How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

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How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby Strimkind » 22 Sep 2011, 00:28

I have a Tangerine iBook that I want to setup for my daughter.

Besides games (I have lots of those), what software exists to make the OS more kid friendly. I am hoping it will be enough to allow my 3 year old to use it without too much assistance.

Any software suggestions or hints would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Laptop: Late 2006 2ghz Black, Pismo 400, 1400c x 3
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby PowerPup » 22 Sep 2011, 01:52

You are probably looking for something like At Ease or Kid Desk. Kid Desk is like At Ease but gives a much more kid friendly environment.

Kid Desk Video
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby Hrududu » 22 Sep 2011, 03:17

At Ease basically makes the Mac like iOS. Super simple for kids since you give them a screen with large buttons to push.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby BarnacleGrim » 22 Sep 2011, 13:22

I was hacking along quite nicely in System 7 at that age. But to get her started At Ease sounds like a good idea, then limited Finder and lastly full Finder as her reading improves. Kids learn these things very fast.

Edit: I remember OS9 having At Ease-like functionality built in, look in the control panels.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby Dog Cow » 22 Sep 2011, 14:11

Simple Finder? Should be a Preferences option in the Finder itself.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby ClassicHasClass » 22 Sep 2011, 16:55

Barnacle, you might be thinking of the Multiple Users control panel.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby Scott Baret » 22 Sep 2011, 17:00

You will want to use Panels in OS 9. Very similar to At Ease.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby LCGuy » 23 Sep 2011, 00:04

I second Panels - its built into OS 9, and you can set it up in Multiple Users. Very easy to set up, and very easy for her to use.

Re: KidDesk - when I was back in Grade 7 they put that on all the Macs at school. It barely allowed you to do really...anything. I graduated that year, and I think they phased out the Macs shortly after that.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby CJ_Miller » 24 Sep 2011, 01:48

My son has navigated my Macs well ever since he was about 5, which was when he was coordinated to use the mouse. I try to expose my son to multimedia apps which aren't too menu-heavy. Stuff like Spongefork, where you can draw squiggles which are rendered as audio. And Pixeltoy, where you can draw shapes and colors which cycle through a generative video display. Simple drawing and painting apps. Anything which gets him to interact and be creative rather than passively consuming books and videos.
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby ken27238 » 24 Sep 2011, 21:42

how about Kid Pix Deluxe? I still play with that a bit, its still fun to use.
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Power Mac G4 450mhz, 786mb of ram and 18 and 100gb HD, Booting 9.2.2, 10.2.8 and OS X Server 1.2
Power Mac 8100/100: 138mb of ram, 1gb hd, running 7.5
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Re: How do you make OS9 Kid Friendly

Postby Strimkind » 25 Sep 2011, 15:42

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I will start with Panels and I will make sure to have Kid Pix Deluxe and other suggested software on it.

It will take time, but I hope to have it setup in a week or two.
Laptop: Late 2006 2ghz Black, Pismo 400, 1400c x 3
Duo: 230, 280c, 2300c x 3, mini dock x 2, Duo Dock II
Desktop: LC, LC 475, G4 Cube, IIfx, Umax C600, PM 8600, G4 1.4ghz DA, Mac Mini 2011 i7 2.5ghz
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