Dapper or just Linux (child safe)

[Eberhard Roloff]

Jared Buck wrote:

> Well, I'll tell you, Linux is extremely safe and relatively
> virus-proof.  Most hackers and virus-writers target Windoze and Macs
> rather than Linux simply because those OSes are not as secure.  In my
> experience using various versions of Linux, I have never had any
> problems related to viruses or other things of nature.
> 
> Yes, most Linuxes are geared towards techies, but I don't know if
> you've heard of the Ubuntu deriative Edubuntu - it's geared towards
> schools and education and may fit your nephews better than vanilla
> Ubuntu.  There are some educational software applications that you can
> install from Add-Remove Software inside Ubuntu.
> 
> Like Windows Ubuntu does require regular updates but it's not forced
> on you the way Windows makes you.  Generally you SHOULD update
> whenever those are available but you can pick and choose what updates
> you want to install.  If you're using the Gnome interface (which comes
> standard by the way) you'll get an alert notification at the top right
> of the screen whenever an update (or updates as the case may be) is
> available.
> 
> There's a lot you can do with Ubuntu or any other Linux OS, i'd say
> it's infinitely more secure than any Windows platform.
> 
Maybe. 

However I understood the original poster to be looking more for a
configuration that only allows child safe websites instead of looking for a
generally more secure OS, which by the way, you can get from ubuntu, if you
do it right.

If you really want to be on the safe side, I would recommend to use the
ipcop firewall with dansguardian or squidguard or urlfilter extension. It
is happy with an ancient P1 hardware, easy to setup and graphically to
administer, even from remote via the internet. Imho this offers you far
better control than installing a proxy on the local computer. From my
experience, children continuously play around and in consequence they are
better in finding solutions than adults tend to be. ;-) In consequence
separating the local computer and the LAN proxy might be an idea.

regards
Eberhard