Comments on: Opinions Wanted - Edubuntu (Linux for Young Human Beings)

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:24:45 +0000

@ 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.

By: Smaran

Smaran — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 15:54:28 +0000

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.

By: Smaran

Smaran — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 15:49:09 +0000

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.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:52:17 +0000

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.

By: karmatosed

karmatosed — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 00:19:21 +0000

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.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:05:04 +0000

@ 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

By: Napfisk

Napfisk — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:21:58 +0000

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.

By: Chris J Davis

Chris J Davis — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:51:50 +0000

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.