Ask Slashdot: Some Good Linux Desktop Option For Kids? 179
New submitter TIWolfman writes: I'm looking to re-purpose some of the older hardware that I've held onto to create something of a starter machine for my kids (both aged below 10). At this point it's still just a few shortcut icons I can setup on the desktop for them, primarily to web tools/sites they use, but I'd like some flexibility; everything I've read suggests options that haven't had any activity since 2015. Is there an option out there or is this just a custom job?
The year of Linux Desktop! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: The year of Linux Desktop! (Score:2, Interesting)
Turns out, we're about to get a consumer friendly Linux desktop from an unexpected place. ChromeOS is currently under very active development to get full support for running Linux apps. You can already see a developer preview if you have a Pixelbook and set a couple of flags. But most modern ChromeOS devices should get official support my end of the year.
I've had Linux desktops/laptops exclusively since 1993. This is the first year I only have Linux remote servers and a Chromebook.
ChromeOS with both Linux a
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Re: The year of Linux Desktop! (Score:3, Informative)
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I can confirm, for Older personal Laptops, this is a good option.
If you want commercial version for older laptops (Business accounts), you'd be better off getting an actual Chromebook, which can be had for as little as a couple hundred dollars US. Not a normal computer, but it works for 90+% of what average people need these days.
The OTHER option I offer up, is a Raspberry Pi, which can be had for $35, and a full kit is under $75. All you need is mouse, keyboard and monitor(HDMI) (another $100 maybe) and yo
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Re:The year of Linux Desktop! (Score:5, Insightful)
No it's not. There are several fine desktop options available for those who decide to use Linux. What the world is waiting for is adults who recognize the advantage of breaking free from monopolistic, profit-driven, central control of their electronic/online experience.
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What the world is waiting for is adults who recognize the advantage of breaking free from monopolistic, profit-driven, central control of their electronic/online experience.
The MSDOS PC launched in 1981, Mass market priced OS running on generic and affordable IBM PC compatible hardware. Windows 95 cemented the notion of a graphical UI that anyone can use and the OEM hardware and software bundle that works out of the box. The profit-driven approach can deliver quite a lot and do it very quickly.
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I have all my kids Laptops running Ubuntu and the emulation software allows my teens to install windows games like Wizard101 through wine. They know how to install and troubleshoot Java and get minecraft and tekkit running etc.
Perhaps the issue with the Linux destop is perspective. My kids 6 though Adult don't seem to have any trouble.
Ubuntu for the Desktop, Centos for the server. ymmv.
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Ubuntu for the Desktop, Centos for the server. ymmv.
Same split for me.
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Only slightly correct.
I installed Ubuntu for them after the nag screens started for windows 10. They learned how to install software and navigate the system from there.
Apple products are banned in our household. There's only two Windows desktops for now and those will go away when I get bored of Overwatch.
OP asked about Linux distros for kids.
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Not sure why. The last 18 years has seen a huge increase in Linux in the server and desktop space. If it continues at this pace my children will be well placed in the IT industry to continue with Linux.
Cool thing is getting certifications and experience won't cripple them in debt like a degree would, and start them out making more money right away. Plus not having to pay that college debt down from their liberal farts degree.
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Many desktops, Linux or not, are awful. Windows 10 makes me curse when it locks up, or due to the inability to find useful tools to configure it. The Mac makes me grumble due to annoying maximisation of windows just when I don't want it, plus other annoyances. Linux ones make me curse when the window manager dies, leaving the windows stranded, or messes up fonts. All have their compromises. At least with Linux I have a bit more choice and ability to customise, and the stability is almost as good. But I stil
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Android makes a good desktop for Linux.
It isn't your Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Red Hat linux, but it is linux. Hell even ChromeOS is linux.
The problem is that people don't know what Linux actually is (kernel). As for desktops, you have quite a number of options for xWindows as well, I hate what Debian is using (Gnome), but it might work for a Newbie. I find Ubuntu reasonably easy for most people.
