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Educational Software To Donate With Laptop?
SlartibartfastJunior writes "I will be sending my four-year-old laptop to a school in Uganda this fall. I plan to load up an older version of Windows (or something free), and I need suggestions - what should I load on it? I need suggestions for educational games, educational software, etc. that won't drain my battery too much (since the computer will only be able to recharge at night), won't require a CD (since my drive doesn't work 80% of the time), and won't be too America-centered (most of these children have never been more than ten miles out of their own villages, and wouldn't understand "Oregon Trail"). Also, any great ideas on where I can acquire copies of this software?"
Are not free. Do not commit software piracy.
Arrrrrr.
Real Lives 2004, as previously mentioned on Slashdot. Oh, and Starcraft.
Game consoles actually are making better and better educational platforms these days.
We've done a lot of research into uses of Nintendo consoles other than gaming, such as using it as a inexpensive terminal for Internet access, or more compellingly, education, and we have done preliminary work with various Chinese governmental bodies and NGOs to make games such as Super Marx Brothers and The Legend of Deng Xiaoping to teach Chinese youth in new and engaging dynamic ways.
Using older game consoles such as N64 and even SNES/SFC enables schools, particularly in rural areas, to immediately gain the benefits of technology without the cost and maintainence expense associated with traditional PC platforms. We look forward to seeing the results of this experiment in China, and will likely expand to other developing countries if it goes well.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
OpenOffice or something of the sort would be nice. An office package is always useful.
Give them a couple old versions of Civ and Sim City.
Those are educational and addictive enough. And are not American centric.
Ted
Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
Years ago I set up a punch-card scanner for a correspondence school in Kumasi, Ghana. The staff had never really worked with a computer much; I was suprised at their level of interest in the computer itself (just a P3).
I had loaded a copy of Microsoft Encarta on the PC and they absolutlely loved that!
Sigs cause cancer.
You can find it at usenet, take whatever you want but leave a tip.
...replace the CD drive.
Mike van Lammeren
It will challenge your head, your brain, and your mind.
How much disk space do you have?
http://stephan.sugarmotor.org
Linux
Creative Spelling Copyright (2002). May use without Persimmons
I think they have multilingual games... Or maybe it's just their website.
This user account is inactive account replaced by the PDA
Celestia rocks. It's a free (GPL program/public domain data) program where you fly arond space and see stars and planets and stuff. Educational, fun, and free!
samrolken
The OpenCD is the obvious choice. Mod this down if it's already been listed.
CB
free ipod and free gmail!
Since they will know what they want on the laptop, whether they can source it locally, or even if they want a laptop.
I'm not saying they won't want computers, but you shouldn't assume that they might not be better off with the money you get selling it on ebay. Even a 100 bucks / euros / whatever could buy a lot of other teaching materials that may be more needed.
no taxation without representation!
If I were an IT person (even in Uganda), I would clean the drives and install a vanilla/standard set of software. If you have commercial software include the licenses (and media if possible), so that they aren't forced to clean the drive because they don't want to pirate. To repeat, I guess, I wouldn't be worried about having them prove they have the software licenses, I worry more about having someone there remove the software because they couldn't prove it.
Laboratree - Scientific collaboration based on OpenSocial.
Bram Moolenaar, author of VIM, may have some info on what would be useful in Uganda.
Slashdot's name? When my compiler sees
a couple if softwaresi find indespensiblein the windows world, hijack this, firefox, winamp, winrar, adaware, some books from project gutenberg, gimp2, other than this not too much i can think of, will the pc be going online at all?
I will be sending my four-year-old laptop to a school in Uganda this fall
Dear Sir,
I am Umbumbo Bumbalilo of Uganda. PLease send your Laptop.
Thank you.
Umbumbo Bumbalilo
Any java based software.
How can this guy be redundant, he's the first poster!
You might spend all your time creating a nice load, but if they can't speak english youre probably wasting your time. Are you sure they don't have any IT people over there that will put a base set of apps on the machine? They might just format it and start from scratch.
--
Only 5 Gmail invitations left!
HAMURABI: I BEG TO REPORT TO YOU.
IN YEAR 1997, 97,234 PEOPLE STARVED, 0 CAME TO THE CITY.
POPULATION IS NOW 2,123,872
THE CITY NOW OWNS 543,213 ACRES
RATS ATE 1,234,612 BUSHELS
YOU NOW HAVE 5,190,212 BUSHELS IN STORE
YOU WERE DONATED 1 LAPTOP
YOU STARVED 97,234 PEOPLE IN ONE YEAR!!!!
DUE TO THIS EXTREME MANAGEMENT YOU HAVE NOT ONLY
BEEN IMPEACHED AND THROWN OUT OF OFFICE BUT YOU
HAVE ALSO BEEN DECLARED A NATIONAL FINK!!!!
SO LONG FOR NOW
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Alrighty, so you wish to donate a machine -- and you considered donating windows? Bad, bad slashdotter!
