Emmabuntüs
Linux for humanitarians.
Different situations need different distros. For many users it’s important to having a solid base system that’s around 700MB, making it easy to download. This is usually backed up by a great set of repositories that combine to give you access to almost all the software you need. Other times, it’s really important to have everything you need installed from the start. Perhaps it’s going to be installed somewhere without a good internet connection, or perhaps the users won’t want to install software themselves.
Emmabuntüs fits into this second category.
For recycled hardware
It’s designed for older computers for use by children. It has bucket loads of software in its 3.3GB download. Much of it will be familiar to most Linux users, but there’s also a few unusual choices such as OOo4kids. This, you probably won’t be surprised to learn, is a version of OpenOffice designed for children wiki.ooo4kids.org. There’s so much choice in Emmabuntüs, it can take some time just to get to know the applications.
Basically, it just has a simplified interface to make it a bit more friendly.
Xfce is a good choice for a desktop given the intended audience, and we like that it asks the user if they want a dock at the bottom, and if they want to install non-free software (Flash, etc). If you’re looking at a distro for older computers to use in a school or community group, Emmabuntüs is definitely worth a look. Even if you decide to go with something else, it’s sure to help you find a useful bit of software or two.
Article written by Mayank Sharma for LinuxVoice.