Woozle: New page: ==Navigation== computing: computing for kids + Linux : Linux for kids ==Overview== Linux offers a lot more fine-tuned control of how computers are set up, including who...

2007-02-18T19:49:18Z

New page: ==Navigation== computing: computing for kids + Linux : Linux for kids ==Overview== Linux offers a lot more fine-tuned control of how computers are set up, including who...

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==Navigation==
[[computing]]: [[computing for kids]] + [[Linux]] : [[Linux for kids]]
==Overview==
[[Linux]] offers a lot more fine-tuned control of how computers are set up, including who is allowed access and what they are allowed access to. There is even a particular distribution of Ubuntu aimed at kids – [http://edubuntu.org Edubuntu] – but it is designed more for group-educational contexts than for home use. (For example, it assigns fixed [[IP address]]es by default rather than using [[DHCP]].)

Handy remote-control commands:
* {{linuxcmd|sudo}} {{linuxcmd|shutdown}} now
** forces the computer to shutdown immediately, terminating all activity (especially useful at bedtime)
* {{linuxcmd|telinit}} 3 ; telinit 5
** not sure of the details, but this should end the current GUI session without shutting down (n.b. phealy says telinit 5 won't work on Ubuntu, so just telinit 3 should suffice)
* {{linuxcmd|ps}} -u <u>username</u>
** shows what processes the user is currently running; you can {{linuxcmd|kill}} any inappropriate games
* {{linuxcmd|last}}
** Shows logins and other system events for the current month, with timestamps and durations; see [[2006-10-15 sample output from 'last' command]]
** '''last -f /var/log/wtmp.1''' shows last month's log
* {{linuxcmd|lastlog}} shows a list of everyone who has ever logged in, the date/time of when they last did so, and for how long they were logged in.
To be able to view what kids are seeing remotely (incomplete instructions):
* on the kid's machine:
** edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
*** inside '''Section "Module"''', add '''Load "vnc"'''
*** inside '''Section "Screen"''', add '''Option "PasswordFile" "/root/.vnc/passwd"'''
*** save the changes
** as root, run [[vncpasswd]]
* not sure what happens next; does something need restarting? Presumably you also need to run a VNC client on your machine, and that will need parameters...
==Wanted Information==
A very useful thing which I'm pretty sure Linux has built-in capability to do but which I'm not sure how to invoke is: setting up certain log-ins to only be allowed during certain hours of the day.

Linux for kids - Revision history

Woozle: New page: ==Navigation== computing: computing for kids + Linux : Linux for kids ==Overview== Linux offers a lot more fine-tuned control of how computers are set up, including who...