Empowering African scientists: evaluating the CD-based installer for Scubuntu

Abstract

Open source software (OSS) is software for which the source code is made available under a software license that allows it to be used, modified and redistributed without restriction. As such, OSS is freely available for use and inspection and allows unconstrained customisation and modification for any particular need. For this reason, the South African national R&D strategy clearly identifies OSS as a vehicle for fostering local innovation and economic development. Besides these benefits, the use of OSS for scientific computing can significantly lower the barriers-to-entry for poorly funded research institutions in developing countries, while empowering scientists in those institutions to contribute and collaborate with their peers globally. Linux, an open source operating system, can run scientific tools for almost all scientific disciplines. This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the Scubuntu 8.10 installation program, to determine whether it addresses the problem associated with installing scientific software on Linux.