[ubuntu-uk] serious advice

[Rob Beard]

Alan Pope wrote:

> I am in a similar quandary with my own daughter. She is 4 and has just
> started school this term. In school they have a windows PC in the
> classroom on which she plays various educational games. At home she
> rarely uses a computer at all. She has done a little typing here and
> there and played some online flash games, but not much more than that.
> 

How well do you get on with the teachers at your daughter's school?

Maybe you could pass on a copy of The OpenDisc to them so they can have 
a look at it.  I let my two eldest daughters have a play with Tux Paint 
and they loved it.  Maybe if you can talk to the IT teachers at the 
school they may install things like Tuxpaint and Tuxmath on the computers.

> I have ordered a couple of Asus Eee PCs, one for my wife to use and one
> for Sophie. I wanted to get something small and lightweight which runs
> "normal" software. I have just called the school to get a list of all
> the software that Sophie uses, and if it's any good I'll see if I can
> get it working under WINE, or get someone to write an alternative in
> python so everyone can benefit :)
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> Cheers,
> Al.
> 

I'd certainly be interested in getting involved with porting some of the 
old classic educational software to Linux.  I dare say some of the old 
BBC Micro educational software would be simple enough to re-create.  I'd 
like to have a go at porting Number Painter 
(http://www.bioeddie.co.uk/Spectrum/pnumpainter.htm) which I remember 
from school  have a go but I'm not very good with graphics.

Rob