My kids loved the power, freedom and later unexpected community this bought them.
I think it is also important to realize/point out that we do a lot of projecting and our child may have very different interests. Not saying that applies to you evolve2k, just wanted to make the general point.
I set up a Linux machine with our daughter and while it was initially ok, she did not have much interest in the power/freedom and it only became a nuisance for her. Her school/friends use PowerPoint - there is a lot of friction trying work with them in LibreOffice. She wanted to do DTP-like things several times and the Linux options are not exactly... user-friendly. Etc.
In the end we got her a Mac Mini. She can still open a terminal, use Homebrew, etc. if she ever develops an interest. Heck, she can use most free software. However, she can also do the stuff she is currently interested in much more easily. E.g., she uses Swift Publisher, which is a very simple/user-friendly DTP program, can collaborate on PowerPoint presentations when needed, etc.
First and foremost listen to what your child is interested in.
> she did not have much interest in the power/freedom
The reason I started with Linux with my kids is so they were aware that that power and freedom exists. Kids that grow up in a mobile ecosystem (and increasingly both the Microsoft and Apple ecosystems) are fundamentally disempowered, just as the adults that use that ecosystem are. The goal of having my kids use Linux was to make them understand that they did have agency.
Fifteen years on, I have to say it was an excellent decision. They're light years ahead of their peers in terms of their ability to use computers.
When forced to use Linux at an early age, I was given the agency to be made fun of and miss out on social things, i.e. discussing currently relevant games. It got me the jobs and knowledge eventually too, but I really did not learn much from blindly running ./configure and make and make install. I shudder to think exactly how my wine installation worked. There are significant downsides to using Linux and the freedom it brings needs lots of context to appreciate. If you don’t provide the context, Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less.
> We shun most of this as faddish and low quality.
This is almost word for word the same way my parents talked about Harry Potter and Pokemon when I was feeling alienated in school for only being allowed to read religious books for entertainment.
It leads to some pretty strong resentment, if that's the kind of thing you care about.
My boys are sitting and reading through this with me as I make comments. They are very surprised by the resentment expressed by many of the comments.
My eldest read your comment and said that Battlefield and Fortnite are trash because of the multiplayer component that leads to gameplay that's low quality. He doesn't feel this way about Elden Ring, for example. In short, we exercise judgment.
It sounds like the difference may be— if your boys are able to make the comparison— that you also did not forbid them from those games? That would explain some of the difference from resentment in these areas that is often born from the material being banned. That leads to social isolation, because multiplayer w/ people you know is really not so much about the game mechanics compared to the shared social experience.
Just to be clear, I don’t think your parenting decisions here are harmful, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the centimeter thick gentoo manual. My only plea is to acknowledge the downsides- and it might well be the case they are minimal. I wish you luck and patience in parenting.
What does that even mean? How can we trust your kid's judgement of games they're not allowed to play?
When I was a kid I parroted my parents opinions about Harry Potter books being a pathway to practicing witchcraft. Now in hindsight I recognize those weren't so much my opinions as they were a performance to get my parents approval.
To be clear I'm not psychoanalyzing your kids (not liking multiplayer is rational), I'm sharing my own related experience.
The witchcraft angle as expressed included a personal interpretation that included being righteous towards and at the expense of others externally, to validate one's self internally. It's not the child's fault what they recieve without question and have to do the work to undo.
In the case of judgement, we can pick something simple like TV shows. A parent can speak to their kids about the addictive quality of some shows that leave them upset when turned off, vs 15 minutes of something that didn't and have them start to be aware of the difference, and how they seem to get bored of both and want to go back to the real world.
Doing that long before it's needed, allows the development of awareness, which as long as it's modeled by the parents, leaves the home as the important teacher of navigating the world, not the households of friends and teachers alone.
I didn't want to paraphrase what he said too much, but since you're inquiring, I think the general idea is that multiplayer games strive for particular types of engagement and the techniques that companies use to drive that engagement is often negative. I can see that this also exists in single-player games, particularly in mobile apps. We tend to avoid those as well.
Multiplayer is a special category of risk in my opinion because I was an ever quest player and I built a feeling of responsibility toward the players that were relying on me and this led me away from schoolwork. I'm trying to avoid that same pitfall by still allowing them to game, even in a multiplayer setting, just only to a limited degree.
We simply try to avoid the games that are the most egregious in this particular way because they're the riskiest.
After a ~20 year break from first person shooters I’ve recently played Call of Duty Multiplayer and what struck me was how many superficial skins or various rewards were visible to others - it seems to steer the player to accumulate these things (through play or $), to show others in the game.
And the odd pumpkin heads (literally players with pumpkins as heads) running around coinciding with Halloween.
Very different than Counter Strike circa 2005.
Roughly the same mechanics but much more commercialised, playing to the psychological weaknesses of players.
Limiting reading like that is extremely restrictive and unnecessary.
I do not think it can be compared to choice of OS where you have to choose one per machine (unless you dual boot or run VMs).
I am guessing when you say "religious books" you mean a narrow range of books approved of by a very narrow minded religious group. Not much mention of, say, scriptures and mystics using sexual imagery, for example. right? Of the many deeply religious major authors who did not fit that particular groups views?
If you follow the context of the thread it should be clear my reply is about GP prohibiting their kids from playing games with their friends, not the OS choice.
My kids play games with their friends, just to be clear. What we don't do is pick up any game that their friends happen to be playing without evaluating it first. And this is a discussion that I have with my children, not some mandate from on high.
>We shun most of this as faddish and low quality. Fortnite and Battlefield are replaced with OpenMW and Veloran.
My parents didn't let me read Song of Ice and Fire Harry Potter (and do a lot of other contemporary culture things) when I was younger because they said they are pop culture fad. Only haute culture literature in this household! I've had a good childhood but I also missed out on a lot of good things because parenting decisions like this.
And Fortnite is actually an awesome game, it's the mugen we were all dreaming for.
The point isn’t to play the best “non-faddish” games. It’s to play what’s in the zeitgeist and form bonds with people their own age.
I’m so glad my parents didn’t override my decisions on literature or video games or TV shows. I watched anime then, my parents didn’t get it, and that’s perfectly fine. I continue to enjoy it now. If they had made me adopt their mindset of “anime = fad” or “anime = cartoon = childish” I’d have been worse off. Instead of enjoying masterpieces like Frieren I’d be snobbishly thinking about what a fad it is.
Again, that’s you substituting your judgement for theirs. There’s nothing wrong participating in a fad btw. Free time doesn’t need to be “productive” by only consuming something exalted like From Software.
I substitute my judgment for theirs as a parent; that's intrinsic in the nature of the job.
As I said in my previous comment, my kids chose the From Software titles because their friend group plays it, so I don't think that's a particularly good example of me substituting my judgment for theirs.
Your account has unfortunately been breaking the site guidelines repeatedly lately. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the intended spirit of the site more to heart? We'd appreciate it, because we're trying for something different here.
I think you’ve misinterpreted my tone in this thread, I really was approaching it because I was curious about his parenting style. But I’ve apologised to the other guy, because it wasn’t my intention to ruffle any feathers. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45873355)
I’ve made a couple of nasty comments about Elon Musk recently. I’m unlikely to change the way I speak about him. I don’t speak about anyone else that way, as far as I know. You can ban me if insulting Elon Musk in particular and no one else is something you don’t like. It is my sincere belief that he warrants an exception, because of the damage he’s done and continues to do. You’re welcome to defend him and ban people who insult him in the name of upholding the rules.
The issue is not tolerance, or intolerance; it's the site goal of pursuing "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" and doing so while we all, among other things,
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
>Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
None of that precludes us here from criticizing someone or something. It's a matter of how we hold such discussions.
I'm proud of my decisions and I'm not here to defend them. I'm here for the conversation because I'm interested in the topic.
I vetoed Minecraft and replaced it with MineTest because Minecraft has the hypixel community, which is essentially an MMO that's built inside of the world of Minecraft and dominates the Minecraft playerbase. I was worried that my 11-year-old would be too young to deal with a massively multiplayer game like that, so I prohibited Minecraft for him. The original joy of Minecraft when I first bought it off of Notch's site in 2009 was that you could build things and exercise creativity. I found that in the MMO versions of Minecraft, this is less of a focus. So instead I host a docker container with a minetest instance that we can all build in together.
I also vetoed Roblox because I feel that the entire economy in that game is going to be a net negative, particularly the aspect where kids beg their parents to use real money to buy them Robux.
But to your point, the list of things I veto is pretty small: I'm socially very liberal, and so the main thing I'm trying to filter for is games that are exploitative of their playerbase in some way. In the case of Battlefield and Fortnite, since I used those examples earlier, these are both games that my kids have independently decided they are not interested in; I think some folks read my original comment that I had removed Battlefield and Fortnite from my household. But if you look at my phrasing, I used the passive voice because it was basically a group decision to never really pick them up. I'm using weasel language because they sometimes go over their neighbor's house and have experience with those games, so I don't want to make it out like they've never played them at all.
Sorry about my previous comment. It felt to me like you were deflecting because I was asking about what you’d vetoed and it felt like you were saying you hadn’t vetoed anything.
I actually agree with your vetoes and your logic for the vetoes makes sense. An MMO is too much for a 11 year old. And getting kids hooked the real money aspect of Roblox will have negative consequences in the future.
Obviously I’m no one, but it seems to me like you’re a good dad. Good on you. Again, sorry for the contentious tone of my previous comment.
I think you've justified your positions more than enough and it's clear you've thought through these decisions and made them along with your kids. Good choices on the game selection!
Enduring based on what metrics? Fornite is now an 8-year old massively (and still is) successful game. And the Battlefield series is actually 7 years older than the Souls series if you count from Demon's Souls. Comparing these 3 games is even more absurd because they are from entirely different genres, and they are not mutually exclusive, one can enjoy more than one genre.
I agree with other commenters in here, I feel sorry for your kids and thankful that my parents didn't treat me like what you are doing with your kids now.
When I think about enduring titles, I think about whether the kind of game that you'd pick up 20 years later and still consider to be a good game. I raised them on a curriculum of games starting with 80s titles and as they got older I progressed them all the way up into the 2020s so they would have a perspective on where particular gameplay mechanics came from. I see your point about the longevity of the Battlefield series and Fortnite, but my impression is people don't go back and play earlier Battlefield titles: I have always viewed them a little bit like the FIFA titles where there is a constant treadmill of needing to buy the latest version of the game. This is not true for Dark Souls, for example -- it's a sort of game you could play in decades and it would be as much of a masterpiece then it is today. I didn't really mean to compare the titles, but rather to use them as examples of titles that I would approve or disapprove of.
My kids choose the games they play, but I exercise judgment in vetoing certain decisions. My example of the From Software titles were not games that I bought for them, or even played (in the case of Elden Ring), but rather titles that my boys were into because of their friend group playing it. They've been playing Night Reign lately and enjoying it. I think people read into my dismissal of Battlefield and Fortnite as indicative of some much larger pattern that they've had a really bad experience with, but I'm not sure that conclusion is warranted.
I was 100% on your side until you list FromSoftware games. As good as they are, they're a single-genre game developer that has a very narrow design and audience.
There's nothing more substantive or enduring about their games intrinsically, that's 100% you just projecting your own opinions about what games are 'enduring' onto your kids, and is not giving them the 'guidance' you seem to think it is.
Not really. I tend to favor single-player games because they can be effectively archived and played in several decades. Multiplayer games routinely just get killed by their publishers. So I do view single player games as intrinsically more enduring than their multiplayer counterparts.
I'm sorry you see it as projection onto my children. I'm keenly aware that many parents try to force their kids to live the life they lived, and I've been careful to not do that. But I understand that that's not coming through to you in this discussion. I appreciate the advice though.
> Multiplayer games routinely just get killed by their publishers.
You are confusing "multiplayer" with "massively multiplayer online" games. The vast majority of multiplayer games are not MMOs. There are tons of multiplayer games that you can run your own servers for, or which use P2P or local LAN connections to not require any publisher presence or support for.
Hell, set them up a Minecraft or ARK or whatever survival-crafter game server, and they can invite and play with their friends on it.
Yes! I'm a huge fan of those. Increasingly rare, though. Was trying to play No Man's Sky, Sniper Elite v2, Quake/Quake2 Enhanced recently with the kids and all required centralized multiplayer. Super disappointing. I do run servers for MineTest (Luanti, really, but ya know), Xonotic, Starcraft 1, etc. but connect-by-IP on an actual LAN seems like the exception these days, rather than the rule.
Out of curiosity, what games published after 2020 (just making up a year here) can you play on LAN with one player creating a server and another connecting via IP? It's my ideal setup, but it seems to only really be available in open source games.
> what games published after 2020 can you play on LAN with one player creating a server and another connecting via IP?
