Installing SchoolTool on Ubuntu Versions Earlier than 11.04

Start by installing the server or desktop edition of Ubuntu Linux version 10.10, “Maverick Meerkat,” or 10.04, “Lucid Lynx.” With Lucid you will get SchoolTool 1.4; with Maverick you will get SchoolTool 1.5.

1. Add SchoolTool PPA to your Software Sources.

   If you’re using the command line, enter:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:schooltool-owners/ppa
   sudo apt-get update

   If you’d prefer to use the graphical interface, go to the System menu, Administration submenu and select Software Sources. Select the Other Software tab, then Add and enter:

   ppa:schooltool-owners/ppa

   

2. Install schooltool-2009.

   In the terminal type:

   sudo apt-get install schooltool-2009

   Or access the Ubuntu Software Center from the Applications menu. Search for “schooltool-2009”, and then click Install and enter your password.

   

   If all goes well, many, many small Zope components will be installed and you’ll have a SchoolTool server running on http://localhost:7080. If that doesn’t work, try http://127.0.0.1:7080

   The login is “manager” and the default password is “schooltool”.

Installing TrueType Fonts for PDF Reports

To create pdf reports, you currently need to enable the Ubuntu “multiverse” software repositories. Go to the System menu, then Administration and select Software Sources. Check the box that says Software restricted by copyright or legal issues (multiverse). You can also do this by uncommenting the multiverse entries in /etc/apt/sources.list.

Then sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts or install the msttcorefonts package via Synaptic. We’re working on replacing this with completely free and unencumbered fonts that will eliminate these extra steps.

Controlling the Server

Once you’ve installed the SchoolTool server, it will automatically start running and restart itself whenever you start the computer. Thus, SchoolTool will be running in the background and available at http://localhost:7080 whenever you need it.

The SchoolTool server process will take up some of your computer’s memory. Whether or not you will notice this depends on how much memory you have on your computer, which other applications you use, and how many applications and server processes you use at the same time.

You can start and stop the process manually if you’d like:

$ sudo service schooltool-2009 stop
$ sudo service schooltool-2009 start

Note that there can be a delay of 30 seconds to a minute between when you issue the start command and the prompt returns, and when SchoolTool’s web interface is actually accessible from a browser.

Or, if you are more used to init.d scripts you can still use:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/schooltool-2009 stop
$ sudo /etc/init.d/schooltool-2009 start

Note: If you want to use SchoolTool over a network or the internet go to Making SchoolTool’s Web Interface Accessible to Other Computers (or not).