Ubuntu Wiki

   1 [18:01] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2010/10/12/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
   2 [18:01] <MichelleQ> Hi everyone.
   3 [18:02] <MichelleQ> I was asked to give this session on Qimo, for anyone who might be unfamiliar with it, or have questions, etc.
   4 [18:02] <MichelleQ> Qimo's an Ubuntu variant, for kids 3-10 years old.
   5 [18:03] <MichelleQ> Please, those of you around, feel free to ask questions; I'd much rather do this as a Q&A session.
   6 [18:04] <MichelleQ> Qimo's incorporated a basic set of educational games, and is designed to be extremely child friendly.
   7 [18:05] <MichelleQ> For those of you who might be interested in *why* Qimo came to be, we designed it for our son, who at the time was three, and barely verbal.  He is high-functioning Autistic, and struggled with multi-step processes.
   8 [18:06] <MichelleQ> So we made it as non-complicated as possible, putting the launcher on the bottom, with really large icons.
   9 [18:07] <MichelleQ> It's also designed to run on old hardware.
  10 [18:07] <MichelleQ> We, being mhall119 and myself, run a charity locally that recycles computers and gives them to at risk kids - and as such, we needed something that would run on very outdated hardware.
  11 [18:08] <ClassBot> anneboleyn asked: What are the packages to install?
  12 [18:08] <mhall119> starting in 10.04, we have some packages in the Universe repository
  13 [18:09] <mhall119> if you install qimo-session, that will install everything (including Xfce)
  14 [18:09] <mhall119> you can also install just qimo-games, which will only install the games
  15 [18:09] <mhall119> and qimo-wallpaper, that has the lovely backgrounds from Qimo
  16 [18:09] <MichelleQ> I suppose I should mention the names of the characters, Qimo & Illa.
  17 [18:09] <mhall119> Qimo is also available as a CD ISO
  18 [18:10] <ClassBot> bilalakhtar asked: How would you compare this to Edubuntu? In which ways is Qimo different from Edubuntu? In which ways would you recommend Qimo over it?
  19 [18:11] <mhall119> we're actually working with the Edubuntu team to include Qimo as a session option for Edubuntu
  20 [18:11] <mhall119> we'll be meeting with them at UDS-N to work out all the details of that
  21 [18:11] <MichelleQ> Edubuntu is more designed for a classroom use, with classroom management tools, etc.  Qimo's intended more for home useage.
  22 [18:11] <mhall119> so they really compliment eachother
  23 [18:11] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Why is it called Qimo?
  24 [18:12] <MichelleQ> The name is derived from a song by Bob Dylan - "Quinn the Eskimo."
  25 [18:12] <MichelleQ> Our son is Quinn.
  26 [18:12] <MichelleQ> We sang it to him since his was itty bitty, and when we set out looking for a mascot, something related to him seemed to fit.
  27 [18:13] <ClassBot> mick_laptop asked: is this also a live cd like other ubuntu os cds
  28 [18:13] <MichelleQ> yes
  29 [18:13] <mhall119> yes, it's a live CD based on Xubuntu
  30 [18:13] <mhall119> and you can install from that CD too
  31 [18:13] <mhall119> you can get it from our website: http://www.qimo4kids.com
  32 [18:14] <ClassBot> anneboleyn asked: Can I directly download the .vdi file from somewhere, or is it available only as a torrent?
  33 [18:14] <mhall119> the .vdi was actually made for us by someone else
  34 [18:14] <mhall119> so whatever options they offer
  35 [18:16] <MichelleQ> Something to take note of:  Qimo is made to be stand alone, without internet access, and as such, has no filtering system.  If you want internet capabilities, you'll want to install something like Dan's Guardian before letting kids online.
  36 [18:16] <ClassBot> n3gbz asked: did Qimo spawn the recycling program or is that a separate venture?
