On International Mother Language Day on Sunday, the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) released a new, customised free and open source software (FOSS)-based operating system — KITE GNU-Linux Lite 2020.
The operating system, expected to benefit millions of computer users in the State, will feature on the thousands of student laptops being provided as part of the Vidyashree scheme by the State government.
Based on the Ubuntu free software platform, the new version of the operating system (OS) comes preloaded with a bunch of software, ranging from office packages, language input tools, database applications, DTP-graphics image editing software, sound recording and video editing packages, programming IDEs (integrated development environment), scratch visual programming, and so on.
Utility packages
The OS suite also features several utility packages such as gImage Reader that provides image-to-text conversion.
To boost Malayalam computing, a vast collection of Malayalam Unicode fonts and a dedicated English-Malayalam dictionary have been included.
Free download
“The new Lite version OS has been developed in such a way that it can be installed even on computers with less computing power by effectively utilising its storage space and thereby providing all integrated packages. The KITE GNU-Linux Lite 2020 can be downloaded for free from the KITE website www.kite.kerala.gov.in, K. Anvar Sadath, CEO, KITE, said in a statement here.
Necessary support mechanisms for providing installation assistance will be arranged through the Little KITEs student clubs units in schools, established by KITE as part of the Hi-Tech School project.
The availability of educational and utility-based software in the OS will come in handy for DTP centers, common service centres (CSC), software developers, and the public.
It can be downloaded for free and can be shared without any restrictions.
There is an option of using the Lite version software through a pen drive without the need for actual installation.
First Bell
All the First Bell digital classes being broadcast through the KITE Victers channel in recent months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic use the FOSS-based video-editing applications, even at KITE’s district offices as part of regional content development.
