Hello everyone.
This is a general call to all Australians, New Zealanders, Papua New Guineans and people from the nations of the South Pacific Islands to see if anyone is interested in helping developing a version of Linux for our countries. I have started on an Australian version, called Cobber, using DebianLive to build it. It will have the features of Debian that we have all come to know but will be localised, for ease of installation, to each individual country.
What do we need? Well like any community project we need a community. It doesn't matter if you are just learning Linux or are an old hand or at any stage in between you are welcome to join in and help develop a Debian Based distro for your country.
Are you artistic? You can create some artwork that defines the distro. How about a Tux with a big thumbs up or something uniquely Australian, New Zealander, Papuan or South Pacific.
Are you a writer? You can help write HowTo articles or a user manual.
Are you a programmer? You can develop programs that could be used in the system that are useful for our countries. For example a Linux version of Australia's eTax would be brilliant, other applications relevant to business would also be very helpful.
Are you a keen photographer? wouldn't it be cool if your pictures were the backgrounds or screen savers.
Are you an IT student? Get more experience in the wider IT world than is commonly taught at school, TAFE, university. Create some applications that can help others and also help with your learning and marks.
Are you a linguist or have an interest in language? Help translate various core parts of Cobber to Australian English, New Zealand English, Maori, Papuan, through other community projects such as Gnome (it has an en_AU team but not an en_NZ or other potential languages), KDE (no non British or American English translation teams that I know of), LXDE, XFCE, Enlightenment just to name a few, and none of the DEs have any native language translations that I can tell.
Would you be able to test Cobber? Like any system, free or commercial, Cobber (which will always be free if you download it) will need people to test it, help correct errors in applications or translations to help in its usability.
There are many more things people can do to help, I can't list everything nor can I possibly think of everything, but it is up to you as individuals to join in to make it work.
I have created a
Wordpress page and a
SourceForge page. The
Wordpress page is intended to be a general blog and information centre for a while until something else (anyone feel like hosting a site) comes along. The
SourceForge page is likewise a general page where a repository is being created. Yes I have been at work already but the project does need an interested community for it to work. My intent would be to use, with Jeremy's permission, LQ as the Cobber forum when Cobber was big enough to support a forum community.
So if you feel like a challenge and want to use your skills, talents, time, or just want to help in any way you can please feel free to check out the sites listed (remembering they are only at a fledgling stage at the moment). I can be contacted here at LQ if you would like to join in.