There are tons, it really just depends on what you want to play. Looking at my steam library (installed only, so I can verify there's a LAN option) gives me:
Misery, Necesse, Voyagers of Nera, Infinite Rails, Windward Horizon, 7 Days to Die, HumanitZ, Barotrauma, Avorion
Keep in mind that those are just from the MP games I have currently installed, that are from 2020 onwards. I have 131 mp games from that release period, and only 33 of those are installed, and I only checked games that I figured would be likely candidates (i.e. I excluded Sniper Elite 5, Remnant 2, MechWarrior 5, etc).
So yeah, LAN/ direct IP connect options are still really common, it's just something to check beforehand. Also, the genre really changes the likelihood of having it.
Some smaller titles in there, which makes sense! I'll admit I haven't heard of any of those games, so this may be ignorance on my part. I was thinking of the games from the bigger studios and their general desire to retain complete control of the multiplayer aspects of their games, but I concede that while they have the most players, they are not most of the games. =)
Appreciate you doing some legwork to make your point!
Come on, you can't claim with a straight face that something like Sekiro is not more substantive or enduring than, say, that Rocksteady Suicide Squad game.
Yeah, I'd mentioned the From Software titles because they have received universal acclaim. They were intended to be an example that was not contentious. So much for that!
I feel so sorry for your kids. They deserve a better parent. Remember: your kids are NOT you and they DESERVE to have agency in their lives EVEN if it goes against your interests and desires.
My job is to guide them and use my judgment where their judgment is poor. That is intrinsic in the nature of parenting. Thank you for the guidance though. I understand that you feel strongly and that you hope my kids can be happy even though they're stuck with me as a parent. I do too!
That is such a sweeping statement. Part of what a parent does is guides kids to good decisions, and protect them from the consequences of bad ones. They need agency, and more as they get older, but you do not let them just do what you want.
At the time it was a GTA title. Regardless, the Linux alternatives are useless, there is no alternative to the socially agreed upon phenomena, the child can either participate pr they cannot. The exclusion is not necessarily a bad thing, but you end up having the child swim upstream a bit.
Does Fortnite? I remember finishing hl2 on dx level 7, and then trying the same with ep1 and ep2. Those games are a lot harder when half the physics objects are not rendered. Do not get me wrong - I run Linux on all of my personal machines today, I play games on them, I know what's the state of gaming on Linux. I also know that every now and then I will get to at the very least read some logs to figure out what's going wrong, e.g. the native port of Civ VI was looking for a version of openssl whose time had passed. Further, relying on Wine/Proton inherently means you will always lag behind the bleeding edge in terms of DX APIs, as wine/mesa people need to catch up to implement them. Even worse if it is not related to graphics,e.g. as the spatial audio APIs don't have an open source analogue that is ferociously trying to keep up with feature parity. And of course we also have kernel level anti-cheat. I have immense respect for everyone who is involved in making games (and windows software in general) work on Linux. But there will always be stumbling blocks when you are playing 2nd fiddle, and you've not been given the sheets. And nobody told you where the gig is happening.
Fortnite will work with Heroic Games Launcher. Though I believe you may run a higher risk than normal of being banned by Epic for cheating. So try not to be too good.
that's fair. unfortunately windows has changed so much since that time that the downsides of allowing kids to use it are much worse now than they were even 10 years ago.
> If you're doing things blindly in Linux, there's no point. The value is in understanding and leveraging that understanding to achieve your goals.
I don’t know about that. Just to be upfront: I’m not advocating putting your kids through this because I think they have to have that motivation for themselves to really benefit.
However, I basically did blindly follow guides to try and get things working without fully understanding what I was doing. Over time, things stick and I’m able to look under the surface and get a better understanding and better solve the problem I’m facing.
Hell, any “Learn X Language” book works like this! There’s always boilerplate that you need to kinda skip over for a while just so you can get a running program. Hell, I’m leaning Rust and I’m using #[] “decorators” and I couldn’t tell you exactly what they’re doing!
> If you're doing things blindly in Linux, there's no point
I digress. Everyone has to start somewhere and not everything has to have a point in the start
When I started using linux, I got so fascinated by open source software that I would just search for software/software types and searched open source alternative to X and go to alternativeto or others and try it out etc.
I used to copy paste dnf commands in the start and I still remember that phase.
I think I learnt linux from myself and have given challenges along the way and I feel like there are things that I have still done blindly along the way (building linux isos)
But the fact was that I still felt proud that I was atleast able to replicate the commands and able to have some familiarity with the process. I feel like if I wanted to able to know more about xorriso and cpio to a deeper degree to understand what wizard magic commands I was running to building custom linux iso s etc.
Now I don't know about fortnite etc., I am a kid but surprisingly games don't interest me that much, I am way more in my movies / tv shows (just ended dexter s8) right now.
There is some alienated feelings when people online my age mention the games they play but I think that games on linux are genuinely great support from what I know and my pc doesn't have anything beyond integrated gpu so yeah
my cousins didn't want me to play much games and so they didn't buy a good gpu during the pc and I think they did succeed in this.
Its complicated to how I feel the situation or even let alone think how I would even try to approach this situation if or when I become a parent myself. Honestly, parenting can be a bit hard but I still don't know if you should shun something that you think is faddish or low quality partially because I think that the best thing you could do (imo) is educate them on the positives on linux and how they might outweigh the benefits of fortnite in the short to long term in a fun manner.
Its um complicated and there is definitely a feeling inside me on that i do some incredibly niche things which would be so complicated to explain to someone my age in my proximity. I think there is only one or two of my friends who actually know even 1% of the stuff that I do in linux (one of them had installed hyprland because of me haha)
We don't get many kids coming to the house on Halloween. Only two this year. We buy this big bag of candy at Costco, and we always end up with a lot of extra, and my kids end up sitting and eating it. Not great.
This comment is epically pretentious, but I agree that kids shouldn’t be playing online games designed as skinner boxes to increase playtime and financial spend. Makes kids miss out because everyone is playing them? Eh, too bad. They gotta wait for their late teens, imho.
I don't see the pretension. We're simply making decisions about how to spend our time. Many times that doesn't align with what the majority of people like to spend their time doing. That's fine.
> If you don’t provide the context, Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less
Couldn't agree more - Linux can be a great way to get into computing. But only if done in the right way. Arguably for an older kid / teenager (boys usually) it's important to have access to the same games your friends are playing, otherwise you start to become naturally excluded from lunch table talk.
Of course it still depends if the kid is a social butterfly etc., but parents should understand this.
Agreed. My kids (8 and 11) both have Linux on desktops in the living room. They work really well for what they want now, but someday we might have to make different choices.
> Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less.
As a child, I couldn't stand Windows. Nothing works, you just want to do that, but there is always some stupid error message, that tells you nothing. And it never does what you tell it to do, it always does some random mess, that you do not yet know what it even is, or how to fix it.
As a child you need to see causality and have a predictive system, so that you can form a mental model and understand things, or even have the ability to form a question to ask the adults. You do not need a system, that is it's own child and is always mulish yet things it is the smartest thing in the world.
the same happens with children not getting mobile phones, or not wearing the same brand expensive clothes that others can afford.
sorry, but what you experienced is comparable to peer pressure, and as a parent, giving in to that is the wrong approach. you will not agree because you suffered as a result and i am sorry you had to go through that. my oldest is just getting into the age where these things start to matter, but regardless, my kids won't get phones and or anything besides linux for their own sake.
fortunately times are changing and working in our favor. windows 11 is practically unusable already, inpart because it refuses to run on anything but the most recent computers, and in part because it requires an online account, not to mention all the advertising that i refuse to subject my kids to. windows games run on linux better than ever thanks to steam, and my kids school uses linux too for the most part. so admittedly, this will be easier for my kids than it was for you.
That's a good point. My oldest has root on his own System76 laptop, and he's quite accomplished at administering it. But he is able to play and beat Elden Ring in Dark Souls, which would not have been an option five years ago in terms of compatibility.
Just in the last 5ish years Linux has turned into one of the best gaming platforms. I’m able to run pretty much anything on my laptop and steam deck both running Linux
As someone actually a teen. It is very interesting to share how I started my linux journey
I had only got a computer in 6th grade but I was always fascinated by computers in the sense that I was trying to run blindly termux scripts from youtube etc. to run windows programs or linux etc. and I had even successfully done these things earlier
But after 6th grade getting a pc, I was trying to learn some python in covid and uh, lets just say that vscode wasn't happy with a 500 mb ram win 7 pc
I even installed droidcam/womic etc. and it was a real treat on using your phone as a camera for sometime during online classes
Then uh my cousins and brothers bought me a new pc (technically my mum gave the money, so shoutout to you mom, i love you) and I am still rocking that pc
That pc has a very nice specs and they are so good except for one thing which is the gpu. it has just gotten an integrated intel 580 graphics card and barely any high power or mid power games can work on it
So I was having some games like valorant,portal etc. but mostly it became minecraft and I wasn't enjoying the other games
I was watching a lot of privacy content on youtube at the same time and how invasive microsoft is and how linux is just better in that sense.
Now I used to play valorant. It used to work on 60 fps but idk what triggered it to become extremely unplayable for me to the point that it was a godsend if it worked on 20fps
Tried doing everything but I realized that I am not playing a game at 20 fps and neither do I want to. It has kernel level access and its created by a game which has some chinese influence and Its not even about politics but I would actually not play american games with kernel level access either
That being said, First I thought of just reinstalling windows but then realized that if I am actually going through the hassle of re-installing system then might as well use linux (I thought backups were meh and I didn't have any important stuff [i think] anyways, although I wish I would've backuped my fathers occasional folders but eh its 2-3 years now)
Instaled nobara after watching linux experiment. To get the best linux gaming.
It is so funny but I thought that nobara/glorious eggroll had built all of this from scratch in start, like It was gnome and I was like wow did he make this and that and that oh my god, so cooool
Copy pasting dnf commands :sob: (I guess I am on cachy but old habits die hard regarding copy pasting, I still do it sometimes)
Then I went to raw archlinux, it was a mess in the start trying to experiment. I had arch kde and the experience was definitely something
Personally I used to play minecraft (with prism launcher) and not many games. And I genuinely wanted to play with arch more than gaming.
I then was on arch kde and I think I downloaded some games and tried to run it and lets just say that sailing the seas on linux was a very hacky solution but i was able to do that
Lets just say that your boy out here was installing a lot of software bloating disks and wanted minimalism and re-installing systems again and again (and always not making backups, I think I barely make backups even now :sob:)
I went from arch kde -> voidlinux iirc -> artix (realized that non systemd systems can't run vscode etc. a bit of a mess) -> arch hyprland iirc for a very long time and it was here where I tried to genuinely install proton and make games work and it had a very high learning curve (1-2 years flexing my neofetch) -> cachy hyprland (just 1-2 months ago) -> cachyos niri right now
Personally I would say that Linux is a W in everything but personally I just didn't have a graphics card at all to play modern games
From retrospect, regarding gaming, why not just buy older versions of playstation or xbox, are they not specifically designed for gaming itself. It can be a good physical level of seperation as well
I don't know what I do with linux honestly, I just do whatever my heart wants, so if someone asks me my hobbies, I genuinely don't know what to say, tinkering with linux/open source is the answer that I give (building custom linux isos, doing random open source cool stuff etc.)
I then go see on normal discord servers, the amount of games people play and I am like damn
The number of games I have completed/enjoyed can be counted on both my hands or maybe even just one
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up! Your experience is excellent, and it sounds like you're approaching it with good judgment and curiosity! Linux is a ton of fun, because it's a toolbox you can, as you say, "do whatever your heart wants". Much of computing has lost that ethos, and I think it's a real step backwards.
One of my favorite computer scientists, Alan Perlis, wrote the dedication for a very famous computer science textbook that used to be used to teach students at MIT. The book is sometimes called "The Wizard Book", but it's real name is "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". The dedication said this:
> This book is dedicated, in respect and admiration, to the spirit that lives in the computer.
> I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.
I think your journey is a great example of that spirit!
Thanks I was going through a rough time(rather not comment) but your comment helped me a little bit.
Thanks once agian, have a nice day.
I guess my hobby is computing :p
Also feel free to take the comments other people have created regarding you being strict etc. or their opinions etc. in a positive manner. I am sure you want the best for your children and parenting can be complicated and there is no fit one approach and its glad that your children like linux/computing as well
Singleplayer support on linux is absolutely top notch imo and its only some very anti kernel leavel multiplayer cheats supports which get troubled and honestly i am not sure what is the best way to counter against that in linux
But there are some good games I can suggest but you might know them as well: Minecraft,Counter strike etc.
Although they don't share the open source, they share a similar spirit of modding etc. and its gotten almost mainstream enough. Open source games are mixed story with the only good I know being tuxkart haha
I think there is a point in trying to teach children something for their own benefit, since if you might not teach them about open source, I wonder who might teach them (I technically figured things by my own but trying to one up my brother was my motivation, read my other comments to know more)
Its a mixed bag and one of the advices I can give with my supremely limited knowledge but maybe you can try to take more advices from similar people etc. whether its on HN etc. and actually try to get more advice from everything to try to find if that was the best equilibria etc.
