604:
476:, he announced an "UberStudent Dumbed Down Edition" featuring the GNOME 3 Shell. Pointing to what he called "the enforced helplessness" leading to "learned helplessness" that he says the GNOME 3 developers designed into their new desktop environment, he stated that the intent behind the spoof UberStudent edition was to "obscure what is not obvious and easy so it can be continually avoided" by students and thus never learned. In a May 2011 interview, Ewen expanded his criticisms of Unity and GNOME 3 by citing specific
301:
510:
39:
30:
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378:. The tech review site Dedoimedo reviewed UberStudent as containing a "superb" collection of "smartly selected" programs, "probably the best when it comes to serious work", with each "stitched into the fabric of the operating system". Tech columnist Jack Wallen said UberStudent "contains so many education-specific tools you will be spending your first days with it just marveling at what the developers have packed into one single operating system."
293:
secondary school." His stated goal through UberStudent was for students to "learn to really excel at the core skills and habits they need to become everything they can academically be, and on into professional life." Ewen stated that UberStudent was, in part, inspired by his own experiences achieving top academic performance in higher education after obtaining a
386:
templates for academic work and "tons" of on-board how-to guides as "welcome additions" that are "often missing" from other operating systems. UberStudent also contained a full range of student-oriented programs in the
Multimedia, Games, Graphics, Internet, and several other categories. Within a separate menu, it contained select
385:
entry, Education, where they were organized by sub-categories, including for
Reading, Research and Writing, Self-Management, Study Aids, Subjects, and Utilities, which themselves have sub-categories. In addition to its academic-specific application set, reviewers have noted UberStudent's inclusion of
248:
computing platforms, like itself, within higher education and secondary schools. The platform was designed around what Ewen called a "core academic skills approach to student success" which he explained as "the research and writing, reading, studying, and self-management skills that are essential to
557:
UberStudent was described by reviewers as "highly in tune with student needs," "loaded with student-friendly tools and customizations," "perfect for the higher education environment," succeeding at its aims "with aplomb, elegance, and power," "a smart pick for getting your actual schoolwork done,"
308:
Ewen described UberStudent's overarching design philosophy as one that provided a "unified system for learning, doing, and teaching academic success". Within this, he has said that UberStudent took what he called a "core academic skills" approach, which he delineated as "the skills in research and
275:
Support for the last published version, UberStudent 4.3, based on Ubuntu 14.04, ended in May 2019. According to Ewen, the project at the time had been placed on hold, not discontinued or abandoned, because of a serious family health crisis. He ultimately decided to stop development of
Ubertudent.
329:
Ewen has argued that academic institutions can increase both their student learning outcomes and economic efficiency by more broadly adopting open source application and system software for everyday student academic computing needs. He has additionally argued for academic institutions to increase
292:
instruction, academic success strategies, and educational technology. He began UberStudent, he said, as "a way to place a set of smart and dedicated computing tools, and just the right amount of support, into the hands of students, whether currently within higher education or preparing for it in
231:
The developer of the platform, U.S. educator and technologist
Stephen Ewen, announced on November 24, 2023, that he had no further plans to develop the platform. While thanking past users he stated, "We hope the project continues to be a great example of a very well developed Linux distro for
575:
ranked it the most popular Linux distribution for education worldwide and the 32nd most popular overall out of the 316 varied distributions tracked by the organization. Weeks after the 4.1 release, it ranked as the fifth-most popular Linux distribution in the world.
452:
Amid his decision to feature Xfce in UberStudent full editions, Ewen stated that "UberStudent must prefer stability, dependability, and traditional usability over the novel when it comes to such a major thing as the basic desktop environments it uses; and it will."
517:
According to Ewen, "UberStudent dubed each of its major releases after a famous historical thinker," a practice he described as "only fitting" in light of UberStudent's educational mission. The thinkers were Greek and Roman. UberStudent's version 0.9, the first
500:
standards. Ewen stated that, "While the desktop environment holds promise, Cinnamon as of its May 2013 version 1.8 release is only beta-quality software." As such, he characterized
Cinnamon as "not at all yet suited for a serious and stable workstation.