  37 [18:16] <MichelleQ> they arose sort of hand-in-hand
  38 === simar_ is now known as simar
  39 [18:17] <mhall119> originally I was customizing every install we did into a simplified interface and installing the games
  40 [18:17] <MichelleQ> mhall119 stripped down Ubuntu and handed it out to a handful of friends.  When the kids loved it, he proposed that we give old computers out more frequently.  We then launched both the charity, and then Qimo, within a relatively short period of time.
  41 [18:18] <mhall119> doing the customization by hand was time consuming
  42 [18:18] <mhall119> so initially I was just going to make a customized Ubuntu
  43 [18:19] <mhall119> but once we started down that road, we decided to keep going and make it into it's own thing
  44 [18:19] <MichelleQ> We decided that a customized Ubuntu just wouldn't do, so we came up with the notion of QImo.
  45 [18:19] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Do you know about any schools that use Qimo?   If so how many and where?
  46 [18:19] <MichelleQ> Gosh, there's a bunch.
  47 [18:20] <MichelleQ> I know of a Romanian orphanage that uses it.  I know there are a couple of schools in South Africa that use it, and at least one in Central America.
  48 [18:20] <mhall119> we regularly hear from teachers and school administrators who find it and tell us that they're going to be using it
  49 [18:20] <mhall119> just last week we heard from an IT admin from a school in Poland
  50 [18:21] <mhall119> so, we have no hard numbers, but we know it's making it's way around
  51 [18:21] <MichelleQ> I know that the library system in Reno NV uses Qimo on all of it's children's computers
  52 [18:21] <MichelleQ> we don't have a great way to track the numbers, but as close as we can figure from download numbers, etc, we'
  53 [18:21] <MichelleQ> ve got close to 100k kids using Qimo.
  54 [18:22] <MichelleQ> We get word regularly that Qimo is expanding into new territory
  55 [18:22] <MichelleQ> Any questions?
  56 [18:23] <mhall119> http://ubuntuone.com/p/Jzz/ is a screenshot of the default desktop from Qimo 2.0
  57 [18:23] <mhall119> can everybody see that?
  58 [18:23] <MichelleQ> Our new character, the polar bear, is Illa, whose name is an Inuit word for friend.
  59 [18:24] <mhall119> http://ubuntuone.com/p/Jzz/ is the new Illa themed background
  60 [18:24] <MichelleQ> She was inspired by our daughter's favorite lovey is a polar bear.
  61 [18:24] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: How many schools  or home users have you visited that used Qimo and where?
  62 [18:25] <MichelleQ> we've delivered personally to four schools/residence facilities in our community, and delivered close to 30 computers into individual homes.
  63 [18:25] <MichelleQ> that's just the two of us.
  64 [18:25] <ClassBot> anneboleyn asked: Have you seen Qimo being useful for children younger than three
  65 [18:26] <MichelleQ> Depends on the child - our daughter took to it about 2.
  66 [18:26] <mhall119> gCompris and Childsplay in particular have some games that even the very youngest can play
  67 [18:27] <MichelleQ> There are some games included that are for rudimentary mouse/keyboard skills
  68 [18:27] <mhall119> gCompris has a couple that teach them to use the keyboard and mouse to interact with the computer
  69 [18:27] <ClassBot> n3gbz asked: great graphics; who designs them?
  70 [18:27] <MichelleQ> My brother-in-law is a graphics artist, and donated his time.
  71 [18:28] <mhall119> he also did the new mascot for Xen.org
  72 [18:28] <ClassBot> mick_laptop asked: (related to the other comment) why do people never focus on younger children? (I'm developing educational material for children under 3)
  73 [18:28] <MichelleQ> mick_laptop: I wish I knew.  I can only assume that people make the assumption that a child under three can not be capable of operating a computer.
  74 [18:29] <MichelleQ> I argue that as long as he/she is in a safe environment, and is allowed to play monitored, for 5-10 minute stretches, that any child over about 18 mnths can learn something interesting.