But I mean if your children have no objection (like as an example, I am teen and I also don't have much objections with not playing valorant in fact it was the reason technically I installed linux)
SO I guess everything is subjective and we are all just yolo'ing it in this sense but I do think its so crazy that we can comment on this platform and not know each other but have a weird sense of faith that we are talking to a human with similar-ish hobbies/interests living probably hundreds of miles away in an instant.
I think this is the fun of computing just as much as well :)
Right on. I really loved Minecraft in the early days, but I think it's changed a bit since then, so I focus on Luanti (MineTest is the name most people know, I think) these days. But yes, I'm a big fan of both Minecraft and Counter-Strike. You have good taste. =) I understand that MineCraft is taking steps to deobfuscate its source a bit, to embrace modding a bit more. I was excited to hear that! The early days with Bucket were a real hack based on decompiled sources, IIRC.
Agree with you about discussing things online with others being kind of crazy; I first ran into the internet in the late 90s, and the ability to find others based on interest was amazing. But as you said, always a measure of faith involved (that they are humans somewhere that are like us and have similar interests). As a guy that makes a lot of choices that put me in a minority, I find that online is often the only place I can actually meet someone with my interests, though I've gotten quite used to this. I would say I run into someone IRL with my interests once every 10 years or so.
My kids and I have tons of discussions about all this, and I've been chatting with them about this entire thread for a couple of days now, getting their thoughts and explaining the counter-points that people are offering (I try to steelman opposing views if I'm really passionate about the topic). It's been a fun exercise, both in putting my ego aside a bit, and also stepping into others perspectives. I'm not sure I know anywhere else online I could have conversations quite this way.
Again, thanks for reply. Hope to chat again in future threads. =)
My kids were exposed to many operating systems at a young age, and you couldn't be more right regarding the mobile ecosystem. There's a lot of highschool aged kids who don't understand directories on a file system. They're used to tapping "open" and being presented with a list of files sandboxed in that environment.
The situation you describing is the norm for everyone, including you, for most subjects. Expertise gives you greater understanding and allows for more meaningful engagement with the subject, but most people are experts very few things.
When I "dance" (sway to the beat) at a wedding, I am doing the equivalent of tapping open on the file, whereas my parter with their lifetime of dance experience can move with a level of skill that is much more meaningful and nuanced. My best friend is a chef, his daughter has a vasty deeper awareness of flavor and technique vs most kids (including mine) who are just consuming without much thought. The same goes for my colleague who is also a musician and DJ - their kids can hear a song and instantly understand all the layers of production and instrumentation, whereas most children and adults are just nodding along to the beat.
If I consider most of the things I do in my life, I am interacting with them at very shallow and superficial level versus an expert, and I would assume the same is true for you.
I totally agree about expertise in a given domain. With that being said, I would consider navigating a directory tree below the level of swaying to the beat.
I'm not expecting them to get into the nitty gritty about page alignment and DMA transfers. A directory tree is more on level with toe tapping.
Personally I always loved computers more than smartphones and really loved the freedom even windows could provide over something like android (in the sense of its interface etc.)
I feel that a lot of people my age spend a lot more time on their phones as compared to computers and maybe even using the computer just for gaming or discord or something else (just click open, the games are there in steam, play run, it runs)
I feel like it is partially tech's fault as well. Tech really wants us to not interact with things or to create a superapp to abstract everything to get a bigger portion of the cake
I personally wouldn't be surprised if with things like AI browsers, we might be coming to the point where they genuinely just convert the whole internet into just a chatbot and would interact with the computer and everything on your behalf in the same interface (most likely)
I am pretty sure that if this interface or something similar comes true then most people might not even know about things like www. or internet links in general, and we might be shocked in the same way we are right now to them not knowing what files are.
When I was a teenager, I tried to dabble in Linux but the hardware support was abysmal and I couldn't use it, despite my strong intention to permanently switch to Linux.
These days the hardware support is usually fine and my employer requires me to use Linux on the desktop, but still, if I was a teenager I'd still be interested in games, a functional office suite, etc.
For my Linux hobby at the time, I ended up doing was installing MinGW on Windows XP and using Linux VMs on Windows, albeit I had an interest in that kind of stuff.
I don't think forcing people to daily drive Linux for the usual stuff makes much sense unless they want it and have an interest in low level configuration.
My experience is similar, although my kids are are a bit older (the younger one is 17).
There have been issues, mostly with gaming. On the other hand they are happy with the results in retrospect. I just got the 17 year old a laptop with Windows 11 on it she wants Linux installed on it.
Can you please elaborate on this? I have a five years old so it’s still early, but I want to prepare myself to educate him on starting from Linux. Do you use any special setup or go straight to Linux with them? Did they have frustrations using the cli and how did you encourage them? Did they ever want to give up?
A linux machine works for its owner. A MacOS machine works for Apple, and a Windows machine works for Microsoft. The difference is rooted in control. Unfortunately, we have an entire generation raised on the idea that they shouldn't have ultimate decision making authority over a device they paid $1000 for. It's bonkers, in my opinion.
Linux can run significantly more games than a Mac at this point. It can run maybe 95% of Windows games without tweaking, it only chokes on games with kernel level anti-cheat.
Compared to Windows, freedom from advertising and making your own decisions. Windows has so many dark patterns both out of the box and magically introduced with subsequent updates.
> there is a lot of friction trying work with them in LibreOffice
LibreOffice is always a sticking point, in my experience. I some times get roasted for saying it, but if you want people to have a good experience with Linux, point them toward something online like Google Docs. Yeah it’s not consistent with the ideological purity that some people want, but in my experience non-technical people do much better on Linux when they don’t have to deal with LibreOffice. I won’t even speculate why, it’s just not a good fit for non-technical Linux newcomers.
Sorry I was THAT child in school. While I now definitely have some technical knowledge, 10-year-old me, definitely wasn't that smart.
This is just not true. LibreOffice is way easier to understand as a child, since all the functionality is available and discoverable as a menu/tree structure, as opposed to the toolbar mess of MSOffice. That might be useful for professionals, but when you are a child, the unpredictability of these ribbons is just confusing. I just want to format this thing. Click on it. Search the ribbon for the thing. It's not there. Click slightly differently. Now the ribbon header changed. Click that back. Where is it? Still not there. Shit, how do I do that? Describe it in the browser. I have no clue, how anything is called. When I happen to find something, everything is in some foreign language where I can only say "apple" and "house" in. Also there are tons of advertisements and useless whitespace everywhere.
Screw it, I am just opening Notepad (because Notepad++ is not installed and I will only figure out how to use portable programs from an USB stick in 2.5years) do some drafts and finish it at home with a sane office program. In LibreOffice at home, I can find the functionality I need independent of finding out how I need to click on the item to apply it. Also when I click on something, on the left there is a property window open, which lists all the basic properties I can change.
MSOffice has moat for professionals who already know how to use it. It is not friendly for children who have never used a word processor.
Converting MSOffice documents to LibreOffice is not that hard, especially as a child, since my mates also have not used a word processor for decades, and have not used fancy formatting. And then you come around the corner with a poster designed in Scribus. They are all like: what you can do that? And guess with whom, people want to be in a group for a presentation, and who people will trust when you tell them to please save it in this format?
Out of interest, what's your issue with LibreOffice? The only issue I have with it is when you need to open documents made in MSOffice. Otherwise, it does everything MSOffice does and faster with less cloud/AI crap. Reminds me of MSOffice during XP era when it just worked.
I'm sharing observations about seeing other people, including casual computer users, forced into using LibreOffice. It becomes the software experience they hate the most. They associate Linux with LibreOffice and want it all gone so they can go back to getting work done on mac or Windows like everyone else they know.
Your comment is a good example of the disconnect between average computer users and the LibreOffice fans:
> The only issue I have with it is when you need to open documents made in MSOffice. Otherwise, it does everything MSOffice does and faster with less cloud/AI crap. Reminds me of MSOffice during XP era
Collaborating with other MS Office users is a key part of many people's jobs. Having poor MS Office compatibility isn't just a footnote, it's a showstopper issue that will make these people's jobs harder every single day. Making people's job harder and take more time is a great way to make them hate something.
As for not having cloud features and having an old style XP era interface: These are also points that are only positive for a specific type of computer user wants computing to return the earlier, simpler era of computing they fondly remember. For everyone else, that "cloud crap" is a helpful feature for getting their job done and that XP era interface makes it feel like they're stuck using outdated software. I understand you don't use or like the new features, but average people who use this software in their jobs might actually benefit from the new features and new interface.
I guess I wasn't really thinking about it in the context of jobs since the post was about kids. I was thinking about the kinds of "non-techie" people I often help with computer stuff (often older people). They don't even know what the cloud is, they just want to have a spreadsheet for monthly expenses, make a document or two to print out and an occasional presentation. There are a huge number of these kinds of people but they don't really generate money as a market segment so MSOffice has completely abandoned them. Those people do sometimes need to open a file someone else made in MSOffice but LibreOffice compatibility is good enough for their purposes.
> I guess I wasn't really thinking about it in the context of jobs since the post was about kids.
The primary reason kids would use office tools is for classwork, which is not dissimilar from job work.
If you're submitting a book report or something it doesn't matter what you're using to write it. However, once you get into group projects (which are very common, in my experience) being the odd one out who can't work with others is really not good.
Kids also learn how to use computers at most schools. They're probably exposed to some combination of MS Office and/or Google Docs products already.
Good point, but is Google Docs more compatible with MS Office than Libre Office? Can one work fricitonless between a Google Docs user and an MS Word user?
MSOffice also garbles up the formatting of LibreOffice feels. Actually it also garbles up the formatting of MSOffice documents. I needed to fix the documents of my grandparents. Guess which program just works, and which just makes a mess.
I find it to be just a little bit irritatingly flaky in the UI. Weird glitches, slow sometines for no obvious reason. I don't do anything complicated with it; I can easily believe there are bugs lurking in lesser-used control paths.
Please, it’s a functional copy of Office ’97, which millions (billions?) of people used happily.
The thought of willfully making a child dependent on the biggest advertising company on the planet for their documents is pretty gross, at least when you have the knowledge not to.
> Please, it’s a functional copy of Office ’97, which millions (billions?) of people used happily.
Exactly. The Office '97 is nearly 30 years old. The world has moved on. People like their modern software.
I think LibreOffice appeals to people who think computing should have been frozen in time at some arbitrary point in the past when they were younger, but it feels stale and old to anyone who doesn't have rose-tinted glasses for the Office '97 era.
Most people don't want their software to be turned into some ideological battle. They just want to get their work done and not have to fight the software along the way, so they can get back to enjoying their lives.
There’s nothing “modern” needed from a word processor for 99% of people. You type into the white rectangle, save, and/or print. Three toolbar buttons are needed for that.
An actual useful feature is coediting a document, but has downsides, and can be done without the advertising company involved.
One should learn how to do it with autonomy early, so not dependent their entire lives.
> First and foremost listen to what your child is interested in
A child can only ever have interest in things he or she has been exposed to. A good environment will expose them to many different things, expanding their menu of interest options.
This. Thank you. Parents tend to project a lot of their fears and desires into their child. Your child is not you and will never be. They are their own person with their own interests. It's fine showing them your interests but forcing them on the child is not. A lot of nerd parents believe their kids like nerding like they do even when it's not true. Listen without judgement and be willing to install Windows if they want it rather than judging them for not wanting Linux or not caring about the command line or whatever programming language you are trying to force on them. You are a parent first. Nerd second.
this is the line of thinking which led me to furnish daughter with Windows laptops and, later, desktops; I remove the adware & spyware to some degree, but Windows (and I assume Mac, but I'm not in that space) has the benefit of generally being reasonably intuitive for basic use WITHOUT A CHEAT SHEET and, importantly, fast and easy to teach intermediate use of. if she wants to know how to enable literal (that is, correct) filename sorting in File Explorer or write an HID driver, I'll be here. + I sure don't feel like debugging every strange artifact appearing in Steam games as a result of emulation.
one thing I have protested, to the point of being obnoxious, is school-managed Chromebooks. I've talked to every principal of every school she's been in since Covid-19 to persistently request I be allowed to furnish a Windows laptop or at least a Chromebook I manage. -and in a bit of a surprise to me, everyone's been accommodating (though never to let her use a Windows laptop; I think maybe providing it as an option makes breaking policy to let her bring a self-managed Chromebook seem reasonable). I argue I operate web services with user information at home and don't want school employees on my network, and I don't want the financial liability of her accidentally damaging school property.
I'm amazed parents are still paying for MS office licenses... Google Docs had completely taken over my college in the late 2000s and has been the standard at all the companies I've worked at since then. Plus I thought Chromebooks were pretty standard in schools now.
What's pushing parents towards a paid product over a free one that works better for a student use case?
My daughter also had the same - she was really keen on DTP-like things and DTP programs. Well, not just DTP programs, she liked ZTP and MTP tier programs -- she didn't like TTP programs per se, but quasi TTP was more her speed
Not my experience, when learning it as a child. Everything is a box, and you just draw a box and tell it, what to put in there. That's a thing 10-year-old me could understand.
