Qimo 4 Kids
Encyclopedia
Qimo 4 Kids is a child friendly desktop environment
built entirely with free software
. Qimo comes pre-installed with educational games for kids; TuxPaint, eToys
, GCompris
, Tuxmath, and Tuxtyping
.
Large colorful icons help young users navigate easily.It is "designed for early elementary school aged children. It’s a pretty straightforward idea, a customized version of Xubuntu
, designed to be visually appealing, but not overwhelming, for kids."
Qimo is based on Xubuntu; a community maintained derivative of the Ubuntu
operating system
, using the Xfce
desktop environment
. This helps provide low hardware requirements; minimum of 256MB of memory to run from the CD, or 192MB to install. At least 6 GB of hard drive space is recommended, and a 400 MHz or faster CPU. Qimo currently uses 8.04 LTS with plans to use the next LTS Lucid Lynx
In May 2010, Qimo 2.0 was released
Differences between Qimo & Edubuntu
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
built entirely with free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
. Qimo comes pre-installed with educational games for kids; TuxPaint, eToys
EToys (Programming Language)
Etoys is a child-friendly computer environment and object-oriented prototype-based programming language for use in education.Etoys is a media-rich authoring environment with a scripted object model for many different objects that runs on different platforms and is free and open source.- Brief...
, GCompris
GCompris
GCompris is a suite of free educational software for children aged 2 to 10., and is currently part of the GNU project.It is available for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and other systems...
, Tuxmath, and Tuxtyping
Tux Typing
Tux Typing is a free and open source typing tutor created especially for children. It features several different types of game play, at a variety of difficulty levels...
.
Large colorful icons help young users navigate easily.It is "designed for early elementary school aged children. It’s a pretty straightforward idea, a customized version of Xubuntu
Xubuntu
Xubuntu is a Canonical Ltd. recognized, community maintained derivative of the Ubuntu operating system, using the Xfce desktop environment.The name Xubuntu is a portmanteau of Xfce and Ubuntu...
, designed to be visually appealing, but not overwhelming, for kids."
Qimo is based on Xubuntu; a community maintained derivative of the Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, using the Xfce
Xfce
Xfce is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris, and BSD – though recent compatibility issues have arisen with regard to BSD Unix platforms...
desktop environment
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
. This helps provide low hardware requirements; minimum of 256MB of memory to run from the CD, or 192MB to install. At least 6 GB of hard drive space is recommended, and a 400 MHz or faster CPU. Qimo currently uses 8.04 LTS with plans to use the next LTS Lucid Lynx
In May 2010, Qimo 2.0 was released
Differences between Qimo & Edubuntu
Edubuntu
Edubuntu, also previously known as Ubuntu Education Edition, is an official derivative of the Ubuntu operating system designed for use in classrooms inside schools, homes and communities....
- Qimo was designed to be a standalone home computer for kids
- Edubuntu was designed for networked classroom computer use
- Qimo will run from a LiveCD
- From October 2008 to October 2009, Edubuntu required an existing Ubuntu installation. Edubuntu is available in a live medium, but only on a DVD, as its contents will not fit on a CD anymore.
- Qimo and Edubuntu are working to bring the Qimo games and artwork as an installable option within Edubuntu
See also
- List of Ubuntu-based distributions