Clone a Linux with Finnish learning material

Note: in 2017 this Linux content is no longer available due to server changes in the spring season. I will put newer Ubuntu images online in February 2018. Alkuperäisen kirjoituksen jälkeen on julkaistu jo kolmisen uutta Linux Mint -versiota, jotka toimivat paremmin. Suomen opetukseen ja oppimiseen tarkoitettamani Linux-levykuvat kuitenkin ovat jatkossa Ubuntu MATE -pohjaisia. Ystävänpäivänä pyrin saamaan ne nettiin. Voin näitä vanhojakin asennettujen järjestelmien kloonikuvia kyllä jakaa erikseen pyydettäessä.

Ubuntu is a free and open-source operating system. It is rather easy-to use and secure with many variants for different purposes like server, video editing, education, or general usage on poorer hardware. It is good also for learning Finnish. It is easy to install but sometimes it is quicker and easier to just clone an image that has been prepared before.

If you have a spare computer available you can try a live DVD to see how Ubuntu works (without making changes to the hard disk drive) or you can install it on the hard disk (or a usb flash drive). There is however no need to install Linux (the traditional way using an .iso image) since you can use Clonezilla software and restore a backup from an image. Restoring a cloned image will replace the contents of the hard drive.

On November I published the first two images (or backups) of Ubuntu Linux installations that are aimed at people who want to learn Finnish. The first was Xubuntu and the second Lubuntu. They include links and offline learning material. You can read about Clonezilla and my previous Ubuntu customization at http://aku-opettaa.blogspot.fi/2015/11/kloonaa-valmis-linux-asennus.html (it is in Finnish)

Now in December 2015 a third version is ready. I chose Ubuntu 12.04 (32 bit) this time even though it is a bit slow and old already (but supported until April 2017). There is a good amount of general learning material available about Ubuntu 12.04 also in Finnish. I have included some of it in the image so Ubuntu can be studied also offline. In this image that I have prepared there is about 450 megabytes of Ubuntu learning material in Finnish (and links to study it in English) and about 550 megabytes of Finnish learning material (plus links to several hundred megabytes more). All of these three images are problematic in certain ways but the second and the third work reasonably well after cloning.

Cloning (restoring) this Ubuntu needs a hard drive of about 60 gigabytes in capacity (or bigger). The image can be applied to most pcs with at least one gigabyte of memory, both laptops and desktops. The image size is ten gigabytes but since the source disk was 56 GiB the target disk also needs to be as big or bigger.

A short guide of using Clonezilla and acquiring this image "Ubuntu backup for Finnish learning"

First download the image files from OneDrive - totalling 22 files and 5,5 GB. This time they are not zipped. You can use the mouse and drag and drop a box around the files and right-click and select "Download". You can first create a folder with the name 'clone'. Preferably save the image files on a 8 GB or 16 GB usb flash drive or an external hard disk. Note that it can take several hours to download all the files. Check that the total size will be 5'840'622'856 bytes. I'll include an md5 checksum or something later.

Secondly download Clonezilla (about 180 MB). Choose i686-pae and iso from the dropdown menus at http://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=stable
and download Clonezilla. Burn it on a cd or use the usb boot option explained at http://clonezilla.org/liveusb.php

If your computer won't boot up with this version of Clonezilla it cannot handle this third version of Ubuntu Finnish learning. In that case you can download i586 Clonezilla and use the second version at http://koti.kapsi.fi/~akutalikka/s2/linux-images-l/ - probably the fourth version will be a simpler one that can run better on very old hardware.

Third: Start up the target computer so that Clonezilla comes up. Choose default settings and after a few screens choose "device-image" so the data on a local device (hard drive) will be replaced with the contents of the image (usb memory). Insert the usb device and select the device and later the folder where you saved the files. Then select "restore disk" and select target (the spare hard drive) and confirm some questions. Restoring the image might take about 30 minutes after which you can shut down and remove both Clonezilla software disc and Clonezilla image device.

You should now be able to boot the computer and after a minute or two see an Ubuntu login screen. You should be able to click different account names with the mouse or use the arrow keys. The first option is the administrator in English with a password 'salasana'. The second is the admin in Finnish with the same password 'salasana' Then there are several student accounts with different languages or other choices. The password for these (Finnish language student) accounts is 'opiskelu'. The last one is a guest account which does not need a password and which is not able to view the learning material or save files/settings permanently on the desktop/profile. 

I have removed Unity 3D from this Ubuntu installation but otherwise the applications are more or less the same as depicted in my November post. IcedTea for Java has been added but no Oracle. If someone is very new to the Finnish alphabet and pronunciation they might be interested in playing this Java game "Ekapeli Maahanmuuttaja" at https://ekapeli.lukimat.fi/ - it can be downloaded and used offline but it would require Oracle Java. Using Ekapeli on Icedtea requires a network connection.

I will try and write a better guide when I have time and if I get feedback on this one.