Also, give kids anything, and they will "figure it out". They don't have the inhibitions adults have with Tech.
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Re:The year of Linux Desktop! (Score:4, Insightful)
The Earlier kids master these skills the better they will be when it's time to enter the workforce.
As the following article confirms:
https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
My kids have always had a computer. Literacy was taught on a PC. My 17 yr old is getting 80%+ on her AWS certification practice tests and is almost ready to enter the tech workforce while most other kids her age are almost ready to start flipping burgers.
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Re-Reading this in retrospect I can see how that statement might come off to others as elitest.
I certainly don't make a lot of money, but I am an extremely frugal shopper. I don't go for the latest and greatest and I buy my clothes almost exclusively from Good Will. I am primarily self taught with a few college courses to bridge the gaps. No student debt because of that, and because of my experience my pay doesn't suffer. My Father was a Retired E6 from the Navy and my Mom was mostly stay at home. We not on
Edubuntu (Score:4, Informative)
https://www.edubuntu.org/
Last release was in 2015 but it's on a 5-year LTS cycle
Re:Edubuntu (Score:5, Informative)
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I tried edubuntu on the kids and it was a huge flop with them.
I have all my kids Laptops running Ubuntu and the emulation software allows my teens to install windows games like Wizard101 through wine. They know how to install and troubleshoot Java and get minecraft and tekkit running etc.
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install windows games like Wizard101 through wine.
Those poor kids. Wine was the thing that nearly made me stop using Linux at all and go back to Windows.
It wasn't until I stopped mucking about with it that I begin to truly enjoy using Ubuntu.
It turns out trying to shoehorn in applications build for another OS onto Linux is not fun!
Linux Mint (Score:5, Interesting)
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If you want them to be successful later in life and be able to integrate seemlessly into the modern business and financial world, I would suggest Microsoft Windows - it's universally used in the modern professional engineering and financial industries. If you send them off on a dead-end path down the road of hobbyist and non-commercial operating systems, you will confuse the hell out of them and set them up for scorn and failure when the time comes for them to get a job. They literally will have nothing to bring to the table for any employer to even consider them above a more qualified and trained candidate.
Except independent thought and the ability to understand how a computer works by getting hands dirty if desired?
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I've had no problems getting my hands dirty and understanding how a computer works whilst using Windows. Writing drivers, all levels of programming, direct-hardware access - all there. And you can even run tools that allow you to create the computer - mechanical 3D CAD, schematic capture/PCB layout programs, etc.
As far as independent thought, what Linux program exists that did not have a prior similar program available on Windows?
Re:Linux Mint (Score:5, Insightful)
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If you want them to be successful later in life and be able to integrate seemlessly into the modern business and financial world, I would suggest Microsoft Windows - it's universally used in the modern professional engineering and financial industries. If you send them off on a dead-end path down the road of hobbyist and non-commercial operating systems, you will confuse the hell out of them and set them up for scorn and failure when the time comes for them to get a job. They literally will have nothing to bring to the table for any employer to even consider them above a more qualified and trained candidate.
True story.
I attended a conference about scientific computing, and Microsoft sent a rep to talk about Azure. ... ... wait for it ... ... they allowed Linux VMs to run on Azure.
His slides and presentation noted that Azure adoption across the board was rather stagnant until
Whatever 1990s notions you had about "modern professional" operating systems are ancient history today.
And in five years when everybody is compiling C++ to WebAssembly and running their apps in the browser, absolutely nobody care what the u
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I see Windows users as the abused members of a dysfunctional relationship. Constantly treated as though their opinion or desires are worthless, threatened that they couldn't survive or be wanted in another relationship, or, their success is dependent on staying with the abuser.
Good parents don't raise their kids on monopolistic, corporate profit driven, malware/spyware.
