[Quantian-general] A new cd version

[Robert W. Hayden]

Forwarded message:
> From: "=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Nicol=E1s_Quesada?=" <zeitus at gmail.com>
> 
> I would like to know if there is any possibility of an updated version
> of quantian. This is because here in Colombia most of the computers
> don't come with DVD reader/writter, so the DVD version is not very
> iseful. I know that this fact would imlply not including all of the
> packages of the DVD version but If at least this new CD bersion come
> with the majority of the Packages of the last CD version updated would
> be great
 
I have thought about this.  A CD is about 1/7 the size of a DVD so it
certainly could not hold a majority of the applications on a DVD.
People will differ in what they can do without, and I think you might
end up with many choices and many CDs.  I guess it is possible to
create your own version of Quantian (or Knoppix), but I do not have
the technical expertise.  What I thought might be a viable project
would be a "Student Quantian" that fit on a CD.  My criterion would be
that it should contain the software that could be used in
undergraduate courses that appear at most colleges and universities.
So I can see a case for R for any stats. course, Octave for linear
algebra, a computer algebra system, etc.  But you would not need all
the more advanced or specialized software -- would not even need most
of the packages for R.  Also would not need a big office suite -- just
enough to do simple spreadsheets and create a decent looking report
from your homework output.  Might not need K or Gnome.  I just don't
know if it would be possible to get broad agreement on what needs to
be included and get that all on a CD that would be useful to most
undergraduate students in the science -- AND have one team member
smart enough to create the product;-)


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