I say get them their fill of free software, xmame, and the illegal set of roms (you were going to break the rules by transferring your windows license anyway). Nothing like Ugandan kids yelling sho-ryu-ken at each other or trying to light themselves up like Blanca. Then they can be ubergamers and get hired by the japanese market as professionals. At that point, congratulations -- you've just helped bring hope to a poor nation.
Depending on the grade level of the kids, go with something like number crunchers.
... and of course good old tux typing
Childsplay
OFSET
Tux Typing
and that was just in 5 minutes on Source Forge
"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction here and merely hoped.
Granted, I don't know if they speak english or not, but putting on classic literature (and possibly including a cheap printer) might be a good idea.
I would include a compiler or interpreter so the kids can learn how to do some programming. That way, they are actually learning to use the computer "as a computer" and not just for running apps. For example, the qbasic interpreter is a lot of fun to play with and you can write some neat little programs with it.
They're not, but most laptops came with windows, so I'd say it's probably licensed for at least 95 (supposing that the license wasn't therafter used on another PC).
Granted, I don't live in a 3rd world nation (but I am near Miami and was about as close to being carjacked last night as I'd like to ever come) but I wouldn't want something that is so worn out. I suppose the fact that it's a computer at all is good because chances are they'll still get some use out of it.
BTW: You'll probably get a storm of "put linux on it" which is a decent idea since it won't cost you anything. You may be better just loading Win95 on it for the sake of it being easier to administer.
Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
O'dell Down Under was way better. Gotta love those fish...
Try a basic interpreter. Chipmunk Basic looks promising, though i've never used it. Make slashdot the homepage in the browser. Be sure not to let the kids have IE - start them off right with Firefox. Finally - Bookmarks! Most kids will just mess around with the browser, so any educational bookmarks you leave will be a step for them in the right direction.
Old versions of them are really cheap to get. And it's kinda "value adding" to the laptop.
I am not sure how useful an old laptop with a defective cdrom drive will be, but here it is. If it can be plugged in at night, it seems it can plugged in at day and just used as a small desktop, btw, so I don't really focus on power.
;) This allows them to use Gimp, sound editing, video editing, web design, etc. or anything else and you don't have to know what their needs are in advance (which you probably can't do anyway).
;)
Linux as the OS (there are tons of language options), Open Office for docs, ALL the standard Linux games that come with typical distros to first expose the kids to computing and get them used to using a computer. Most dont use text, so language is irrelevant, and they teach basic thought skills. (Tux Racer may seem weird to them, watching a penguin belly flop on snow trying to catch herring is not a typical scene in Africa
Suse 9.1 (you can buy a home rolled copy on ebay for $10, shipping and all) is an EXCELLENT distro. 5 CDs and unreal amounts of software. Fedora is a decent choice as well. Choose to install all the extra games with Gnome as well.
One of the biggest advantages of using Linux instead of Windows is that they can copy it to other computers they get without breaking any laws, so everyone can use the same platform, making training and maintenance easier, and support is available in many languages from many people. Another advantage is the ability to have true multiple users on the system without the threat of screwing up someone elses files, and you can't delete the system files by accident if you are not root. (win9x is dangerous for newbs in that way).
The average win9x system comes with less than 300mb of software (200mb of it bloat), but you can install up to 4+ gigs of software from a good Linux distro, so its easier to prep the box and make it useful, using all Free software. Or you can install much less and still have a great system.
Also, using Linux, your gift is less likely to become a source of trojaned spam in the future
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
I've been donating 3-5 year old equipment for years. Usually it all has come with OEM copies of Microsoft software so licensing isn't an issue, and even if we may not consider software to be "educational" (such as word processors, spreadsheets, etc.) any software is helpful.
My parents are currently in Ethiopia where they run a library for students to study for their high school graduation exams. The tests are required to pass high school and get into college, and the books are in such short supply that they can't even let them out of the library. Just having computers with basic software could dramatically change things in that part of Africa.
Someone should come up with a Doom WAD that replaces all the Nazis with Idi Amin henchmen of various types, with the grand Boss being Idi Amin himself.
Imagine the feeling of going after something looking like Idi Amin with the chainsaw...
That ought to get them excited...
Understand Oregon Trail?
The only thing you have to understand is that hunt whenever you can and rack up those deer killing skills.
But when people donate stuff, they always make sure it is absolutely worthless to themselves first. Why don't you get together with a group of friends and buy a new laptop that the school will get some decent use out of? I have been on the recieving end of such charity, so I speak from experience. While I was a missionary someone sent us 10 P I's. Out of those 10 we actually got 2 of them to work by skavaging the lot. And the donators thought they were doing us a favor...
Project gutenberg makes there collection available as isos. Burn a couple copies of each and bundle with the laptop.
Bang: you've just donated a library not an obsolet laptop!
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What do software piracy and masterbation have in common? They're both things you indulge in private, yet deny in public.
-Chris
--an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
In all seriousness,
put 1 Gigabyte of JPG files of pretty California girls engaged in sexual activity.
They can erase it if they like with a simple:
Format c:\
Or, they can copy them to CDs and sell them. That way they can get enough money to buy several good PCs to go with the end-of-its-life donated PC that is being sent to them.