I think you're taking this too far. First off, limiting screen time and access to feeds while making sure kids are socialized is generally a good thing regardless of where they decide to go in life. Computers that make things a bit 'harder' help stave off mindless consumption of content without being oppressive.
Arguably you could just put your kids in a high-end private school with other well socialized children who have had significant sums of money invested in their development and haven't even been pacified with tech out of parental laziness/necessity but hey, whatever works...
Secondly, providing a linux based computer or old windows as an intro to technology has one very basic benefit. It teaches mindful interaction with technology. These things are tools. Regardless of how hard many companies try, computers (smartphone, tablet or desktop) remain machines that do exactly what we ask them when you ask them to do it and internalizing this at a young age builds stronger humans.
I sometimes used to make estimates of construction projects for my uncle since he wasn't a technical guy.
I am a teen and so when I had made the switch from windows -> linux, he was a little weirded out and I tried to do things in libreoffice but he just genuinely thought it was excel itself and he was trying to use his old experience for some niche thing and I was trying mine to figure out libreoffice etc.
Um, it was decent, I still use libreoffice but at that time, I just decided to open up google sheets (iirc) and just use google sheets for excel purposes and I think that later he even preferred it since he could then go to someone else and have them open up that excel as well
We never had collaboration on powerpoint presentations or etc., our school work was basically build a presentation and mail it
I live in the east tho so I am not sure how the western world's schooling system is entrenched in powerpoints collaboration etc.
I don't like google generally but atleast their suite is in the web and so I can naturally use it in linux as well without any limitations unlike the web versions of microsoft's monopolistic suite of softwares.
That being said, I am still on mac which my brother gifted me partially because I only have a computer and sometimes I like the portability of a laptop but I genuinely feel annoyed or I do feel limited by what I can do on mac.
Yes I have installed homebrew etc. but linux actually feels more comfy for me to use to be honest, I think I like both but I personally prefer linux more as well.
I would recommend if possible to try to buy them something like a old laptop and boot them linux as well to try to teach them your knowledge and try to bond with them.
There is just this instant sense of gratification I get when I realize that my pc is mostly open source and it has even gotten to the points of being reproducible and bootstrappable so somebody would technically be able to even re-architect or (myself) as well the way I use my computers in this open source manner. All of the things open source.. Wild.
I personally have starred a lot of projects along the way I have found and I am pretty sure that some of these projects could genuinely be useful to people.
I am sure you know some really cool open source projects as well and maybe you can share these softwares which can help them in the process as well. I have found it extremely surprising in how many things can be done by already built open source softwares.
It is not as if I don't use proprietory software, I think there are some trade-offs to be made
I decided to use obsidian partially because I found it to have a better plugin system than logseq (? sorry if this isn't the correct name) and I really like the excalidraw plugin in obsidian.
1. It's in the living room next to an SNES and an N64.
2. I showed her vscode, did a short HTML tutorial, and printed out some HTML cheat sheet.
3. Some modest games.
4. No YouTube or social.
Most of the buzzwords are not important (power, freedom) but I want something "unrefined". That is, a little bit of the 1980s, 90s "neat creative toy" experience but nothing with a Recommender Engine. No "digital crack".
As an entertainment product, it's definitely 100% inferior to modern software, but you actually don't want it to "win" a contest against:
1. yourself
2. other children
3. healthy activities
Recommenders and modern games are really strong. Do not invite strong, self-interested parties to compete for your child's time and life against yourself, their siblings, their friends, their neighborhood and their own developing bodies.
Common pattern: Wake up; play one cup of Mario Kart 64; leave it behind and go outside for ten hours. Or play it together. A cute little nice thing in its little proper place.
Oh good question so there is a neighborhood, we’re surrounded by playgrounds and parks with other children and in the summer it’s surprisingly easy to keep busy. I did get her a bit of a kit (flip phone, radio, skates, nice bag) and she is quite outgoing. This area is expensive (not upper class but price-wise) but it’s very dense and safe landscape for a child.
I should add. _Other_ children being on phones poaches them off, but currently enough are "let out" that it's not a total child desert. (This was harder for the previous child, long ago, so I think there is a trend.) A lot of them are given smart watches and she reports being teased for having a flip phone and not a smart device. I explained a little the situation as I understand and taught her some "cocky-funny" and "agree & amplify" deflections. This is a tricky skill to pull off but she managed.
Also also: winter will be harder (less kids out, short daylight) but she managed to get numbers and build "relationships" before winter. I'm so relieved.
There are both practical and philosophical aspects to this. Practically, you might want a somewhat locked down solution with the root account locked and the ability to wipe and reinstall remotely. Are you and your friend up for that? If kiddo barfs the system (they're kids, they will, and it's ok!) your friend is gonna need to be up and running quick. PXE boot, kickstart, recovery USB stick, etc.
Before investing time you might also get a several distros on live USB sticks, boot each one up with the kid and parent, and see which one they like best before you install it. Make the kid part of the process.
Depending on the age of the child, make the computer discoverable. The full app store might be too much for younger children (mummy what's a flatpak?) But you might preload a "basic" and an "intermediate" app, eg Minecraft and scratch and then a (simple!!) Python IDE. And put them in discoverable, kid friendly places on the start menu.
Games. Lots of games. Both for their fun value and for teaching the motor skills of mouse and keyboard. Curiosity apps like Google earth.
For older kids, compatibility with their friends is important so make sure that things like LibreOffice, chat etc Just Work. No 13 year old wants to be the Odd Kid with the Bizarro Parent Computer. You can involve them in thinking about what it means to have choice in computing and to not just be a consumer, but they're still kids facing natural social pressures.
I could go on all day. One last point. After the thing is all set up and has been running for a few weeks, check in with the child and parent. What do they like? What do they not? And fix those issues.
> The full app store might be too much for younger children (mummy what's a flatpak?)
More to the point, they won't know what to look for, or might decide on something inappropriate (or even just unexpectedly hard to use).
> eg Minecraft and scratch and then a (simple!!) Python IDE.
If the kid is interested in and ready for creating a program by actually typing in text, a plain text editor (that can be Xed or Kate or whatever) plus the command line will probably serve better. The simplest functional IDE is really the built-in IDLE, and it's IMX not pleasant to use by comparison. The built-in command-line REPL, on the other hand, improved substantially in 3.13.
> More to the point, they won't know what to look for, or might decide on something inappropriate (or even just unexpectedly hard to use).
Why does it matter. They try something out, it doesn't work, they try something different out next time. A child learning on it's own always works like that. They try random things out and see what works.
My parents gave an RPi and I had root, because I needed to install it myself. I broke it a few times, but why is that a bad thing? It's not like I could destroy anything important.
I had a long debate whether a graphical programming environment like Scratch was better than typing out a classical language such as Python, my friends sided with Scratch but I ended up teaching (a bunch of 11-year-olds in a school) Python using the pyturtle library for simple graphics.
The advantage of Python includes being a "real" language - you can literally make money with what you learn. Also, the program as textual artifact means in can be read out and discussed.
at worst they can mess up their account. then set up a new one. i don't see a situation where you would need to reinstall remotely.
don't let them choose distros. use the same distro you have, or one that you are comfortable supporting. everything else will make it harder for you to help them.
Well, they can mess up the filesystem, eg corrupting it via shenanigans with the power, or nuke their home directory, config, etc. Enough that the next boot doesn't just work and get them back to where they were. Uncommon, but very possible.
Re the distro, I think that you should aim to minimize the "irrelevant" cognitive load on the kid and make them feel ownership of their environment. So yeah, I would rather learn how to help them do things in Zorin knowing that they chose it because they liked the colors than ram stock Ubuntu or god forbid Arch down their throat because it's what I or their parent ran. There'll be plenty of time for that once you know they are into it. And no harm done if they aren't.
sure, if you run something that is aimed at experienced users like arch then that's probably not a wise choice. but for example as a fedora desktop user i'd recommend something fedora based, because it will drastically reduce the troubleshooting efforts compared to something debian based.
We were gifted our old work laptops. My partner and I work for the same place. She gave hers to the mother in law after I wiped Windows and put Linux on it.
I gave mine to my son. I figured that my son might want to use the touch screen I went with Gnome because it seemed a little more touch friendly. I told myself it doesn't matter because he is 8 and I can always reinstall.
I chose Debian (Stable) so I wouldn't have to deal with keeping it updated, put a root password to prevent them from going crazy with installing stuff.
I will have to put Scratch on it someday, for the moment he cares about the following:
- the LEGO website to look at instructions
- the music player to listen to soundtracks from his favourite games
- MyPaint for making drawings
He is starting to figure out the idea of folders, deleting things, undo, etc., but hasn't asked for any other software or even games yet.
I am a professor and would like for my son to learn about word processors, spreadsheets, programming, etc.. If he ever asks, I will give him the root password and let him browse the repos. Right now, I'm just happy to see him enjoy it without doing what lots of his friends do: sit in front of YouTube all afternoon.
I recently installed Ubuntu on a little Geekom mini PC for my 6 and 8 year olds to share. So far my 6 yo isn’t too into it, but her older sister mostly uses it for the games I’ve put onto it through Epic and Steam and programming using MakeCode, mostly for Arcade (https://arcade.makecode.com) (I have a couple of micro:bit-based handheld shields) and more recently getting into the awesomely simple networking that the micro:bit provides (https://makecode.microbit.org).
Since the micro:bit requires some file management for programming them, that’s been a good entry point to the file system.
I’d agree with deferring any and all social media as long as you can get away with.
On the YT front a small thing that helps is an extension that removes all recommendations. So YouTube opens to a blank screen with only search and after watching a video there’s no now shady this. So it becomes much more functional to their interests.
“How to _____”
“Explain how ____ works.”
Helps reduce the addictive parts and keep the “it’s a tool” parts in focus.
Yeah, Youtube for my six year old son is restricted to us looking up stuff for him to watch. Want to know how pencils are made? We'll look up a good video. Recently, that's not often either.
CocoMelon and its ilk on Youtube are abhorrent. It's digital crack tailored to absorb every little bit of attention. Avoid that shit.
I got my nephews a raspberry pi for their first computer. I tried gifting an old laptop, but that was rejected my the parents as “too much”, so I went the Pi route… first with a Kano Kit (which I think is no defunct) and later with a Pi 400.
The Kano was nice, because it was built for kids and had some guided stuff to help get them into it with various software and hardware to play around with.
With the Pi 400 it was stock Raspbian. The kid wasn’t sure where to begin. While it came with a book geared toward kids, I don’t know that he read it. I was trying to find a way to show him around to stuff he might think is fun, without it seeming boring over overwhelming, but I didn’t feel it went that well. I was also living 6 hours away at the time, so there weren’t regular visits for questions or to help things along, and the parents didn’t know anything about Linux.
Ultimately, I don’t think it inspired them as much as I was hoping. All they actually wanted was something to play Minecraft on, and the Pi edition was a very compromised experience for Minecraft. The Kano did have a mode to let people use Scratch type programming to automate aspects of building, which I thought was really cool, but it didn’t totally seem to click… though I did see some limited use after a couple years.
I think not having someone in the house who can guide and field questions really hindered the ability for them to really thrive on Linux. It would probably be worth including a series of lessons to ramp up their skills and knowledge. Doing something like that was difficult for me due to the distance and also not so much parental support on the idea of kids on computers. I was swimming against the current a little with those gifts, because I thought it was important they get access to the main tool they are likely to use throughout their life.
This is such a weird thing to read. You try to project your ideas on the kids, thinking that is the best thing to do. Let them be.
I learned Linux when I was like 13 or 14 and not because my father told me. He didn't know much about computers in early 2000/late 90ties.
The curiosity, the desire to learn, the need to set up my own isp, the need to start to make money, the curiosity of how html, php and other stuff worked let me to Linux.
Teach them how to be curious and feed that curiosity, the rest will happen.
And if they choose Mac over Linux, just get of their way, otherwise they will rebel.
I’d agree that projecting ideas on to kids isn’t the greatest thing since it’s top-down. But so are most ideas that get pushed to kids via media, school, friends, etc. And many of those aren’t the best either.
You're not wrong. But I think you fail to realise that everything you did on computers in the late 90s and early 2000s had friction by default. Even on Windows. Modern devices are friction free and designed to passively hold your attention as much as possible.
Introducing alternative computing to your children so they actually learn skills isn't about control it's about giving them exposure. If all they see are iPads and Chromebooks, they’ll think that’s all there is and then compare the frustration of trying to do things with a real computer to the ease of just consuming content. I think that frustration is the point for a developing brain. It teaches problem-solving. Requires focus and patience. Rewards perseverance.
Curiosity needs a spark. Sometimes that spark is just showing them a terminal and letting them poke around, or getting them in to Scratch or any of the similar game design visual coding platforms.
Not everything has to be fun or easy. Struggle is part of learning. As a parent, we are up against an industry built to keep kids from ever getting bored. There's no guarantee they'll go down a more rewarding and impactful path if you are too handsoff. Especially in the early years.
