Purple Computer – Turn an old laptop into a calm first kids computer
Hey HN, I'm Tavi. I built this for my 4-year-old. He and I used to "computer code" together in IPython: typing words to see emojis, mixing colors, making sounds. Eventually he wanted his own computer. So I took an old laptop and made him one. That IPython session evolved into Explore mode, a REPL where kids type things and something always happens: "cat * 5" shows five cats, "red + blue" mixes colors like real paint, math gets dot visualizations. Then came Play mode (every key makes a sound and paints a color) and Doodle mode (write and paint). The whole machine boots straight into Purple.…
What it does
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, I'm Tavi. I built this for my 4-year-old. He and I used to "computer code" together in IPython: typing words to see emojis, mixing colors, making sounds. Eventually he wanted his own computer. So I took an old laptop and made him one. That IPython session evolved into Explore mode, a REPL where kids type things and something always happens: "cat * 5" shows five cats, "red + blue" mixes colors like real paint, math gets dot visualizations. Then came Play mode (every key makes a sound and paints a color) and Doodle mode (write and paint). The whole machine boots straight into Purple. No desktop, no browser, no internet. It felt different from "screen time." He'd use it for a while, then walk away on his own. No tantrum, no negotiation. Some technical bits: it's a Python TUI (Textual in Alacritty) running on Ubuntu, so even very old laptops run it well. Keyboard input bypasses the terminal entirely via evdev for true key-down/key-up events, which lets me do sticky shift and double-tap capitals so kids don't have to hold two keys. Color mixing uses spectral reflectance curves so colors actually mix like paint (yellow + blue = green, not gray). Source is on GitHub: https://github.com/purplecomputerorg/purplecomputer
Does the same job
all alternatives →- ASA storybook designed to teach kids about how computers work2024 · lostlanguageofthemachines.com · ▲132
I’ve been working on a unique storybook designed to teach kids about how computers work, and I would love to get your feedback. Set 500 years in the future, the story follows two kids – one a robot, the other a human – as they explore the workings of what to them is ancient technology: our present-day computers. I’ve aimed to keep each story short and engaging, sprinkling in humor and illustrations to captivate young readers. As an open-source project, you’re also welcome to check out the source here: https://github.com/yong/lostlanguageofthemachines
- CLColor.lol – Fun AI coloring page generator for adults and kids2024 · color.lol · ▲5
I built Color with my wife Jessica, who is trying to break into the AI scene as a product designer. This is her first AI product, and she designed it from the ground up to be fun for non-technical folks who don't have any experience or interest in AI. There's WordMode, which is your traditional text-to-image image generation prompting experience. Then there's KidMode, where you create new coloring pages by selecting a series of image icons like "Bear", "Baseball Hat," and "Glasses". It's super fun to try with littles (2-5 years old), they love it. There's something magical about selecting a…
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