Hello all,
So I have this old Samsung RV520 laptop. You can see the specs there. I’ve installed and reinstalled a few different linux distros on it for the past 12 years or so, the last one being Arch (btw) which is what I use as my daily driver on my main desktop as well (by the btw). But I really don’t need this laptop anymore, so I was thinking I’d give it as a birthday present to my friend’s son, who turns 2 this month. It would be used as a “media station” to basically just play kids’ videos from Youtube.
The problem is that I basically need to install an extremely windows-like (or otherwise simple) distro on it, because while my linux-fu is somewhat high level, my friend uses windows daily so system maintenance must be simple. Ubuntu is for me the obvious choice, but I’m not sure if the laptop can even run it anymore :D of course the HDD in it is also 16 years old and I’m pretty sure I’ll upgrade it to an SSD before set up. So, taking all this preamble into account, what would you recommend? Some Ubuntu-derivative, pure Debian, maybe even Arch with linux-lts? Give me your thoughts!
Side note but if possible you could probably get a cheap SSD to replace the internal HDD which is likely to be the bottleneck of the system by now. Otherwise there’s a bunch of great suggestions here.
Yeah that’s part of the plan already, actually! Because that HDD is like real old
I’m sorry to judge you, but I don’t think a 2 year old should be using a computer.
I think it’s important for kids to learn how to really use a computer (instead of just a smartphone), but it’s mostly important to show them they can have fun away from screens.
I really don’t want to start arguing against this sentiment, because I agree with it. But the kid in question is not my son, and however much I personally don’t agree with using a screen as much as my friends have with the kid, I also understand why it has come to this (that the kid’s parents had decided to use a screen to calm him down, which it does) and how different peoples’ life situations can be. Also it’s not like he’s completely swallowed by the bright lights and colours and noises the screen provides, at least as far as I can tell, as whenever I am or anyone else is around he likes to do other things as well (such as playing with his physical toys or engaging in other activies kids like to do, such as climbing furniture and doing somersaults and stuff) though I’m obviously not there all the time. Also he goes to daycare where the screentime is minimized I assume, and more emphasis is given to social education and stuff.
And this laptop wouldn’t even be his first, this would be basically an upgrade over the old, beaten-up laptop his dad has had laying around.
So yes, thank you (all of you, other comments as well) for your concern for this child’s wellbeing. We will continue doing what we can towards doing the best we can with the information we have at the given moment.
2 years old need to learn interaction with other people.
That’s how they learn language.
So, spend time with them, not the screen. Screen time will come by itself.
In fact there’s data of development delays if kids are exposed to screen at early ages. That is because our eyes like movement, but screen picture doesn’t provide meaningful world context. Especially games.
Only personal interaction gives words in meaningful action context.
My wife is speech pathologist, so I am sharing what I wax told.
We have a friend, who didn’t listen to no screen time. Kid is delayed in development. It is serious staff and yet so simple to prevent.
Give your kids all the time you can in 1st several years.
Yes, I agree, and I do believe the kid’s parents would also agree. And it’s not like the kid is given free reign to roam the internet, looking for the most cancerous, brain rotting, worst AI-slob the internet can provide, no. It’s more like a TV basically, with age appropriate shows running in the background, and in our own language no less. He basically seems to occasionally take like a breather of sorts, stopping for something to bite or a sip of his milk or whatever, before running along with his childish endeavors.
But yeah, absolutely. Too much screentime in early childhood can and will lead to developmental delays, and in order to raise the optimal human being one should optimize every aspect of the child’s life, adjusting at optimal intervals all according to the child’s personal development. But you know, life doesn’t work like that. And yet, as I just stated to the comment you replied to, I am thankful for your concern; we’re all trying to do our best for this kid. If my little gift of an old laptop can bring joy and happiness into that little dude’s life, that is basically enough for me.
Totally. Please keep kids away from screens as long as possible.
For this laptop I recommend mx linux fluxbox edition. You also have a 32 bit version.
The biggest problem in my mind is not only the fact of having a computer but much more to see this “”“”“for kid”“”“”" videos. YouTube and the internet is not a place for kids, and 2 years old is really really young to use this
I started with Commodore 64 when I was two and I turned out passible
I used a computer without any hard limits since I was 2 and I turned out
homose🏳️🌈just fine.Actually on second thought I have crushing depression and feel terribly unsatisfied at my job as a software engineer, maybe you have a point.
Based on the fact you’re using Arch I’m going to guess that you’ve already considered the distros they are meant for older hardware like damn small Linux and puppy Linux; but you want to set this up for a child and Hannah Montana Linux fits the bill even though this distro is mean as a joke, I bet the aesthetics will work.
The kiddo will love the puppy!
Maybe Mint XFCE. It should be really nice after 22.1 releases. I always suggest the Crucial BX500 as a cheap SSD upgrade. It’s fantastic for the price.
Mint xfce runs perfectly for me with the integrated Intel graphics on a sff dell from 2011.
Xfce is also much more customizable in appearance than just about any other DE.
It used to be my favorite DE by far.
Sucks that they are the last of the popular DEs to still not support Wayland, though.
I logged back into an X11 session recently for some testing. It now feels like going back to the stone age.