530:. 1.0 also had a brief pre-release edition, once inadvertently reviewed as the release edition. UberStudent 1.0 Cicero Lightweight Edition was released on 4 September 2010 and inherited the name Cicero from the full edition. UberStudent 2.0 was dubbed "
223:
computer operating system and collection of programs aimed toward higher education and secondary students and their teachers and schools. By the time of its 4.1 release, it ranked as the fifth-most popular Linux distribution in the world, according to
235:
Dubbing itself "Linux for
Learners", UberStudent described itself as "a cohesive academic success curriculum integrated into an installable, easy-to-use, and full-featured learning platform" aimed at increasing overall student learning,
313:
required of students across all academic majors". He stated that UberStudent could be "easily extended" for specific majors via additional software. Ewen additionally asserted that, in part due to UberStudent's open source and
444:
desktop environment. The LXDE lightweight edition was greatly scaled down and intended solely "to re-invigorate low-specification or older computers" and fit on a single CD.
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their involvement in developing open source tools, such as UberStudent, citing successes such as the bibliographic manager
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which cited UberStudent's completeness for doing core academic work, user-friendliness, and free and open-source nature.
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Sixty days after UberStudent's official 15 July 2010 release of UberStudent 1.0 Cicero Full
Edition, its first non-
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412:. UberStudent included numerous unique applications developed by Ewen, plus its own Update Manager using the
772:
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Byfield, Bruce. "Other Linux
Distros' View of Ubuntu's Unity: It Ain't Pretty," 17 May 2011. Available at
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675:"UberStudent - Linux for Learners - DistroWatch ranking screenshot taken just now. | Facebook"
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Kafle, Sudip. "Uberstudent—A Linux
Distribution for Students," 21 September 2010. Available at
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http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/uberstudent-an-academic-oriented-linux-distribution/27523
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Linux desktop environments as hindrances to student academic computing productivity. In a 2011
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applications that have been described as containing additions "you don't often see elsewhere".
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5.0 was in development until Ewen dropped it after a major health crisis impacted his family.
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issues and stated that UberStudent had no plans to adopt either Unity or the GNOME 3 Shell.
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1126:"freedesktop.org standards for submenus not honored · Issue #2180 · linuxmint/cinnamon"
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During UberStudent's 2.0 release cycle, Ewen criticized the designs of both the
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Wallen, Jack. "Uberstudent: The students' Linux," 9 August 2010. Available at
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Ewen, Stephen, "Announcing UberStudent DumbedDown
Edition Based on GNOME 3,"
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According to Ewen, Uberstudent's lead developer, the platform is officially
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The first level of the Education menu in UberStudent 1.0 Cicero Full Edition
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Ewen, Stephen. "UberStudent Moves From 0 to 32 on DistroWatch in 60 Days,"
1213:
Purdy, Kevin. "UberStudent Is an Ubuntu System Custom-Built for Students,"
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Ljubuncic, Igor. "UberStudent 1.0 Cicero—Almost perfect; killed by a bug,"
944:
228:, and had been adopted by a variety of education centers around the world.
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http://technott.com/2010/09/uberstudent-a-linux-distribution-for-students/
828:"UberStudent Forums • View topic - UberStudent 5.0 is delayed. Here's Why"
712:"Unique Linux Distro Geared to Impact Higher Education, Student Success."
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education!" Ewen made this announcement amid a long family health crisis.
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899:) that Uberstudent pointed to the above cited Facebook page as official.
338:, which was included among UberStudent's set of core academic programs.
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Long-Term Stable Release 4.1; no longer actively developed and supported
1037:
Cavender, Amy. "UberStudent: An Academic-Oriented Linux Distribution,"
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UberStudent's core programs for academic work were clustered within an
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https://web.archive.org/web/20180628215638/http://www.uberstudent.com/
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http://www.uberstudent.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=117&mode=1
963:"UberStudent—Ubuntu Version for Students and Researchers,"
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The default desktop of UberStudent 1.0 Cicero Lightweight Edition
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http://www.ghacks.net/2010/08/09/uberstudent-the-students-linux/
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and "fantastic and delicious." It received a glowing review in
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and stability, UberStudent production releases were based on
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http://www.uberstudent.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=125#p424
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Ewen, Stephen. "UberStudent 2.0 to be Dubbed 'Aristotle,'"
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Also see from the uberstudent.org domain archive.org page (
488:
Amid UberStudent's 3.0 release cycle, Ewen criticized the
393:
Within its stated intent to couple user-friendliness with
908:"Stephen Ewen - Project Lead," 12 Aug 2010. Available at
526:. Version 1.0, released on 15 July 2010, was named after
326:" among its users as a "more or less natural outcome".
