Flammschild’s jālasthāna

There is lots of good software out there that is helpful for the studies of indology or Buddhism. But even if you know which software you want, it takes you hours to install and configure it. And if your system crashes one day (or you get a new computer) you have to start off from scratch again. If you are running Windows it makes sense therefore to to create a backup after you made a fresh install of the system and all the  software for your studies.

Linux provides some better way to do this task: create your own distribution. It is like creating your custom muesli. You start off with some oat flakes (the Linux kernel) and add everything that makes it tasty and healthy. You can even add some very special ingredients like dried bananas and goji berries (our Buddhist studies software).

In a way that sounds complicated, and it definitely is if you want to start completly from scratch. The best and easiest way to create your own Linux is to take an existing distribution and add your customization. Ubuntu in my opinion is a very good start for that. See this article.

I wondered if not somebody already created a Buddhist studies Linux so I started googling for it. And I actually found something:

Ubuntu for Buddhist Studies

Based on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) this distribution provides scim input and fonts for the relevant languages (Chinese, Sanskrit, Pāli, etc.). Also pre installed is StarDict with about 60(!) dictionaries.

But a big minus is, that this distribution is restricted to be used only by the students of the International Buddhist College. Restricting helpful software to an exclusive group of people is in my opinion the complete opposite of the idea behind ubuntu. Also this distro does not only include lots of proprietary software (software that is not open source), it even runs WindowsXP in a VirtualBox.

I think this is the wrong way round. I know there is good software, like the Pali Text Reader that is almost impossible to run on Linux because it requires an up to date .NET framework. But the people behind Pali Text Reader saw this problem and started to work out a Linux version.

As this distribution is only available for students of the IBC, I have not tested it personally. All informations I’m referring to came from this article.

Slax for Buddhist Studies

This distribution is based on Slax6 and can be downloaded here.

Slax in the first place is a Live System. That means you have it on a cd or an USB pendrive and run it just from there, without the need of installing it. The advantage is, that you have your linux system in your pocket and you can use it on any computer you like without changing anything on the host computers configuration. If you use the pendrive variant you can also save data, install additional software and change your settings anytime you want.

What is nice about this Buddhist Studies Version of Slax is, that it comes with StarDict and some pre-installed dictionaries for Sanskrit, Pāli, Chinese, Nyānatilokas Dictionary of Buddhist Terms, etc.

But I must confess: the Buddhist Studies version of Slax does not convince me for the following reasons:

1. Only Chinese input is available in Scim. But what about diacritics? Devanāgarī? Burmese? Thai? Tibetan? etc.
2. Diacritics are supported in Kword, but only the difficult way by keybinding. That means, for creating ṃ you must press Alt+m etc.
3. It is lacking any other cool software I would have expected. At least some language learning tool, or one of these browse-the-Pāli-canon-offline suites.
4. Although it is possible It’s no good idea to install Slax as a full Linux distribution on your harddrive. Assumed you are not a Linux geek and looking for lots of problems to solve. As Slax is meant to be a Live System there is not much documentation on using it on other ways.

Other

The same guy who made the Buddhist Studies Slax also created an PCLinuxOS 2007 Version, but as it is currently not available I cant review it.

Oh and not to forget :-) :  Dalai Lama announces Yellow Hat Linux.

Conclusion

As far as I can see, there is still a need for a Buddhist Studies Linux distribution. One that is accessible to everybody who has no will to spend hours in installing software. And also one that does not seek its refuge in avoidable proprietary software. As I indicated above, creating your own distribution is not that hard. Lets see what the Karmic Koala might bring ;-)