  75 [18:29] <mhall119> part of the problem is in communicating with the younger children how to interact with the game, and what the objectives are
  76 [18:30] <mhall119> for the very young, I've found that 'gamine' is a great way to get them started
  77 [18:30] <MichelleQ> Gamine is a great little cause-and-effect game.
  78 [18:30] <mhall119> it has no objectives, and will respond to any input from the keyboard and mouse
  79 [18:30] <mhall119> so there's nothing to learn
  80 [18:30] <ClassBot> IdleOne asked: How many languages is Qimo translated to?
  81 [18:31] <mhall119> there is very little text that is unique to Qimo
  82 [18:31] <MichelleQ> IdleOne: We include a number of Ubuntu's language packs.
  83 [18:31] <mhall119> so, any languages that Ubuntu's packages are translated into, we also get
  84 [18:31] <MichelleQ> Spanish, Portuguese... a handful of others.
  85 [18:31] <MichelleQ> We're limited by space on the CD, more than anything
  86 [18:31] <mhall119> the ISO includes most of the major languages we've seen interest from
  87 [18:32] <mhall119> others are available to download
  88 [18:32] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: You mentioned how Qimio was designed to be used offline, why was it not designed to be used both offline and online?
  89 [18:33] <MichelleQ> We felt that it would be best for the kids and families we were working with, specifically.  Most of the families that we work with through the charity are low income, and don't *have* internet access.
  90 [18:33] <MichelleQ> So, we decided to not include filtering, etc, in favor of other games for the kids.
  91 [18:33] <mhall119> also, like she mentioned earlier, CD space is a big constraint for us
  92 [18:34] <mhall119> we already strip a lot of packages out in order to fit the games we ship
  93 [18:34] <MichelleQ> We've discussed using something like Dan's Guardian in the future, and we've worked with the KidZui people in the past for filtering.
  94 [18:34] <mhall119> there is also Gnome Nanny now
  95 [18:34] <mhall119> which we will look into
  96 [18:35] <ClassBot> anneboleyn asked: Where can I get Dan's Guardian? I can't find it in the repos
  97 [18:35] <mhall119> 'dansguardian' is in the Universe repos
  98 [18:35] <MichelleQ> dansguardian.org
  99 [18:36] <mhall119> if you plan on running it locally, you'll need an HTTP proxy too, like Squid or TinyHttpd
 100 [18:36] <mhall119> there are a lot of tutorials online for setting it up
 101 [18:37] <mhall119> any other questions?
 102 [18:38] <MichelleQ> Included as standard for Qimo are GCompris, which is a fabulous collection of games ranging from basic rudimentary to electrical engineering.
 103 [18:38] <MichelleQ> Child's Play, which has a really good pac-man style spelling game
 104 [18:38] <mhall119> and flashcards
 105 [18:38] <MichelleQ> Laby, which is a rudimentary python programming game
 106 [18:38] <MichelleQ> and then TuxPaint, TuxType, and TuxMath.
 107 [18:39] <mhall119> Laby, for those who aren't familiar, is a really great way to introduce kids to programming
 108 [18:39] <ClassBot> anneboleyn asked: In your opinion, what is the maximum age for a child to use Qimo?
 109 [18:39] <MichelleQ> Maximum age really depends on the child.
 110 [18:40] <MichelleQ> We've tested consistently with kids up to about 12, a handful a little older.
 111 [18:40] <MichelleQ> I've also been made aware of Qimo being used for adult transition programs, for special needs adults.
 112 [18:41] <MichelleQ> For those of you looking for online filtering for your children, I strongly encourage you to look at KidZui.
 113 [18:42] <MichelleQ> Are there any other questions?
 114 [18:43] <mhall119> Any thoughts on where we should take Qimo?
 115 [18:43] <mhall119> We'll be planning version 3 at UDS-N
 116 [18:43] <MichelleQ> Anything you'd like to see in the future?
 117 [18:44] <ClassBot> sebsebseb asked: Why is Qimo based on Xubuntu, rather than Ubuntu, or even another distro?
