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Christian Linux, and it's not a joke this time
Oct. 05, 2006

Six-years ago, there was a hoax Linux: Jesux, the Linux distribution for Christians. That was a joke. Today, it's real. In fact, there are several Christian Linuxes. Perhaps the most well-known of these is UbuntuCE (Christian Edition), which is built on top of Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS.

What makes it "Christian" is that, in addition to the usual Ubuntu applications, it includes GnomeSword, a Bible study program. This GNOME-based Bible study application program is built on top of the CrossWire Bible Society's SWORD. This, in turn, is a cross-platform open-source tools framework for creating Biblical studies software. In UbuntuCE, it includes several different translations of the Bible, commentaries, and dictionaries.

UbuntuCE also includes fully integrated web content parental controls powered by Dansguardian, a Web-content filtering program. Additionally, UbuntuCE includes a graphical tool to adjust the parental control settings.

Besides UbuntuCE, there's also Ichthux. This Christian Linux is built on top of Kubuntu 6.06 (the KDE version of Ubuntu 6.06). While not as fully-featured as UbuntuCE, it does include several Bible translations and other features.

In addition to these distributions, there are several sites for Christian Linux and open-source software users and developers. Linux for Christians has a collection of software, while The Freely Project provides support and consulting for churches considering using Linux. The Open Source Ministry is devoted to software for ministries and ministers.

There's also a pure development site for Christian-oriented Linux programs, Christian Open Source Development Network, and a users-group for such software, CS-FSLUG.

If all this seems a little strange to you, well, the motto of the Linux for Christians site seems appropriate. Instead of Linux being free as in free speech, its slogan is: "Linux -- Free as in Salvation. Eph 2:8-9."


--
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols



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