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Venu Pacific

A Debian-based desktop Linux distribution built for the Pacific Islands region — designed around the region's real conditions: expensive and unreliable bandwidth, aging donated hardware, many languages, and routine cyclone, earthquake, tsunami, and volcano exposure.

Venu is the word for volcano on Ambrym, Vanuatu.

What makes it different

Everything important works completely offline:

  • AI Assistant — questions, translation, printer and Wi-Fi troubleshooting, PDF reading. Runs entirely on the machine; nothing is sent to the internet unless you explicitly ask and approve.
  • Disaster Readiness — cyclone, earthquake, tsunami, and volcano guidance with real, sourced emergency numbers for Vanuatu and Fiji.
  • Services Directory — passports, certificates, licenses, hospitals, and education contacts for Vanuatu and Fiji.
  • Offline encyclopedias — Vikidia (for ages 8–13), the Bislama-language Wikipedia, and PhET science simulations with a Bislama interface. Bundled, no download needed.
  • Learn (Kolibri) — an offline courses platform, ready for content packs downloaded by a school or coordinator.
  • The everyday tools — LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP, all preinstalled.

First-run language choice: English, Bislama, or Fijian.

Built on

  • Debian 13 (trixie) stable, XFCE desktop
  • live-build for the ISO, Calamares for the installer
  • Runs on modest hardware — the target is the kind of 8GB donated machine Pacific schools actually have

For users and schools

For contributors

Venu Pacific is open source. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md in the source repository; the release process, test checklists, and research notes live in docs/ there.

Status

Pre-release. The first release (26.08) is in final testing — a Vanuatu-first pilot on real hardware comes before any wide distribution. Found a problem or want to help? Open an issue.

License

Venu Pacific's own code is GPL-3.0. The underlying OS remains Debian and carries its own package licenses. Bundled content carries its own licenses (CC BY-SA for Wikipedia content, CC BY for PhET, and so on), documented per source.