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[RetroGamingUK]

I remember getting my first computer (Windows 95 PC) back when I was in high school and it came with a bunch of CD-ROMs covering all kinds of interesting subjects like Microsoft Encarta and Microsoft Dinosaurs, I loved them.

These days, there doesn’t seem to be a modern equivalent.

I’m looking at getting my daughter her first computer as I want her to learn to use technology but I don’t want her turning into one of those addicted “iPad kids”, so I’m leaning towards a desktop like a Mac Mini.

I also don’t want to give her free roam of the internet, or even Wikipedia at this point.

Are there any modern digital equivalents to these old CD-ROMs, or is it all websites now?

 

[thief183]

I'm sorry to say this, but Internet is the natural equivalent.

Otherwise here in Italy the wellknown encyclopedias have some kind of digitalized form.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I'm sorry to say this, but Internet is the natural equivalent.

Otherwise here in Italy the wellknown encyclopedias have some kind of digitalized form.

What would be the best websites? Something like natgeo.com ?

 

[T8SC]

Pornhub for biology, Neogaf.com for everything else (Except politics).

 

[Dr.Morris79]

My absolute Bane of charity shops in the early and late 2000's...

Bloody everywhere them things.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

My absolute Bane of charity shops in the early and late 2000's...

Bloody everywhere them things.

These CD-ROMs were my first encounter of computers (including the Windows 3 machines and Macs in primary school) so they just seem totally normal for me.

Standing back and looking though, I guess they were just a small blip that died out by the millennium once most people were online.

Shame though, most were good quality, interactive, and were neat packages.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

These CD-ROMs were my first encounter of computers (including the Windows 3 machines and Macs in primary school) so they just seem totally normal for me.

Standing back and looking though, I guess they were just a small blip that died out by the millennium once most people were online.

Shame though, most were good quality, interactive, and were neat packages.

They were certainly a good source of information back then before the internet took off. From my personal use back then though I just used computers for gaming, anything else was either books or hands on. I had semi normal 90s teenage life (Knee deep stripping engines, wiring up stereos for max Bass, rewiring random household things etc etc, the usual guff)

RetroGamingUK
These days you'd probably be better off looking for .PDF files on various subjects that would be interesting to your daughter, there's probably pdfs on just about anything going

Although, and this is just what I'd do. Buy an external drive and try and get those old discs to actually run on the system. I think that'd be interesting in itself sitting there with her trying.

It's worth a try.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

RetroGamingUK
These days you'd probably be better off looking for .PDF files on various subjects that would be interesting to your daughter, there's probably pdfs on just about anything going

Thanks for the advice.

I think at this point I’ll research some good kids websites and then just give her a very small whitelist of accessible sites.

 

[RCX]

Maybe a select few youtube channels that focus on specific subjects? You could download videos for offline playback, avoiding the "watch next" problem

I find I learn best through audio these days. Podcasts and audiobooks are great in that respect but I doubt a small child would be the best audience for most of it.

Something like https://www.khanacademy.org/ could be helpful as well

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Maybe a select few youtube channels that focus on specific subjects? You could download videos for offline playback, avoiding the "watch next" problem

It was the interactivity I liked with the old CD-ROMs, especially the 3D model stuff.

I want her to be able to learn to use a computer and get used to keyboard and mouse while both having fun and learning at the same time.

 

[RCX]

It was the interactivity I liked with the old CD-ROMs, especially the 3D model stuff.

I want her to be able to learn to use a computer and get used to keyboard and mouse while both having fun and learning at the same time.

In that case, check out khan academy. They have a lot of stuff that would be a very close proxy for that kind of interactive learning. There's stuff for all ages there as well.

 

[SJRB]

 

[RCX]

I represent the copyright holder of Dora the Explorer. Please explain this!

 

[Drew1440]

I remember a few of these, mainly Maths Blaster, Word Munchers, World Of Flight & Adi's Maths & English.
You could check with the local school and see if they have any online portals that are similar, but like everything else today expect to pay a monthly subscription. A lot of schools use Chromebooks so they're might be something similar on the Chrome web store.
Also, who could forget about Mavis Beacon.

 

[BlackTron]

Yeah I was exposed to these CDs at school but spent 90% of the time dying of dysentery instead.

 

[adamsapple]

The modern equivalent for younger kids is probably stuff like Ms. Ratchel on youtube.

Ms Rachel - Toddler Learning Videos

Toddler Learning Videos and Baby Learning Videos with a real teacher, Ms Rachel! Ms Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones and preschool skills! You can trust Ms Rachel to provide interactive, high quality...

www.youtube.com

 

[Audiophile]

Your friend's parents:

"We have games at home"

The games at home:

 

[AJUMP23]

The modern equivalent for younger kids is probably stuff like Ms. Ratchel on youtube.

Ms Rachel - Toddler Learning Videos

Toddler Learning Videos and Baby Learning Videos with a real teacher, Ms Rachel! Ms Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones and preschool skills! You can trust Ms Rachel to provide interactive, high quality...

www.youtube.com

Have you sen Blippi? Mind numbing


modern equivalent is just youtube.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

The modern equivalent for younger kids is probably stuff like Ms. Ratchel on youtube.

Ms Rachel - Toddler Learning Videos

Toddler Learning Videos and Baby Learning Videos with a real teacher, Ms Rachel! Ms Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones and preschool skills! You can trust Ms Rachel to provide interactive, high quality...

www.youtube.com

Very true

But it’s just passive TV really.

