Which Ubuntu?

[lxskllr]

I want to install Ubuntu for a child(9yr old) to use. This girl hoses Windows installs somehow, but I'm not there to see how. This girl is my daughter's mother's daughter(no relation to me) , and I don't want to be running continuous support. My daughter can work around a Ubuntu install to help her out, but I wouldn't call her proficient.

Which version would be the least amount of headache for me? LTS seems more stable, but you get the newest features with the newest release. Does it even matter for my stated goal? She just needs something to play web games on, watch YouTube, and perhaps school work at some point.

Apparently virus' are a problem, but I don't have the computer in hand atm to see what's really wrong with it. It's an older Dell laptop, and all of this is contingent on Ubuntu's support of the specific hardware which I'll be able to determine once I have the computer.

All opinions are welcome :^)

 

[Sylvanas]

I'd just get the latest Ubuntu 9.04 from the website. The latest distro will support the widest range of hardware as it uses and updated Kernal from previous releases which IMO is very important- theres nothing worse than trolling through the Ubuntu forums because your wireless doesn't work or something. Ubuntu and Linux in General is ideal for the uses you propose, Web browsing (Firefox) and School work (OpenOffice) are solid applications and will be all you'll need. I am typing this from my Ubuntu 9.04 Dell laptop -I have never had not had any problems with it .

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
I'd just get the latest Ubuntu 9.04 from the website. The latest distro will support the widest range of hardware as it uses and updated Kernal from previous releases which IMO is very important- theres nothing worse than trolling through the Ubuntu forums because your wireless doesn't work or something. Ubuntu and Linux in General is ideal for the uses you propose, Web browsing (Firefox) and School work (OpenOffice) are solid applications and will be all you'll need. I am typing this from my Ubuntu 9.04 Dell laptop -I have never had not had any problems with it .

Thanks for the reply. The reason I asked is because 8.04 has been a little less buggy ime. I use it on most of my secondary computers, and it runs great. I haven't run Ubuntu long enough to see how they handle updates. While 8.04 is fine now, I don't know about next year. The Firefox is still out of date, as is Open Office. I've updated them on my machines, but I don't want the hassle for boxes that aren't under my direct control.

How /are/ updates handled with Ubuntu. Would OO ever get updated if I stayed on the same release, or would it have to be done manually?

 

[Nothinman]

I believe it works just like Debian so packages should get security fixes backported but no newer versions will get pushed through updates.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I believe it works just like Debian so packages should get security fixes backported but no newer versions will get pushed through updates.

Ah, ok. I guess I'll try 9.04 first. If that looks like it'll work out, I'll do a one time setup to get everything to the latest release and be done with it. It should work well enough for the rest of the computer's life. Thanks a lot :^)

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I believe it works just like Debian so packages should get security fixes backported but no newer versions will get pushed through updates.

Ubuntu is less pragmatic then Debian, so sometimes new versions are pushed through updates, but it doesn't happen very often.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Ubuntu 8.04 worked perfectly fine on my old Dell Inspiron 4100. It even worked with my old MS MN-520 PCMCIA 802.11b card. Nvidia drivers and compiz-fusion worked as well.

8.04 came out in April 2008. If the laptop is reasonably older than that, I'd say you're fine. But you might as well use the latest version anyway. Next LTS version is 10.04 (April 2010), and there will be far fewer updates between that and 9.04 if you decide to update the system (also assuming you might incrementally update to 9.10).

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
Ubuntu 8.04 worked perfectly fine on my old Dell Inspiron 4100. It even worked with my old MS MN-520 PCMCIA 802.11b card. Nvidia drivers and compiz-fusion worked as well.

8.04 came out in April 2008. If the laptop is reasonably older than that, I'd say you're fine. But you might as well use the latest version anyway. Next LTS version is 10.04 (April 2010), and there will be far fewer updates between that and 9.04 if you decide to update the system (also assuming you might incrementally update to 9.10).