That's what parents do. My dad brought home a C64 back then, and a book about BASIC. We didn't have a joystick for it, so we built one together. He showed me how a speaker works by taking one apart. He taught me about HAM radio. Showed me neat stuff he built with electronics. Helped me with my math homework, because he was a goddamn math wizard. I watched him disassemble our piece of shit washing machine and fix it several times. None of it was mandatory or forced or nothing. It was more like, hey son take a look at this cool shit. And I thought it was cool, and my dad was the coolest dad ever because he knew all this stuff!
Sadly, he was taken from us too soon. I often wonder what he'd think about the tech and electronics of today.
For my toddler's first desktop, I started with a simple collaborative setup project. Nothing at all fancy: had them write a scheduler, MMU, etc. Holding off on network stack and drivers until they're a late teen, though.
Well, there is nothing at all wrong with those projects, but perhaps start at the lowest level first, such as building a bootloader. Being able to boot hardware using your own code is a tremendously valuable lesson for a toddler to learn.
Totally agree, but if you don't teach them how to build a simple CPU, RAM and storage device first (possibly also network card), the experience is quite lacking.
I would recommend installing Scratch[1] - it's a programming language designed for kids from 8yrs old onwards. I would recommend pairing it with a Raspberry Pi, as you can do fun real-world physical stuff with using Scratch, and I think kids can find that very interesting. Eg, start with a simple program to turn LED lights on and off, programming buttons, playing sounds etc. Eventually this could lead to making simple games or other programs. Regardless, would highly recommend getting a Raspberry Pi as its just so much fun using it to interact with the physical world and getting to learn actual electronics.
As a parent with two kids that used Scratch during 2020 or so… be cautious. The web community was an unregulated social network with follows, likes, comments, and a wide age range (apparently) of people interacting. Around that time, there was a lot of inappropriate content, some bullying, sketches about self-harm, sex, etc. Perhaps they’ve fixed the issue. If not, I would try to install it locally and keep them away from the official website.
Incidentally, I later came to believe that the visual coding impeded their ability to learn text-based coding. That was just my experience and I don’t have formal research to back it up, but I still wonder about it.
> visual coding impeded their ability to learn text-based coding
As a former child, my opinion is the opposite. I learned visual programming with Lego Mindstorms NXT in ~2008, and later developed an interest in text programming on Roblox in ~2012. It's my belief that my fluency with concepts like control flow and values output from one part of the program serving as inputs for another part of the program were largely transferable to text-based programming. Learning a first programming language is 30% learning syntax, and 70% learning programming.
seconded, Scratch is a wonderful learning environment. I would pair it with ChatGPT and supervision, LLMs will really help flesh out ideas and figure out how to implement them for kids who won't know how to start, and since you can't just copy-paste into Scratch, the kid will have to actually do the work of dragging the blocks around. We did some amazing stuff with Scratch - visualizing algebra and trig functions by drawing them as a graphing calculator would, we even made a binary tree based morse code decoder, a rocket simulator (using real-ish rocket equation physics, air resistance, etc). Now we have mostly moved onto Desmos (graphing calculator) and Python.
I don't want to police someone else's parenting, but even with supervision I would be deeply cautious against exposing kids to LLMs from a developmental standpoint. Even adults have a hard time not anthropomorphizing LLMs, a kid under a certain again would essentially be unable to not view an LLM as a person, which could have some SERIOUS ramifications down the line.
>In windows when a child goes searching the web for a “movie maker for windows” they are going to be in a world of hurt either finding expensive commercial options or super scammy sites promising the world.
It's funny that you use that example because the state of video editors on Windows have never been better from industry standard free options (DaVinci Resolve) to FOSS options (KDEnlive, Openshot, Shotcut, Avidemux etc).
What you describe is a Google / web / browser problem not an OS one
There’s a Linux version of Resolve that works fine as long as you have NVidia and don’t mind transcoding m4a audio tracks to PCM (some codec licensing issues I think)
Ah yes sorry the video software was a lazy example but I think you get my point. I did see them find confidence in having such a deep library of free software to poke at and around with.
Insert slightly more niche need that a kid might have ;)
I made sure to expose my kids to Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. They would use Linux for a bit, but ended up on Windows for games and Mac OS for media. Over the years, though, as Windows has gone EOL on their hardware or they have been forced into Windows 11, Linux has come back.
My oldest now has mint on her laptop and Bazzite/W11 dual booting her desktop. This was her own choice, and she did the setups herself.
My youngest is now almost an adult, but I went through the same thing that you are doing now about 15 years ago, before the prevalence of smartphones. You have a lot more options now, especially with cheap hardware which is well supported by Linux.
* I picked up a tangerine iMac, and managed to install OS X on it. I had to install on a G4 tower first and move the disk over. This machine was not online, and it let them play games like Alphabet Express, etc, without the slings / arrows of the Internet.
* The educational thinkpad / lenovo laptops were built like tanks and supported Linux well. These were online, so I put them behind my own DNS resolver so that I could block some websites like Roblox, Discord, etc.
* Scratch was well received, but you have to watch the online interactions.
When they are older, let them install Linux and give them full control and root access. Let them break it and try to fix it -- if it's too far broken they can just reinstall.
If they're not into tinkering, or not into tinkering yet, consider an immutable distribution like Kinoite, Aurora, or Bluefin. It is difficult for them to break things
Don't expect them to dive in and never leave the Linux ecosystem, an important lesson is "the right tool for the job". If they know that it is an option, they can always choose it.
I might be a bit odd in that I've been using Linux as my primary desktop since 1997, so the kids have seen it around for their entire lives.
My main advice here is that you need to tailor this to the individual child. What will turn one kid on to free computing, will cause another to think of Linux forever after as "that annoying thing which I was forced to use, when I didn't have a choice in the matter", and that's probably the opposite of what you want; it will associate "Linux" in their mind with not having a choice. What is this 8-year old girl interested in?
It's so weird to me that this comment is so rare in these discussions. Linux / not Linux ... depends on the kid and what their interests are. I have two kids, one of whom I have exposed to Linux as I figured they'd get a kick out of it (which they did). But for the other I can tell they wouldn't really care much about the OS.
Same goes for adults. I'd advocate for Linux to some of my friends & family but not others.
Kids are all individuals!! Parenting should be flexible and personal.
I can’t support Linux as the first computer enough. Both of my boys got an Ubuntu desktop for their 8th birthday. I showed them some basics. They were motivated to figure it out. They learned how things work along the way.
Also no scammy popups or notifications causing confusion or them granting access “just click yes and it goes away”.
Ununtu (non root) and timekeeper plus. I work with them when they want to install something or do updates.
They have steam, minecraft, OpenRA for games and are happy.
They create music, program arduinos, edit videos they make with friends.
My kids (pre-teen) have Pi400s. It lets them play around with basic graphics apps, write stories, write and print letters to family, play simple games without the kid-hostile world of modern “mainstream” gaming, watch movies from the NAS, etc.
More than enough to keep them entertained and teach them the basics.
These days, I would start with ZFSBootMenu and Debian Stable.
Why ZFS? So that backups are easy, snapshots are cheap, and when the inevitable happens, it takes a few minutes to reboot and roll back.
Why Debian Stable? Because it will continue to work and get security updates for years, without changing out from underneath them without notice.
I would also recommend that any computer for an 8 year old be placed in the living room or a similar easy-to-watch-over place. Kids need guidance; if they didn't, they wouldn't be kids.
Agree with having the computer very visible in public space like living room. For us this was an additional reason to get a desktop as the first computer, it’s staying put; no sneaky use out of sight as it’s stuck where it is. Laptops can come as they mature.
My 13 year old came to me asking for Linux because of steam. He had heard of people moving to steam on Linux instead of upgrading to windows11. So if your child is into gaming show them steam on Linux and at least they’ll use it to play games. Then from there you can ease them into Linux itself while having steam+games to keep up the usage and interest.
Just take it slow, I pushed the console a little too hard on my 13 year old. He now refers to it as the “black box of despair” hah.
You might look at ZorinOS or Linux Mint. Mint is very easy to use, I was able to get my elderly mother to use it. It has a software store and built in automatic backups.
Zorin has some built in features to support Windows software pretty easily I understand, but I'm not sure if that's through wine or a VM or what.
You can test them out in your browser thru the website below and see if it fits what you're looking for.
I'd suggest burning her a Knoppix CD-R. I learned on Knoppix, back when storage was scarce and expensive -- I couldn't afford a backup drive for the family PC (which I ended up being admin for despite violating COPPA every time I asked for technical advice online). So I was scared to repartition or anything...
Actually, I'd suggest guiding her through burning one of her own.
Then let her decide if she wants to keep Windows on the machine or install it.
The process of obtaining an ISO, burning it, and booting it will teach her a lot about the hardware involved.
All these people talking about voluntarily giving their kid Linux.
When I was 12 or so my Dad installed Linux on my laptop as punishment because I kept installing viruses on Windows.
I suppose it definitely helped with my knowledge of Linux as I had to do a lot of tinkering to get anything I wanted to work, even then 90% of the games I wanted to play didn't work (Waaay before Proton was a thing, Wine alone wouldn't work for most games)
Also had the added benefit of me just generally not wanting to use the computer, Linux sucks for desktop use. Constant source of issues that I just dont care for, I use a computer to play games or do work - I don't care about the operating system side of stuff. You dont daily drive a project car.
I really like the idea and I wish I was introduced to Linux too as a kid! (although I did eventually get into it myself when I was 13)
Linux has a really steep learning curve for people who have only learned Windows at school or are used to the touch-based interface Chromebooks and smartphones/tablets provide. It can certainly be overwhelming for a kid who just wants to work on a school project or game with friends, so you'll need to maintain a delicate balance if you try to make this work.
If I was considering this for my kids, I'd try to give them something as friendly as possible. No terminals or writing code at all, unless they actually get interested and start asking you about how the computer works. Sit down together and teach them how to responsibly use the internet, protect their privacy and find free software.
Try to make the experience interactive and let them know that they can customize it however they want and help them do so. I always found Windows and macOS very limiting in that sense as a child and my only options were downloading sketchy apps or writing my own terrible scripts (I remember trying to animate my wallpaper on Windows with Python...).
It's also very important to ensure they're covered for schoolwork and any gaming needs. I won't recommend Libreoffice here, Office online or in a VM will be a much better experience and Proton is amazing at gaming on Linux these days (although if you've selected low-end hardware it may be worth considering a dedicated game console).
I generally think most people will appreciate Linux if they give it a try. People just tend to be negative because they've been taught to stay inside the closed ecosystem of big OS vendors and closed, user-hostile software. Once you experience freedom, there's no going back!
Good luck with your project!
EDIT: An important downside I forgot to mention is that there is practically no way to set screen-time or app limits, or block certain websites which is something important to have at least in the beginning when teaching responsible computer use. For those who have tried this, what's your approach?
I'm also interested in how to better control how my child uses the Linux computer, particularly how to restrict which programs and sites they use without stifling their creativity and discovery.
I went with LDE Neon for both my kids. It's also what I use, I really like the KDE ecosystem, very polished experience overall.
Also it's similar enough to Windows that they don't feel completely out of touch on the school computers.
Killer app is Krita for the older one, even got him a cheap Wacom later on.
Otherwise school work, native Linux games, and YouTube. That last one with the younger one I have to keep an eye on. Honestly thinking about blocking access, we'll see.
Both like gaming, so I set up wine for them on my machine with separate accounts. Learning about email, downloads, files and folders by installing Skyrim mods (using kid friendly settings on Nexus), also an exercise in managing frustration...
Anyway everyone will be different, just set up something they'll enjoy. Already for a kid to know Linux exists is a head start.
Seconding “YouTube ban.” I do it now at the network level. If at some point they alter parental controls to allow list channels I would consider adding it back, but the sheer quantity put forth onto the platform makes it impossible for any parent to moderate (or moderate effectively).
At least with streaming a TV show or movie there are defined breaks instead of an endless array of kid dopamine
Yes, that's what I'm thinking of doing, blocking directly on the router.
It was somewhat manageable before with proper education (teaching them what to avoid, time limiting), but now with shorts and AI it's becoming a cesspool.
The main reason I allow it is to show them the dangers of it, of knowing to be careful. Otherwise I feel like as soon as they get access, they'll be completely unprepared... and of course as they get older they will definitely get access.
I started with Red Hat 6 (not RHEL) as a kid, because it was what was included with the book on Linux that I was gifted. Some time around 2000, I was given some retired beige powermac G3 desktops, and I switched to Debian for its PowerPC port. I've been with Debian ever since.
So maybe pick something with the realization that they may stick with it for decades. :)
I also kept Windows on dual boot so I could play UT99 with friends. The social aspect is also important. My son is comfortable using our Debian machines, but also has Windows on his primary desktop so he can play Roblox and Minecraft Bedrock with school friends. I wouldn't want him to lose that.
I’d start by not setting them up a Linux computer.
In both school and work it’s overwhelmingly likely they will either be asked to do things in MacOS or Windows only. Make sure they’re proficient there first.
