Article by George Norman

On 13 Apr 2009

Following our presentation of the Windows-based Eldy 2.0 operating system that is meant to address the PC usage needs of the elderly (details here), we have an OS that is the exact opposite: Qimo is a Linux Distro that is based on the popular Ubuntu OS and is meant to be used by kids. The lightweight Qimo operating system that you can install or boot from a CD or thumb drive is designed with kids in mind, meaning that you can let your little one use your computer without fear of any negative consequences.

Here are the little bits and pieces you need to be made aware of regarding Qimo: it is a Ubuntu-based Linux distro, it is meat for kids age 3 and upwards, it has carton-like program icons, comes with several open source educational games (like Tuxmath, Tuxpaint, Tuxtype, GCompris and Childsplay), its user interface (UI) is based on Xfce, it has very low minimal requirements.


“Qimo is a desktop operating system designed for kids. Based on the open source Ubuntu Linux desktop, Qimo comes pre-installed with educational games for children aged 3 and up. Qimo's interface has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use, providing large icons for all installed games, so that even the youngest users have no trouble selecting the activity they want,” explains Qimo 4 Kids.

The Qimo OS was developed by a married couple from Florida as part of their Quinn Co charity that specializes in refurbishing donated computers. These computers are then given to children with special needs or children from low-income families that cannot afford high-end, powerful systems. One of the consequences is that Qimo needs very little resources to run (just as mentioned above). The system requirements you must meet in order to run Qimo are: 400 MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 6GB hard drive for installing the OS as opposed to running it from the LiveCD.

If you would like to get Qimo, a download location is available here.





Tags: Qimo, Linux, Ubuntu

I Hope you LIKE this blog post! Thank you!

What do YOU have to say about this

Popular News

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.