Difference between revisions of "2009-06-23 Wikipedia DVD"

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'''updated DVD based on free software'''
'''updated DVD based on free software'''


Wikimedia CH has released a new edition of the german Wikipedia DVD on LinuxTag 2009 from 24th to 27th of June in collaboration with openZIM. The DVD contains more than 900'000 of german Wikipedia articles and a fulltext search index for phrasal search. The openZIM project develops a fileformat called "ZIM" to store hypertexts like Wikipedia or other websites with search indizes and images in the most efficient way. The data is highly compressed, the Wikipedia articles only take up 1.4 GB on the DVD.
Wikimedia CH has released a new edition of the german Wikipedia DVD on LinuxTag 2009 from 24th to 27th of June in collaboration with openZIM. The DVD contains more than 900'000 german Wikipedia articles and a fulltext search index for phrasal search. The openZIM project develops a fileformat called "ZIM" to store hypertexts like Wikipedia or other websites with search indizes and images as efficient as possible. The data is highly compressed, the Wikipedia articles only take 1.4 GB on the DVD.


Using the free software on the DVD ZIM files can be read and also be created. A library with all necessary features enables software developers and publishers to integrate the ZIM format in their own products. As the software is still in testing Wikimedia CH has at first produced 500 Wikipedia DVDs which will be given away for free at LinuxTag in Berlin. Manuel Schneider, project lead of openZIM and member of Wikimedia CH: "Even though we are still testing this first release is very important for us, we are always happy about help. Reporting bugs and problems with our software is part of that."
Using the free software on the DVD ZIM files can be read and also created. A library with all needed features enables software developers and publishers to integrate the ZIM format in their own products. As the software is still in testing Wikimedia CH has at first produced 500 Wikipedia DVDs which will be given away for free at LinuxTag in Berlin. Manuel Schneider, project lead of openZIM and member of Wikimedia CH: "Even though we are testing this first release it is very important for us and we are always happy about help. Reporting bugs and problems with our software is part of that."


Since April of 2009 there is a collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia based in San Fransisco/USA. Software developer of the Wikimedia Foundation are working on integrating the ZIM format into the regular exporting process which will provide ZIM files of all Wikimedia projects in all languages in the future. Furthermore is planned to build a similar feature into MediaWiki, the wiki software behind Wikipedia and countless other wikis. A new edition of the Wikipedia DVD, in spanish, is planned for the Wikimania conference from August 26th to 28th of 2009 in Buenos Aires.
Since April of 2009 there is a collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia based in San Fransisco/USA. Software developer of the Wikimedia Foundation are working on integrating the ZIM format into the regular exporting process which will provide ZIM files of all Wikimedia projects in all languages in the future. Furthermore is planned to build a similar feature into MediaWiki, the wiki software behind Wikipedia and countless other wikis. A new edition of the Wikipedia DVD, in spanish, is planned for the Wikimania conference from August 26th to 28th of 2009 in Buenos Aires.


;Further information about the openZIM project:
;Further information about the openZIM project:
The openZIM project exists since February 2009. The ancestor was the TntReader project which followed a call by Directmedia to develop an open source reader application for the Zeno file format. Directmedia defined this format to publish Wikipedia on a DVD. The last DVD 2007/2008 published by Directmedia contained beside the proprietary reader for Windows for the first time the TntReader as open source software which ran on Linux and Mac OS X. As Directmedia does not publish Wikipedia on DVD further the openZIM project expanded and published the Zeno file format as the ZIM (Zeno IMproved) file format. All necessary software and documentation which was made by openZIM is released under GPL.
The openZIM project exists since February 2009. The ancestor was the TntReader project which followed a call by Directmedia to develop an open source reader application for the Zeno file format. Directmedia defined this format to publish Wikipedia on a DVD. The last german DVD 2007/2008 published by Directmedia contained beside the proprietary reader for Windows the TntReader as open source software which ran on Linux and Mac OS X. As Directmedia does not publish Wikipedia on DVD further the openZIM project expanded and published the Zeno file format as the ZIM (Zeno IMproved) file format. All software and documentation which is made by openZIM is released under GPL.


The openZIM is present at LinuxTag from June 24th to 27th in Berlin on booth 113a (hall 7.2a). More information at: http://openzim.org/ or http://www.linuxtag.de/.  
The openZIM is present at LinuxTag from June 24th to 27th in Berlin on booth 113a (hall 7.2a). More information at: http://openzim.org/ or http://www.linuxtag.de/.  

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