Re: [seul-edu] Linux for kids

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

Michael Hall wrote:

> I've already been in touch with PCs for Kids, having contacted them as soon as that story broke here in Australia.
>
> The management are kind of open to Linux and are looking at the idea of putting Linux on their boxes (they received many suggestions to this effect).
>
> There are two impediments:
> The boxes they are using are very low end with mostly 486/P1 processors and 4/8/16 Mb RAM. So while they'd make great routers, they can't really cope with X.
>

They should take a look at TINY <http://tiny.seul.org>, a Linux distro created by our own Odile Benassy.  It's designed to be installed on older, low-end machines, and is intended to install from floppy disks rather than CDs,
as many of the older machines don't have CD-ROM drives.  It should be able to do acceptable X with 16 MB of RAM, and possibly with 8 MB (it all depends on the user's level of "acceptability").

>
> Management knows very little about Linux and do not feel confident about using it. I've suggested they talk to a local LUG, but don't know where they're at with that right now.
>

Where are they located?  Perhaps we can help them find and contact a nearby LUG.

>
> So an easy to install and use distro of Linux for kids would be a great idea if
> anyone can get it together.

Well, the easy to install bit would be for their techs; the easy to use would be for the kids.  So I think we're talking about two different levels of ease of use.  It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a fairly
standardized installation routine.  The ease of use for the kids is something that would have to be decided through experimentation, I'd think, and that would provide a list of settings for the installers to use (for which
window manager, set up in what way, which applications set up in which way, how the menus and icons are laid out, etc.).

--
Doug Loss                 Always do right.  This
Data Network Coordinator  will gratify some people
Bloomsburg University     and astonish the rest.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Mark Twain