Linux for Cyber cafe

I just wrote an article about Creating an extremely low cost Value PC which shouldn't cost more then 18k in the market without the Monitor. I wanted to use Linux for this PC in cyber Cafe but it is still not that good for cyber cafe use & awareness it low. Using Linux in cyber cafes people can have a free OS & applications without worrying about Piracy.

Now, I am not a Linux user & don't know much but would like a tutorial from other Linux users for configuring Linux specifically for Cyber Cafe. The UI department is something I can look after but not all the application department. I would prefer Linux users to make this tutorial based on Ubuntu 8.10. Just make a guide about setting up Linux for Cyber cafes with each & every small application you can think or need of.

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To Start with, Ubuntu 8.04 & Gnome desktop is to be installed. In a cyber cafe people generally require these things...

1) A browser, Firefox 3 will do for this. It doesn't need any IE like skin. Some extensions which are needed are
a) DownthemAll
b) Adblock
c) View Cookie CS

2) An office suite in the form of open office

3) A Media Player, VLC is good & famous. Many people know about it, anything else easy??? Keep in mind that library management isn't required.

4) A chat client, Pidgin is good but requirs to make a profile first, is there something simple like yahoo or Windows Live messenger for Windows? Just directly enter user name & password & start using. People do not like making profiles in a cyber cafe.

I have installed Ubuntu 8.04 in a VM in my Computer. Will try to configure it accordingly to make a very very small & slim installation.

8.10?? Pre-Pre-alpha??

BTW, Linux is actually the best OS for Cyber-cafes.
Atleast the users can't screw it up.

gx_saurav said:
The UI department is something I can look after....

Like how?

gx_saurav said:
1) A browser, Firefox 3 will do for this. It doesn't need any IE like skin. Some extensions which are needed are
a) DownthemAll
b) Adblock
c) View Cookie CS

You've said it all

gx_saurav said:
2) An office suite in the form of open office

Already there.

gx_saurav said:
3) A Media Player, VLC is good & famous. Many people know about it, anything else easy??? Keep in mind that library management isn't required.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras vlc

Goto Medibuntu site, add the repo to /etc/apt/sources.list and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install w32codecs

Thats all you'd need.

gx_saurav said:
4) A chat client, Pidgin is good but requirs to make a profile first, is there something simple like yahoo or Windows Live messenger for Windows? Just directly enter user name & password & start using. People do not like making profiles in a cyber cafe.

You can try the old Yahoo! Messenger for Debian. Works fine. For MSN, you can install aMSN. For Voice and chat on Yahoo! you can use the software Gyachi.

gx_saurav said:
I have installed Ubuntu 8.10 in a VM in my Computer. Will try to configure it accordingly to make a very very small & slim installation.

In today's world, a 700mb installation media is considered to be slim!!! You seem to haf fast-forwarded to the future, the current stable release is 8.04

S

You mean Ubuntu 8.04 is it?
You never told you have a cyber cafe!
1.FireFox 3 is there in hardy by default and all the extensions you need can be installed like you do in windows.
2.Open Office is the best opensource office suite IMO.

Although,you can run MS office through wine flawlessly on Ubuntu.
3.VLC runs almost all types of videos and music.Exaile is a good music player,Rhythymbox too!(comes pre-installed in ubuntu)
4.Pidgin is the best IMO,dunno much about other chat clients but i can give you a 'howto' to install Ymsg on ubuntu(its quite old though and sucks!)see it looks like this- *linux.softpedia.com/progScreenshots/Yahoo-Messenger-Screenshot-2.html
Pidgin looks much better!
Its good that you are using linux in cafe as other people will also be encouraged to use it

infra_red_dude said:
Like how?

icons, color scheme, what should be visible & what shouldn't be.

You've said it all

These are just few, obviously more extensions will be required like Stop&Reload button etc

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras vlc

Goto Medibuntu site, add the repo to /etc/apt/sources.list and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install w32codecs

Thats all you'd need.

Will check in VM.

For MSN, you can install aMSN. For Voice and chat on Yahoo! you can use the software Gyachi.

Not many people use Cam etc in cafe anyway, what they need is good emoticon support & file trasnfer support. Pidgin has all this but it requirs to make a profile which is bad.

In today's world, a 700mb installation media is considered to be slim!!! You seem to haf fast-forwarded to the future, the current stable release is 8.04

700 MB CD download, after installation it is big.

You never told you have a cyber cafe!

i don't.

Guys, what I need here is a full deployment guide of ubuntu 8.04 from installation to finish, including every detail. I have started downloading stuff in the VM & slimming the installation so will see in a while.

F

I don't know if this would be considered as a deployment guide but this is what I did for the Internet cafe which run a few systems on Ubuntu now.

1. Install whatever version you have to install.
2. Install Ubuntu-restricted extras (Tales care of Flash and some of the codecs)
3. Install Kopete // Pidgin (Unfortunately as you see Linux sort of loses out on the Instant messenger Part. Especially if you they use Rediff Bol , is that what Rediff messenger is called? I haven't used it yet lol.)
4. While you install those browser add ons you might want to install ie4Linux and User Agent Switcher for the Firefox browser. For those sites that don't work with Firefox. Even with the above some won't work.
5. Do you allow gaming?
6. Do you allow P2P's?
7. Do you share network resources ? By default the Ubuntu systems could see the other systems in the Network.
8. If you prefer to monitor bandwidth then install vnstat and its frontend.
9. If the Internet cafe serves pages (Intranet) to the customers then you mgiht want to consider installing apache2 , php etc
There is quite more you could add but as I said it depends on what you want to accomplish.

*ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy

You can also look here:

*ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy

gx_saurav said:
These are just few, obviously more extensions will be required like Stop&Reload button etc

The list you gave earlier is the bare minimum I think. I don't see any reason why you'd require "Stop & Reload". From a cybercafe owner's PoV you'd wanna save BW. For that all I'd ever need is Adblock/Plus/Filterset.G, Flashblock and Flashgot to integrate with a download manager like D4X.

gx_saurav said:
Not many people use Cam etc in cafe anyway, what they need is good emoticon support & file trasnfer support. Pidgin has all this but it requirs to make a profile which is bad.

Then you can safely install the older version of Yahoo Messenger, aMSN, Xchat etc. You can also try to install the latest versions of these software thru WINE.

gx_saurav said:
700 MB CD download, after installation it is big.

With HDD capacity of 250GB becoming the bare minimum today, a 2GB install is considered negligible! You can make an image and prolly carry the entire installation on a cheapo Rs.330 Flash Drive!!

M

FilledVoid said:
3. Install Kopete // Pidgin (Unfortunately as you see Linux sort of loses out on the Instant messenger Part. Especially if you they use Rediff Bol , is that what Rediff messenger is called? I haven't used it yet lol.)

There is someone who's written pidgin plugin for rediff, but I guess it will be needed to be compiled and installed and I haven't tested it myself.

Also, run a apt-cacher on a separate server, it will help in saving bandwidth by caching downloaded deb files, you need not download them again. Also, run squid proxy on a server, again to conserve bandwidth.

Here's the download page for rediffbol plugin *rediffbol-prpl.sourceforge.net/

Just tested it, I am able to connect but haven't tried with chatting since I don't have any friends on it.

GX promoting linux!! Yay!!!!!!!!!

F

There is someone who's written pidgin plugin for rediff, but I guess it will be needed to be compiled and installed and I haven't tested it myself.

Also, run a apt-cacher on a separate server, it will help in saving bandwidth by caching downloaded deb files, you need not download them again. Also, run squid proxy on a server, again to conserve bandwidth.

Thank you very much. Definitely usefull information. Ill try this out and post the results.

@gx: concider using Linux Mint instead of ubuntu for internet cafes. And I recomend installing IE for linux. Tonnes and tonnes of extentions are available for firefox to make your internet experience better. Then there are softwares available to monitor bandwidth usage, so that you can run a meatered bandwidth cafe. And you can disable several actions on a user, so that the customer does not screw the PC. I recomend the windows vista skin for Mint and the noia extreme skin for firefox. This is to make people feel more at home on Mint.

And yes, you are still better off using Freespire, because its almost exactly like Windows, and there are guides to make it(a ubuntu derivative running kde) imitate windows xp or windows vista.

And why did I forget opera ? It also simply rocks for internet cafes.

remember to have essential software that anirudh suggested.

For hardware, any cheap but effitient hardware, like Jetmax 690G mobo and AMD 4000+ proccy with 1gig ddr2 667 ram will do. It can run linux very beautifully.

If I remember right, there are projects to make distros specially for internet cafes. Have a look at them by googling.

Hey, I m not deploying it anywhere. I just want a full article from you Linux guys so that I can write it in my other article of extremely low cost PC to compliment it for Cyber Cafes.

All I can do is to try here in VM which even you guys can do, try it. Make the distro custom made for a cyber cafe. Remember, yucky looking applicatiosn are something people stay away from so if there is an application whose GUI I can disect & make into something familer then yea that I will do.

Include Firestarter that can be used for ICS easily, use Squid proxy for better performance and cache handling.

gx_saurav said:
Hey, I m not deploying it anywhere. I just want a full article from you Linux guys so that I can write it in my other article of extremely low cost PC to compliment it for Cyber Cafes.

ask Cyrus_the_virus then. He already has both a real extremely low cost hardware setup in an internet cafe along with linux.

And I am already about to finish my article on building a low cost, performance linux/windows dual boot machine. We can exchange notes when done.

well,I dont know ur intentions,

still

4) for VOIP calls empathy chat client is almost successful.

mehulved said:
There is someone who's written pidgin plugin for rediff, but I guess it will be needed to be compiled and installed and I haven't tested it myself.

Also, run a apt-cacher on a separate server, it will help in saving bandwidth by caching downloaded deb files, you need not download them again. Also, run squid proxy on a server, again to conserve bandwidth.

Here's the download page for rediffbol plugin *rediffbol-prpl.sourceforge.net/

Just tested it, I am able to connect but haven't tried with chatting since I don't have any friends on it.

There is 100% pure Java IM Client for Rediff named RTalk developed by Binu Paul.

Check out the RTalk Project Page

I think Open SUSE or Mandriva is best choice.. They got gr8 GUI tools and awesome interface.. and will impress users too while using Cyber Comp

M

praka123 said:
well,I dont know ur intentions, still

4) for VOIP calls empathy chat client is almost successful.

there's already work going on, on libjingle. It's done to the point that if you build it on your system, you'll be able to chat with people on gtalk. But, it's still to be integrated with pidgin.
See *www.zerobeat.in/2008/05/04/libjingle-release/
I am unable to build it due to couple of errors I didn't get time to find solutions to, will be trying again.

^oh!thx