I’m thinking about building a desktop with one of my kids and I would really prefer to put Linux on it. My wife is not a fan of the idea, however.
I’m wondering are there any good Linux distros/utilities for children that include parental control features and things like that? And that are easy to use for a child who has only used basic Chromebooks in the past?
For reference the child is under 12.
I built my kids potato computers from the time they were 3-5, which was during covid. They need computer skills nowadays, and it put them at an advantage for covid school. We got them on java Minecraft which was huge for reading, typing, and some basic math skills (they figured out multiplication for crafting things like doors). I made a chart which had icons of things they want, with the word next to it, so they could search and type in creative.
We used Ubuntu Mate. It’s simple, stable, and familiar. They do NOT have sudo on these boxes. As we’ve advanced, they now have firefox (behind a pihole which upstreams to opendns’ family protect), gimp (with a wacom tablet!), inkscape, calculators, tenacity, libre office, and they’re starting to get into some cad to make things to 3d print. You have to come to terms with doing a LOT of patient hand holding, but it has paid off dividends.
Thanks for the advice. Yes I absolutely want her to have the opportunity to learn more technical stuff and be able to explore and play games. Also lan parties for games.
I just want some guard rails because we have issues with managing screentime and things like that.
My setup is a bit extreme, but here are my guardrails:
- All users have the same UID’s on every system. I’m 1000, wife is 1001, son is 1002, daughter is 1003. All these exist on all systems. Our primary group is “family” (gid 10000). Our files are all owned by user:family. This matters because we let them have access to the share of things like home movies and pictures, and I have a TrueNAS with an NFS mount that their user folders rsync to nightly for backup. If you wanna get crazy, you can put in a whole LDAP/freeIPA setup, but that’s a lot (and I did all that as a learning experience).
- They don’t have the account passwords. I have their password, and if they want to use it, the wife or I have to type the password. When we want them off, superkey+L to lock the computer, and if they reboot it comes to a login screen.
- If you really go this route, and go the whole LDAP thing, you can also tie that into apps like Jellyfin. I have a huge library of movies and shows, but there’s a folder called “KidMedia” and I literally manually symlink things to that folder if I want them to have access. I set up the phones/tablet with their own jellyfin accounts, and when they log in they only see their media. I also NFS mount that share, so for the same reason, they can watch stuff on VLC from the computer with access control. We also do that with nextcloud, so we can use nextcloud talk to chat internally. The tablets/phones have built in android controls, so the idea is once they’re on their device, they’re free within the ecosystem I set up and they don’t enter credentials other than device unlock.
In that case, I agree with the others and say leave this up to the router - not only is it far more easier, it gives you/your kid the freedom to switch between distros/OSes, and you can even swap computers without worrying about having up the controls all over again.
A friend of mine was in the same situation as you (he’s also a Linux nerd), and he ended up with the router thing, and after extensive research, he decided to get a Synology router as it had all the features he was after (mainly limiting access times, monitoring and reporting). See: https://www.synology.com/en-global/srm/feature/device_content_control
And for extra filtering, you could also set the upstream DNS on the router to a filtering service such as Cloudflare for Families, AdGuard DNS Family etc.
My daughter had to take her laptop to school last week for her MAP tests (Nobara), and all the other kids with Macs, Chromebook or Windows were fascinated with her computer.
She came home pissed that they all wanted to try her computer and wouldn’t leave her alone 🤣🤣
I’m trying to pick a linux distro for a noob and they said they wanted a kde de like my arch + kde setup. I recommended them trying out kubuntu. I’m taking a look at nobara and idk, I just feel like there is more help for debian base distros out there.
Nobara is basically Fedora with all gaming tweaks already made for the user.
I know I don’t have to tell you how Arch is not noob friendly.
Having said that, there are plenty of Debian based distros with KDE out of the box. KDE Neon is Ubuntu based, for example.
But I hear it’s not stable enough and might not be noob friendly.
Fedora, in my opinion, is super stable. But that’s just me. My daughter has had 0 complains so far, I running it on an old HP Spectrum X360 with and Nvidia card). I’d be hard pressed to go back to anything Debian based (until the new CosmicDE is out, then I’m taking whatever new PopOS they choose to put it on for a spin).
As for the OS: any usable version of Linux will do. The thing about computers for kids is that they won’t learn anything if you don’t give them the real deal. Unless they’re 3 years old, I would stay away from the kiddie Linux distros. Chances are they won’t need to install much.
I was able to use a computer when I was 10 years old and that was full fat Windows XP. Taught myself Windows 98 and 2000 in English not long after. The generations before me were programming in a command prompt around that age, if their families could afford computers of course. The eighties proved that ten year olds can teach themselves assembly if they’re motivated, you don’t need to dumb things down for many kids.
Parental control is a problem, though, specifically the online stuff. Various distros offer various amounts of control but I don’t think anything comes close to what proprietary tools offer. Even proprietary tools can’t monitor Discord calls or detect suspicious Snapchat messaging, though.
Your best solution here may be to go full Windows 11+Microsoft everything; Microsoft’s parental controls work pretty well and they don’t require installing some shady third party tooling. In my personal experience, being able to work Windows will transfer pretty directly into being able to use Linux.
