Maybe setup system backups with picka backup or sth like that so that if something brakes you can easily restore everything.

My niece, same age. no problems so far

I installed linux mint xfce on an old laptop for her.

we set it up together and she loves it. Themes icons and all that jazz.

I have hidden and removed items from the start menu. Just to keep it simple.

I also set up some aliases so she just has to open a terminal and type “update”. she loves that. Thinks she’s a hacker now and impresses her friends.

I have set up an alias to call bleachbit, so she just types “cleanup” in the terminal, types her password, and she can watch bleachbit do its thing. I explained to her how important it is to keep her machine clean, like housework at home.

I must say, Kids are a nighmare for attracting viruses and malware using windows, its not the best age to suddenly be thrust into the slop of the internet.

They are young and excitable and will click on anything and everything that catches their attention without giving it a second thought.

Its a big plus not worrying about viruses and malware on linux.

To stop her having free reign and accidentally seeing porn on the internet and protect her from the worst crap, I installed Mullvads DNS on linux and in the librewolf browser.

Mullvad have a fabulous family dns filter; https://family.dns.mullvad.net/dns-query

here are the options:

https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

I have set the search engine to Startpage

I have also taken advantage of Ublock origin and added loads of these is the: my filters list

just a few of many to stop access to certain websites from the search pane

This one stops amazon links appearing in the startpage search

startpage.##.g:has(a[href=“.amazon.”])

startpage.##a[href=“.amazon.”]:upward(1)

This one stops ebay links appearing in the startpage search

startpage.##.g:has(a[href=“ebay.”])

startpage.##a[href=“.ebay.”]:upward(1)

I spent more time on this than anthing else;

I can’t speak very well about it because I’ve never used it myself but I kind of always the dream of giving PuppyOS to my future daughter if I ever had one. I know sounds delusional but I found the OS looks cute and maybe works.

Make her install Gentoo in her own and make sure to berate her at every step /s

Personally I would go with something that has KDE so she gets fancy animations and stuff, but Mint is a perfectly valid choice too (cinnamon also has some cool stuff to toy around with but not as much imo). Just make sure to show her how to install stuff, and put adblockers and shit in the browser. Also highly recommend installing some of the linux games.

supertuxcart

While mint is neat, Ubuntu or any distro with gnome would work in the “very graphical, large icons” sense.

I dont know about mint, but debian does security updates automatically and just politely asks for a reboot now and then, perfect for an “unattended” device.

As the parent of a ten year old, make sure you check in with the parent. I’d want to make sure there’s some web guardrails and some time limits.

Mint is good, just go with that.

You are familiar with it and can most easily help her if/when she needs it.

I installed and switched to Ubuntu around the same age. I’m sure your niece will be fine with Mint. All she really needs to know how to do is to look stuff up online.

I recommend pointing her towards Mint and encouraging her to install it herself. Don’t assume that children are incapable of these things just because they’re children.

Just print out the arch wiki in a series of binders, give her access to a tech recycling center, and a screwdriver set. That’ll learn’er

I’d install it with her. As quick as possible, no lengthy explanation. Installing doesn’t take long. When it installs, you can play a game. Just so she sees that it’s no witchcraft

I’d say go ahead with Mint, MATE edition is my preferred flavor.

Set it up with the Compiz 3D desktop cube switcher thing, and maybe a couple other nifty effects to mesmerize her even more!

Sure she’ll likely end up tinkering more with the Compiz settings and bork the settings a bit after she sees what all it can do, but it can totally be a fun learning experience, and Linux is easy enough to reinstall anyways in worst case…

Here’s what I’d give to 10y/o me.

1. Explain partitions and filesystems (I already knew CPU, HDD, RAM etc)
2. Explain the boot startup process

• and how limited the motherboard’s mechanisms and the pre-OS environment is

3. Hand over:

• 1 working computer with an empty internal HDD (no OS pre-installed)
• 1 USB drive with Debian ISO
• 1 USB drive with Arch ISO
• 1 other internet connected device with a pre-installed web browser

Don’t do this to others.