I've re-christened the Wikipedia For Schools Offline Edition as WFSOE so I can use a short form ;)

Updates: I downloaded the 2.x GB pre-indexed kiwix+zim zip file from kiwix.org. It had a problem on extracting - the .zim file was broken. Emmanuel or folks from Kiwix, could you check? I hope the problem was only on my side. Link: http://download.kiwix.org/portable/wikipedia_en_for_schools.zip(2718mb)

I'm uploading the repackaged and working version on my mirror site (this time compressed in 7-zip .7z format and also split, by 7-zip only, into 27x100mb parts): http://www.4shared.com/dir/cwqa0nnC/WFSOE_Full_pre-indexed_with_sc.html (give it a day or two to upload fully) ...And also have put up just the kiwix software in that package, without the .zim file. http://www.4shared.com/file/_yQEKn2r/WFSOE_with_kiwix-09alpha7_with.html (107mb) So, people who already have the schools-wikipedia-full-20081023-rc5.zim file can simply put it in and start using it. This whole folder, downloaded by either of the above options, can then be directly copied over to a DVD or USB drive and it will become an auto-launching thing then. I've made a detailed blog post of this whole process with screenshots, including shots of the working encyclopedia. http://nikhilsheth.blogspot.com/2011/01/troubleshooting-wikipedia-for-schoo… I'll make these updates on the wiki page soon. http://education.wikia.com/wiki/Wikipedia_For_Schools_Offline_Edition It would be great if someone can download from the above links and let me know if it's all working properly or not. Do let me know if I'm doing anything wrong here.

All - thanks so much for your work here; this is fantastic progress and incredibly helpful for the offline work at large. On 1/20/2011 11:48 AM, Emmanuel Engelhart wrote: Having some sort of dedicated offline meet-up is something that a few of us have been talking about for the past month or so, so I'm glad it was brought up again. Logistically, when do we think this could happen? Although it is a couple months away, an easy way to leverage an existing organizational plan would be to tack onto the Chapter's meeting in Berlin at the end of March. Europe would also be a relatively central meeting place for us. Thoughts? Availability? Once we carve out a block of time, we can work out a schedule of most important things to tackle and discuss (I also have lots of suggestions ;). -- Jessie Wild Special Projects Manager Global Development Wikimedia Foundation

Hi Jessie and All, Thanks so much for the appreciation. Request: I want to get an Offline edition of the Hindi, Marathi and Gujrati Wikipedia. (Indian languages) - preferably in the .ZIM format. I read about Malayalam / Tamil offline versions being in the works, but not in .ZIM Why I advocate .ZIM is that it turns wikipedia into an easily search-able single-file E-book, hence making it so much more portable (Try moving the other forms having 1000s of files between drives and you'll get what I'm talking about). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Emmanuel and his team have actually assembled the largest ebooks that mankind has ever seen. If we give it a spin like that and give an alternate description of Kiwix as a new kind of ebook-reader for reading very very large volumes with very low memory footprint, then we can probably catch even more attention and we might even witness other publishers switching to something like it. But I digress, so back to my task.. I have no clue how we can create the .ZIM files (don't have the expertise to see and understand the format specifications), and I understand that Wikipedia dumps creation aren't there for anybody or else the servers would be brought down. So can anyone help with obtaining Hindi / other Indian languages Wikipedia? The reason I'm asking for them is: I'm trying to take the Wikipeida For Schools to under-resourced schools in my country and in most, it would be much, much easier to get permission from authorities to install and spread it if I actually gave them an Indian language wikipedia and bundled the Wikipedia for Schools with it. In their minds, getting the indian language one on their computers may be a much bigger novelty. So, to hypothesize, if I handed over to a municipality in my state (Maharashtra, India, main language is Marathi) a DVD having just "Wikipedia For Schools", they may just keep it at the side and forget about it. But if I gave them a DVD having the "Complete Hindi and Marathi Wikipedia, plus Wikipedia for Schools free!" then I think that will catch more attention. This is just hypothetical, of course, but I want to give it a shot! The Kiwix/ZIM Wikipedia For Schools package is about 2.7 GBs only when burnt to DVD, so there's plenty of room for putting more stuff, even for pen drives as we'll be using a 4GB pen drive. ------------------------------------------------ Further troubleshooting: (now moving into further exploring) The Kiwix+Wikipedia for Schools package is a portable version of Kiwix with the index and library file already built and stored inside the root\data folder (size 141MB) When I opened wikipedia_en_wp1_0.7_30000+_05_2009_beta3.zim in the same software, it did not create the library and index for the same inside this package; rather it is stored elsewhere on my comp and I can't find it. (I'm on Win 7 by the way) If I want to share other versions on Wikipedia in a ready-to-run form, I will need to create and have the index inside the Kiwix software's folder. Or else on every new computer there will be a lengthy indexing process which is wasteful and might actually result in non-use by people who don't know how to go about it. So, how can one go about it? Making Kiwix such that any .ZIM file it opens and indexes, the index is stored INSIDE the program folder rather than anywhere else? Or maybe such that it does BOTH and checks one source first and the other later? Also, what is the command-line syntax for opening Kiwix with a particular .ZIM file? I want to have a package of multiple instant options, so that if someone double-clicks on a "Wikipedia for schools" shortcut or .bat or .exe then that opens; if someone double-clicks a "Hindi Wikipedia" then that opens, and so forth. Cheers, Nikhil Sheth <tel:+919665831250>+91-966-583-1250 <tel:+919665831250> Pune, India Teach For India <http://www.teachforindia.org/> Fellow, 2011-13 www.nikhilsheth.tk Find me on: Twitter <http://twitter.com/nikhiljs> | Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/nikjs>| LinkedIn <http://in.linkedin.com/in/nikhiljs> | Google <http://www.google.com/profiles/nikhil.js>| RangDe<http://www.rangde.org/investor/nikhilsheth> Join me on: Pune Documentary Club<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138497769525636>| Let's Do it Pune <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-do-it-Pune/103857326346659>| Toastmasters in Pune<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toastmasters-in-Pune/148767611833746&… Wikipedia For Schools project<http://education.wikia.com/wiki/Wikipedia_For_Schools_Offline_Ed… On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 11:57 PM, Jessie Wild &lt;jwild(a)wikimedia.org&gt; wrote: _______________________________________________ Offline-l mailing list Offline-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