Linux as a personal OS, regardless of how passionate you are about it, is still a hobbyist platform. If your child becomes super into computers, then you can help them dive deeper down the rabbit hole.
But I wouldn’t drop them at the bottom of the rabbit hole prematurely. Just because your kid liked listening to an AC/DC song doesn’t mean they will want to dive immediately into the world of Brutal Deathcore.
Even if you consider this to be true (I don't), then... so what? They can just learn that there are other operating systems with different icons and different clock in the bottom right corner. They are kids man, they will learn fast. They won't unlearn Windows by using a Linux computer once in a while.
Besides, they would still need to choose between Apple and Microsoft. I'd rather teach my kid the essentials of using a computer (how to find information, how to create documents, how to use tools like Inkscape or Krita). Those skills translate to any desktop environment, and most of those tools do too. Something like Debian or Ubuntu is just great for that, and comes with the benefit of being free. A tool like Inkscape (or its FOSS successor) is going to be available in twenty years time. How many proprietary apps didn't end up as cloud-only subscription-based services?
A lot of software engineers use Linux professionally of course (I do), so even that argument for choosing Windows or MacOS isn't very strong.
+1. I set up Fedora, openSUSE and later Arch for our son (then 10-11yo). He became instantly curious about typing those strange words in terminal (unix heritage all the way :), started to check internet availability with 'ping' by himself, etc.
Unfortunately, the laptop has a Nvidia GPU, which conflicted with some of his games, and the gaming experience was all in all not very smooth. Eventually I gave up and went with Windows 10 LTSC -- surprisingly usable and bullshit-free (!), but, well, I don't think he has ever touched the terminal in this Windows system. I'd say after switching to Windows, his progress in Actually Learning Stuff About Computers has more or less stalled. It's mostly mindless gaming and Youtube these days (luckily, he's interested in sports exercises, athletes etc - so there's at least some "real-world related" information included).
Contemporary Linux can be quite confusing, but it is still miles ahead of Windows in encouraging the child's hands-on experience and exploration of the system. The GUI inconsistencies of current Windows are simply horrible IMO; back in the Win2k/XP days, it was actually quite a usable -- and, hackable! -- system; these days it's just an insanely huge, impossible-to-grasp mess. Also, I have yet to find a simple, easily understandable and modifiable solution for setting daily computer time restrictions for our son on Windows -- surprisingly, while there are a gazillion of small single-purpose apps in the Windows world, there doesn't appear to be too many options for parental control if you wish to avoid a Windows account altogether.
family blocks: Ads, Trackers, Malware, Adult, Gambling
all blocks: Ads, Trackers, Malware, Adult, Gambling, Social media
family.dns.mulvad.net
all.dns.mullvad.net
you really dont want an 8 year old on, facebook, X, reddit or any of the other trash sites
once it is set up, become a kid and search for porn, gambling etc, to see if you as an adult can find those sites. if you do, block them
to block sites just add lines like these to ublock/my filters section.
If a child does click on them they are blocked and do not open. This also works if the child opens a link from a search engine. This way also removes the proceed button that allows you to bypass the restriction.
My son has his own linux account. He made an absolute mess of everything he could drag around on the desktop, just for fun. Every time I'm in there, the KDE start menu pops out of some other weird place, not even at the border of a screen anymore. Plus, we seem to have some kind of mass xeyes invasion going on there. It makes troubleshooting anything interesting, at least.
He recently learned there are other computers running Windows, which he hates because of the ads.
The big question for me is how to give a child an experience that builds an accurate mental model of what a computer is and what software is. This was easier back in the day (like, Apple IIe times) when you ran one program at a time and if you didn't interact with it, it sat there, inert. (Yes I realize there is always some steady-state physical process going on, e.g. the pulsing of the clock-crystal, refreshing DRAM, etc. But I'm talking about software.) There is something beautiful and....solid about running a single process running in immediate mode on a simple CPU.
Contrast this with a modern experience. There are hundreds of inscrutable processes running, constantly talking to the network, to disk, doing who-knows-what. What does "software" mean on a modern machine? Software runs the gamut from a command line one-shot tool, to an invisible daemon, to a desktop app with a window, or multiple windows, to something hosted in a browser, to something hosted by something hosted in a browser. How can you build a clear mental model amidst so much noise, clutter and (both UI and runtime) heterogeneity?
In the same why "phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny" I'd argue the correct computer for a kid is a single process box with either hard-coded programs or a floppy-like experience (e.g. SD card "floppies). Given all of this, the perfect kids computer system is an HDMI TV dongle that runs an Apple IIe emulator, Logo, and a handful of retro games, and an SD card slot for other programs (prepped by the parent). No wifi or internet, bluetooth for connecting a keyboard, and no mouse.
I am not a parent, but I have a little brother whose technology is partially controlled by me. I control what apps can he install, what games can he play, what ads can he see (almost none), and leave the rest to our parents.
he recently got a "new" PC. it's quite old, it has an Intel Celeron E1200, 2GB DDR3, 300GB HDD, no wifi (ethernet-only), and still runs Vista.
I've been doing my research and found out that I could install a lightweight Linux distro like Arch Linux, with a lightweight window manager like i3 or dwm, and maybe run a few games he likes (Minecraft, some NES/SNES/GameBoy games; I have low expectations from this computer), and a basic web browser.
We set my son up with a linux computer when he was 9 - he was always dragging broken electronics home off the street, so when he found an old beat up thinkpad we managed to get it running with a little tenderness and linux mint! He's been on linux ever since, constantly upgrading computers by getting second hand/free laptops (it helps that his uncle works in IT and can grab a nice Dell or two now and again). It's always fun to put linux on a new machine!
In any case, for him it has been great - the desktops are super customizable. Like everyone who gets into linux, it's been fun for him to install pretty TUIs and silly command line interfaces (bob ross quotes was a recent one). There are so many fun hacking tutorials on youtube.
Lots of hours on kdenlive and blender. When he was younger he LOVED minetest, which is a hackable version of minecraft.
Some other commenters have said the libreoffice is a big issue for people making the switch. Obviously not a big deal for an 8 year old! But my kid is about to go into highschool now. His school uses google classroom for everything so it's still not an issue.
so many games that kids play are just in the browser? thankfully my son thinks fortnite and roblox are stupid ways to spend his time. it seems like if they really _need_ to _game_ its another issue, but that shouldn't be a problem for 8 year olds?
There are have been so many benefits. He's been a great touch typer from a young age (compared to his peers especially, who mostly used phones). I mean, being on linux exposes you to using the command line, which makes you _want_ to hack, so he's learned about network. You also avoid the barrage of ads that microsoft is currently assaulting the rest of the world with in their start menu.
>As a tech parent I think one of the best things I did for both my son and daughter was for their first computer to help them to build and setup their own Linux computer (It was Ubuntu back then but they’ve both moved themselves to Arch these days).
Of the important things my father, who definitely is a "tech parent", did for me none of them have anything to do with him teaching me some piece of technology.
To be very frank, if the best thing you have done for your children is getting them to use Linux you are a total failure as a parent. To be fair to you, I do not believe you at all when you say this.
>Now my friend wants the same for their daughter who is 8 years old.
One of the actually most valuable thing my father did for me, definitely in terms of education outcome and career. Was getting me interested and spending time with me and explaining me things. The particulars do not matter, I can not remember them. It is totally irrelevant whether what Linux distro you use or what you teach them. What matters is that the parent is there, explains and encourages.
>Linux with free and open software is the goal and focus.
I paraphrased the part I quoted from the OP: "one of the best things I did for both my son and daughter was for their first computer to help them to build and setup their own Linux compute"
Ah, I see. I had taken the "one of" much more heavily than "the best things", as to mean: "I think this was a good decision I made that I'm proud of". I was taken aback by you concluding they were a total failure as a parent as a result of their assessment of that decision.
> One of the actually most valuable thing my father did for me, definitely in terms of education outcome and career. Was getting me interested and spending time with me and explaining me things. The particulars do not matter, I can not remember them. It is totally irrelevant whether what Linux distro you use or what you teach them. What matters is that the parent is there, explains and encourages.
Yup, that's the essence of parenting and should totally not be overlooked!
Debian stable with KDE desktop on a nth hand desktop computer. Place it in a central place at home. Random probably used office-grade accessories. Install some games and libreoffice on it. Internet access only under supervision before age 10.
Hi Nadella, you know that Linux works. While I can't say much about macOS, we know very well how Windows works and how it fails every day.
But the point here is that Linux works and better than those two, that someone calls an 'OS' but while macOS is based on FreeBSD, Windows by itself it a mess if a OS.
The point here is just to register that if you give someone a Windows and then they learn about Linux, they change. If you start with Linux, you will never accept Windwos because of so many reasons.
And Nadella, we both know how the internet works, the internet is Linux.
Fedora Atomic, maybe? I would have probably found it a bit too restrictive as a teen, but I think it’s a good choice for preventing a younger child from accidentally breaking the system, while still providing enough ability to experiment and learn stuff using distrobox
First, it is really nice to see how many people use and know Linux and care about their kids being safe and care to teach them how to learn computer and programming.
Second, for such young age, you still need to manage the pc. So Manjaro with Plasma is my choice.
The software to install is your choice, because it really depends on what they will do, but Minecraft and other Minecraf-clones is a must and LibreOffice for their works.
Install LibreWolf with uBlock Origin, for their default browser. Keep Pi-Hole as the default DNS server and if you or them don't have one, buy a Raspberry PI and install one. That is a critical step. Best 70 bucks you will ever spend.
They probably will want to play games. It's a slippery slope. But if you go that route:
Steam works amazingly well. And you can set up family controls.
Roblox works great using "Sober" I don't recommend letting them play Roblox but I'm stuck with it.
Minecraft and Curseforge work well, too.
Time Keeper Next is a great time limiting control system. If you have a little awareness of docker you can run it in a container and even access it on your phone through an admin gui. If you need help on that get my email from my profile and I'll happily share my details.
My kids 8,10,12 know how to use the command line. I'm really proud of them.
This is how my co-worker's son turned from a happy, energetic 8-year old into a 400 pound 20-something who does nothing but play games as soon as he comes home from work. It consumes his whole life.
I don't disagree at all. It's such a complicated problem, unless you have all the kids in your kid's circle prohibited from gaming the peer pressure is intense. I am starting to come to the conclusion that you can't really limit them (my kids were getting an hour on weekdays and two on weekends) but then my son especially fiends the rest of the weekend for screens and it is constant conflict. I'm at wits end. But they exploit any gaps in parent alignment and then you have predatory gaming companies where PM bonuses are tied to time in game. It's unhealthy for kids and families.
Steam? I'm not sure what you're referring to by "this". All they're recommending is a standard setup that millions of people have. If your co-worker's son turned into a 400 pound 20 something, that sounds like a separate set of problems, not based on Steam or using Linux.
Agreed. I think Linux is, 800% less predatory (I love Trump math) than Microsoft Windows. Just booting it up clean is inviting a salesperson shilling all kinds of junk to your kids.
The reason I started with Linux when I was 9yo (1999) is because we bought a computer and PC Magazine gave away a CD with Corel Linux. So I did what obviously must have been done... thankfully the disk came damaged, otherwise my lawyer dad would have learned the importance of making backups XD.
So, I would suggest: try to get a throwaway computer, give the kid it and an USB with Linux and let them alone. Do not force anything, just give them the tools and a gentle push. Let curiosity take the wheel and be prepared to answer a lot of questions.
I really don't see the value of getting a child started with Linux unless you are trying to push them into direction of being a developer, but even there I'm not sure how much sense that makes here in 2025 (from multiple perspectives).
If you want an alternative to Windows, then a Chromebook might be a good choice since this is what they will probably be using in K-12 education, and there are plenty of free online tools for learning to program, doing 3-D modelling, etc if they are really into it.
I setup Linux Mint on an old HP laptop for my 7 year old. Things jist worked out of the gate. She doesn't use it for much else other than Roblox (Sober), Minecraft, YouTube, and OBS (to record videos - NOT stream), but it's teaching her how to use the keyboard and mouse and navigate by using something other than touch on a tablet. It also teaches her the basics of window managemen: minimizing, maximizing, putting them side-by-side, which has been a big adjustment but she's quickly gaining proficiency.
I wonder at what age they start getting upset that they
dont have what all the other kids have.
The peer pressure on conformity I think is still strong.
thought not explicitly stated.
I have seen older children cry that they dont have an
iPhone or they dont have the latest iPhone, or
in a different region, that they dont have Android
and of course the latest Android
These were older than 7 to be sure, but not sure when
it starts.
you can set your kid up to be independent and a FOSS
influencer but I dont think that always works.
> I have seen older children cry that they dont have an iPhone or they dont have the latest iPhone, or in a different region, that they dont have Android and of course the latest Android
Just to be clear the solution to this is not to buy them the latest phone every year. You’re describing consumerism, not parenting
This reeks of a weird parent trying to make their kids weird. Kids can learn so much more about computers when not wasting time yak shaving some Linux stupidity.