The best defence you may be able to mount, long-term, would be some network intelligence tooling to detect what kind of websites are being visited (DNS traffic ) and detect basic circumvention techniques (DoH, VPNs). I believe the most important part is that you don’t make a secret out of the fact the computer is monitored, that you gradually reduce restrictions over the years, and that your kids can come to you with any question or bad experience without fear of “punishment” in the form of stricter monitoring. Nothing creates distrust like finding out your parent is reading your messages or the idea that they will isolate you from your online friends when you’re found out.
What you could do, is configure an old, second computer that can’t go online with Linux and tell your kids to go ham. With some additional setup for snapshots and such (on either Windows or Linux), you can recover from almost any failure, so you can even give root access without too much risk.
Put some games onto it, let them mess around, under the understanding that only the more closely monitored Chromebook/computer/smartphone/tablet is allowed to go on the internet. That way, the kids can have a space of their own where they can explore computers in general risk-free, while you can guide them in the online stuff. This can be as simple as using an old desktop without a WiFi card that you occasionally plug an ethernet cable into for updates. You may need to work out some compatibility mess if you go with Linux, but if you use Steam you should be able to load decades of games onto that thing for cheap, more than enough to keep kids occupied I would say.
Being open and transparent about what you’re blocking and why is key. I fully agree. If your kids trust you, it makes it super easy for you to keep them safe.
I would give them full on Linux, just put parental controls on the router.
Oh I looked into it recently and discovered endless os, it has from scratch parental controls, an offline encyclopedia/Wikipedia lite an other educative softwares and games. You can use it totally offline as it seems to be made for educative purpose. Check it it could be interesting for your purpose. (You can also download and install more stuff for it of course)
It’s freeware of course. Their installer took ages to download, there are torrents of their full version (12Gb)
I second endless os. Parental controls, locked down system, comes prepackaged with many educational apps.
Can’t you install the Basic image and then add desired packages that are included in the Full image afterwards?
I’d go raspberry pi for kids - gpio projects are fun and linking computer to physical world.
The newer ones are a bit pricey for what they are though.I abhor the idea of things made “for kids”. I learned to program when I was 10 on a Commodore 64. And we would wear an onion on our belt which was the style at the time… Sorry, where was I?
I’d just install a normal distro. Let the kiddo break shit and learn to fix it. Keep backups for recovery and probably isolate the system on your network for if/when kiddo does something stupid. Talk about security, being responsible, etc. We learn through mistakes not by playing in safe walled-gardens.
The thing about that is that I’m convinced the computer itself should be completely normal, it’s just internet access that should be monitored (up until a certain age). Take a look at the creepy shit kids posting at r/teenagers have to deal with, or the abuse that goes down in seemingly safe Discord servers.
If I ever have kids and they want to see what happens when they delete /etc, I’ll encourage them (assuming I took care of backups). Let them mess around with Scratch or C or Javascript or whatever. The software on the computer is the safest part of interacting with a computer these days.
I agree on just installing some normal distro, but it shouldn’t be left completely unmonitored when it comes to websites. I wish the internet I experienced as a kid was still around, but it isn’t, and that sucks.
This was my fathers approach when I was growing up. I was basically allowed to do whatever I wanted offline. But, outside of a small handful of websites (a couple gaming websites maybe), everything online needed his permission. This gave me a really solid understanding of how things worked, troubleshooting, etc, while also not letting me see anything too heinous.
Son, is that you? I had a linux machine setup for my kids with a reverse proxy. I let them have a handful of websites that were whitelisted and they could go directly to. Everything else was off limits unless I ok’ed it and added it to the list. It still boggles my mind at the scoffs I would receive from other parents, and even my spouse at the time.
I learned to program when I was 10 on a Commodore 64. And we would wear an onion on our belt which was the style at the time… Sorry, where was I?
Totally get that, but we live in a much more dangerous and predatory computer landscape these days. It would be foolish not to take some precautions.
True, but nothing beats out active parenting and communication. Like has been said, you can set up filters all day long (and you should), but the second the kid learns how to install a distro from scratch, they’ll soon have unfettered access the the entire Internet. The only sensible approach is to talk with them about what’s out there, the dangers of it, and how to navigate the internet safely. Also too, browse with them. Spend time with them guiding them on the wonderful parts of the internet, and help them develope good habits on being a good netzien. Eventually they’ll find the seedy parts of the internet, but hopefully by then they’ll be less interested in it because it isn’t taboo, it’s just wrong.
I appreciate your input, I was also teaching myself to code by the time I was in middle school, but this is a different situation and some guard rails are needed to manage screen time and app usage, etc.
I’m not so much worried about her wrecking the computer and more about her wrecking her brain with unfettered access to the Internet
Does it need to be connected to the internet? At that age, I think you could get away with installing stuff locally that they could play with.
IMO you should create guard rails that you intend her to eventually understand and circumvent. Nothing is more empowering for a kid interested in tech than thinking they figured out how to get around the guard rails. Just make sure you can detect when it has happened.
