used by my favorite bittorrent[3] client. Then whenever I want to
build a CD, I run my flosscatcher and assemble the downloaded
packages into a CD. No more need to check every FLOSS project by hand.
Using a flosscatcher would greatly automate and simplify the
distribution of FLOSS. For example, I could set up a server to do
the following:
1) in a crontab have the flosscatcher run every hour and deposit
the torrent files in a common torrent folder
2) have a bittorrent (BT) client continuously monitoring the
torrent folder. Whenever a new torrent arrives, the BT client
automatically starts downloading and sharing the new file.
The only manual step would be the initial set up and then
periodically add new subscriptions.
SourceForge almost has it right with RSS feeds for their project
announcements. Unfortunately, they don't include a tag with a link
to the latest version of files, like the "enclosure" tag for podcasts.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcatching
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent
Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/downloads
Help others get OpenSource software. Distribute FLOSS
for Windows, Linux, *BSD, and MacOS X with BitTorrent
More information about the open-source-now-list
mailing list