implied by your message, sorry if it's not the case) instead of ; aka the reader, the tools, the standard, etc.

version is so successful.

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:02 PM, Shiju Alex &lt;shijualexonline(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: is developer/expert scripts/fonts Kiwix done I agree Kiwix should provide an easy way to create a custom selection and make a ZIM of it. It is not disabled or hidden ; everything is documented on the Kiwix wiki and sources are available. The problem is that it's difficult and painful. What we could do is create a tool on top of existing ones that would allow easy selection/zim-creation. Why did you decide to go with your own custom solution (that's what is implied by your message, sorry if it's not the case) instead of contributing to Kiwix so that other projects can benefit from this all ; aka the reader, the tools, the standard, etc. I find it offensive to the only spare-time developer of Kiwix that you reproach the lack of features but still decide to build something on your own. experience Can you elaborate ? This is very fuzzy. I agree though that schools-targeted versions should include school-friendly content (whatever that means locally) ; that's why SOS version is so successful. renaud _______________________________________________ Offline-l mailing list Offline-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Request: I want to get an Offline edition of the Hindi, Marathi and Gujrati Wikipedia. (Indian languages) - preferably in the .ZIM format. I read about Malayalam / Tamil offline versions being in the works, but not in .ZIM

I have no clue how we can create the .ZIM files (don't have the expertise to see and understand the format specifications), and I understand that Wikipedia dumps creation aren't there for anybody or else the servers would be brought down.

------------------------------------------------ Further troubleshooting: (now moving into further exploring) The Kiwix+Wikipedia for Schools package is a portable version of Kiwix with the index and library file already built and stored inside the rootdata folder (size 141MB) When I opened wikipedia_en_wp1_0.7_30000+_05_2009_beta3.zim in the same software, it did not create the library and index for the same inside this package; rather it is stored elsewhere on my comp and I can't find it. (I'm on Win 7 by the way)

If I want to share other versions on Wikipedia in a ready-to-run form, I will need to create and have the index inside the Kiwix software's folder. Or else on every new computer there will be a lengthy indexing process which is wasteful and might actually result in non-use by people who don't know how to go about it. So, how can one go about it? Making Kiwix such that any .ZIM file it opens and indexes, the index is stored INSIDE the program folder rather than anywhere else? Or maybe such that it does BOTH and checks one source first and the other later?

Also, what is the command-line syntax for opening Kiwix with a particular .ZIM file? I want to have a package of multiple instant options, so that if someone double-clicks on a "Wikipedia for schools" shortcut or .bat or .exe then that opens; if someone double-clicks a "Hindi Wikipedia" then that opens, and so forth.

I fully understand your use case. This is not possible currently. This has to be done... again please open a feature request if this is important for you.

Hi, Am 31.01.2011 19:27, schrieb Jessie Wild: would be fine for me - but it should be a day _before_ the chapters meeting then as I am participating there as well. /Manuel -- Regards Manuel Schneider Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Wikimedia CH - Association for the advancement of free knowledge www.wikimedia.ch _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-IN-PUN mailing list Wikimedia-IN-PUN(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-pun

Hi Ashwin, Thanks, but with all due respect, I have a few doubts and concerns. I've shared them on the talk page. http://wikimedia.in/wiki/Talk:Wikipedia_for_Schools_-_Indian_version Cheers, Nikhil Sheth +91-966-583-1250 Pune, India Teach For India Fellow, 2011-13 www.nikhilsheth.tk Find me on: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Google | RangDe Join me on: Pune Documentary Club | Let's Do it Pune | Toastmasters in Pune | Wikipedia For Schools project On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 5:15 PM, Ashwin Baindur &lt;ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: > > Hi Nikhil, > > You had ported an English Wikipedia for Schools to the portable ZIM > file format for distribution. However that edition consists of > articles selected for the Western milieu by SOS Children's Village > Project. It needs tweaking to be relevant to our environment. Plus, we > will need to collect equivalent sets for each Indian Language. > Probably, some wikipedias may not have equivalent inter-wikis and will > need fresh articles written for them. > > I have begun listing the articles of the SOS version of Wikipedia for > Schools ( I have the torrent/html version). Once we have listed them > all, we'll customise it for India. It's begun on Wikimedia India as a > Project by me. Find it here : > > http://wikimedia.in/wiki/Wikipedia_for_Schools_-_Indian_version > > Warm regards, > > Ashwin Baindur > ------------------------------------------------------

Hi, Am 31.01.2011 19:27, schrieb Jessie Wild: would be fine for me - but it should be a day _before_ the chapters meeting then as I am participating there as well.