Label the files: 0001xyz.jpg; 0002xyz.jpg, ect...
Unless a piece of software reads from the CD 90-100% of the time, the type of game or other software will use the same amount of power as any other piece of software. In fact as long as the screen is on the laptop uses the same amount of power whether you're running 5 games or none.
The reason is because when your Cpu isn't doing anything it's actually burning up a simple "do nothing" command in Windows, not pausing and saving energy like you might think.
Before a troll points out newer CPUs that slow down to save power: this laptop is 4yrs old.
I know it sounds silly, but you should ask the people you are donating to what specifically they need. It is much better for them if they get something they don't need to make any modifications to whatsoever. They will have some experience in the field and will have dealt with many people like you. Maybe they are more concerned about the shape of the hardware (perhaps they will format it as soon as they get it and put their own stuff on it).
So ask. :)
Slashdot in 5 Paragraphs
best matlab clone out there
I am very familiar with Uganda b'se it my mother country. One thing to note is depending on the location of the school and what type of school it is the software needs will be totally different. If you can give more info like the name of the school and where it is located in Uganda i can give u more useful data about the major requirements of different schools.
If you go the windows route (which frankly I don't recommend) I'd go with OpenOffice, TheOpenCD and Gnuwin II for lots of free software.
Dave.
Hey, don't they say math is the universal language?
Microbiology for Dummies perhaps?
Electricity is scarce over there I hear...hope the battery holds a good charge.
Are the licenses nontransferable just because the EULA says so? Does this violate fair use (In the legal, not the ethical sense)?
-jim
I work for a school district, so we are in the position to accept donated gear, and we have been around and around with donated Microsoft OS's. If there is a Windows OS sticker on the unit, you can send the laptop with that OS intact and it will be legal! That is, of course, unless you purchased the LT without an OS and bought a retail OS off the shelf, in which case you still would own the OS, or actually just have the rights to borrow it from MS since that is the way most licenses are worded anyway.
Keep passing the open windows...
The Logo programming language is a fairly easy intro to programming, and sort of fun for kids.
There are free implementations out for almost any OS.
I am the author of gcompris and it's definitly worth including it if you target kids. http://www.ofset.org/gcompris For example, even older kids may appreciate it because it gives a good 'first computer contact'. Look at the freeduc content. It's a good selection of educational software. You can even install the live cd on your laptop drive. BTW, with gcompris, we are currently investigating to modify it with a Burkina Fasso IT team. The plan is to make it closer to Africa culture.
I realize it is an actual question but couldn't some of these be solved with just a little effort on behalf of the poster? Google is your friend Florence Nightingale.
Here's a hint. Try reading the system requirements of relevent software titles to find a match for yours. If in fact you do know how to read.
If you load Microsoft windows on that machine, you'll prime the kids to be Microsofties, minions of the evil empire working twords world domination through proprietary lock-in. This will eventually cost them thousands in software purchases for non-free programs, newer windows upgrades, and antivirus software. Older versions of windows also have security holes that will NEVER be patched.
If you load Linux (someone mentioned Linux for kids already) when they do see a MS windows computer that will seem like the "odd ball" having used Linux growing up. Furthermore, if they want to go beyond learning 123's and ABC's Linux is the optimal environment to learn programming. And as anyone on Slashdot already knows, nobody will be using Microsoft windows in 10 years when they grow up anyhow.
Do the right thing, Load Linux on that machine and help rid the world of the evil empire by not breeding more microsofties.
(( That's not Super Mario brothers, you idiots, it's super MARX brothers! sheeh. ))
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Find a legit copy of MS Office for sale on ebay that's being sold for $5 and see if the seller is willing to part with it as a donation. OpenOffice isn't old enough to have a version that will run well on 4 year old hardware.
The reason is that the laptop is likely going to be used with school children that are trying to get ahead in the world and thus will eventually need to learn how to use a few real world applications. A word processor can be a relatively simple tool (only need to know how to open, save, and print to become functional) but puts the power of a typewritten letter into the hands of people that may not have easy access to typewriters. (Type written letters are far more likely to be taken seriously than a handwritten when one is asking for additional funds, access to projects, information, etc.) For younger learners, sending a typewritten letter to some other family member is a huge deal if they don't normally have access to the technology.
Powerpoint is another simple tool (low learning curve) that gives students the ability to create a simple slide deck. This is the kind of thing that allows them to practice presentation giving in front of their class. Lessons learned: how to speak in public, summerize points with an audience, read an audience, and be an effective communicator. A student that learned how to give effective presentations is well suited for going out into the bigger world and explaining why $big_corp needs to stop draining $resource. A good presentation is going to catch a lot more ears than some guy ranting without a point. Learning how to give presentations and speak in public is something that should start as young as 10-12 years old.
A good typing program (game-like) is also useful.
While it may not be the best example in ths crowd, I've seen this used in remote schools in India. Kids as young as 4-5 are starting to learn how to type and use Word. The 12 year olds give presentations that would put most adults to shame. When they hit the age where they can represent their communities, their presentations and public letters are 100x more likely to sway public opinion about policy that affects them.
