openSUSE Edu Li-f-e MATE

openSUSE Edu Li-f-e MATE is a freely distributed and open source operating system specifically designed to be deployed on educational institutions, such as high schools, college and universities. It is based on the latest openSUSE technologies and uses MATE as its default desktop environment.

Supported architectures, availability and boot options

The MATE edition of openSUSE Edu Li-f-e is designed from the ground up to be used only on 64-bit architectures, which means that it is fully compatible with modern computers. The user can download the operating system as a Live DVD ISO image that must be burned onto a DVD discs or written on a USB flash drive in order to boot it from the BIOS of the PC.

The Live CD's boot menu is quite identical with the one found on the main openSUSE Edu Li-f-e edition, which uses the KDE desktop environment. The user will be able to start the live environment with default options, boot an existing OS from the first disk drive, run a system memory (RAM) test, as well as to install the distribution without testing it (not recommended).

Beautiful, darkish MATE desktop with many educational apps

MATE is well known for being a traditional desktop environment, a fork of the classic GNOME 2 session. It uses a two-panel layout and darkish theme, as well as a neat collection of educational apps, such as gElemental, Scilab, Xcos, Scinotes, Geany, Inkscape, Synfig Studio, Bluefish, Epoptes, and LTSP.

Default applications include the Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger, Mozilla Firefox web browser, GIMP image editor, pluma text editor, VLC Media Player, as well as the entire LibreOffice office suite.

Bottom line

Summing up, openSUSE Edu Li-f-e MATE is a surprise addition to the educational edition of the award winning and widely used openSUSE Linux operating system. The MATE desktop environment will provide for a faster working environment suitable for classroom use.