Yes, you heard me right. The Balme library records have been fully digitized and guess the platform being used… Ubuntu 6.06! I needed to stretch a bit after sitting for some two hours and took a stroll into the main hall of the Balme library. I noticed some computer terminals and upon closer inspection, I realized the machines had Ubuntu 6.06 installed on them. There is some sort of web based application here that provides a front-end to the library database. The idea is that a student can just walk in and enter the details of a book he’s looking for and instantly be told which part of this huge building that book is located. So no more tedious searching through long index card catalogues for me. 
The desktop looks dumbed down a bit. No desktop switcher, no address bar in firefox and there are instructions telling you to not close firefox. The idea is to prevent people from browsing with these machines.
Those rules do not generally apply to me though… I’m blogging from one of the machines right now. 
I’ll blog a bit more about the set-up here when I get the chance… I have to go and prepare for an exam tomorrow morning.
Cheers,
Odzangba
One more corporate set up falls to Linux….the world is turning…gradually. I finally switched from XP to Mandriva yesterday myself.
By: Dirk Gently on April 25, 2007
at 9:57 pm
if the idea is to prevent people from surfing, why do they have firefox installed in the first place?
i’m guess they also forgot to remove the shotcuts, thus allowing anyone who know how to browse without the address bar.
By: thinfox on April 26, 2007
at 12:40 am
Exactly, Chris, but I cannot find fault with them right now… I’m too happy they made the switch to Linux here in the Balme library. I can’t wait for other departments to follow suit.
By: odzangba on April 26, 2007
at 12:10 pm
[...] Balme Library at the University of Ghana has gone digital and open-source: “Yes, you heard me right. The Balme library records have been fully digitized and guess the [...]
By: Global Voices Online » Ghana: Ghana University library goes open-source on April 27, 2007
at 8:54 am
you should interview the guys who installed the system; that would be cool
By: heri on April 27, 2007
at 3:32 pm
wow that sound promising.We’re getting some where at least. So what happens if you close firefox?. If they really don’t want people to browse, they should get rid of firefox.
By: eyedol on April 27, 2007
at 8:03 pm
Yeah… but i can still browse with the terminal
By: odzangba on April 27, 2007
at 8:06 pm
Yes, and removing w3m, lynx, links, elinks etc. wouldn’t solve much either, because you’ll still have enough Perl and Python on your system to script your way through the ‘Net. Especially since they’ve chosen Ubuntu there are about 4 trillion python packages installed by default on Ubuntu.
By: Lorenzo E. Danielsson on May 10, 2007
at 5:34 pm
[...] source evangelism here in the university of Ghana has built some serious momentum. I talked about ubuntu being used in the balme library some weeks last semester. Well now, it’s the ICT direcrorate. That’s where students do [...]
By: Univ. of Ghana at it again… « Odzangba Kafui Dake’s Blog on September 10, 2007
at 6:11 pm
[...] source evangelism here in the university of Ghana has built some serious momentum. I talked about ubuntu being used in the balme library some weeks last semester. Well now, it’s the ICT direcrorate. That’s where students do [...]
By: Univ. of Ghana at it again… | Ubuntu Linux Help on January 25, 2008
at 4:15 pm