Do something locally on the machine to block internet access. Maybe something as simple as turning off the network adapter. One day she’ll either learn enough about the system to remove the guard rails, or she’ll find other interests.
Personally, I’d use the router to limit access to locations and times. It’s more reliable, easier to do, and lets you be less picky with your distro.
Using a DNS level content blocker like Adblock DNS is a great option, IMHO, and is super easy to setup.
(For the record, parent of 8 and 11 yr olds)
Which isn’t a bad idea, but I’d still want some kind of parental controls like Android has to limit screen time. I don’t need Netflix.com to be all or nothing, but I certainly don’t want it to be four hours a day either.
Having your router limit internet connectivity time is effectively the same thing these days. There are some things they can do offline but not much anymore.
That’s exactly right. My kids’ VLAN goes down at 8pm every night, and they are aware of it. So much so that they usually just shut down at around 7:30pm and start asking for dinner.
Evidently, I audit their network usage regularly and if I find anything concerning, I sit down with them and my wife and talk about it (have found 1 instance in which my boy was looking for pirated games for Linux, and my daughter was looking for “pranks for school and how not to get caught” 🤣).
All in all, I think we nerds have an easier shot at parenting than most people.
As a father of three, the best parent filter is oversight, communication, and guidance. People want plug and play automatic parenting on the devices their kids use, but the honest truth is nothing beats actually talking to the kids about what’s out there, the dangers, the consequences, and guiding them as they explore. Keep an eye on what they do, and intervene if they start down the wrong rabbit hole. Good luck my friend.
If I may ask, why is your wife not a fan of the idea?
I think it was mostly the parental controls we aren’t familiar with on Linux and I think she thinks it would be too “hard” for her.
I don’t agree obviously
I see. Yeah there’s definitely a lot of options especially if you’re willing to block stuff at the network level.
What does your wife have against linux? All the porn pop up viruses are on windows, and getting your kid on apple is setting them up to be in credit card debt for the rest of their lives.
Even my senile ass grandparents use Linux and they don’t complain about every little thing like they did with windows. My dad wanted a Mac but free so after hackintosh being too much learning curve for him I used some random Mac inspired configs from the internet for one of the Linux DEs that I’ve never personally used, also no more babysitting and virus induced full wipes.
Parental controls I would do at the router level because eventually kids will surpass you in computer skills. Or maybe they won’t because of seo and ai articles taking over the web.
Don’t overthink this, it’s a kid. She/He would not be yet biased like you or your surroundings. About wife - I don’t she would be against teaching kid how a computer works, maybe you explained it so she heard “hey can our kid spend more time in front of a screen and with my geeky thing” :D.
I have a little smart sister (now 9 yo) that use Linux, it started with her making a mess on Windows login (parents laptop) so I asked if she wants “her own space”, but instead of new account I installed whole Fedora on second partition. Why Fedora? Because It works and looks nice, there really is no need for “educational”, just install education programs on top.
There are basic parental controls in vanilla Fedora, but honestly there turned out to not be needed, she don’t hook too much after first shock of tech and like two cries she learned to stop when we say to stop, at least most of the time. Depends on the child, I suppose some really need a timer, that’s up go you, nothing bad with that. I have showed her some games too, she loves everything Tux. I teach her how computer works this way, showing more and more programs with time and every new icon of Krita, GCompris, Goxel or Scratch is new great thing. She has Windows at school, but everything works on her space too. Well almost, LibreOffice does not has ‘online cliparts’, so instead of arguing with 9 year old I told that program at she uses at school is not available on this OS (after a while of teaching she knows OS is something something wow the desktop looks like :D) and showed how to download search copy from the browser. With being honest and just responding on every little childlish curiosity question she already knows more about computers than her mother. I just made it normal for her, as after using Linux for years it is normal for me.My six year old daughter’s laptop died recently and I replaced it with a small micro PC. I burned isos of 7 or 8 mainstream distro live images on to USB sticks, then let her spend 2 or 3 hours on each of them over a few days, and let her pick her favorite. I even let her use the pre installed Win 11 OS to compare. Fortunately she hated it. She ended up picking KDE Neon, but also liked Pop!OS and Mint Xfce. I think getting to explore around and make her own decisions in the process helped bond her with the computer and the OS in a deeper way than if I had just stuffed something on there.
My dad got me a Linux laptop as a kid (I was 10 I think?), and I am so grateful that he did.
To be fair, I already had a huge passion for computing, and it meant that I would constantly toy around with Linux, breaking things and learning how to fix them.
I have been a Linux user ever since, and I feel have learnt so much about computing because of it.
(I started on Ubuntu 12.04, with the glorious Unity desktop)
You probably want EndlessOS
Puppy?
When I was a kid I remember being confused at what the installation questions were.
If I were my own parent, I’d explain how the OS can sort itself (FHS, Windows, macOS). This gives confidence for installing and inspecting software.
Next, I’d explain how drives work and how they’re represented in different systems. That means partitions and formatting too.
That would then take me to explaining what’s involved in OS installs, erasing everything, dual booting, retaining personal files, etc.
