Opinions Wanted - Edubuntu (Linux for Young Human Beings)
November 21st, 2006
My daughters computer currently runs XP Home Edition at the speed of a dead slug and doesn’t serve much purpose other than that of a photo holding tool, an expensive chat client and a rather neglected office suite. What I want to know is if any of you out there have had any encounters with using Edubuntu?
Now I have been using Ubuntu and have been really happy using it and have noticed a great increase in responsiveness and a lack of spyware / malware related slow down. I would love to do a similar thing for my daughter but at the same time give some other stuff that she can do with her laptop.
Edubuntu looks like is could be really good for her, the KDE Edutainment Suite looks like it could be really good for her when it comes to learning things like Fractions and the whole OS looks like it has a lot of things she would be able to play about with when bored.
Is it a wise thing to push something like this on a child who is used to using Windows? Gaim looks like it can be customised enough to soften the blow of moving away from MSN messenger. Okay, so it’ll never have all the tools that messenger has but it works, it does its job and she would still be able to talk to friends and relatives. She would be less likely to get involved in illustrious smiley downloads and garbage that comes with and circulates around the whole MSN thing.
I currently have Open Office installed on her machine as there is no point in forking out the price of a small car for a set of tools I can get for free and at the moment she could use The Gimp for image editing as it is probably easier to learn than having to un-learn Photoshop. I do have a concern though, schools use Microsoft Office so will she be at a disadvantage learning in duality?
What do you think? Is this a wise move? I’m sure I can tweak the machine to see to her every need, the repositories and package manager for Ubuntu are second to none so I’m sure she might actually have some fun looking for software that she wants to use. Rather than impose an operating system and software on her, I could encourage her to explore her computer and embrace open source (ha ha… my evil plan).
I think this is probably one of the better ideas that I have had and in the future I believe that Open Source will play a bigger part in the commercial environment so it is probably a good thing that she is exposed. Beyond that though I really really appreciate any feedback I get from you all as this isn’t just cleaning her computer out, it is sending her on a completely new journey into the land of computers and I want to make sure it is the right thing to do…
Chris J Davis Author Comment
November 21st, 2006
I haven’t had any exposure to Edubuntu, but I do know that the team working on it are top shelf. Ubuntu is one of those rare Linux’s that have corporate backing, and passion.
I say give it a try, there is really very little to lose.
Napfisk Author Comment
November 22nd, 2006
Mm, I’m still very uneasy with the entire Ubuntu thing (my own master plan: get a Mac asap and then try out all this stuff on my current PC), but I was recently told that KDE is a whole lot less intuitive than GNOME. So you should also consider that.
And now for people who really know what they’re talking about (but I hope they can elaborate on this).
Good move, though, away from all that MS junk.
Alan Author Comment
November 22nd, 2006
@ Chis J Davis - I am quite surprised at how nice Ubuntu has been to use, I have broken my install but it still works lol! I appreciate the encouragement though, her computer is shafted right now so anything is an improvement and if she doesn’t like it then I guess we can go back to MS (eugh)
@ Napfisk - Grab yourself a 2nd hard drive and have a play about in dual boot, you could even buy something like Parallels (or event try the 30day trial first) and have a play about.
With regards to the KDE thing, you can actually run KDE applications from within the GNOME environment. From my understanding it uses slightly more resources but switch Windows on and you automatically use one hell of a lot more!
Thanks for the feedback guys
karmatosed Author Comment
November 23rd, 2006
Well, my dad exposed me early on to operating systems - I was born at the start of bbc and then onward to first windows but he was also running system and then unix software for his work as a programmer. I think this diversity helped me a great deal. Knowing more means when / if she does choose in the end she will have the skills to work on a variety - also adds to her flexibility in technology. I say go for it.
Alan Author Comment
November 23rd, 2006
Thanks for the really positive feedback, that has just given me the extra nudge to go ahead and do it. I had told myself that it could only be a new thing as by default she would wan to know how to do things and thus mess about.
Now I have the fun job of showing her how to back up her important stuff before we wipe the system.
Smaran Author Comment
November 23rd, 2006
I think you’re doing the right thing by setting her up with Edubuntu. And don’t worry about her learning in duality, it is not a disadvantage. In fact, I think it’s better she starts with Open Source than gets to it later on.
Cheers.
@ Nils: Try Ubuntu before you get a Mac. If you already have a good computer, I see no reason for you to buy a Mac. Wait ’til it’s out-dated.
Smaran Author Comment
November 23rd, 2006
And Alan, there’s no need to run KDE apps in GNOME. The GNOME ones are great. I was the one that told Napfisk about KDE being less intuitive. After trying KDE with Ubuntu (I had previously used it on openSUSE), I can back that up. KDE is really messy and hard to figure out. It’s just too much unnecessary eye candy shoved everywhere. And Gods is the green lizard ugly! I say stick to GNOME. I don’t even think running KDE apps in GNOME slows them down. They just stand out.
Alan Author Comment
November 23rd, 2006
@ Smaran: Thanks for the support fo this move, as soon as I finish sorting out my own fresh Dapper Drake install I am going to move onto sorting out Edubuntu.
The thing with the KDE applications from Gnome was because there is a specific kids learning suite called “Edutainment” that I want to run. I know it kinda sucks but by far a nicer solution to anything Microsft can offer right now.