With 4GB RAM, a dedicated GPU and a new SSD, you’ll be able to install and run any Linux distro.
For someone who doesn’t want to deal with maintenance, I’d recommend Fedora Kinoite.
The desktop is similar to Windows, you install all programs through the app store, updates are installed when ready during the next reboot, when something goes wrong you can just reboot into the last working state, and the command line is almost entirely useless.Aurora is a downstream Kinoite distro by the Universal Blue project. It is tweaked to be a bit more user friendly and has a lot of tweaks and changes. I recommend anyone try it out.
GODDAMN IT! I ain’t givin’ you muh Debian, you goddamn Loch Ness Monster!
(but that distro looks sexy as fsck!)
Linux Mint will work wonderfully on it. It has 4 GB RAM and a cpu that scores 1220 CPU points on passmark benchmark. That’s more than enough to run Mint with Cinnamon – which is very Windows-like, and the recommended distro for windows users.
I’d suggest you install it for him, and you configure it as it should (go through the prefs). Also, disable a couple of startup things found in the utility in the prefs, e.g. the wizard and the reports, to save ram. To save even more ram, install chrome for your friend (I know, I know, Firefox is there, but Chrome uses less ram on youtube – almost 2/3s). On a 4 gb laptop, for someone who specifically wants to use youtube, that matters. And along with it, ublock origin on the medium level, so it can block youtube ads.
Weird (but not really unexpected) that Chrome uses less RAM in this case. I think I’ll consider this too, thanks!
uBlock Medium requires some unbreaking of websites, so i would avoid it on this laptop. Ungoogled Chromium could be a good replacement for chrome.
Ungoogled Chromium doesn’t autoupdate though. Chrome and Chromium do.
You have an opportunity. Give him a pre-installed Linux and a terminal, along with a page of commands that he can run to do neat things… including starting the GUI to watch his favourite (ideally pre-downloaded) videos, running some demos, etc.
Don’t make it too easy, but not too hard (2 you said? Can type a few characters though…)… Add to it over the years, unlocking the power, and guiding him to discover more by himself.
Kids won’t become tech savvy if we hand everything to them on a silver platter, with touch screens, controllers, and flashy games. It can be bland and boring, until they do something.
It might just be the most life changing gift they ever receive.
Oh yeah, that sounds good. He’s a smart kid already, for sure, and his dad is an old nerd (like me tbh, except 10 years my senior) so yeah, might just do something like this… But maybe at first keep it as a Youtube-machine, until he learns to speak and comprehend more stuff. But thank you for the idea, though! Really didn’t consider this before.
That would be wonderful! I got the opportunity to try Linux when I was like 5 (didn’t know it was Linux) and even though I was already very interested in computers, I didn’t know I was using Linux nor how capable it was.
It took time until I had my own laptop and could start learning new things, and only knowing about Linux from afar since I wasn’t able to install it myself and didn’t have any adults that could teach me, but you could be that person to this kid (if they’re interested in the future ofc)!
I have seen your Debian/Arch addendum, but since it’s meant to be easy and for simple media consumption only, how about Fedora Silverblue with a couple of Flatpak games for kids? You’ll barely have to look after it as it’s immutable, will update itself and the stock Fedora Gnome setup is pretty basic and simple enough for a smart kid. Plus he’s two- I doubt he will need anything outside of Flatpaks and a paint program.
Debian with XFCE works well on my old netbook (~15 yr old).
I used Arch for years, but found that I got everything at the same speed from Fedora for fraction of effort.
Yeah, I’ve considered Fedora a few times while distrohopping. But I didn’t ask that.
Addendum: I should add that the distro should be Debian or Arch based basically (as these are the ones I know best, or have the most experience with), because if something doesn’t work (for some reason) I will be the one debugging it, and I kinda don’t want to learn a new distro and its quirks in order to do so. Because I’m lazy like that. So I’m gravitating towards maybe Manjaro or L/Xubuntu.
Lubuntu has more done to it to make it run on older/slower/less RAM hardware than Xubuntu. Xubuntu is better for modern but low powered machines.
For stuff that’s actually relatively old and low-power, I’ve had much more luck with Lubuntu.
If you want something that will scream on that hardware, AntiX (Debian based). AntiX runs much faster than Windows XP on my Pentium 3 rig from the late 90s.
Otherwise, I’d go with one of the flavors of Linux Mint, which should also run fine, especially if you go with Xfce or MATE.
If it can run Windows 7 fine, it can run Mint even better.
When you said 16 years, I was expecting something like a core 2 duo and 2gb of ram, but you got some nice specs in there. Any common distro will run fine. Users coming from windows tend to like linux mint, so that’s my suggestion.
Just realized it’s 14 not 16, but yeah I actually used that thing for gaming! Even games that were kinda new back then, up until Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor which ran at like 10 FPS. Thankfully I got enough money to buy and build my first desktop after that. Which served me faithfully for some 10ish years with no upgrades, even running RDR2 (with graphics so low it could be considered minus), which actually kinda surprised me!
Try LXLE. I stuck it on an old 16+ year old desktop and it runs smoothly as my shed computer.
+1 puppy
NixOS with gnome
