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There is no better way to promote Linux and demolish some of its myths (such as, for example, its extreme complexity, etc.) than by getting kids to start playing and using it at a very young age.. For this reason, we will discuss some of the appropriate distributions for them. Before we start, a comment: yes, any Linux distro can be used by a boy, much more today that kids are very smart. However, there are some distros that are more enjoyable and easy to understand, especially for the little ones. |
Qimo for boys:> 3 years
Qimo for Kids is an Ubuntu-based distro with a desktop designed exclusively for kids. It comes with loads of pre-installed "educational games" for kids over 3 years old. The interface is very simple and intuitive and it has large and striking icons so that children find everything easy.
According to the developers, the difference between Qimo and Edubuntu is that Qimo was developed to be a desktop operating system for any kid's PC, whereas Edubuntu would have been designed to be used on a school computer network. Furthermore, Qimo has a very user-friendly interface and design, without complicated menus or multiple windows. Lastly, Qimo runs directly from the LiveCD without having Ubuntu installed previously.
Qimo uses XFCE to provide a fast and ultralight environment. The minimum requirements are: 256MB of memory to run from the CD, or 192MB to install. At least 6GB of disk space and 400MHz processor or more.
Sugar: <6 years
Sugar is a Fedora-based distro, designed exclusively for Prof. Nicolas Negroponte's famous project One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC). It is aimed at children under 6 years old and is quite different from the rest of the distros, allowing them to have fun but also to learn and develop their programming skills. There are two cons. The first is that it is entirely designed to be used in class. The second is that it is so different from the rest of the distros and the desktop environment differs so much from that of any Linux that in the end it seems that another operating system is being used.
Edubuntu: 3-18 years
Ubuntu has a derived version, officially supported by Canonical, called Edubuntu, specifically geared toward primary and secondary schools.
This distro comes in 3 "flavors": "young", "plain" and "default", for young users, desktop only or a general use version. The desktop environment used is the same as Ubuntu (GNOME) and the pre-installed applications are OpenOffice.org, KDE Education Suite y gcompris. The KDE Edutainment Suite includes applications for children between the ages of 3 and 18, while Gcompris includes applications for preschool children.
LinuxKidX: 2-15 years
LinuxKidX It was designed for children between 2 and 15 years old. It uses KDE as its desktop environment and is based on slackware. Some of the pre-installed programs are KStars (a virtual host), Kalzium (the famous table of elements), KTouch (typing tutor), KGeography, KWordQuiz, ChildsPlay and many more. The project does not seem to have much popularity or support from the community. For this reason, it would be advisable to run it first from the LiveCD and play with it for a while before finally installing it.
Foresight for Kids: 3-12 years
Foresight for Kids is a distro derived from Foresight Linux, specifically geared towards children between 3 and 12 years of age. It comes with GNOME as a desktop environment and includes Tuxpaint, Tuxtyping, Gcompris, Tux of Math Command, Super Tux, Super Tux Card, Foobillard, GNU Chess, Nibbles, Frozen Bubble, Super Maryo Chronicles, F-Spot Photo Manager, Firefox Web Browser , Banshee Media Player, Pidgin Instant Messenger and Totem Movie Player, among others. Children's attention is immediately attracted by the little bee that appears on the desktop background. If you are looking for a distro for your baby, try this distro that is very good.
Beware!
Just in case: unless you run them from the LiveCD, running any of these distros implies the installation of a complete operating system, they are not applications that can be run from Windows just like that.