ÜberStudent – Ubuntu version for Students and Researchers
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We welcome you into this global collaboration between educators, top graduates and students, and programmers. ÜberStudent can be tested from its Live DVD before you decide to install it with its easy installer, and you can even keep your current operating system as a boot option. We hope that you, too, discover ÜberStudent to be an easy-to-use productivity powerhouse for überstudents, and those seeking the help they need to become one.
Features of ÜberStudent
System
# Pic 1 Built upon compatibility with the latest distribution of Ubuntu (version 9.10), the world's dominant open source operating system. With ÜberStudent, you can be confident that you are computing from both strength and stability.
# Free to download, install, use and share. And when the next version comes out, it too will be free. You'll no longer have to lay out painful cash every few years just to keep updated.
# Works "out-of-the-box" on nearly every manufacturer's computer, both new and older, and tools and guides are right onboard to get your hardware going for the rare instances otherwise. Give ÜberStudent a test run from its Live DVD! When you're ready to install, you can do it side-by-side with your current configured operating system and choose between them at boot time.
# Fully multimedia-ready in mere seconds. Just go to the Extras Menu in the Main Menu ("Start Button"), click the appropriate icons, and you're all set.
# High-yield quick-help guides, example program usages, and templates for academic work by top educators and students (but approved by educators) are on-board in ÜberStudent, and their number is growing. You'll save time and very quickly become productive by doing.
# ÜberStudent is blazingly fast, much faster than the operating system with which you are probably accustomed. It boots much faster, and programs both load and respond faster—no more clicking and constant waiting! And when you search for files, you'll have results in an instant. You can even preview the contents of files by simply highlighting the file (clicking on it once) and hitting the space bar.
# An eye-popping user interface comes default on ÜberStudent, as expected of a next-generation operating system. With just a few clicks you can additionally enable a Mac-like dock, and on higher end computers you can easily install free proprietary drivers and enable amazing window animations that are at the utter pinnacle of the desktop computing world.
# Easily accesible power-user extras that won't get in the way of those who aren't looking for them. For example, just hit F12 to call up Guake Terminal, from which you'll find the most commonly used command line programs are ready to go.
Core Programs
In addition to a full array of programs befitting a complete operating system, ÜberStudent comes with a customized selection of expertly configured core programs for students of all academic disciplines (some programs may change until the 1/15/10 release-date, last update to below list 1/13/09).
# Zotero configured to cite your sources into Open Office Writer, a full-featured word-processor similar to and compatible with Microsoft Word. Our customized Zotero turns the popular Firefox browser into a powerful, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather, organize, cite, and analyze sources, and then share the results of your research online or through a network. Our Firefox browser itself comes with numerous customizations to immediately boost your academic productivity.
# Google Plus Search, our Firefox extension that unobtrusively adds links to additional searches, seeded with your Google search term(s). ÜberStudent can work with your learning institution to customize it to display search links to library catalog and subscription resources, e.g., EBSCO and JSTOR, so links to high quality academic resources display right within most students' first stop for information, Google.
# NoteCase Notes Manager, a hierarchical note manager (outliner) that helps students and researchers take and organize notes into logically-arranged tree-like structures (each note can have sub-notes). Fire up your laptop and one of our NoteCase templates first thing when you arrive to class! See our on-board example usages—you'll kick yourself for ever trying to get along with paper and pen; plus, when it comes time to write papers, you'll find you already have them partly written! We recommend you take notes from articles for research papers within Zotero, however.
# AutoKey, a program in which you can easily key in an unlimited number of keyboard abbreviations to reduce the need to type out frequently written words or phrases. Just key an abbreviation for a word or phrase, and then every time you type the abbreviation it is instantly replaced by the word or phrase. AutoKey works literally everywhere you can type in ÜberStudent, but it is especially amazing coupled with NoteCase Notes Manager. You'll have clearer class notes, and more of them, than ever before.
# Semantik, a mind-mapping tool to visually help students study and write texts such as dissertations, theses, research papers, essays, and even screenplays.
# Parley, a program to help you memorize any material on any subject. Create virtual flashcards from your class notes taken in NoteCase, or download pre-made sets and increase those available by uploading your own.
# Golden Dictionary, a full-featured multi-lingual dictionary, thesaurus, translator, and word-pronouncer that works with literally every program in ÜberStudent at just the touch of a key. Goodbye clunky dictionary.com!
# GNOME Do, inspired by Apple's Quicksilver, enables you to quickly search for items on your computer or the web, and perform useful actions on those items.
# Gloobus Preview, like Apple’s Quicklook, enables you to quickly glance at the contents of your files and folders. Just highlight the file or folder, hit the space bar, and have a look!
# Top Shelf, a handy program to help you organize and track drafts of papers.
# Cloud Menu with the speed of Prism brings the ease of Cloud Computing to your desktop. Google Calendar and Google Docs sync through Google Gears for both on- and off-line use. Building your network with Facebook has never been simpler and faster, nor has Gmail. Remember The Milk! helps you keep organized and syncs with Google Calendar. And just in case, EyeOS, a full-featured opensource online operating system, is available with just a click.
# Mozilla Thunderbird with Lightning Calendar, which can automatically sync with Google Calendar, iCalendar and others.
# KMyMoney, to help ensure that your finances are kept in correct order.
# Mendeley, like iTunes for research papers, although we much more recommend Zotero.
# ÜberStudent's Extras Menu provides easy access to additional drivers, software, and other extras.
Other Program Highlights
We realize it's counterproductive to only study, and that you'll want to keep contact with friends and family. That's why we've included some of the very best play-ready games, everything you need to rip and burn CDs, programs to make your music sound amazing and handle nearly every video format ever invented, and well-chosen messaging programs. We've done this without uneccesary program redundancy.
