Good setup for a family linux box?
 

I've got a good friend who's a doctor. He's got 2 kids, one 6 the other 12(?) and they both like using the internet. Both his kids are fairly comfortable using computers (as kids often are).

He says they've been using Windows98 and it's just rubbish as his kids keep saving different preferences etc etc and tweaking stuff. Linux of course does proper multiuser, and I reckon they might be better off with it - BSD or Slackware might not be appropriate though ...

Like many parents, he's worried about his kids seeing pictures of ladies and animals and such things that we have no problem with (right? :D). So I'm really looking for recommendations for censorship, childwatch, fleshblocking software - you know stuff to stop you looking at p0rn.

Also any suggestions for kids programs preferably with a learning element - I know they're out there and yes I can use google but first hand testimonials are always good for this one.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks all
Bert

check out: http://www.linuxforkids.org/

Educational games for kids.

kde has the kedutainment package that has a few things for kids. the planetarium program called kstars is excellent .

Check out the free Hosts file at www.smartin-designs.com . These are simple, plain text lists of THOUSANDS of porn sites that you copy and paste (as root) into /etc/hosts, with their IP addresses all set to 0.0.0.0 . This makes it so that if someone tries to connect to those sites, the connection attempt just goes in a circle and is unable to connect. Great when I have company staying in my guest room, where the computer is.

The really nice thing for me is that the Hosts file includes thousands of those insidious, persistent cookie-setters and trackers like doubleclick. So when using the Hosts file, the banners never load, those cookies never get set, and surfing goes a lot faster. And the Hosts file isn't software you're running that can be buggy or slow down your system.

That's very cool, tigerflag!

linuxforkids is just the sort of thing I've been looking for too!

Thanks, guys!
Bert