Ubuntu-Med is a project to incorporate several servers useful to medical practitioners into a single customized (K)Ubuntu-based operating system.
The Filesystem Archive or LiveCD can be installed or used as a demo (after some additional personalized customization). To go directly to the Sourceforge page click here.
Note: Any device (including software) used for diagnosis or treatment requires FDA approval in the US (or CE approval in Europe) as a medical device. Therefore, nothing in Ubuntu-Med can be used for any purpose other than for administrative and evaluation purposes in those areas. No warranty of any sort or representation of suitability for purpose is expressed or implied with the distribution of this software.
What is included in Ubuntu-Med ?
- Astronaut OpenVistA Electronic Health Record -- this is a server/client combination that can be used over a network or can be used as a self-contained EHR system
- DAViCal -- this is a group calendar server that can be used over a network, either with the (included) Mozilla Sunbird calendar or with other calendar clients
- MediaWiki -- two wikis are pre-installed. A public wiki is used for information that should be made public, and a secure private wiki is used for internal information. (A complete copy of Kubuntuguide is included with the private wiki.)
- Drupal6 -- two sample websites have been pre-configured. One can be used for public use (for example), and the other for internal use. (This is the same website software the US White House uses.) An online store (Ubercart) capability and PayPal (among other) payment integration modules allow fee-for-service payments through the website.
- Moodle -- this is the same online teaching system used by many universities. It allows you to create teaching modules for patients, other medical practitioners, etc.
- BigBlueButton -- this teleconferencing server is Java based and is accessed (using a webcam and microphone) through a standard web browser, so users do not need to install special software to use it. It has been pre-integrated into both the Moodle and Drupal6 website components in Ubuntu-Med. This is useful for telemedicine or merely as an alternative to Skype for teleconferencing/dektop sharing. It has the capabilities of WebEx, GoToMeeting, and other similar teleconferencing suites, but since the entire system is self-contained on the server (and not located elsewhere), it is HIPAA compliant.
Any or all of these servers can be installed separately on an Ubuntu/Kubuntu system (either server or desktop).
Is Ubuntu-Med available for other versions of Ubuntu/Kubuntu ?
Ubuntu-Med uses Kubuntu Lucid 10.04 32-bit (for its .FSA version) because the BigBlueButton teleconferencing server used components from that version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
Ubuntu-Med can also be installed using Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu:
What are the hardware requirements?
The Ubuntu-Med distribution requires about 6-7 Gb hard drive space to install, but will also need room for data as you use it. It is probably best if at least a 30 Gb partition is dedicated to it.
Ubuntu is not a memory hog, but if several servers are in use simultaneously, it is good to have at least 1 -2 Gb RAM installed.
It is important in the early stages of planning to consider storage failsafes (both RAID and storage replication mechanisms (such as dual NAS servers)). Achieving both high availability and high reliability is important for an eventual production installation
The biggest problem with servers is often the bandwidth that is available from an Internet Service Provider. Many consumer ISPs are not adequate for multiple servers, especially those (such as Comcast) that "throttle" or limit bandwidth usage. If you plan to use Ubuntu-Med in a production environment, pay attention to your network setup and capabilities.
Can I add or subtract other software?
Of course. Ubuntu-Med is a standard Kubuntu (i.e. Ubuntu with a KDE-based desktop) installation (for which some components and parameters have already been configured). It runs in every other way like a standard Kubuntu installation and relies on standard Ubuntu/Kubuntu repositories (and source code).
Additions to the upcoming version of Ubuntu-Med
Kubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise.
A web-based image jukebox (PACS server) for web retrieval of images (to be associated with the EHR and website). Software under evaluation includes dcm4chee (using these instructions) and packages from this list.
One (or more) of several imaging viewers:
Aeskulap DICOM image viewer
sudo apt-get install aeskulap
Amide DICOM image viewer
sudo apt-get install amide
Oviyam web-based DICOM image viewer
Practice management software (including VistA-Edge)
One or more of the following Debian-med packages have been evaluated and are available, but are not likely to be included:
med-imaging -- primarily Aeskulap and Amide. Unfortunately, a large number of other useless programs are installed with this package, so I do not recommend installing the entire package.
med-tasks
med-config -- used by med-tasks
med-epi -- not widely useful in its current state
med-pharmacy -- no suitable packages
med-physics -- no packages specific to medicine
med-practice -- primarily Aeskulap and GnuMed
med-tools -- mostly trivial tools that are not widely useful
med-typesetting -- not generally needed
cl-pubmed (included in med-tools) -- not generally useful since PubMed has browser-based portals
gnumed-client (included in med-practice). GnuMed is based in Germany.
medcon -- Xmedcon medical image conversion tool for specialized uses only
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