It’s a shame as these CD-ROMs helped kids to learn to use computer interfaces, in fact one of the reasons Microsoft made CD-ROMs was to teach kids to use keyboards and mice.

And what do we have today? “iPad kids” (and teens) that are totally bemused when they encounter the Windows desktop.

 

[BlackTron]

The modern equivalent for younger kids is probably stuff like Ms. Ratchel on youtube.

Ms Rachel - Toddler Learning Videos

Toddler Learning Videos and Baby Learning Videos with a real teacher, Ms Rachel! Ms Rachel uses techniques recommended by speech therapists and early childhood experts to help children learn important milestones and preschool skills! You can trust Ms Rachel to provide interactive, high quality...

www.youtube.com

This is more the modern equivalent of Blue's Clues.

There's no interactivity here. Reader Rabbit and Treasure Mathstorm taught spelling and math while how to use a mouse and keyboard. In fact, trying to punch the numbers into TreasureMathstorm quicker, I also got fast with a calculator.

 

[ReBurn]

How many people did Mavis Beacon teach typing to?

People use YouTube and apps like Udemy to learn stuff now.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I can’t really recommend anything but I want to say good on you for getting her a proper computer. The Mac mini is awesome and will last her years and years.
She’ll learn proper skills instead of retarded tap hieroglyphics app icons to watch brain rot.

 

[AJUMP23]

maybe something like these would similar.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I can’t really recommend anything but I want to say good on you for getting her a proper computer. The Mac mini is awesome and will last her years and years.
She’ll learn proper skills instead of retarded tap hieroglyphics app icons to watch brain rot.

To be fair iPad has come a hell of a long way from the old “it’s just a big iPhone” days, in terms of functionality and interface it’s the half-way house between Mac and iPhone it was meant to be now (there’s even AAA games)…

…I just can’t stand seeing kids in restaurants playing shitty touch games on them or watching Pepa fucking Pig on them.

My daughter can get used to being bored while eating out like I was as a kid.

 

[Illiterate Actual]

Modern equivalent? People don't learn anymore.

 

[Melon Husk]

Hmm one would think the edutainment CD-ROMs would have made a return as tablet apps, but nope.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

books are pretty great

 

[Genesis Knight]

RetroGamingUK I set up an old ThinkPad with a bunch of edutainment stuff from my youth. I wasn't sure if the kids would like them but they ask to play them even though they have access to a Gamecube, etc (!!!)

Some favorites:

The Lost Mind of Dr Brain
The Great Word/Math Adventure / TuneLand (Howie Games)
Carmen SanDiego games
GeoSafari
Mavis Beacon Typing
Chess games (e.g. Star Wars Chess, Battle Chess)
SimCity / City Builders (Pharaoh)
MindMaze (older versions of Encarta)
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia
Math Blaster games
etc


These are all available on abandonware sites and either run on Windows, can be run in a Win95 VM, or DosBox.

 

[Ecotic]

You know what else was awesome? Living Books, they could be found on virtually every elementary school Mac in the early 90's.

 

[ReBurn]

To be fair iPad has come a hell of a long way from the old “it’s just a big iPhone” days, in terms of functionality and interface it’s the half-way house between Mac and iPhone it was meant to be now (there’s even AAA games)…

…I just can’t stand seeing kids in restaurants playing shitty touch games on them or watching Pepa fucking Pig on them.

My daughter can get used to being bored while eating out like I was as a kid.

Stage Manager and external monitor support for iPad is great. I also love the wireless second screen functionality between my MacBook Pro and my iPad. It helps so much with productivity when I'm on the go.

 

[El Muerto]

Humongous Entertainment released a lot of their 90s educational games on steam. Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, and Putt Putt are on there.

Steam Search

store.steampowered.com

The internet archive has educational dos games that run in dosbox on their site.

Number Munchers : MECC : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive

Also ForApple II, MacintoshDeveloped byMECCPublished byMECCReleased1990GenreEducational, PuzzlePerspectiveTop-downEducationalMath / LogicDescriptionLearn basic...

archive.org

I've been trying to find some new educational games or apps for in the future for when my kid is old enough to play them. All these educational apps want a subscription or have intrusive ads that my dns ad blocker can't block.

 

[xDagmaRx]

Look up exorlp for a blast to the past for the old edutainment stuff.

 

[Trunx81]

My dad bought so many of these CD Roms, always happy when he found some with more multimedia files. We had Encarta for years, as well as many music teaching crap (he was a music teacher and used new tech in school).

When I visited my parents the last time, I found all those CDs still in the former computer room. Don’t think they are worth something, but it brings those memories back. My school presentations were top notch.

 

[Hudo]

TikTok, Twitter and other social media platforms. But instead of teaching you things, you'll get your brain fucked.

 

[nkarafo]

You could download a bunch of these old CD roms in digital ISO form and actually use those. Pretty sure most of them are abandonware. And if some don't work, you could setup a Windows 98 or XP virtual PC.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Educational YouTube videos. There are still a lot of good ones out there, before the brainrot and AI rot take over.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

TikTok, Twitter and other social media platforms. But instead of teaching you things, you'll get your brain fucked.

She won’t be allowed near those social media platforms until she’s 18.

I’ve seen first hand how horrific they can be for kids/teens.