Microsoft is evil. Don't tell your children otherwise.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Nope, nope, nope. Better to be more flexibly educated than locked to one platform. Expose the kids to multiple environments.
People tote out the "just learn Windows" line all the time, but nobody seems to pay attention to the fact that the Windows UI has changed radically more than once, to the point where, for example, if you only familiarized you
Re:Linux Mint (Score:5, Insightful)
> If you want them to be successful later in life and be able to integrate seemlessly into the modern business and financial world, I would suggest Microsoft Windows
These are modern children we are talking about, not middle aged dinosaurs ready to be put out to pasture.
Kids aren't nearly that stupid. They can manage to use one brand of app and apply the same concepts to another. Someone under the age of 10 might be exposed to Linux or MacOS and not even percieve these as distinct platforms.
Your sort of zealotry is gravely outdated.
Besides, whatever they learn in the Microsoft space today will be gravely outdated by the time they might be exposed to it in the "real world".
Mr. Gates, I do not believe you are correct. (Score:2)
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As a professional software developer, this has been the opposite for me. I grew up using DOS and Windows, only really getting into Linux when I had to use it for work at my first full-time job. It wasn't a seamless transition for me, but I wish that I started out learning that before Windows
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If you want them to be successful later in life and be able to integrate seemlessly into the modern business and financial world, I would suggest Microsoft Windows
Ha! Where I work (in research), nobody wants to use Windows anymore. It's either Mac or Linux. The Linux desktop has been perfectly fine for a good 15 years. It may not be great for games, but for work ? It's far better, simpler and more efficient than nagging shitty bloated spying Windows.
But to get back to OP's question, I'd say Android (sorry): plenty of apps for kids. And it's still Linux, right ? Right ???
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Too funny. My son works in a shop where they do S/W that winds up in shop floor systems. They used to use Windows but with Windows 10 popping up screen filling popups to warn that it can't reach the update server it is no longer usable. There is no mouse or keyboard to dismiss the popup - these are systems driving big displays that update production status and needs. They are switching to Raspberry Pis running Linux. They still us Microsoft products for development and the back end but perhaps a Linux deskt
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How did my experience with Windows 3 help me with Windows 10?
Re: Linux Mint (Score:2)
People coming from Linux/MAC to Windows struggle.
With what? Windows is essentially idiot proof. It's far harder to go from windows to Linux than vice versa.
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People coming from Linux/MAC to Windows struggle.
With what? Windows is essentially idiot proof. It's far harder to go from windows to Linux than vice versa.
How so? With just about any distribution you go through the same login process that you would on Windows and then you have a set of icons on the desktop or in a menu that allows you to start applications.
Since we're discussing the corporate environment all your updates are going to managed by the IT department so you don't even have to worry about that...but in most distributions that's not particularly difficult anyway.
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This. My kids handle MATE just fine, my youngest started at about 5 to being able to log in and launch chrome, which had her home page set to her favorite cartoon-branded web game of the day|week|month
Icons are good and easy - for the youngest set, simply put shortcuts to everything on the desktop and make teh desktop directory read-only (prevent accidental deletion)
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My kids handle MATE just fine....
My kids handle Kubuntu just fine, and have since they were each three years old.
There have been lots of good posts here, and they completely reflect my experience with kids. They will easily move from one computing environment to the next, as they see them all as just minor variations on a common theme. Moving among Linux, Android, iCrap, Windows, Mac, etc. is just as easy for kids as it is for a competent driver to move among Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, Saturn, etc.
Kids exposed to this stuff from birth aren't
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Sugar (Score:1)
Sugar is still in active development, and is built with the explicit purpose of "interactive learning for children".
https://www.sugarlabs.org/
What about Mint? (Score:3)
If you were looking to do something more locked-down and kiosk-like, then I'm no help - have never researched that.
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I agree. My 8-year-olds are using Mint without any problems.
XFCE and Cinnamon are perfectly customizable for their needs.
