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Codestarter Making Linux More Accessible to Kids with $199 Computer

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shopnhowler

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In light of the recent linux fans I thought I'd share how Codestarter is turning $199 Chromebooks into Ubuntu-based code learning machines for kids. It's pretty cool, if not amazing. Some of their requirements for the project were:

• It must run Ubuntu.
• It must have Google Chrome as the default browser.
• It must enable kids to learn to program even if they don’t have access to the internet at home.
• It must have a great, local code editor.
• It must be as easy as possible to try out a large variety of programming languages.
• It must support Minecraft (for the kids).

Okay back to LFS 101x... Feel free to add to the let's talk bitcoin discussion here.

Posted on August 9, 2014 at 6:28 PM

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• heunland

  

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  Location: Mexico

  Codestarter looks interesting. Another project especially made to teach kids to code is the Kano kit which you can get for $129 plus shipping. It is a kit based on the raspberry pi, but comes with its own Debian-linux-based Kano-OS custom-made for kids. The kit includes the raspberry pi with case, a wireless keyboard with multitouch trackpad, SD memory card wih preinstalled Kano-OS, wifi adapter, a speaker, world wide power plug, mini USB and hdmi cord to connect to a TV you can use as your display. Also they include some very nice books they made specifically to teach kids how to build and setup the kano computer from the included parts and start to code and some cool stickers and stencils. The books are already translated into 6 languages. If you already have a raspberry pi, you can just download the Kano-OS and the books for free. You can check it out at http://www.kano.me/kit. And it does run minecraft!

  Posted on August 9, 2014 at 7:58 PM
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• odolvlobo

  

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  For $35, you can get a Raspberry Pi with Linux and ethernet and two USB ports.

  Posted on August 9, 2014 at 11:15 PM
  Last Edited: August 9, 2014 at 11:15 PM
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• cracker

  

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  Location: Ritz HQ

  I actually did the same thing codestarters did with the chromebook, I just used an older version (the c710). It works pretty well, did it awhile ago. I might try to do a clean install using codestarters guide. If you find the c710 it actually comes with a 200gb+ hard drive.

  Posted on August 9, 2014 at 11:28 PM
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• Turn

  

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  That's pretty cool. It's amazing how technology has changed over the years. When I was growing up in Elementary School 15 years ago, we had one computer for the entire school. Which basically meant, no education on the computers or related technology.

  Now-a-days my 6 year old niece has her own computer at home and knows more about the technology than I did when I was 10.

  Posted on August 10, 2014 at 12:38 AM
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