I have a 9-yo. We experimented with time limits &c, but that just leads to endless discussions on the size and applicability if thise limits.
Now he has a mostly-airgapped Thinkpad (with music, kiwix, music-experimantation stuff, programming things, and onlyoffice), and doesn't know the ipad's passcode.
The laptop has nftables set up so that only an ssh connection to my laptop works, which I use to update it, add content, and occasionally unblock it, when necessary.
Their first "Linux" computers were Android (that's based on Linux, right?) and Chromebook.
I honestly don't know if they've ever touched a PC or Mac, (except for the ones we, as parents, have.) They learn how to use them in school.
If they're interested in geeky stuff, I'll show them how to use them. Otherwise, it's important to recognize that "Linux" is often a combination of politics and hobby.
Debian, XFCE. It'll be easy to use through point-and-click, decent hardware support, and the local nerds will almost certainly be able to reverse any software issues.
Kids commonly enjoy drawing, so it's likely a good idea to install Krita, which I'm not so sure is in the repos and might require a bit of imposition of hands.
Libreoffice will be installed by default, one might want to switch it out for something else for whatever reason.
I would install Mint with XFCE so the kid can learn what a traditional GUI looks like, and the benefits.
Assist them with installing the interesting programs, from Inkscape to Celestia to Geany and Python.
But first you’ll have to decide what to do about youtube. Most kids won’t do anything else once they find it. Keep them away from adults as well. Probably no internet at first.
> Now my friend wants the same for their daughter who is 8 years old.
Be careful - even the most obvious things (to us) won't be to a small child. They'll need a bit of a guiding hand and/or someone to ask questions to. Linux isn't obvious and I wouldn't be too surprised if they run into hard edges at some point (sound driver stops working), without someone to actually go to for help the computer just becomes a brick.
- Someone who installed Linux on his beat-up laptop when he was 12 (*), and faced endless frustration with it. (My parents confiscated the laptop because I started hitting it lmao - later got a Windows desktop that "just worked")
* - I don't remember if it stopped being able to run windows (hardware too weak) or, if the windows partition had corrupted itself and I couldn't afford a new copy of windows.
Oh all good points. Sorry to hear of your personal frustrations. Yeah agree, I think learning computing is actual best done in a little community or even club. You know a few parents who care or after school gathering in the computer room or library space.
A friend had a cool idea of asking their friends to be their child’s mentor in certain areas; “I’d like my child to learn music taste from you, would u take them under ur wing for this?” Then the child could call that “aunty/uncle” for advice; same for the tech mentor.
Maybe also Linux has continued to get easier and more reliable over the years but yes very valid point; ongoing care and support make all the difference like many things.
Yeah that'd be a really good idea, and don't get me wrong - I still think Linux is a really nice idea, and will really give the kid an advantage. You just don't want to have the opposite effect by having the kid associate the computer with pain hahaha
> also Linux has continued to get easier and more reliable
100% especially if you get some very common hardware it's arguably more reliable than windows nowadays lol
I set up Scratch for my daughter but she ended up mostly playing games (Minecraft and Super Tux are her favorite). She did pick up some computer skills though. For example she has pretty good understanding of files and directories - something that most kids struggle with in mobile-first era. I don’t allow internet access. She is too young for that.
>How would u setup a child's first Linux computer?
preloaded with tons of stuff my kid might find cool (depends on his or her interests which nobody knows better than I do), and with completely disabled internet access if kid will be using it without my supervision.
Not sure why a full desktop required, perhaps a Raspberry pi 5 16gb,
the pi 500+ or any other mini pc or a cheap chromebook would be enough to start, obviously depends on the kid's interests
i suppose the ideal would be a working device to browse the internet, a usb stick and a pointer to the arch install wiki.
turning things on their head, i got started myself with coherent floppies borrowed from a friend and then later slackware linux downloaded off some ftp site i read about on usenet.
i have vague memories of downloading mint for the atari st and maybe something about it's c compiler, but not much.
antiX would be interesting, getting them used to config files..
maybe a USB stick with a few distros on it, experimenting with installing them, including dual-booting.. a mix of distros spanning debian/redhat types, and kde/gnome types.. maybe a couple of live distros on their own USB stick.. having a virtual machine in the main install and learning about installing into them..
It's what hooked me on video editing as a kid. I then moved on to cracked Sony Vegas and eventually Premiere and After Effects. I made short films with my siblings and friends to try and recreate VFX that I had seen on YouTube channels like freddiew. The interest eventually died off a bit but I gained skills in video editing that I have to this day. Movie Maker made that happen for me :)
The second hand desktop idea is good. But, if her parents are a bit on the nerd side as well, think how much fun they could have together with a Raspberry pi! It could be the evolution of playing Lego together.
Sorry as I may have somethings which I have written in other comments as well so sorry if its repetitive but let me give you a direct response.
I have thought about it and personally the only way i find is to actually educate them that there are options, free and open source options and what it means and trying to generate an intution for them
It was always fun and still is to try to find open source alternatives to X or Y thing
As someone who actually went against the tides in the way and installed linux myself and did things myself.
I feel like I was just inspired by my brother who flexed one day hard on me using archlinux(although in vm), that was the reason why I had decided to use archlinux (love arch, using cachy based on arch rn) but my reason was to "prove" to him.
I don't think his intention was to setup my linux computer or to even teach me. I learnt everything myself at a young age and that does make me proud (I think)
I am speaking this as an actual teen who installed arch I think when I was 15 but try to influence how they think about the world or induce curiosity in them. I was always a power user even when I was on android once running partially because of piracy and emulations
And even that piracy learning was from my brother. Him and my uncle were doing things and I wanted to play a game and download it from net but I didn't know how and he just said to search it + download or something basic on internet and that was it, I then figured it out myself but I think I was literally 8 or something and I was proud of it and I prided myself on becoming a technical user and trying to do some technical milestones or anything I found interesting
It has become a part of my identity to associate myself with someone technical. I feel like I can do a lot of things, I can "figure things out" when others might give up at an identity level.
I am not sure how you might be able to do it, my identity had formed on trying to prove someone with higher authority (I mean big bro's respect still means a little) almost in a rebelling manner
I wanted to up my brother, show that I am more superior to him in tech and now its funny because my brother and cousin comes to me and they say I am a nerd when my brother is a software engineer himself. I try to take it as a compliment though.
I don't know how you can replicate it but I think a way for parenting to make it is to try to just give them ideas themselves and when they think that its their ideas, give them crazy feedback loop and show them rewards and even think of respecting them in a way if they show interests.
Its more like the aristotle's quote iirc, you can teach nobody, the only person who can teach someone is themselves or something similar
I think this idea of letting someone convince it was their idea goes bigger than parenting. The book I had came to learn about it was from how to win friends and influence people which was from my cousin who had gotten into a very decent college and so people around me were saying his life was set so i tried to get him to respect me etc. by listening to him or if he gave me a book to read, then I would be emotionally invested in reading it at a young age etc.
He once taught me about assets, liabilities cash flow at a really young age. So I think I got very familiar with both finances and technology in my life.
Maybe young-bro big-bro dynamic is different from a kid - parent dynamic but I was the youngest in my families but I am just honestly telling my story in case if it helps anyone
If you have any questions, please let me know. I would love to answer.
I would put your entire house behind a custom DNS relay you control, like a PiHole. Use that to eliminate access to advertisements, pornography, some walware, and social media.
I would also consider use of Gentoo as your Linux distribution to force learning about building packages and command line. I would avoid Arch as that might be too much of a challenge.
For me the goal would be forcing them to learn how this stuff works. I would emphasize scripting in the shell like bash scripts, JavaScript via node, Python, and possibly even Perl. This will take a lot of guidance to get this started because they will need some real world use cases about why they immediately benefit.
Once you get the OS finally set up create an ISO of it and put it on both a thumb drive and home file server. Give the kiddo root access to their own computer and let them really break stuff because you can restore from backup
Edit:
Immediately downvoted. This comment apparently caused a nerd god to shed a tear.
Thanks for this perspective. For many kids this might be too much of a learning curve -- but for some, it might be right on.
I learned a TON in the 80s as a kid by rummaging around with a retired Kaypro II running CP/M, breaking stuff by accident and fixing, and trying to hack the few games it had...
Its how I learned this stuff back in the days of DOS.
So then pretend its easy and get them an iphone.
I suspect the goal is you, as a parent, want to feel good to yourself that you are doing something positive for a child. If that's all this is really about then put them in a corner with some educational videos and give yourself a high-five.
> Its how I learned this stuff back in the days of DOS.
In the days of DOS there was no (widespread) alternative.
You first need to capture their interest, otherwise they will see the shiny GUIs other people are using and wonder why they have to write long hard-to-remember commands instead of double-clicking on an icon.
You seem to think that the world is either black or white, but reality is more nuanced than that. Plus, the fact that you learned a certain thing in a certain way doesn't mean that it is the best way for everyone else to learn that thing.
You not wanting to teach your kids is not me trolling. This thread is only about what Linux setup to use to help teach your kids about computers. Teaching kids takes time.
I know this is complicated (it isn't), but parenting requires a dedicated investment of time. Or, just get them an iphone like most other parents and ignore them all day. Or maybe you can hire a surrogate parent to teach them since you have more important things to do.
Let me try one last time to put this in terms that might be easier to understand for you. If we apply the same reasoning to e.g. Mathematics, it would be something like "Either you teach Calculus to your child from day one or you don't teach them any Math at all. Not willing to teach Calculus from day one means not willing to put the effort in parenting your child".
The expectation for most people here is that you throw a toy at a child and if its not Windows they will just get smarter (magically)... maybe even teach themselves to become a rocket company CEO.
This thread just reinforces, to me, that people who claim to write software skew highly autistic. Nothing I said here is complicated, but when you are a person with exceptionally low social intelligence spending more than 5 minutes a day with your kid might really feel the same as 25 hours.
I am not kidding when I say just get your kid an iphone and pat yourself on the back. You are either trying to teach your kid something directly with your time or you are just expecting them to want to figure it out themselves because you can't be bothered.
I was going to say I'd help them install Gentoo or Arch. I learned a lot myself with some help of a friend through SSH when installing and using Gentoo.
Do not pre-install, but make them part of the installation process. :P
>Advertising companies are pushing DoH to remove control from you and give them the control, so be aware of that
True. My first naive attempt at content filtering for my kids was to use a family friendly DNS for the whole network. That's when I learned about chrome's secure DNS option, witch effectively bypasses my intended settings. I guess endpoint control is the only effective option. A mandatory http proxy could be used to filter by hostname too. None of them easy, and I'm supposed to be an expert. Normal people has little chance of implementing technical parental controls.
> What would they want to script? What will they achieve? Why would they be interested in this?
That's where you, the parent, are required to spend with the child to help them answer those same questions. The way to answer it is what problems do you have that you wish were solved... then show the kid that.
I take it you don't write original software for a living or a hobby. For people who do write their own software they go through this multiple times every day. Knowing what to teach their kids or how to get started isn't a mystery.
I'm not going to get my 8 year old to write an jinja2 based integration with vaultwarden for network administration, or some software to pull out multicast routing tables from a global multi-vendor network and display in a useful fashion, which are two things I've worked on today.
I had my first computer when I was 7. It was a 286 from way back in the day. I learned to navigate around a command prompt and deface some of the IBM software my dad brought home. If was fun to get into things, reconfigure things for games, and just solve problems that came up. None of this was super complicated. I mostly taught myself, but my dad spent the time to get me started and help to figure it out.
I didn't start programming until age 28, because my dad couldn't program and I didn't how to get started on my own. But, had he gotten me started on programming too I would have been programming from the command line as a preteen. I knew other preteens who were doing so.
That is why the comments here are so puzzling. Supposedly this a community of mostly software people. I take it most of these people commenting here lack the focus to figure any of this out themselves, much less teach a child to do it. There is even a comment in here from somebody not knowing what to teach a child and then being completely mystified about it once its pointed out.
My wife is a special education teacher. The common reality she sees (the normal parent) just plants a phone their kid's hands and ignores them all day. To most people that is a technology education, the hands off approach. I really get the feeling that is what most people are looking for something to throw at a child and then wash their hands of it, and the comments here further reinforce this assumption.
Didn't downvote you, I remember my first steps too.
But we weren't the overwhelmed gen alpha consumers. Average teen-and-under currently is far less technically inclined (including analytic skills) than a teen of the 90's or 90's had to be.
When a child touches a computer for the first time, he does not know how it works, regardless from which generation he is. But childredn learn a lot in two years.
This would not work for mine, they just wouldn't use it under those conditions. I would rather show them a good time initially and increase complexity if they take a liking to learning about computers.
My eldest is much more artistic than technical and has little interest in programming and tech in general. But he took to Krita on Linux with enthusiasm.
My wife, who is clearly not a child, thought all the same things.
