Personally I would have went for linux mint but this looks pretty cool. Theres also android x86 though i’m not sure how gapps works on it.
Thanks for the fuzzy warm replies!
My first PC was my dad’s 486 DX4, with DOS and eventually Win 3.11 (still own it, still works!)
I managed to do all sort of errors and breakages on that pc but dad persisted. My first “alone” time with that machine was MS Paintbrush. At some point I learned enough to start using DOS games like the ones bundled with the SB16 and CD drive (Wing Commander, Strike Commander, Ultima VIII) and a lot of shareware I bought in 3.5" floppies with my allowance (keen, doom, rise of the triad, duke 1 and 2, halloween harry, eye of the beholder, siege, BC racers, blitz for win3.1). Later my grandma started getting me a kids magazine (Billiken!) that came with games. Several years later I realised that the magazine was giving away the games that came in the MS Game /fun pack for Win 3.1, one with each issue (Jezzball, roedent’s revenge, snake, Dr. BlackJack, etc). Wish I still had those, most of them I re-formatted while in high school to ahem share games with my schoolmates.
Well… enough nostalgia. Here’s the thing:
The kid already has a tablet, and it all started because his mom told me that the little guy somehow figured out how to turn her cell phone into a wifi hotspot and drained her cell account’s monthly megabytes. Then she told me that her son said that he needed internet to play (probably those android f2p games that are always-online) and that she tried buying a PC on a retailer but it was too expensive and she didn’t understand anything, so she wasn’t willing to be in debt for something that might not work.
Seems like the boy is quite good with tech so I figured I could start him up with this project. Probably never used a proper PC so I went for something that he might figure out quiclky how to use, I tweaked the mouse settings to be really slow so it’s easier to get the hang of it.
I’ve taught both my grandparents how to use a pc, so I have made a little experience on how to introduce people to it. Linux is a really nice plus and seems like endless is really hard to break, since it only exposes the user to “apps” and everything system-related is hidden away.
On the project itself, sadly I had to remove the 4850 video card. It wasn’t stable and sometimes the pc would boot without video. So heavier games like Source are not possible atm. I’ve set up minetest in creative mode and wandered about, it keeps a stable 40ish fps even when blowing stuff up. I’m gladly surprised that DVD playback is working fine after installing VLC, so he will be able to see DVD movies just by popping in the disc on the drive.
I’ve also decided to add a second account (password protected) for the parents to use and learn as well, with more useful apps and games for them: Personal finances, internet browser and social networks, solitaire, sudoku, etc.
I hid Chrome and most internet stuff on the kid’s account for parental concerns. I don’t have kids and at that age internet wasn’t a thing for me. I don’t want the kid exposed to porn or something nasty like that by accident. Gotta say, I’m kinda scared when/if I have kids some day how to take care of that particular issue.
It seems it’s a quirk of the distro. Most software comes already installed on the “full” version so the only way to find out is sifting through the “installed” list on the “more apps” (gnome-software?) program. Search is a bit hit and miss. I will probably never use Endless on my personal machines but for a first-timer or someone that is learning, I found it really compelling. It’s simple, most programs open maximized and even the launcher behaves in a way that doesn’t let the user open several apps at the same time by accident. I’m almost positive the lack of software will be improving as flatpak becomes more mainstream and more projects are packaged that way.
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I considered a bunch of “mainline” distros like Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, Solus… but all of them fail apart in one of these:
- ease of use
- reliance on internet connection
- no maintenance/update required
- edutainment and kid-friendly software availability
I have Remix (android x86) on an old MSI U100 netbook. Gapps are installed via a system app, but I wouldn’t go that route. It doesn’t work that well and even then, you have the lack of connectivity and the tons of crapware on the PlayStore issues.
I’m glad that you went in favor of a desktop linux now in oppose to android/remix. He is learning this stuff by EXPLORING, no reason to hide anything. (Other then certain sites perhaps)
Andoid is targeted at phones/toys. If that is all what he knows by the time he needs productivity apps for school or such, he would have to start all over then and learn desktop computation from zero again.