Yea, I'm leaning towards 9.04 at this point. One thing I like about the LTS release is you don't have to worry about breaking stuff for 2 years :^D Also, if I understand the concept right, you can do a direct distribution upgrade from 8.04 to 10.04, but I could be wrong.

I was hoping to have the computer in hand today, but that didn't work out. I was also thinking about trying Puppy on it first, but I have some doubts about the wifi card. It's a Linksys PMCICA card(don't know the model), and I'm hoping one of them will support it. If not, that'll make virus mitigation easy, eh? :^D

 

[Brazen]

Just FYI, updating from 9.04 to 10.4 will not be supported. You will have to do an upgrade to 9.10 first, and then from 9.10 to 10.04. However, you can do direct upgrades from one LTS to the next, so you WOULD be able to to and upgrade from 8.04 to 10.04.

Personally, I go with LTS releases on production servers and 9.04 on my workstations. However, there are exceptions. Such as virtual host servers, the new features are compelling enough that I'm using 9.04 (plus it's much much easier to do a quick set up on a virtual host server than say a web server or file server). Likewise, I may want to use the LTS version on a workstation if I won't be using it and I don't want to be messing with an upgrade every 3 months.

 

[Sylvanas]

Apparently virus' are a problem, but I don't have the computer in hand atm to see what's really wrong with it.

Linux is far far far far more secure than Windows and even Macs- it's night and day, Virus's are by and large no problem. The fact is the userbase of Linux is so small they are not a target as much as a general user on Windows XP which is more vulnerable to exploits and rootkits. That's not to say it's immune but it's really nothing to concern yourself with.

 

[Nothinman]

Linux is far far far far more secure than Windows and even Macs- it's night and day, Virus's are by and large no problem. The fact is the userbase of Linux is so small they are not a target as much as a general user on Windows XP which is more vulnerable to exploits and rootkits. That's not to say it's immune but it's really nothing to concern yourself with.

With Linux netbooks becoming popular those numbers will change quickly.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
With Linux netbooks becoming popular those numbers will change quickly.

Have you tried to buy a linux netbook recently?

 

[Fox5]

Not to be a fuddy duddy, but a fully updated windows install with a restricted account might be secure enough for her.
But ubuntu is a good choice. Too much changes from release to release for me to recommend the LTS releases though, they fall behind really fast. Unlike windows, not updating means all the programs stay behind too, which is a major deal.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz

Originally posted by: Nothinman
With Linux netbooks becoming popular those numbers will change quickly.

Have you tried to buy a linux netbook recently?

Nearly all of the ones that I have seen have XP on them.

 

[pdusen]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz

Originally posted by: Nothinman
With Linux netbooks becoming popular those numbers will change quickly.

Have you tried to buy a linux netbook recently?

Nearly all of the ones that I have seen have XP on them.

That's all you'll see if you walk into some place like Best Buy looking for a computer...

Luckily, only the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel consumers do that. Your average consumer buys directly online, from places such as Amazon, or even the manufacturer's website (Dell is a big example).

 

[lxskllr]

I think a lot of people(enthusiasts) put Linux on the machines after purchase. I bought a netbook specifically for that purpose.

 

[Peroxyde]

If you install Ubuntu, you will likely install some codecs, graphic drivers and customize somehow the user interface a little bit. You may want to try LinuxMint which is derived from Ubuntu and has a nicer GUI and better multimedia support.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Peroxyde
If you install Ubuntu, you will likely install some codecs, graphic drivers and customize somehow the user interface a little bit. You may want to try LinuxMint which is derived from Ubuntu and has a nicer GUI and better multimedia support.

I prefer Ubuntu's interface, and my daughter is familiar with Ubuntu, so she can help her sister out. I'm not necessarily opposed to Mint, but I prefer supporting what I'm most familiar with. I'd make an exception for Puppy do to pure speed reasons, but again, I'm somewhat familiar with that.

