after waiting for months my 3 elonex ones arrived, too late for back to school start. I'm desperately trying to get some basic educational software for my disabled daughter. Basic literacy and numeracy, key stage one. Searched Internet and as new linux user I'm lost. tried to download some linux software off sites to no avail. Can I only use, elonex software. they are not being helpful and after serveral phone calls with no return calls, I've given up with them. Can anyone help please.

We're all in the same boat with the Elonex ONE. As a teacher I had hoped to evaluate how useful these were over the summer - but didn't get mine until I started back to work. I tried to install better software with little/no success. If your daughter has a disability of any sort - whether a physical disability such as hearing or visual impairment etc, a learning difficulty such as dylexia, discalculia or whatever there is now an obligation for the education system to provide suitable facilities to enable her learning. This is something I am constantly pointing out to my managers. If your daughter is not provided with the things she needs (following an assesment of her needs which is, I understand, a legal entitlement)you could probably sue the school/college/university under the disability discrimination act (DDA). Look up the DDA on the internet, read through the stuff and see how it relates to her. Note any key points and quote the most relevant bits of the DDA to anyone obstructive. If you do this you'll probably get much better things for your daughter. Helen

pennylane, I've been looking around for some answers for you. So far, I haven't found anything promising. These two links are possible places to look for software and advice regarding the Elonex One. They might have some specific suggestions for you. http://elonexone.blogspot.com/ http://www.littlelinuxlaptop.com/ From what I understand, the Elonex One runs Linos, which is their own Linux distribution. Wonder if it's possible to install some other distribution on it. I'm sure there are basic learning tools the kind that you're looking for. I'll get back with more details and links. Could you please tell me if you have any other computer/laptop.

pennylane, the software I'd recommend is Gcompris: http://gcompris.net/-en- Unfortunately, a lot of people have demanded this on the Elonex One but there's no response yet. The ideal solution would be to dump Linos -- the Linux distribution running on your Elonex One and using a Live CD distribution. Since the Elonex One doesn't have a cd-drive, what you'll have to do is use a USB pen drive to run some other Linux distribution like Puppy Linux. There is good documentation easily available and you can get a pen drive for about $15- $30. I'm sorry but at present, the only option is to either use some other distribution on your Elonex One, or use some other machine

Thank you for trying to help me out here. My daughter had an IT assessment in school two years ago when she was 6 but the criteria was set very high and because she could not type with two hands she did not meet the criteria for a lap top ? Yes it's madness and I constantly battle with Services to have all her needs met, so this didn't really surprise me. After years of fighting they are doing another assessment this term, but they drag their feet knowing that going down the legal route for Parents can be so stressful that parents gtive up before it reaches tribunal stage.. Families with disabled children have this cat and mouse game played on them all the time, so we resort to our own resources in the end. I'm pro inclusion and mainstream but the adequate resources and training have to be in place for it to work..and they're not.. Being strapped for cash I opted for these lap tops for my daughters......what a mistake I made... I have dyslexia myself and find technical instructions very difficult to understand so downloading anything is a problem for me. I use a desk top and windows so downloading with 1 click of the mouse is the most I have had to do. Linux, BonEcho and Samao are a mystery to me.... People are trying to be so helpful but I just don't understand all theis techno speak. I have a flash drive and thought that I could download via my desk top but even the Linux sites that I have been on only have softwarre that is not suitable for the Elonex ONE and ONE+. My 8 year old has a ONE, my 2nd daughter has the ONE+ and my son has a ONE. I have now managed to connect Wi Fi to them all and they can get on the Internet. My 8 yr old can not see CeeBeeBies because she has no flash and teenage daughter can not connect to hotmail on her ONE+ because she has no java script. A box pops up which says consult your browser's help page and so I've searched for about a week for the Saramao help page with no luck. And flash 9 can not be downloaded on to my younger daughter's ONE...... I'm just about to give up and I am not surprised that people are already selling them on ebay.......

pennylane, you are right. There is no support for javascript or flash on the Elonex One. So your daughters can't get to any of those websites. Software for Elonex One is limited and so you can't get anything that you do want. The Elonex One was designed for kids much older as I understand and thus it has almost all the software they'd need to use, but nothing for younger kids like your daughters. If you're interested I can help you set up Gcompris on your Windows machine. But the best and the easiest thing to do would be to use a live cd. A live cd means that it runs on your computer without installing anything. That is, you put the cd into the cd-drive and the computer boots from it and gives you a working Linux enviroment. The Freeduc-cd project, is designed for primary school students. It has mathematical and reading/writing tools to help kids. You can let your 8 year old play with this on your desktop for the time being, till there is better software available for the Elonex One. http://www.ofset.org/freeduc-cd