Linux for your kids

Maybe you start thinking that after all you may begin to try Linux, I presented 27 reasons to love linux, but for your children?
Well, you need a secure operating system with games that will "protect" from the net and teach them the first things on the computer world, and in general it is for their stimulating and educational ... and so, what's better than Linux!

In this hub, i'll present not one but five choice between Linux distributions dedicated to childrens, each of these has been designed specifically for use by children alone, you can really tell me that Windows have the same?

At the end of this short presentation I hope to consider the idea of installing one of these distributions on your old PC and give it to your son.

Edubuntu is an operating system designed for education. It is based on the Ubuntu operating system which uses the Linux kernel and is available free to all. As operating system centered education, Edubuntu can help you:

• Organization or Ministry of Education wishes to reap the benefits of open source software can offer education.
• Teachers and school staff wishing to set up Edubuntu in a networked learning environment,
• Home users who want to have an independent computer-centered education for people smaller than their family.

Edubuntu gathers the best of free software and digital materials for education, here you can find a list of the software included in this distribution.

LinuxKidX is a educational livecd based on Slackware Linux. LinuxKidX has a gigantic list of educational softwares to children from 2 to 10 years old. This distribution is developed mainly in Brazil, and was born in Portuguese, but also a great support for the English version.

The idea appeared during the university project by students Alexandre Pereira and Robson Maniasso, after a research on internet found out that exists a few Linux distributions to children, so that appeared the idea to personalize the Slackware and create a Linux distribution to children with a friendly interface and with educational games.

The distribution has the suites, childsplay, gcompris, kde-edu and the graphics application tux paint to create pictures independent and also an advanced graphics suite, Gimp. Also the distribution has Google Earth and Amsn installed.

The award-winning Sugar Learning Platform promotes collaborative learning through Sugar Activities that encourage critical thinking, the heart of a quality education. Designed from the ground up especially for children, Sugar offers an alternative to traditional “office-desktop” software.
Sugar is the core component of a worldwide effort to provide every child with equal opportunity for a quality education. Available in 25 languages, Sugar’s Activities are used every school day by one-million children in more than forty countries.
Originally developed for the One Laptop per Child XO-1 netbook, Sugar runs on most computers. Sugar is free/libre and open-source software.
And i love their slogan "Sugar on a stick" for the distribution on a USB stick of the distribution.

Foresight Kid’s Edition is a Linux distribution for children that features a number of education and entertainment applications, as well as the benefits of the Foresight GNOME Edition: a rolling release schedule that always keeps your desktop up to date; a revolutionary package manager, Conary; a customized GNOME desktop environment and an innovative set of excellent, up to date software applications.

Education

• Tuxpaint, an award winning drawing program for children ages 3-12.
• Tux Typing, and educational typing tutor for children.
• GCompris, an educational software suit that includes many different activities for children ages 2 to 10.
• Tux, of Math Command, an education arcade game starring Tux based on the class game “Missile Command”.

Entertainment and Games

• SuperTux, a classic 2D jump ‘n run sidescroller with a similar style to the original SuperMario games.
• SuperTuxKart, a 3D kart racing game featuring numerous tracks, characters and items.
• Foobilliard, a 3D billiards / pool game.
• GNU Chess, a chess game.
• Super Maryo Chronicles, a 2D side scroller game featuring many different stages and levels..

Qimo for Kids

Qimo is a desktop operating system designed for kids. Based on the open source Ubuntu Linux desktop, Qimo comes pre-installed with educational games for children aged 3 and up.

Qimo's interface has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use, providing large icons for all installed games, so that even the youngest users have no trouble selecting the activity they want.