Open Sankore - collaborative whiteboarding

Post details of freeware that are found to be not portable here. Posts in the submissions forum relating to freeware found to be not portable should also be moved here.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
I am Baas
Posts: 4150
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:51 am

Open Sankore - collaborative whiteboarding

#1 Post by I am Baas »

http://open-sankore.org/en/download

Uniextraction works but I was unable to test under Sandboxie. Anyone with a different setup willing to test?

User avatar
webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
Contact:

Re: Open Sankore

#2 Post by webfork »

Synopsis: Interactive, open source white boarding software. Looks like it has some interesting presentation capabilities, but the project and site have gone offline. The program is still remarkably functional and worth checking out if you work with kids or do presentations. There's are a lot of tools I'll be using going forward.

Features

Primary
* Multi screen views
* Objects, images, and other presentation functions
* Support for onscreen, pen or mouse drawings
* Screen capture
* Live screen edits
* Ability to align objects similar to PowerPoint
* Import many different image formats
* Export to PDF

Other useful presentation tools
* Color picker
* Dynamic zoom view (which is really great for emphasizing a section of screen)
* Basic HTML editor
* Post-it-style Notes
* Spotlight function, which is another way to add emphasis to a specific area

Neat extras
* Feature-complete Chess game (not difficult but not simple)
* Kids memory game
* Very cool hourglass-style timer
* Protractor / onscreen ruler / triangle

Issues
* Objects are not easy to connect i.e. basic flowcharts / diagrams
* Many audio/video codecs are not included and rely on the operating system
* Many included elements are not translated (much of the application is in French)
* I was frustrated that adding text inside objects wasn't easier
* There's a built-in web browser that's unlikely to be secure given the age of the software
* Leans on Flash for animations, which for the moment is good or bad depending on your opinion of Flash, but bad long term since the format is going away.

Other

Resource usage: Disk space: 212 megs, RAM: as high as 318 megs (includes embedded browser)

License: GPL with OpenSSL exception

Download: https://web.archive.org/web/20171027125 ... n/download

Status: Not portable. Writes to C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Sankore\

Websites:


More on Interactive Whiteboard Software: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_whiteboard

Screenshot:

Image

User avatar
webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
Contact:

Re: Open Sankore

#3 Post by webfork »

A few other notes:

* Testing steps: Download zip file, extract Setup file, use Uniextract and launch Open-Sankore.exe. Tested v.2.5.1.

* The project is cross-platform with clients available for Mac, Linux, and Windows.

* As the project is offline, program sync functions are unavailable.

* For reference, PA discussions on a portable version of the program (no progress): https://portableapps.com/node/37146 https://portableapps.com/node/54362

File details:
Open-Sankore_Windows_2.5.1.zip
CRC32: 03db4661
MD5: e6883bd24883f2d9dd4d521914879b05
SHA1: e083109536badcbb4a9eaf9d8ed8052fd2f697ac
SHA256: f617a5a4c0b17c774e97d360862f231cab6008939d559fc7273a2375fa731201

Codec notes (from the help file):

The Open-Sankoré software uses the native players present by default on the computer to interpre audio, video or flah medias. However, all formats cannot be played in this software if the computer does not have the necessary codecs installed.
Codecs are small programs that enable to decode the various available audio and video file formats.
The players used by Open-Sankoré are :
Windows Media Player for Windows,
QuickTime Player for Mac,
Phonon (an abstraction of gstreamer ou xine) for Linux.
You should prefer to use the following formats, that should be decoded easily by all systems :
images with the formats .png, .svg, .jpg or .gif
videos with the formats .mp4 or .flv
audios in the .mp3 format
There are a few codec packs that enable you to extend the range of multimedia formats supported by the reader used by Open-Sankoré.
Be however careful when you install them, particularly with free packs that are supposed to contain codecs of several companies. Some of these packs can create problems or instabilities on your operating system.
Please refer to the documentation of your operating system and to the online support forum.

User avatar
webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
Contact:

Re: Open Sankore

#4 Post by webfork »

The Open Sankore project has been forked in the form of "OpenBoard" which evidently has removed some of the features in favor of simplicity, but it does have an active maintainer: https://github.com/OpenBoard-org/OpenBoard/wiki / http://openboard.ch/index.en.html ... the only difference I could see from watching some of their intro videos is that some of the object drawings have been removed.

Status: Not portable - As with it's mother project, it writes to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\OpenBoard

* Removes many of the drawing objects (circles, boxes, orientation, etc.) of Open Sankore.
* Includes a screen recorder (named "screencast") that's very easy to use but only outputs to .WMV.
* Recommend disabling multi-screen for anything but an attached projector/monitor. Mostly because the program doesn't actually hide itself when you use the "hide" option (CTRL+H)

New items
* QR Code generator
* A little more polish overall

Like Open Sankore, there are a fair number of bugs:
* Adding color to text
* Hiding the program doesn't actually hide the program on multiple screens. Maybe this is by design, I'm not sure.

Even though it wasn't very well implemented, I find I'm missing the shapes and other objects tools. Still, the program is updated and probably more secure with use of the integrated web browser.

Changelog overview here: http://www.openboard.ch/download.en.html

User avatar
Dwel
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:07 pm

Re: Open Sankore

#5 Post by Dwel »

webfork wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 4:57 pm There are a few codec packs that enable you to extend the range of multimedia formats ......
Is there a codec set/pack that you would recommend?

User avatar
webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
Contact:

Re: Open Sankore

#6 Post by webfork »

New release came out for OpenBoard about 9 months ago: v1.6.1
https://github.com/OpenBoard-org/OpenBoard/releases

... not sure if they fixed the drawing issue I had, but doesn't look like portability has been addressed in any of the changelogs.
Dwel wrote: Sat Nov 23, 2019 5:30 am Is there a codec set/pack that you would recommend?
Sorry I just saw this -- unfortunately that's not something I'm familiar with.

User avatar
Midas
Posts: 6705
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:09 am
Location: Sol3

Re: Open Sankore

#7 Post by Midas »

Dwel wrote: Is there a codec set/pack that you would recommend?

If you need them, I don't think you'll regret installing either Shark007's Portable Codecs (viewtopic.php?t=25423) or K-Lite's (https://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm).

OTOH, if you use the VLC media player (https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=599) you wont need them...

User avatar
Dwel
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:07 pm

Re: Open Sankore

#8 Post by Dwel »

Midas wrote: Fri Jan 14, 2022 4:57 am
Dwel wrote: Is there a codec set/pack that you would recommend?

If you need them, I don't think you'll regret installing either Shark007's Portable Codecs (viewtopic.php?t=25423) or K-Lite's (https://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm).

OTOH, if you use the VLC media player (https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=599) you wont need them...
Thanks!

Post Reply