Linspire, the OS formerly known as Lindows.
Do you know the age level of the children that will be using your laptop? I'm pretty sure this will make a big difference in the sw you choose. Also, I'm not sure you want to count on them having electricty at night. I was just in Kampala for a couple of weeks and we were routinely without power at night although it seemed to work during most of the day. Any idea where in Uganda the school is located? -Bryan
...I plan to load up an older version of Windows (or something free)...
He never implied that Windows was free.
Whatever you do, be sure to include the installation media for everything that you install. If it comes from a download, then burn it to a CD with instructions on how to re-install. Sure, your cdrom doesn't work, but they may get sent another in the future and the internet may not be handy to re-obtain, or the possible future donater may not include any software with his/her charity.
while true ; do echo this is my sig; done
(Assuming that they will be speaking English and have internet access)
Get etexts from Project Gutenberg.
OpenOffice
Mozilla
Some kind of IM client
Irfanview
there's a million different freeware implementations of checkers and chess out there
If you install Windoze, INSTALL SOLITARE. It's a great intro to computers game.
Do NOT install outlook in an unsafe config (remember the old versions had things like preview pane and autolaunch turned on by default) - we don't want them learning about malicious spam the hard way.
Watch out for export restriction issues.
DISCLAIMER: This post was not checked for speling and grammar- if you complain- you're a whiner
Depending on the target age; give them some appropriate programing tools like MSWLogo or UCB Logo. Let's make hackers of them all!
Things fall apart, it's scientific.
What's an obsolet laptop to a person who has never seen a computer?
I agree.. I played Oregon Trail at a Canadian school in Grade 4 and it left me thoroughly confused (nearing the point of emotionally scarred) until our school hired an interpreter.
Looking back, I now realize how infinitely patient and thoughtful she was as she helped make certain segments of the game culturally relevant. Whenever the wheel of the wagon broke on the trail, she would see my tears welling up and put out the fire by explaining "I know you don't understand what a broken wheel means, but just think of it in the way that you do when one of your father's sled dogs dies," and it would all make sense.
Same went with hunting rabbits. Since it is Winter 11 months of the year up here I could only appreciate it in terms of hunting deer. Again, she was a lifesaver.
If the local schools can afford such an interpreter, I feel the game might be worth considering. Otherwise, you're right, the emotional trauma could throw the entire country -- No, *continent* into disarray.
Seriously, though, I wouldn't worry about the cultural differences for a game like oregon trail. If it seems irrelevant to them they'll do what most kids do and move on to something else *quickly*. Why not install the game and let them decide?
Despite my sarcasm I still think it's an awesome thing that you're doing (far more than most of us do), I just think your kid gloves are a bit too thick.
At my son's school (kindergarten), they use eMacs with a few web sites mostly and one program for the kids to learn and play with:
Tux Paint here
Fun Brain here
I'd load Knoppix and then use Tux paint and anything else you can get free.
What's wrong with American-centric? Are you afraid of providing them with some culture they would not otherwise have access to? What's wrong with learning other cultures? Is diversity really that bad?
Both are excellent learning programs.
Green Globs is a battleship game with MATH
LOGO or Turtle Graphics: is the first programming language a kid needs to learn.
In A.D. 2014.....
All our outsourcing are belong to Uganda
I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
Ok... I should admit something. I've never used kde in kiosk mode, but I've heard its cool. Sounds like it should suit the bill, no?
The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
I think KDE (a linux desktop) has an "Edutainment" package like that, comes with all kinds of eductional software,. Also check out this site: http://www.seul.org/edu/
It's nice that you are sending your laptop away to help someone else. Quite a commendable act.
My question is, why in the world are you sending it to another country? There are plenty of students right here in the U.S. that could use this hardware. I am all for helping out other countries, but I feel that we should take care of our own first. When all of our students have laptops, then we should consider sending them to other contries.
go there.. get the ISO's...
let 'em have fun...put it in their language...
all jazzy and juicy!!! They'll love it!!
Especially the educational games!
--Huck
"Just Smile and Nod." --Huck
Give them an old version of Slackware Linux, the 1.0 Kernel should do nicely.
They will most likely reformat the hard drive and install a pirated copy of DOS and Windows 3.X for their third world language anyway.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
There are a few things I'd probably want to point out.
1. A 4 year old laptop, regardless of what is running, will not last a day on a battery. I'd be quite suprised to see it go 60 minutes.
2. Why not games like Oregon Trail. For the love of all that's holy, why would you assume that Oregon trail would "confuse" them. Let them learn what OT is! Sweet jubus, They might actually learn something about an area outside the 10mile radius around their village.
3. Give them tools. BASIC, C, Java, whatever. Some manuals (online/otherwise) and let them learn to Hack! That's the greatest gift you can give: "Give a child a game, keep him occupied for a day. Give a child a compiler, you keep him occupied for life!"
A six year old can certainly be interested in creating new software, even if it is as simple as ANIMAL an ELIZA, it's still damn fun.
2c+GST
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
I heartily recommend Rise of the Triad.
