eduActiv8 - Educational Activities for Kids

www.eduactiv8.org

Please note - this application is playable but still unfinished - or rather is

being continuously improved (not so much recently - not enough hours in a day).

Please let me know if you find any errors or bugs in the application or in
translations, formulas or other content.

eduActiv8 is built with Linux users in mind - written in python and tested on
Ubuntu, however it does work on Windows just not tested as thoroughly as on Linux.

The application is intended to be compatible with python 2.7.3+ including python

3.x.

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Installation:

Detailed installation instructions available at: www.eduactiv8.org/installation/

Linux installation:

In order to run this application you need the python-pygame package installed.
To check if you have it run the following lines in terminal (Ctrl+Atl+T):
$ python
>>> import pygame
>>> exit()
If you have no errors importing it you are set, else you need to install it, in
Debian based distros run:
$ sudo apt-get install python-pygame

Also if you are going to use Hebrew or Arabic lanugage please install python-
pyfribidi package:
$ sudo apt-get install python-pyfribidi

If you would like to enable the voice you also need eSpeak which - if you are
using Linux, is most likely already installed, if you are using any other OS - well
no luck - I'm afraid it won't work - but can't test it really.

In some cases you may also need to install fonts-freefont-ttf (Debian) or ttf-
freefont (Ubuntu) or gnu-free-sans-fonts (Fedora) or equivalent in your distro -
maintainers please add it to dependencies.

To start the application from terminal:

python /home/user/path/to/the/app/eduactiv8.py

#or using python3:

python3 /home/user/path/to/the/app/eduactiv8.py

Should start with double click if marked as executable (Right-click ->

Properties -> Permissions -> Allow executing file as program) or if you like you
can create a custom launcher using one of the above lines for the command line
field (obviously after changing the path to the program first). The eduactiv8.ico
file from res/icon folder can be used as the icon for the launcher.

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Windows running the exe file:
 If you happen to have a winexe version and you are reading this file it means
you have it unpacked somewhere on your hard drive. All you need to do is to run the
eduactiv8.exe file.
However if you would like to use its text to speech capabilities you will have
to install espeak from http://espeak.sourceforge.net/download.html

Windows installation of required software to run from source.

If you would rather run the software from source here's how:

Download and install python 2.7 32bit - http://www.python.org/getit/

Download and install pygame for python 2.7 + 32bit -
http://www.pygame.org/install.html
Download and install espeak 32bit - http://espeak.sourceforge.net/download.html

Add espeak to your path (visit www.eduactiv8.org/installation/ if you are not

sure how)
Depending on your OS you may need to add one of the following to your your PATH
variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak\command_line;
or
C:\Program Files\eSpeak\command_line;
or something else depending where your eSpeak is installed.

Download eduactiv8 and extract it somewhere, for example C:\eduactiv8

To run eduactiv8 you can add a shortcut on the desktop to:

C:\python27\python.exe C:\eduactiv8\eduactiv8.py

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Mac running from source:

Run the following commands in Terminal to get the dependencies sorted:

sudo easy_install pip
sudo -H pip install pygame

navigate to the eduactiv8 directory:

cd path/to/game/

and run the app:

python eduactiv8.py

to enable espeak functionality:

instal homebrew via Terminal:
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"

and then install espeak:

brew install espeak

Mac app:
Download the "compiled" app for MacOS 12.10.3 and above from
https://sourceforge.net/projects/eduactiv8/
Unzip and double click on the eduActiv8.app to run it. Alternatively copy it over
to the Applications for ease.
The compiled version currently does not work with espeak.
______________________________________________

The first time the application is run will be in normal windowed mode (not in
fullscreen).
To display it in fullscreen press Ctrl+F at the start of the or go to Preferences
(in login screen) and enable full screen.

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Translating:
If you would like to help translating this application please use one of the
included files within the i18n/po directory.
If your langauage is not there yet copy the default.pot file rename it
temporarily to te_ST.po and start working with the new file using ie. the Poedit.
To test your translation save the file - Poedit will create the .mo file for
you - move the .mo file to the locale/te_ST/ directory and rename the file to
eduactiv8.mo and start the app select the Test Language.
Alternatively you can run the cleanup.py program to get the file renamed and
moved where it should be (this program will also remove .pyc and some other temp
files under eduactiv8 - this is used to automate the process of stripping eduactiv8
before compressing/packaging).

There are some things translated using custom translation files in custom
directory - these are usually done by me - but I might need some help to do them -
I will get in touch with you if I'll be struggling.

When everything is working ok please email me your .po file.

The es_di.py, fr_di.py, etc. are lists of words used by word building
activities.
These are partial (google) translations from English. The English version is
just a list of words most commonly used in English - you may like to check these as
well for any words not necessarily suitable for children.
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Interface:
Menu Panel - left:
left column - list of categories
right column - list of activities in the current category

Top Panel:
sound - toggle sound effects
voice - toggle espeak voice synthesiser (if espeak is not
installed this icon will not be available)
colour modes - switch between colour modes (full colour, black on white,
white on black, yellow on black
user name - displays name of currently logged in user
logout link - takes you back to the initial screen where you can login
as a different user

Controls - top:
(some of these buttons are being hidden in some activities if they are not
needed)

tick button (ok) - used to let the app know you have completed the task
and it's ready to be checked you can use ENTER instead
to speed this up

reload - used to reload the task, or reset it to the start

position
 may be useful in the Connect activities if it appears
unsolvable

activity title - displays current activity title (optional) when cursor

is over the Activity panel
and acts as a hint text when cursor is over menu icons

left/right arrows - change levels or just some aspect of the activity (ie.
photo to piece together)

left/right - fast forward/backward - will move by preset amount of

levels or
double arrows to skip to the next type of activity (available in some
activities
with large number of levels)

level indicator - top number is the level you are on, the bottom pair of
numbers is usually
current game in the level / number of games per level
if there's no number of games at the bottom it's up to
you to change the level
when ready for harder task.

close button - closes the application (2 clicks needed)

Activity Panel - centre - the largest part of screen:

piece of screen where all activity objects are placed for you to drag around :)

Sorry for all the mess in the code, but this is my first and only pygame project
after reading some books/tutorials, so do not expect professional product - this
was my programming sandbox.
It was intended as a tool for my son to learn. He liked it so hopefully your kid(s)
will like it too.

Enjoy!

Ireneusz Imiolek