Linux for a four year old: Should I bother with Sugar or just go with a regular Linux distro?

3-13 · 2 years

Give him a 10-year-old PC with an empty HD, a print-out of this and a thumb drive containing Linux's code.

cydork · 2 years

You should checkout qimo!. Later on you can shift to ubuntu/edubuntu.

shaggorama · 2 years

Linux Journal recently published an article where the author made a desktop for 18 month old. You may find it interesting; he discusses different distros and also various considerations that went into the project.

Digging out that article, I found this older article you may also find interesting.

graciosa · 2 years

my son is only 8 months and already I am thinking about what should be his first distro

btmorex · 2 years

I'd stick with a normal interface. Just make sure it's easy for him to start the apps he uses.

For apps, check out gcompris and tuxpaint. also, tons of web sites with flash games/learning.

sanitybit · 2 years

At least get him something nicer than a CRT, that shit causes some serious eye strain.

Toffeeapple · 2 years

Just go with a normal distro, it's the apps he's going to play with that are the important thing really.

cocoabean · 2 years

Why don't you ask him?

tabo · 2 years

My kid started using ubuntu+gnome regularly when he was a three year old. Now that he is six, he still uses ubuntu but also windows, OS X and iPhone OS like if it was the most natural thing in the world for him.

Just let your kid use a real interface and let him figure it out how it works on his own. Don't bother with "dumbed down" interfaces like sugar: kids are NOT dumb. They learn, and learn a lot faster than adults.

latexsalesman · 2 years

Start him off with gentoo without X. Don't let him use bash--sh will teach him to type without relying on tab completion.

jamiiecb · 2 years

Sugar has the potential to be much more intuitive / kid-friendly but its just not ready yet. Slow interface, not enough software ported/adapted, buggy sugar-specific software etc. Stick with edubuntu or similar.

JimBobRascal · 2 years

Do whatever is easiest for you. If you have some kiddy apps on it with blinkenlights, your kid will love it.

scragar · 2 years

My nephew when he was 3 used to enjoy playing on my old ubuntu system, he particularly enjoyed simple artsy programs(tkpaint and tux paint) and racing games(tuxracer).

I created an alternate user, for him to use, put the shortcuts and rips of his favourite DVDs on the desktop, got rid of his panel, removed his write perms for a lot of config files(to stop him deleting things accidentally).

isforinsects · 2 years

The Sugar UI could have a few features your child could benefit from, apart from the interface. The Journal system of implicitly saving the state of all files, and allowing most activities to be resumed is pretty compelling. Sugar also has a growing number of child-focused activities like the music suite Tam Tam that unfortunately don't exist outside of Sugar.

On the other hand, without other students, many of the features that make Sugar interesting don't come into effect. Sugar is made to be real-time collaborative, most activities (Write, Tam Tam, FoodForce2) allow young people to collaborate in real time. Unless you have other kids with computers, or connect to an 'XS School Server'.

But your question is based on a false dichotomy. Sugar is packaged for Ubuntu. OLPC even ships laptops with Sugar /and/ Gnome desktops. Give your kid Ubuntu, Xubuntu or even Lubuntu given that you're on an older iMac and install Sugar, and a collection of activities and let your child explore both.

fiveequalssix · 2 years

My six year old has been running ubuntu since he was 4 - I dual boot as some of his software is windows and I've had trouble with wine but he prefers linux. Just make sure he knows where to find the apps and his bookmarks and you'll be good to go.

badvegan39 · 2 years

Try Qimo, its fantastic and based on Ubuntu so its pretty much bullet proof.

slackwaresupport · 2 years

just a distro!.. teach em young.

idontwanttortfm · 2 years

I set up a spare machine with Edubuntu for my 4 year-old (now 5) niece. She quickly got comfortable with it and now spends a lot of time using it. She learned to play chess on it and is getting surprisingly good for someone so young. Tuxpaint and the fractal viewer provide entertainment and distraction for her.

technologyjournalist · 2 years

i gave Sugar to a 5 year old last year and it was little more than a toy for about 20 minutes.

freyrs3 · 2 years

Start out with Arch Linux and a user friendly WM like xmonad or ratpoison. You can compile the kernel for him this time but when he turns five he should do it on his own.

kpmgeek · 2 years

I know a lot of people here are joking around, but I was given a 486 laptop (still bearable in 1997) at age 4. By age 5 I had installed Windows 95 on it by copying the cab files from the CD onto individual floppies and slowly painfully installing it. About a year later I discovered linux, and got slackware from my uncle who had an ISDN. I wouldn't underestimate him, give him the normal KDE/GNOME interface.

Indubitableness · 2 years

Give him Ubuntu.

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