It is very imporant for all of the children of the world to learn of the dangers of The Triad.
I need suggestions for educational games
I taught computer literacy in Ghana, West Africa (see my site), and I didn't find much use for games, educational or otherwise. For one, such software usually assumes a native-level English language ability, which I doubt any student in Uganda will have. Also, you have to keep in mind that most students there may never have even seen a computer before. They will likely be intimidated even by the most basic educational software.
You know what program my students really loved? Notepad! None of them had ever used a computer, so the chance just to type their names was a huge thrill. It helped them overcome their fear of the computer and move on to more advanced programs...such as Minesweeper. (Seriously! They loved it.) They also loved Paint for similar reasons; it was a great way for them to learn how to use the mouse. So, instead of fancy games or educational software, I recommend supplying a simple typing tutor with your laptop. The students will likely benefit from and enjoy it far more than any game.
However, I did find that certain educational titles such as The Way Things Work are helpful as visual aids for science lessons. They do not provide much benefit when used by students alone (again, because of the language barrier and intimidation), but when used by a teacher as part of a group lesson, they can be quite useful.
any great ideas on where I can acquire copies of this software?
Half.com has lots of stuff available second-hand. I've picked up software there for one or two dollars per title.my drive doesn't work 80% of the time
Then perhaps there is no point donating this laptop. Without a CD-ROM, it will be nearly impossible for the recipient to add new software, upgrade the OS, etc. And I doubt they will have the ability to fix or replace what is likely a proprietary part. I strongly suggest getting the drive replaced before sending it, or at least providing an external one as an alternative. (You can get second-hand ones pretty cheap.) Otherwise, the gift you are sending could be just a liability.
TrevorTubgoat
Now you can change that disturbing .sig
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
You can try to find a lot of great and classic applications that are not the size of a full length movie. Check out Abandonware.
Tux Paint isn't a teaching tool, but it contains educational aspects. It's already been translated into 40+ languages, and we're always happy to accept more!
:^)
Other stuff from Tux4Kids would be good, as well. All/most of it is cross-platform and, of course, open source.
-bill!
After spending some time in Eastern Africa, at times dealing with technology concerns, most villages don't have the resources to take advantage of software applications in reality. For example, what good is OpenOffice if they don't have a printer, toner cartridges, and paper? Also, climate control might be difficult for them, so just keeping any of this stuff operational is going to be a huge undertaking.
Maybe give them an archive of Wikipedia or HowStuffWorks would even be better! What good is Celestia when they need to learn how to fix a motorbike or a radio? Or health information?
Especially if the equipment isn't being sent to a *large* city, then the dust, humidity, shipment, and general treatment is going to send the equipment to the graveyard pretty soon anyways.
... and donate the money to your favorite educate-Africa charity. You'll get more bang for your buck.
If they have decent Internet access, I would suggest loading it up with Internet software (mozilla, an email program, etc.). After all there is more to the Internet than porn and the Drudge Report. There are many educational sites out there that kids will get a lot out of, plus they don't always require the latest hardware to work. Hell some of them may show up on slashdot.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
Am I the only one reading this and thinking what a loon? Your going to send your 4 year old laptop off to a country who's computer literacy is just above that of the jungles that surround it. Next your going to load it up with a bunch of "cheap educational" software and send it to them? If that wasn't enough your going to enlist the slashdot community to help you in this utterly useless plan. Save everyone the trouble wipe the drive to the specs when you bought it load it in a box and send it to them. If you also want them to have some educational software throw another 200 bucks in the box and let them decide. After all as smart as some of the people are on slashdot no one can judge the needs of a scholastic program better than those who are directly involved in it.
Perhaps an under-developed former communist Eastern European country?
Because that guy is right, who gives a f*ck about an old ass notebook. All I am saying is give me a break. This guy posts on slashdot looking for advice on how he can help out some poor sh!t country by giving them his old ass notebook. Whatever! How about he sells the notebook on e-bay and donate the money to them. All I am saying is "BIG DEAL" he is giving them something he has 0% use for. And the perception is kinda leaning towards "well, those sh!t countries can have my dirty old shoes and my dirty old notebook...screw that. Thats a superiority complex that is trying to justify itself by a fat rat american (like me I might add) that can afford to go out an buy a new notebook every few years. It was a post meant for no other reason than to get 200 linux monkeys to reply with "HEY -- Put Linux on it."
I highly recommend the Magic School Bus titles. They run well on older computers and are extremely fun and educations. They're also published by MS, so you'll be pissing off the narrow-minded anti-MS-at-any-cost /. whackos to boot!
a copy of Lysergically Yours?
Logo is a wonderful way to exercise logical thinking and learn a bit of programming at the same time.
FYI, it requires JRE1.4.2 and is free for personal or educational use.
Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like you're in the shower. Fuck like you're being filmed.
