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?"

Comments

Games don't vary power consumption

[SoopahMan]

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.

Debian Jr. (duh)

[The_Dougster]

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