Should I Turn My Kid’s Computer Into A Linux Box?
by Lynette
I’ve told DH that eventually, I’ll get one of our many old computers on Linux. A recent article from Geeks.com spurred me on again. It is a pretty good article, mentioning several light versions of Linux, some you can even run on a USB drive. But my biggest hesitation is the games. My girls have gotten used to their Blue’s Clues, Reader Rabbits and stuff like that that run on Windows or Mac.
I’ll probably need to spend some time with my online buddy (Google) to find some alternatives. Do you know of any good Linux kiddie games/software? Preferably they have familiar characters like Dora, Blue’s Clues etc but that might be asking too much. I dunno.
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June 20th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Well, let’s see. They’ll be fighting over it all the time because Linux has tons of games for kids. They will also be customizing their desktops with colorful icons, fonts and experimenting with dozens of themes. They might be upset when they want something changed or updated and they have to get you because you are the only one who knows the root password. But then the system won’t get totally borked because they wondered what Gparted did. I don’t think they’ll miss all the popups, reminders to update to the “full featured” edition, or home page hijacking.
I think Linux is a wonderful choice for kids (assuming you choose the right distro). There is a lot to explore and because the desktop (KDE) is so customizable, they make it their own. If OS’s were toys, then Microsoft Windows would be a frozen lump of clay, and Linux would be a 1,000 piece Lego set.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
LOL why thank you Richard! I’ve decide I will experiment on an old computer of ours that’s not doing anything. What distribution do you recommend? I was thinking of one of those really light ones. Keep in mind this is a REALLY old computer with little memory and processing power.
I’m excited to let them try it and feel like a kid in a candy store myself. My kids are still very small. I hope all the different operating systems don’t confuse them! We’ll have all three operating systems running in our home soon.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Sorry I took sooooo long to reply, but I must confess that I’m a drive-by commenter. Here are the distributions going from the lowest (in resource use) to the highest: Damn Small Linux (DSL), Puppy Linux, SAM Linux then PCLinuxOS. You can substitute Mepis, Ubuntu, OpenSuSe, KUbuntu, Debian, Mint or Sabayon for PCLinuxOS. Part of the “culture shock” that Windows users experience when switching to Linux is the wealth of choice Linux provides. It’s sort of like what the citizens of the USSR experienced when the Communist regime collapsed.
I use PCLinuxOS. It is said to be the most “Windows” like of all the free Linuxes. I take that as an insult. What they are trying to say is that it is easy to install and use. It also has very good hardware detection. But if I were new to Linux I would think that Ubuntu *was* Linux. It is no more Linux than California is the United States. It’s a good distro, but it’s not the only distro and it is not the best. The best distro is the one that works the best on your hardware and works the best for you. When choosing a distro it’s good to check how active it is. A distro that hasn’t been updated in a year or so is candidate for the wait-and-see bin. Most of the popular distros are updated at least once a year. Ubuntu is committed to update every 6 months. When I say update it means the entire distro not just some of the applications. A good place to see where the action is in Linux distro land is: “http://distrowatch.com/” and “http://linuxtracker.org/index.php”.
Some of the confusion “newbees” experience about all the different distros may come from a belief that they are all very different. They are not. Any user proficient in one Linux will be quickly proficient in another in a short amount of time. The biggest difference is in the desktop they use. There are at least a dozen but the main ones are KDE, Gnome, and Xfce. Of those KDE is said to be (if you excuse the expression) the most “Windows like” (excuse me again while I brush my mouth). There are strong opinions about the which desktop is best. KDE is the most rich environment. Gnome is a little restrictive…ok, it’s a lot restrictive. It’s a good fit for the corporate environment. Xfce is a very nice, very light desktop. It’s used in SAM Linux (which is a derivative of PCLinuxOS).
Since so much time has passed, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were using Ubuntu. Or Xubuntu which uses the Xfce desktop. That’s ok. You’re making the best computing choice for your children. Hopefully their first encounter with Microsoft Windows will be in a history class in 2015.
I will endeavor to be more responsible in tending my comment garden.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Hi Richard, welcome back! I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me in depth. Linux is one of those rather alien things for me but always willing to experiment. I’ll definitely look into your suggestions.