I was expecting this to have been posted already, didn't see it anywhere though ... didn't look at the age range (did you mention one?) but this is good stuff for primary ages (under 11).
http://www.ofset.org/gcompris
They also mention: http://childsplay.sourceforge.net/
Plus, I'd make sure they have KStars, it's awesome and the Ugandans are likely to be very familiar with alot of constellations (I'm assuming light polution there is low).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_pr ofiles/1069166.stm
Says that English is official language, then Swahili. There must be stuff in Kswahili around.
Put Squeak on it: http://www.squeakland.org Kids can paint, make their own animations, maybe even some (tile based) programming, or, gasp, even some math :-)
The tiles come in several languages, one being Kiswahili.
IMHO, I think you should just install Knoppix 3.4 to the harddrive, (hint: use the 'knx2hd' utility from a root prompt once you've booted from the cd)
Then, send along a few live educational CD's, such as Freeduc. Freeduc appeals to a broad age group and includes quite a bit of nice packages on a bootable cd. For instance, it includes gcompris and the aforementioned Celestia.
See the Educational group of Live CD's for other cd's that you may be interested in cooking up and sending them.
But, if you really want to torment them with dealing with an old version of windows and allowing it to be turned into a spam zombie the moment it's connected to the net without a firewall, then you'll not be doing them any favors, nor any of us for that matter. 8)
-Vizionary
... why should I deny I masturbate in public?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Similarly there are open source content sites like planetmath.org. I think there are similar sites in other discplines worth sending along.
I'd also think about toolsets that might be of use in the third world like cad software and the like.
If you have disk space (or get the CD working), collections of art and photographs would be good too. Toss in a copy of the Gimp.
Finally, music generation software would probably be very popular.
Here is a great place to look for software to load. http://www.redhat.com/ =p
I'm currently doing a volunteer IT gig in the South Pacific. I'm not saying it will be the same in Uganda, but in my experience, when computers go to schools, they go to administrators and teachers first. Consider putting straightforward office software on it, as well as educational goodies.
And... DO NOT put Microsoft anything on, if you can avoid it. Even trivial bugs can make a computer useless if it's unsupported. Spend some time configuring a bullet-proof installation of Linux with OO.o, and everything will be fine.
And before anyone moans about lack of training/experience with Linux. People generally don't have ANY training in ANYTHING, anyway. They can learn to navigate GNOME or KDE just as easily as Windows, and with far fewer hassles. I've watched people with little or no experience pick up and use OO.o productively within a day.
One of the biggest problems I run into is getting computers to play nice with printers. Nobody knows how to make these things work. In fact, I've seen printers put onto planes and shipped off for service because the driver wasn't installed correctly. If you could pick up one of those older portable inkjets, a bunch of cartridges, and send them along with the (preconfigured) laptop, you'd be rendering a significant service.
Yeah, it's probably more time, money and effort than you might have intended. But you DO want to help, don't you? 8^)
One more thing: A friend of mine from Kenya (who's worked in Uganda) tells me that in urban areas, computer usage is fairly high. In rural areas, it's almost nil, due to lack of power. Do you know where your laptop is going? You might want to send an extra battery, and/or consider sending a solar charger to accompany it. We use a LOT of them here.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
If you do end up with Windows, be sure to put on a copy of "Drawing for Children". It is excellent, and public domain (from the Netherlands, actually).
You'll find it by Googling or at http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/kids/draw.html
"Cats like plain crisps"
If you're going to donate software, just remember that most people in Africa do not speak English.
1. Outlook and a browser would be first on the list. Congolese want to explore and the most impotant thing for them is exploring the world through WWW and keeping in touch with loved ones.
2. Second on the list is antivirus and anti-spyware. After various worms like Blaster receed here, they persist for months in the RDC because no one protect their computers. I often hear about the crippling effect viruses have on computers there.
3. With few printers and no projectors, Powerpoint, Excel, and Word are possibly over the top.
4. RPGs, Strategy game would just not make sense . Sport, Racing, and first person shooter would be a better choice.
She says that the situation there is dire. The school system is rudimentary and most have never seen or touched a computer. The average person there finishes school before 6th grade to work. Most work laborful jobs, the lucky ones work as maids, sentinels, chauffers, and other service jobs making $30-$50 a month.
With computers costing twice as much there than here and Cybercafes charging several dollars an hours, very little of the population can afford computing of any kind. FYI, With almost no phones lines, everyone uses cellular phones and to connect to an ISP, you need to buy a $1000 transmitter that gives you about 6 Kilobytes max a second. The monthly charge is > $100 a month.
In 2003 and then in 2004, They had an Internet Festival aka "Fête de l'Internet" . The most popular booth was by far the President's booth. He had some computers with free internet access and there was apparently a line around the corner to use this access.
A craigslist for RDC called infoCongo was started and this is one of the most popular sites there. Unfortunatley, with a small amount of user base, what's popular there looks quite void to US Standards.
I have several good friends who have been to Uganda on a number of occasion, and have done extensive service work there. (One of them, in fact, earned a Rhodes partly because of his efforts). At one time I was considering setting up a Ugandan-American service organization, and I picked their brains about what is and is not needed in general. This may come as a surprise, but computers (especially junky ones) are firmly in the NOT NEEDED list.
