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Introduction to Balaswecha

Prateek Srivastava edited this page Feb 1, 2016 · 2 revisions

Introduction:

  • BalaSwecha is a Linux based operating system.
  • As an OS BalaSwecha comes with LibreOffice suite for general use.
  • PencilBox is the central educational tool of BalaSwecha.
  • It contains applications (simulations a.k.a. virtual labs).
  • It also contains educational videos.
  • And Quiz (quiz creation functionality).

The remainder of the document talks about the technology and structure of PencilBox.

Tech Stack:

  • AngularJS, Node.js, Javascript, Phetsims (https://github.com/phetsims) libraries for app development.
  • Qt and Electron (formerly called atom-shell) as webkit (display screen).
  • Grunt as build tool for javascript apps.
  • Apache as server.
  • Go CD/CI server for continuous integration.
  • Git for version control.

Components:

Display Screen :

  • We use QtWebKit as a rendering engine. (formerly)
  • Now we use Electron as rendering engine.

Applications:

Phetsims Applications: We use majority of applications developed by University of Colorado under the project phetsims. Most the applications developed by them are either in Java or Javascript using their custom libraries.

In-house Applications: We develop our own applications which we think are important to have in BalaSwecha. Most of the applications that we have developed use javascript (with and without phet libraries); some use Qt. Plan is to make all the future applications using phet libraries and also contribute to the Phet upstream.

Videos:

Videos are supplementary to applications. We do not create videos. Videos are added when there is a recommendation made by some teachers.

Quiz creation module (Quiz App):

Quiz is an application that gives the capability to a teacher (or anyone) to create a quiz. Once a quiz is created, it can be downloaded and then transferred to other computers running balaswecha.

Manuals:

Most of the applications in the BalaSwecha have manuals attached to them which briefly describe how that application can be used. *note: working on audio (maybe video as well) manuals for future versions.