Credentials:

User Root: Set on install

MySQL Root: Set on install

This one we chose not to bring to a fully configured state. This is in part because the installation process (on first access to http://$ipaddr/opensis) is very straightforward; but also, significantly, the same installation process asks for the school name and the start and stop dates of the academic year. If this isn't strong enough justification, we'll see about a new patch that will bring the appliance to a fully configured state and layout directions for the admin to change the school name and set the academic year calendar.

We really look forward to your feedback. We don't how this will go over since it's not in the repos, but in the interest of providing access to software that might be otherwise inaccessible to those who need it most, we've decided to post anyway (still with the hopes Alon and Liraz will choose to adopt - goes without saying).

Virtual appliances and an ISO will be available from http://9while9.com in the meantime.

Older: With the help of three Chelsea School students, a TKLPatch to turn LAMP Lucid 11.0(RC) into functional OpenSIS (community edition) appliance should be available this week. This is part of an endeavor to do all we can in the interest of a Ubuntu "School in a Box" server (click here for that thread).

The "community edition" of OpenSIS, at the very least is licensed as GPL v2.

OpenSIS identifies itself as a "student information system", but I've had a pretty thorough look at it, and based on my survey it appears to be a fairly comprehensive school management system. It's got almost everything; the only component I see missing is budget management. But that's not a common tool in school management systems, in my experience. It looks best suited for students who switch teachers through out the day - schools with periods or hours.

Jedmeister put together a nicely compehensive response to my initial inquiries about the viability of an OpenSIS patch; see his post here: http://www.turnkeylinux.org/forum/general/20101201/school-box-endeavors#comment-6053. He provides links to the resources he's reviewed. I can only add that #opensis on freenode does not seem to be a source of support. On my frequent visits I was consistently the only one in the room.

The home for OpenSIS is here: http://opensis.com/

Wikipedia has brief entry for it that describes its mission and competitors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSIS

I drafted a working patch for it; I'm holding off until I squeeze all the pedagogy I can out of it. I'd like the submitted patch to be by the students rather than me.