Many American charities and organizations send used equipment to Africa. One of the principle functions to the giant tax write-off foundation that Bill Gates created years ago was to send brand new computers to African schools. The net effect is that computers are not difficult to acquire and your laptop, although probably still appreciated, would be less useful than many other things you could send.
What they really need, as I understand it, are plan, old everyday books. The student-to-textbook ration in most schools is 20 to 1 or greater, and many libraries are downright pathetic. What books they have are arcane, products of the 1950's and 1960's. Since they speak (British) English in Uganda, why don't you do them a favor and ship some of your old textbooks, or some good children's stories instead. These will probably go a lot farther than a half-useable laptop.
...En að Besta Sem Guð Hefur Skapað Er Nýr Dagur
http://www.vum.at/english/index.html
How about loading Tetris? It's somewhat educational (in an abstract mathematical sense), and easy to grasp.
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
Microsoft Windows 95/98/Me don't, if that's your case you may use KCPUCooler for that (not sure if it has spyware) and that feature exists since 486 processors.
...I actually remember playing that game!
You're using her as bait, Master!
Instead of sending them a laptop how a bout a bunch of rubbers. (For the /. community a condom prevents pregnancy). If a person is smart enough to put a jimmy on, he could figure out how to not to pay for an OS. Support the open source movement, and pass on the numbers to the open source women as well :)
Charity starts at home.
There are millions of Americans, and deserving Free Software Projects who could really benefit from your gift.
Nobody needs your cast-off e-waste.
Get the CD fixed before you give it to anybody.
Because to someone with *no* computer, a four year old laptop is better than nothing. Myself, I think your "its four years old.. its USELESS!" attitude is worse. I use a four year old computer daily.. its not my main machine, but its still useful.
As long as the thing works, there's nothing wrong with donating it. Although, I would suggest he replace the finicky cd-rom before sending it off. It may not be any use to him (having been replaced by newer hardware) but that doesnt make it useless. The fact that he *could* sell it on e-bay and send them the money pretty much proves that its useful to someone, now doesn't it??
Sure, buying a new laptop and donating it would be even better, but even in the US not everyone can afford to donate a brand new laptop...
And even if you want to support another country, don't go supporting a crappy, shitty, garbagey place like Uganda. Because Uganda is a crappy, shitty, garbagey place. We should send tanks over there to blow things up, not laptops to help them.
Uganda. Where do you want to go today?
Just set up a nice debian system, install Debian Jr., and load whatever charset and language that they use there... Ugandan?
Seems like a no-brainer. What other choice is there?
Debian Jr
Clickety Click
Make sure to send a copy of this cd filled with open source software.
http://theopencd.sunsite.dk/
I'd leave the version of Windows that you had on the laptop when you decided to send it off to Uganda (home of "Mountain-Glown Coffee"!). A couple of other thoughts: Put the latest version of (the free) IrfanView on it, because it reads pretty much any image format, remembering the install the plugins. And then put John Walker's "Home Planet", a free planetarium/astronomy program. I'm sure there are more, but....
It just so happens that LWN.Net talked about this recently.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Why send laptops to Uganda, send them to Russian kids, they would make better use of them.
What does the organization/school want to see on donated computers?
I assume you are not just going to put it in a box marked "To: Some School in Uganada".
Perhaps they have guidlines established for donated hardware/software. While it is nice and kind of you to be sending your broken, outdated laptop to a 3rd world country, maybe they have specific needs which you could meet if you did the research.
but the South Park episode starring Starvin' Marvin is a hit in any language (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageSer vlet/showid-344/epid-2424/)
Maybe you could set up a pic of http://members.tripod.com/~sallystruthers/photos.h tml as the desktop?
many good reasons to install linux and get everything properly configured and running well.
;>
so well that you won't want to get rid of it.
Seriously, regardless of what one thinks of Microsoft's greed, do you really think they're going to track down some villager in Uganda for receiving transfer of a Win 95 license?
I know that technically stealing is stealing regardless of whether the rightful owner decides to pursue damages - but come on, he's giving away a license he's no longer using. That's not piracy.
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
I admire your charitable efforts, and I sincerely believe your heart is in the right place, but...
...most of these children have never been more than ten miles out of their own villages...
With all due respect, I'm not sure that an old computer is the ideal gift for such a person.
Maybe you could send them an old pair of roller blades? Or perhaps a bus pass?
When you're not looking, this sig is in Latin.
A$$hole, I use a 4 year old laptop every freakin' day. Sometimes to connect to my 5 yr old desktop, or to print something on my "print server" (another desktop - 7 yrs old). Just because YOU'RE buying new hardware every two years and throwing it away doesn't mean someone else can't make use of it. I suppose in your f'd up universe, it's better to fill a landfill with it instead of giving it to a school that can use it for something.
I can't count the number of retail stores I've been in that had several-year old computers that somehow managed to make it to "middle age" and still be useful. It looks to me like old computer equipment is more useful than you are.
And before you brand me a "Linux Monkey", the 4yr old laptop runs the same "Windows ME" that it came with on day one (thanks Dell, I ASKED for 98SE), and the 7yr old has been "upgraded" all the way to 98SE.