Games
A full range of games, from 3D chess, to flash pinball, to card games, to a Space Invaders clone and the utterly hilarious Potato Guy and more, are onboard in ÜberStudent. In addition, you can let off stress with the fast-paced first-person 3D shooter game, Warsow, or try your hand in the World of Goo, an amazing Wii-like physics-based puzzle/construction game.
Messaging
Every major (and some minor) Instant Messaging service is ready-to-go within one program, Pidgen, in ÜberStudent. As well, Skype is on board for voice calls. In addition, we've include a microblogging client to help you keep current on Twitter, Jaiku, Identi.ca, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and RSS. There's even a super-simple IRC program, and one that hooks into your webcam to enable you to send personalized messages.
Multimedia
ÜberStudent comes with everything you need to download, rip, and burn media disks, and programs to handle nearly every audio and video format ever invented, including DVDs and all the formats you'll encounter everyday on the Internet. Use eMusic Remote to tap over 7-million top songs and albums at half the price of iTunes, and play them in Audacious Music Player, where our expert plugin and equalizer settings (over thirty) will make them sound amazing!
Download ÜberStudent
If you want to download ÜberStudent use the following link
Download ÜberStudent from here
ÜberStudent Screenshots
We are just giving sample screenshot as follows
For more screenshots check here
No offense but why cant students just use the default ubuntu 9.10 installation?
Yeah, I’m a engineering student and I don’t think there is a need for a student’s ubuntu version^^
basically thats just another distribution, even “lower” educated persons can use it, some of them surely even better as students 😀
so long.
Students profit from 9.10, but I don’t really see the need to install this distro. And the name is really stupid, best way to show your fellow comrades at uni that you’re a total nerd 😉
Easy there…while you may not like it or use it, this guy put some effort in here. Maybe some constructive criticism instead of calling the project stupid. Isn’t that the spirit of open source? For example …. Since alll of these can be installed on top of a vanilla 9.10, would a meta-package or script be more valuable?
a slightly nerdy student i understand but how is this directed towards researchers? because of the inclusion of zotero?
I like the inclusion of so many pre-installed packages, but many of the modified interfaces and menus seem cluttered and redundant.
What if every freshman at a community college were given this uberstudent on a $400 laptop and instruction on how to use it in their studies? Could be great. What if they were given plain ubuntu? Probly be a nightmare….
I love it. I wish I had this technology available to me when I was a kid. I hated taking notes, because it’s a pain going back through non-digitized data, for so many reasons.
I find it weird that a whole distribution dedicated to academia doesn’t even mention LaTeX.
LaTeX is more or less discipline-specific, not a tool common to all higher ed students, so it was excluded. That said, since LyX now has a well-functioning Zotero plugin, it will come default in UberStudent 1.0.
For me a few good programs don’t make it worth switching to a different distro.
Actually, why does it have to be a distro? There is the possibility of making a dummy package, that would install all of these packages. Special packages could be put in a ppa. Also, in my opinion U/Ü berstudent made a bad choice with some of the packages. It uses shareware, where good opensource is available, and where the formats of the opensource would be more compatible.
I’m using Uber and it did’nt come with any shareware. It has a few links in its “Cloud Menu” that go to webaps that have both free and paid versions, but that’s no different than Ubuntu One or Dropbox does. Ubuntu could just as well be packages you add to Debian instead of being a distro. It sounds like you’ve never actually used Uber.
One thing for any good student to learn might be that “ascetically pleasing” does not mean what the author thinks it means. Just had to share that. (Try “aesthetically”.)
I hope if it can be corrected in the original article, this comment can be deleted. 🙂
Great initiative, but an up to date LaTeX and R suite would have been nice.
Active CE student here. Not switching to this distro because I find it lacking in both packages and functionality.
disclaimer: this is my opinion, based on the tools I’ve used during solo- and groupwork over the past 3 years.
The essentials:
– a decent octave configuration
Compatibility with matlab code = unavoidable when doing number-based research. For added bonus points: teachers and researchers seem to appreciate the fact that you can do matlab specific tasks without actually using or buying matlab.
– shutter
All the academic screen-capture related tasks in one place. Select a screen portion, mask sensitive information, draw a few circles or arrows and copy-paste it in your documents hassle free.
– a pre-configured freeplane
Probably the most useful but out-of-the-box ugly mindmapping tool in existence. Needs to be configured so it’s not totally hideous to look at, but way better than VUE. Way way better.
– rednotebook
This. Ever needed a research journal? Take notes, export to PDF = receive research journal. All that remains is adding your name and project info before handing it in.
– geany
The coding end-solution. Does everything you need, knows all the languages you’ll use, and starts as fast as notepad on windows. For added win: it doesn’t require you to “make a project” for each and every file you want to compile.
It might have some faults but… anyway… it looks cool… we can develop it more and make it more simpler and nice.
The multitude of university websites (.edu) which link to UberStudent.org tell me that Mr. Ewen definitely did something right with UberStudent Linux.
This is really nice idea. I work IT in an educational institution and here are a couple of things you might consider for a next release. IT support tools for deployment, management etc. Also, consider perhaps an elementary build, Intermediate School and finally a Middle / High School level. Again, this is great work and I’m only trying to give you suggest that from an admins perspective, these are the three groups of units that we have to work on. Keep it up!