 

[Telkwa]

You might want to take a look at Qimo. It's a fun variant of Xubuntu.

Just don't click the "skip login" option during installation! Qimo is designed to boot to a limited user account by default. If you want to get into the "adult" account you log out of the default session, log back in with the username/password you entered when installing, and you're into the Xubuntu desktop. I made the mistake of clicking on "skip login" the first time I set it up. That setting botches the Qimo default desktop.

The default limited account might be very handy for the situation you dscribe. Also, the Qimo desktop comes with a Mac-like dock that has childsplay, GCompris, etc. for kids.

I've installed it to ac ouple of test HDD's. It seems pretty neat to me and a good setup for kids.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Telkwa
You might want to take a look at Qimo. It's a fun variant of Xubuntu.

Just don't click the "skip login" option during installation! Qimo is designed to boot to a limited user account by default. If you want to get into the "adult" account you log out of the default session, log back in with the username/password you entered when installing, and you're into the Xubuntu desktop. I made the mistake of clicking on "skip login" the first time I set it up. That setting botches the Qimo default desktop.

The default limited account might be very handy for the situation you dscribe. Also, the Qimo desktop comes with a Mac-like dock that has childsplay, GCompris, etc. for kids.

I've installed it to ac ouple of test HDD's. It seems pretty neat to me and a good setup for kids.

I don't understand the point of that. All Linux user accounts are already limited access, you need root privileges to do anything to the system anyways and by default Ubuntu comes with sudo to make it easy to elevate to root privileges. There is no need to log out of a X session to run something with root privileges ever.

What does this 'limited user account' have limited on it?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Crusty


I don't understand the point of that. All Linux user accounts are already limited access, you need root privileges to do anything to the system anyways and by default Ubuntu comes with sudo to make it easy to elevate to root privileges. There is no need to log out of a X session to run something with root privileges ever.

What does this 'limited user account' have limited on it?

I've been meaning to look into this, but my guess is the whole user account is locked down. No sudo, or anything. You'd have to log into a administrator account to update, or change system settings.

That could be a little problematic in my specific case, as I wouldn't have constant access to the machine to take care of it. It might be good for people that have kids(or parents :^P) that know enough to be dangerous, and hose there machines trying to "maintain" them.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: Crusty


I don't understand the point of that. All Linux user accounts are already limited access, you need root privileges to do anything to the system anyways and by default Ubuntu comes with sudo to make it easy to elevate to root privileges. There is no need to log out of a X session to run something with root privileges ever.

What does this 'limited user account' have limited on it?

I've been meaning to look into this, but my guess is the whole user account is locked down. No sudo, or anything. You'd have to log into a administrator account to update, or change system settings.

That could be a little problematic in my specific case, as I wouldn't have constant access to the machine to take care of it. It might be good for people that have kids(or parents :^P) that know enough to be dangerous, and hose there machines trying to "maintain" them.

It takes one simple command to create a new user without sudo rights That's hardly worth creating an entirely new distro for.

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.

That's about the most I can find about it, so not only is it just a regular user account it's got a new theme and icon set, plus a few games.

 

[lxskllr]

I wonder how it differs from Edubuntu.

Edit:
From their FAQ...

Q: How is Qimo different than Edubuntu?
A: Qimo was designed to be a standalone home computer for kids, rather than a networked classroom computer. The interface for Qimo is designed to be easy enough for a 3 year old to use, without having to navigate menus or manage multiple open windows. Also, Qimo will also run from a LiveCD, and doesn't require an existing Ubuntu installation the way Edubuntu does.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: pdusen
That's all you'll see if you walk into some place like Best Buy looking for a computer...

Luckily, only the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel consumers do that.

Bottom-of-the-barrel consumers are about 90% of the market, I take it? (do not doubt it)

Today, 90% of all mini-laptops sold in the US are running Windows.