 118 [18:44] <mhall119> going back to the charity, we had a lot of older hardware
 119 [18:44] <MichelleQ> we're talking OLD.
 120 [18:44] <mhall119> the majority of what we had when we got started was Pentium 2 or 3
 121 [18:44] <MichelleQ> I broke the manufacturer's seal on a 386 about three months ago.
 122 [18:44] <mhall119> if we had 256MB of RAM, we were lucky
 123 [18:45] <mhall119> so we needed something light-weight, but still user friendly
 124 [18:45] <MichelleQ> Xubuntu fit that need
 125 [18:45] <mhall119> as light-weight as Ubuntu is compared to Windows, it's still slow on some of those
 126 [18:45] <mhall119> We toyed with using Fluxbox or Openbox at first
 127 [18:46] <mhall119> but most of the computers we were donating were going to be the _only_ computer in the house
 128 [18:46] <mhall119> which means we wanted them to be usable as a normal desktop by the adults too
 129 [18:46] <MichelleQ> And so we wanted the computer to be user-friendly for adults as well
 130 [18:47] <mhall119> We are keeping an eye on Lubuntu, but for right now it just doesn't fit our need
 131 [18:47] <mhall119> we're also planning on making a gnome-bases Qimo session for including with Edubuntu
 132 [18:47] <ClassBot> mick_laptop asked: have you partnered w/ any other groups (or developers) with similar goals?
 133 [18:47] <MichelleQ> We've been working with the Edubuntu group
 134 [18:48] <MichelleQ> and we've been in contact with other charities who do similar things.
 135 [18:48] <mhall119> the Edubuntu devs have been especially helpful to us, and we can't thank them enough
 136 [18:49] <mhall119> that said, we'd welcome any support we can get, be it in development, infrastructure, testing (especially testing)
 137 [18:49] <MichelleQ> Additional hands are always welcome
 138 [18:49] <mhall119> or recommendations for new games
 139 [18:50] <mhall119> any feedback we get helps us make Qimo better
 140 [18:50] <MichelleQ> It is just mhall119 and myself, and I'm not a programmer, by any means.  Any additional development would be wonderful.
 141 [18:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
 142 [18:51] <MichelleQ> Any additional questions?
 143 [18:52] <mhall119> Qimo has a Launchpad page, where you can file bugs and ask questions: https://launchpad.net/qimo
 144 [18:52] <mhall119> we also have a freenode channel: #qimo
 145 [18:52] <mhall119> where you can feel free to stop by and chat
 146 [18:52] <MichelleQ> As people upgrade, our donations have followed.  Where we were getting Pentium IIs & IIIs a year ago, we're now getting IIIs and IVs.
 147 [18:52] <ClassBot> mick_laptop asked: how long will you be focusing on older hardware and what do your typical donations look like (re: hardware)
 148 [18:53] <MichelleQ> We're starting to see laptop donations, which has been wonderful.
 149 [18:53] <mhall119> as i mentioned earlier, a gnome-based Qimo session will be in the works for Edubuntu 11.04/Qimo 3
 150 [18:53] <MichelleQ> But most everything we're still getting is within the Pentium III generation.
 151 [18:53] <mhall119> whether or not we'll replace Xfce on the standalone ISO, that we haven't decided yet
 152 [18:54] <ClassBot> IdleOne asked: Are there any games that teach how to speak/read/write other languages?
 153 [18:54] <MichelleQ> Not at the moment, though we'd like to incorporate some kind of second-language learning game
 154 [18:54] <mhall119> there are such apps in the Ubuntu repos though
 155 [18:54] <MichelleQ> There are a couple of games where you can custom-make your own flashcards, and I suppose you could make other-language cards.
 156 [18:54] <mhall119> 'parley' teaches reading and writing
 157 [18:55] <MichelleQ> Any last questions?
 158 [18:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
 159 [18:56] <MichelleQ> If there are no remaining questions, we'll wrap this up.  Thanks everyone.
 160 [18:57] <mhall119> thank you everyone