They don't need the gigantic icons the "kid-linux" flavours come with....they're young, not blind.
Doudou Linux (Score:1)
My kids are considerably younger, but I installed Doudou Linux on an old netbook for them to learn how to navigate and use the mouse and keyboard. They are 4 and 2 and love using TuxPaint and some of the puzzles in the GCompris Educational Suite.
Try the various “Tux” apps. (Score:2)
SLACKWARE! (Score:5, Funny)
A lot of kids would do it. Whatever the parent use (Score:2)
My two year old took about ten minutes to learn the iPad, or at least it seemed like about 10 minutes. Kids learn fast, so they'll be able to click shortcut icons in any distribution no problem. The only question is how many weeks it will take before they've subverted your parental protections and have full access to the Internet.
Since the district isn't going to matter to the kids, I'd probably pick whatever the parent is most comfortable setting up an maintaining. Something with good automatic security u
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Thatâ(TM)ll showâ(TM)em!
A Slackware advocate with "smart" quotes... Something seems slightly fishy.
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If I had to struggle as a youth to learn Linux, so should everyone!!
That reminds me of a fortune output, Real programmers don't comment their code. It was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
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Options for what? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I really don't have any idea from the submission what it is you're looking for. What is it you want for kids that's different from what you'd want for adult users? Give us some idea of your objectives.
I mean, there are entire fields of study (and industry) that have long been dedicated to understanding and catering to the educational needs of young learners, and there are more plain-English summaries [google.com] of "what makes kids different from adults when it comes to learning" than I can list here.
At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, children are not simply tiny grownups. What works best for an adult will rarely be what works best for a child, no matter what you're talking about. You can just throw what
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Android on PC or Chrome (Score:2)
Edubuntu (Score:4, Interesting)
I found the GCompris program to be very good a few years ago. I don't know how well it aged. You should be able to install it on any version of Linux.
'Ubermix' (Score:2)
Linux for my nephew (Score:5, Informative)
When my nephew was 9, I set up a computer for him. I gave him a MATE desktop, which basically works similar to Windows, and he was able to use it right away.
I didn't give him root on his own machine. However, I gave his user sudo permission to run the Software Manager. I gave him Linux Mint, which is a tweaked version of Ubuntu, so it was basically the Ubuntu Software Manager. This is pretty similar to the app store on mobile devices. So he had no ability to screw up his system, but he could browse the Software Manager, find a game or something, and install it with a click.
My goal was to set his baseline expectations to Linux. I wanted him to see Windows and say "wait, there's no app store thing with free games on Windows? How primitive, give me my Linux please." I wouldn't say my brainwashing attempt succeeded, but he just turned 12 and he still uses the Linux computer for most of what he does on a computer. He also has a Windows laptop that he uses to run some Windows-only stuff he likes. But he chooses which computer to use just based on what he wants to run; he has no particular preference for Windows or for Linux.
P.S. His Linux computer is an all-in-one made by Lenovo, with a really nice and big screen. I got it really inexpensively on eBay; I believe it was off-lease.
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Congratulations! You spoiled him!
It's my prerogative as his uncle to spoil him if I want. His mom, my sister, was fine with it.
And actually, he never asked for a Linux computer... I just wanted him to have one and I made it happen.
But thanks for telling me your opinion! I always worry I'm not getting enough input into my decisions from Anonymous Cowards on Slashdot.
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My 5 year old uses KDE on Mint. (Score:1)
My kid who's 5 now started using KDE/Mint over a year ago. Plays minetest, does abcmouse, watches Nick Jr on it.
