Qimo

Last Updated: 02/05/2016 By: BillM

Qimo's developers announced on January 30, 2016 that Qimo was "retired". Although Qimo may be available online, all development and support has ceased.

Qimo (pronounced kim-mo) is a lightweight Linux distribution, based on Ubuntu, and designed for use by young children. Qimo 2.0 uses Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as its foundation. XCFE is the interface used by Qimo because it is fast and lightweight. A dock at the bottom of the screen contains icons to all of the educational software for easy accessibility. Qimo is an excellent option as an alternate boot OS where pre-school children may have access to the system as well as older students.

Link to Qimo website -> http://www.qimo4kids.com

Pros

• based on a nice stable version of Ubuntu
• low hardware reqs (256MB RAM, 6GB HD)
• easy to use interface
• fast interface
• includes educational software
• locale can be changed to other languages
• can be run off a liveCD if needed
• entire Qimo install image fits on one CD media

Cons

• there are a lot of updates after initial installation
• not all software is locale based so there may be some English mixed in
• non-Ubuntu updates may be sporadic
• installing on some systems can generate an error requiring installation via liveCD session
• icon dock at bottom (or "task bar") obscures some install-time response options
• may be too simple for older students or those who have experience with other distros.