Best Linux Distro For Non-Techy Kids?

[DMB2000uk]

Hey All,

My school has some old computers around (256MB RAM, 1Ghz Thunderbird etc) and thought it would be a good idea to give them to the kids that don't have computers at home. However, due to licensing (even though we have a lot of old win 2000 and office 2000 licenses) we can't use our software. So they had the bright idea of using linux (and open office) instead

The kids that will be using these will not be technically inclined so the distro needs to be as noob friendly as possible (and maybe look like windows?).

I'm probably going to be tasked with the initial setup so that can be as console linux-y as you want, but beyond that, it has to be simple to use.

I'm open to trying out a couple of different ones if there are lots of suggestions.


Thanks,

Dan

[martini161]

mint

[Darkstar]

Ubuntu with open office installed. you didnt say how old the kids are but lots of games programs for kids out there you could load too.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8288
(article linux for kids)


also google turned up this ;
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/O ... 1407.shtml

[dicecca112]

Probably Xubuntu, I fear Ubuntu or Kubuntu will not be able to run on such low specs

[Alathald]

Mint is ok but a bit bloated (slow) and the only real plus is that the proprietary drivers are preinstalled and I can take away that advantage with one command: sudo apt-get install xubuntu-restricted-extras

Also when you first install be sure to click the orange arrow and the little chip in the notification area and that will install the graphics drivers and all the updates. Then just give the kids a quick once over on the Add/Remove apps and they should be good to go.

But yeah I definitely recommend xubuntu. Just be sure to use the alternate install cd on a computer with that little memory...

[Bio-Hazard]

Ubuntu, I've run it on old Intel P1's before without much issue.

[dicecca112]

not 7.10 or 8.04 you didn't

[Bio-Hazard]

If you say so.............;)

[dicecca112]

If you say so.............;)

that must have been so slow. How much extra stuff did you rip out?

[Alathald]

Ubuntu Hardy runs slow even on my mom's old PIII, couldn't imagine it on a PI...Xubuntu is much faster simply because of the window manager.

[Darkstar]

try Puppy


http://www.puppylinux.org/home/overview

[Alathald]

Puppy is good but I'd still recommend Xubuntu for someone that has never used Linux...if the latest version runs a little slowly try Dapper Drake, it may run a little better than Hardy Heron on older hardware.

[Zertz]

Mandriva is very Windows-ish

[tele]

gos cloud
this Linux distro is intended for netbook, so it should also run well on an old spec desktop comp too.

[DMB2000uk]

Thanks for the further suggestion

Unfortunately it doesn't look like the school is going to go ahead with this as we turfed out a load of the old machines that would have run this OS.

I did try Xubuntu with a couple of the kids and they thought it was ok to use, so we'd have probably gone ahead with that in the end.

Dan