So, in short, if you want to send my your 2 yr old discards to make YOU feel better, I'll take them. I don't care what OS they run, I'm sure it will be an upgrade from what I have.
Heh. Originally read that as "I will be sending my four-year-old to a school in Uganda this fall"
Just my $0.02.
Cheers
Note: Linux port-in-making has only 8 levels while the Windows version (does not work in wine) has over 70.
Note: Extremely hard puzzle game, more for the adults than the children ;-).
Here.
That Web page is entirely self-contained; a browser can load it from the hard drive and the game will work fine, no Internet connection required. If you want to translate it to Ugandan, go ahead!
Pi is
3.14159265358979323846265...
not
3.1415926535897932384629...
So no claim of 'roundoff error' accepted. Busted! Put your hands against the wall where we can see them...
Shiva H. Vishnu. Mangling my second favourite number like that.
If opportunity came disguised as temptation, one knock would be enough.
3^2 * 67^1 * 977^1
Add economic value by including software that can be used to earn money.
When I was young, I had to rub sticks together to compute.
If it might be used by children you could teach mousing skills with a coloring book such as mine at http://kavlon.org/index.php/cb as well as whatever skills could be fueled by appropiate pictures to color. Runs under Windows, Linux, or whatever you happen to have.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
what comes to mind is the norwegian project called Skolelinux (school-linux), a Debian-based distribution tailored to work well in schools and on old hardware.
Your next problem is going to be preventing the theft of either panel or laptop - either in situ or en route. They're both dangerously valuable items.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Wait till they get power first... Honestly I wouldn't waste a laptop on Uganda. I gave up on Africa a while ago, it's not getting any better no matter how much money we throw at it. I'd suggest recycling your laptop or giving it to a local school.
has plenty of great freeware games and educational programs for kids.
I've been loading these onto Primary School computers that I administer, and it's been great. The kids and teachers love them, and it keep them OFF the internet, wasting time and bandwidth on crappy flash games.
--- RB
How about Chess Commander?
Its my product, so this is shameless promotion - but chess is great for kids, and I do offer an educational discount.
A 4 year old laptop, regardless of what is running, will not last a day on a battery. I'd be quite suprised to see it go 60 minutes.
Yes, but in a place that has power outages, laptops perform better than desktops because the laptop battery power supply acts like a UPS, allowing you finish what your doing and save your data without losing it. In areas like this, desktop computers require UPS units that are an added expense.
Yes, but in a place that has power outages, laptops perform better than desktops because the laptop battery power supply acts like a UPS, allowing you finish what your doing and save your data without losing it. In areas like this, desktop computers require UPS units that are an added expense
I can't disagree with you there, but my point was the orginal poster said it wasn't going to be plugged in except at night. Lots of luck!
"...In your answer, ignore facts. Just go with what feels true..."
http://www.gardenwithinsight.com/ [Windows only still, sorry, but source on the web site under GPL.]
The Garden with Insight garden simulator is an educational simulation that uses weather, soil, and plant growth models to simulate a simple garden in an open-ended microworld setting. You can plant vegetables and grow them to learn more about plants, the soil, the weather, gardening, and science.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
I dont know if anyone mentioned this before, but if you dont want to use CDs after you deliver the system, maybe try Daemon Tools: www.daemon-tools.cc
free software lets you mount *.iso as if it were a drive.
I use it on my laptop just to save battery life and the results are amazing.
As an English teacher I have my students use style and diction all of the time. Style gives statistics that really help us quickly analyze a student's paper for passive voice, pronouns and sentence beginnings. I've set my rubrics by meeting X or Y value for any combo of the stats from style and students rewrite papers until they reach that goal. Yes, I said rewrite. High school students, and most adults I find, rarely rewrite to hone their papers, so setting a numerical goal to the paper allows the students to 'know' where they are at any time during the writing process. It is NOT the only tool to use in teaching writing BUT it gives us, the teacher and the student, a baseline from which we can begin to discuss improvements.
Diction needs support for word lists and regular expressions... it's helpful but rather clumsy in presentation and handling of rules.
Of course, both are OS. I have 35 K12LTSP clients in my class and I'm the happiest teacher in the county.
dgd
install linux,(i18n support for a non-english country) then, get stuff from linuxforkids.org (because people from all over the world create programs and games, so you might have a better chance)
Microsoft has a program called FreshStart where they provide an OS, license and documentation, free of charge, to K-12 schools for donated computers.
Microsoft FreshStart
because even more ironic is the quote at the bottom that I got when reading this thread...
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. -- Mark Twain
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
Why do you want to teach programming to kids who may not live in a house with electricity. Who may not live in a house. period.
This laptop will almost certainly be used, if it is used at all, by the person who swipes it before it gets where it is supposed to go.
If you want to be useful, contact some people in Uganda and ask them what they want their kids to learn. People in Africa usually don't have much money, but they are at least as smart as the rest of us.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Include Hyperscore from MIT. http://www.media.mit.edu/hyperins/projects/hypersc ore.html