ubuntu setup for family

[Yaka]

as im very new to linux. and having replaced the pc in the living room from win2k
to Ubuntu. im looking for advice on how is the best way to go about setting it up
for the family. most evening the kids will be using it to play the odd flash game maybe check cbeebies site etc and i'll use it time to time for the odd scumvm game and mp3/movie playback.

i am basically looking for the best way restrict access to some unsuitable sites site or a program like net nanny for Linux


thanks for any advice given

 

[BillytheImpaler]

I'm not sure about the net nanny-like software but in order to get it to play most media files you'll need some codecs. You should try Automatix if you haven't done so yet. It makes it a snap to install media players, codecs, some drivers, Java, and Mozilla plugins.

 

[Ladforce]

hi, there is a plugin for firefox called foxfilter where you can set keyword filtering etc. maybe of some use to you

 

[Fillado]

In a terminal:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree amarok vlc

flashplugin-nonfree gives you flash there and then, amarok is (IMO) the best music player for Linux - when you try to play an MP3 it'll tell you it doesn't have the codec and then offer to download and install it for you and vlc is the best for playing any type of video file/DVD

 

[likwid]

Actually, the latest version of ubuntu, feisty, features automatic codec installation. That is, when you try to play a video file/stream, and the codec doesn't exist, it will prompt you whether to search for codecs and warn you of the legalities.