Raspberry Pi (Score:5, Informative)
Distrowatch will let you look at distributions based on hardware type: Distro Watch Raspberry Pi [distrowatch.com]
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Eh, I've played with Raspian on a Pi as a desktop. It's *okay* but not great. Packages and software are quite limited compared to a regular distro due to the architecture porting, and I found the responsiveness (on a Pi 2, but the 3 hasn't had a ton of additional horses added) in the desktop to be a poor experience compared to a regular PC with Windows or another Linux distro on it. Pi's are great for dedicated tasks, but general purpose PC isn't one of them IMO. It's something you can use in a pinch, o
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The latest Raspberry Pi model 3's
Seriously man? The guy is looking to repurpose hardware, how is your first suggestion to give him yet another piece of junk?
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Linux Mint (Score:2)
It's fast, has 32 and 64 bit processor support, 4 different versions (I installed xfce), intuitive, well supported, can set up parental controls, lots of downloadable kids' stuff... there's more but I'm already boring.
Linux Mint
Don't give them a dumbed down version (Score:2)
Kids are much smarter than you might think and if they are really interested they will pick it right up.
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Kano (Score:3)
If you're willing to drop a few bucks on a Raspberry Pi, Kano is an impressive project, acting as both kid-friendly desktop environment and programming education tool. Lots of built-in coding tutorials, a "learn how to use the shell" game, and a code-oriented version of Minecraft, to boot.
http://developers.kano.me/downloads/ [developers.kano.me]
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I agree, my 7-yr old has a Kano and is learning basics of coding. Kano's support is nice but not very helpful, though. Their standard solution for most problems is "reinstall from scratch". If you are able to fix a Debian box, prune old logs and run apt-get update, you are probably not going to depend on their support, though.
Anything without Gnome (Score:2)
any (Score:1)
ChromeOS (Score:2)
Give a selection (Score:2)
Load all the GUIs available. Try each to see which runs acceptably on your older hardware. I suspect that the latest Gnome or KDE versions may be challenged depending on the age of the hardware and graphic card in use. Show them how to select a different one when they login if they want. Report back in a few months to see which one they picked.
I tend to use KDE. Some of the kids use MATE. Some use KDE. Really, what matters are the applications and those will run pretty much on any desktop. Just make sure
Linux for my 6 and 8 years old sons. (Score:1)
Endless (Score:1)
Sold a laptop a while ago, came preinstalled with Endless OS, and the buyer said she and her kids (3yo) prefeers it over Windows. Simple GUI, great kids games preloaded.
https://endlessos.com/ [endlessos.com]
One Laptop Per Child Project (Score:1)
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Mint (Score:2)
There isn't a kid-specific desktop or distro that I'm aware of, and I'm not sure that'd be advisable anyway. Instead of kid-specific, maybe a regular distro and desktop with some unneeded things left out.
I'd start with Mint. It's easy to set up (which means it's easy to re-image if things get too screwed up) easy to maintain, and no more difficult to use than any other desktop.
My "serious work" laptop runs CentOS to maintain compatibility with the RHEL servers at my work. But the casual usage laptop I sh
MX Linux (Score:2)
the same as you use? (Score:2)
give those kids some slack, they're pretty smart (smarter then you think they are, probably) and can use computers just fine. ...)
just create a new user on your linux pc and let them go at it. my youngest (8 now, but she was using it as youndgas 6) has no problems doing all the things that are important to her on the pc (starting a browser, playing some music, writing,
My 6 y/o kid used Linux Mint (Score:2)
Depends on age (Score:1)
If they're primary age kids, ubuntu. That has a childish interface that's good for them.
Secondary - Fedora with KDE. That's a much more mature look & feel to a desktop.
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People who were watching this when they were 10 are old enough to buy alcohol now. Find a newer reference.
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Yes, get your children started early on corporate control of their lives. They don't need to think for themselves, solutions are provided by profit-driven monopolies, the way it should be... Jesus...
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> Linux makes a great desktop option for people who don't value their own time.
It's not 1998 anymore. It's time to update your FUD playbook.
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I'm just the opposite: as a Windows 10 hater, I realy like Mint.
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Making your kids use Linux should be considered child abuse.
You misspelled MS Windows.
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JOE [sourceforge.io]