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Stephen Ewen, a U.S.-based educator who specializes in
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http://www.uberstudent.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=18
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http://www.uberstudent.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49
244:. Its additional aim was to increase the adoption of
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List of third-party Ubuntu-based Linux distributions
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http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/uberstudent.html
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436:or pre-made disc. The full edition featured the
432:UberStudent main editions were distributed as a
401:Long Term Stable releases, which stems from the
773:"UberStudent 2.0.4 is Here! | UberStudent"
440:desktop environment, and the Light Edition the
871:"UberStudent - Linux for Learners on Facebook"
718:http://www.efytimes.com/e1/48950/fullnews.htm
54:UberStudent EdTech and community contributors
8:
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448:Criticisms of competing desktop environments
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1041:, ProfHacker, 8 October 2010. Available at
304:UberStudent's core academic skills approach
252:UberStudent's last release was 4.3, dubbed
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256:. The distribution used its own dedicated
21:
354:Nearly all of UberStudent's software was
1187:"UberStudent 5.0 is delayed. Here's Why"
945:http://uberstudent.org/slideshow/slides/
1257:(Archived on retrieval date by WebCite)
1238:(Archived on retrieval date by WebCite)
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928:(Archived on retrieval date by WebCite)
913:(Archived on retrieval date by WebCite)
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648:"UberStudent 4.3 Release Announcement!"
638:
513:UberStudent 2.0 pre-release screenshot.
669:
667:
542:." The last release, 4.3, was dubbed "
43:UberStudent – Linux for Learners
1073:"Re: Any chance of getting cinnamon?"
16:Open-source computer operating system
7:
798:"Get UberStudent | UberStudent"
610:Free and open-source software portal
284:UberStudent was founded and lead by
416:to manage and update the platform.
923:"About UberStudent." Available at
219:was a highly-reviewed and popular
14:
1039:The Chronicle of Higher Education
561:The Chronicle of Higher Education
268:, or installed onto a computer's
1252:24 September 2010. Available at
1217:20 September 2010. Available at
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322:base, it was geared to produce "
188:; minor additions of officially
37:
28:
1301:Discontinued Ubuntu derivatives
1193:from the original on 2018-06-15
534:," UberStudent 3.0 was dubbed "
295:General Educational Development
1167:"DistroWatch.com: UberStudent"
1059:"DistroWatch.com: UberStudent"
272:from either of those mediums.
1:
1316:Educational operating systems
925:http://about.uberstudent.org/
716:, 30 July 2010. Available at
297:diploma while a young adult.
830:. 2018-06-15. Archived from
646:Ewen, Stephen (2015-12-30).
490:Cinnamon desktop environment
102:4.3 / December 30, 2015
1149:11 June 2011. Available at
1093:1 April 2011. Available at
1337:
1286:UberStudent at DistroWatch
1281:UberStudent on SourceForge
755:"UberStudent 4.1 is Here!"
238:academic computer literacy
1311:Free educational software
342:System, software, reviews
260:. It could be run from a
36:
27:
954:, retrieved 28 May 2011.
538:," and the 4.0 release "
943:UberStudent Slideshow,
336:George Mason University
318:nature, as well as its
309:writing, studying, and
290:post-secondary literacy
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358:and its core programs
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186:free software licences
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457:GNOME 3, Ubuntu Unity
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104:; 8 years ago
1306:Educational software
1175:. December 30, 2015.
364:avoid vendor lock-in
362:so its adopters can
356:free and open-source
246:free and open-source
221:free and open-source
193:proprietary software
1321:Linux distributions
734:"About UberStudent"
505:Releases and naming
258:software repository
125:Secondary education
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950:2011-06-08 at the
652:UberStudent Forums
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19:Linux distribution
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1091:UberStudent News,
383:applications menu
280:Origin and design
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133:Knowledge workers
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