Her computer is old and we are no a budget... So now she is running Linux kicking and screaming. In all fairness there was no learning curve at all because she hardly knew how to use Windows in the first place. I showed her how to install applications from the command line and configure her games to run native or with Wine. She is happy camper, especially since her favorite games are running faster than on Windows.
What I really suspect is that people want their children to just be smart... on their own. If only there were some tools you could buy that would just do it for you.
The reality is children smart enough, at any age, to really do anything on a computer beyond gaming, social media, or ReactJS can learn anything, but it will take direct involvement from a parent to coach them through it. This is exactly the same if the kid is 8 or 18. There is no magic Linux set up that will just do it automagically.
Get them to install WordPress on a different second-hand computer. Other things exist to host but WordPress has a lot of resources out there, and going from bare metal to WordPress introduces a lot of staples of Linux systems administration while still being fairly easy to do.
FWIW this is what I recommend to adults wanting to get into the industry as well, I would just usually direct them from there towards automation, containerisation etc. For kids I would point out that they could host other things instead of WordPress, or even write their own..
Get the Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB (or more if you care). Get the RasPiKey [1] for faster storage (compared to SD cards), without needing to get an SSD. Just use the Raspberry Pi OS.
Re: software setup, curriculum etc.. there are so many resources that target the Raspberry Pi that you can choose something that the child finds interesting.
You can do a desktop computer build if/when they outgrow the Raspberry Pi.
My parents did that, to me. I got a Raspberry Pi 2B, an micro SD card, a monitor and a keyboard. My dad helped me to flash the SD card, but everything else I need to figure out myself. Honestly, Linux is not that user unfriendly. Sure it breaks, but when it breaks it behaves like a broken system and not like a baby that throws a tantrum, or a nanny that just pushes you around, because she believes her own lies. I did corrupt my system multiple times. It doesn't matter, because in Linux you can just do everything, including copying home directories from a fried partition. I learned programming accidentally, because I clicked on everything and wanted to know what this weird program does with the blue and yellow cross icon. The only sad thing is that I lost my first website and server, because I rm -rf'ed in the wrong directory and didn't knew version control yet.
My kids loved the power, freedom and later unexpected community this bought them.
I think it is also important to realize/point out that we do a lot of projecting and our child may have very different interests. Not saying that applies to you evolve2k, just wanted to make the general point.
I set up a Linux machine with our daughter and while it was initially ok, she did not have much interest in the power/freedom and it only became a nuisance for her. Her school/friends use PowerPoint - there is a lot of friction trying work with them in LibreOffice. She wanted to do DTP-like things several times and the Linux options are not exactly... user-friendly. Etc.
In the end we got her a Mac Mini. She can still open a terminal, use Homebrew, etc. if she ever develops an interest. Heck, she can use most free software. However, she can also do the stuff she is currently interested in much more easily. E.g., she uses Swift Publisher, which is a very simple/user-friendly DTP program, can collaborate on PowerPoint presentations when needed, etc.
First and foremost listen to what your child is interested in.
> she did not have much interest in the power/freedom
The reason I started with Linux with my kids is so they were aware that that power and freedom exists. Kids that grow up in a mobile ecosystem (and increasingly both the Microsoft and Apple ecosystems) are fundamentally disempowered, just as the adults that use that ecosystem are. The goal of having my kids use Linux was to make them understand that they did have agency.
Fifteen years on, I have to say it was an excellent decision. They're light years ahead of their peers in terms of their ability to use computers.
When forced to use Linux at an early age, I was given the agency to be made fun of and miss out on social things, i.e. discussing currently relevant games. It got me the jobs and knowledge eventually too, but I really did not learn much from blindly running ./configure and make and make install. I shudder to think exactly how my wine installation worked. There are significant downsides to using Linux and the freedom it brings needs lots of context to appreciate. If you don’t provide the context, Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less.
> discussing currently relevant games
We shun most of this as faddish and low quality. Fortnite and Battlefield are replaced with OpenMW and Veloran.
If you're doing things blindly in Linux, there's no point. The value is in understanding and leveraging that understanding to achieve your goals.
In many ways, this isn't about Linux at all. It's about parenting.
> We shun most of this as faddish and low quality.
This is almost word for word the same way my parents talked about Harry Potter and Pokemon when I was feeling alienated in school for only being allowed to read religious books for entertainment.
It leads to some pretty strong resentment, if that's the kind of thing you care about.
My boys are sitting and reading through this with me as I make comments. They are very surprised by the resentment expressed by many of the comments.
My eldest read your comment and said that Battlefield and Fortnite are trash because of the multiplayer component that leads to gameplay that's low quality. He doesn't feel this way about Elden Ring, for example. In short, we exercise judgment.
It sounds like the difference may be— if your boys are able to make the comparison— that you also did not forbid them from those games? That would explain some of the difference from resentment in these areas that is often born from the material being banned. That leads to social isolation, because multiplayer w/ people you know is really not so much about the game mechanics compared to the shared social experience.
Developing social intelligence and not following social proof are two valuable skills that parents can develop themselves and with their little ones.
Just to be clear, I don’t think your parenting decisions here are harmful, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for the centimeter thick gentoo manual. My only plea is to acknowledge the downsides- and it might well be the case they are minimal. I wish you luck and patience in parenting.
No worries. I'm here for the discussion, and appreciate how others see things. Thanks for your thoughts!
What does that even mean? How can we trust your kid's judgement of games they're not allowed to play?
When I was a kid I parroted my parents opinions about Harry Potter books being a pathway to practicing witchcraft. Now in hindsight I recognize those weren't so much my opinions as they were a performance to get my parents approval.
To be clear I'm not psychoanalyzing your kids (not liking multiplayer is rational), I'm sharing my own related experience.
The witchcraft angle as expressed included a personal interpretation that included being righteous towards and at the expense of others externally, to validate one's self internally. It's not the child's fault what they recieve without question and have to do the work to undo.
In the case of judgement, we can pick something simple like TV shows. A parent can speak to their kids about the addictive quality of some shows that leave them upset when turned off, vs 15 minutes of something that didn't and have them start to be aware of the difference, and how they seem to get bored of both and want to go back to the real world.
Doing that long before it's needed, allows the development of awareness, which as long as it's modeled by the parents, leaves the home as the important teacher of navigating the world, not the households of friends and teachers alone.
That's an opinion... All multiplayer games are bad.
I didn't want to paraphrase what he said too much, but since you're inquiring, I think the general idea is that multiplayer games strive for particular types of engagement and the techniques that companies use to drive that engagement is often negative. I can see that this also exists in single-player games, particularly in mobile apps. We tend to avoid those as well.
Multiplayer is a special category of risk in my opinion because I was an ever quest player and I built a feeling of responsibility toward the players that were relying on me and this led me away from schoolwork. I'm trying to avoid that same pitfall by still allowing them to game, even in a multiplayer setting, just only to a limited degree.
We simply try to avoid the games that are the most egregious in this particular way because they're the riskiest.
After a ~20 year break from first person shooters I’ve recently played Call of Duty Multiplayer and what struck me was how many superficial skins or various rewards were visible to others - it seems to steer the player to accumulate these things (through play or $), to show others in the game.
And the odd pumpkin heads (literally players with pumpkins as heads) running around coinciding with Halloween.
Very different than Counter Strike circa 2005.
Roughly the same mechanics but much more commercialised, playing to the psychological weaknesses of players.
I think you've articulated his point better than I could!
Gaming today is very much based in retention and hijacking the retention by any means necessary.
Playing originals is a different experience and possibly what might give kids a different experience of gaming.
A lower-fi game leaves more to the imagination as well.
Limiting reading like that is extremely restrictive and unnecessary.
I do not think it can be compared to choice of OS where you have to choose one per machine (unless you dual boot or run VMs).
I am guessing when you say "religious books" you mean a narrow range of books approved of by a very narrow minded religious group. Not much mention of, say, scriptures and mystics using sexual imagery, for example. right? Of the many deeply religious major authors who did not fit that particular groups views?
If you follow the context of the thread it should be clear my reply is about GP prohibiting their kids from playing games with their friends, not the OS choice.
My kids play games with their friends, just to be clear. What we don't do is pick up any game that their friends happen to be playing without evaluating it first. And this is a discussion that I have with my children, not some mandate from on high.
The discussion is the most important part because they see review and thinking it over modelled for them instead of told to them and decided for them.
>We shun most of this as faddish and low quality. Fortnite and Battlefield are replaced with OpenMW and Veloran.
My parents didn't let me read Song of Ice and Fire Harry Potter (and do a lot of other contemporary culture things) when I was younger because they said they are pop culture fad. Only haute culture literature in this household! I've had a good childhood but I also missed out on a lot of good things because parenting decisions like this.
And Fortnite is actually an awesome game, it's the mugen we were all dreaming for.
The point isn’t to play the best “non-faddish” games. It’s to play what’s in the zeitgeist and form bonds with people their own age.
I’m so glad my parents didn’t override my decisions on literature or video games or TV shows. I watched anime then, my parents didn’t get it, and that’s perfectly fine. I continue to enjoy it now. If they had made me adopt their mindset of “anime = fad” or “anime = cartoon = childish” I’d have been worse off. Instead of enjoying masterpieces like Frieren I’d be snobbishly thinking about what a fad it is.
We avoid fads because they come and go too quickly. My kids connect with their friends on games that are more enduring, like the From Software titles.
Again, that’s you substituting your judgement for theirs. There’s nothing wrong participating in a fad btw. Free time doesn’t need to be “productive” by only consuming something exalted like From Software.
I substitute my judgment for theirs as a parent; that's intrinsic in the nature of the job.
As I said in my previous comment, my kids chose the From Software titles because their friend group plays it, so I don't think that's a particularly good example of me substituting my judgment for theirs.
[flagged]
Your account has unfortunately been breaking the site guidelines repeatedly lately. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the intended spirit of the site more to heart? We'd appreciate it, because we're trying for something different here.
I think you’ve misinterpreted my tone in this thread, I really was approaching it because I was curious about his parenting style. But I’ve apologised to the other guy, because it wasn’t my intention to ruffle any feathers. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45873355)
I’ve made a couple of nasty comments about Elon Musk recently. I’m unlikely to change the way I speak about him. I don’t speak about anyone else that way, as far as I know. You can ban me if insulting Elon Musk in particular and no one else is something you don’t like. It is my sincere belief that he warrants an exception, because of the damage he’s done and continues to do. You’re welcome to defend him and ban people who insult him in the name of upholding the rules.
>I’ve made a couple of nasty comments about Elon Musk recently. I’m unlikely to change the way I speak about him.
Writing like this is covered in the site guidelines:
"Edit out swipes"
I believe I covered this when I said
> It is my sincere belief that he warrants an exception, because of the damage he’s done and continues to do.
This site deteriorates when any of us put a personal belief above the beliefs detailed in the guidelines.
I respect your opinion, it is a valid one.
And yet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
The issue is not tolerance, or intolerance; it's the site goal of pursuing "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" and doing so while we all, among other things,
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
>Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
None of that precludes us here from criticizing someone or something. It's a matter of how we hold such discussions.
> Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative.
You’re being curmudgeonly.
Please don’t break site guidelines. Take some time to review them.
I'm proud of my decisions and I'm not here to defend them. I'm here for the conversation because I'm interested in the topic.
I vetoed Minecraft and replaced it with MineTest because Minecraft has the hypixel community, which is essentially an MMO that's built inside of the world of Minecraft and dominates the Minecraft playerbase. I was worried that my 11-year-old would be too young to deal with a massively multiplayer game like that, so I prohibited Minecraft for him. The original joy of Minecraft when I first bought it off of Notch's site in 2009 was that you could build things and exercise creativity. I found that in the MMO versions of Minecraft, this is less of a focus. So instead I host a docker container with a minetest instance that we can all build in together.
I also vetoed Roblox because I feel that the entire economy in that game is going to be a net negative, particularly the aspect where kids beg their parents to use real money to buy them Robux.
But to your point, the list of things I veto is pretty small: I'm socially very liberal, and so the main thing I'm trying to filter for is games that are exploitative of their playerbase in some way. In the case of Battlefield and Fortnite, since I used those examples earlier, these are both games that my kids have independently decided they are not interested in; I think some folks read my original comment that I had removed Battlefield and Fortnite from my household. But if you look at my phrasing, I used the passive voice because it was basically a group decision to never really pick them up. I'm using weasel language because they sometimes go over their neighbor's house and have experience with those games, so I don't want to make it out like they've never played them at all.
Sorry about my previous comment. It felt to me like you were deflecting because I was asking about what you’d vetoed and it felt like you were saying you hadn’t vetoed anything.
I actually agree with your vetoes and your logic for the vetoes makes sense. An MMO is too much for a 11 year old. And getting kids hooked the real money aspect of Roblox will have negative consequences in the future.
Obviously I’m no one, but it seems to me like you’re a good dad. Good on you. Again, sorry for the contentious tone of my previous comment.
No worries! I enjoy the discussion, and thanks for the kind words.
I think you've justified your positions more than enough and it's clear you've thought through these decisions and made them along with your kids. Good choices on the game selection!
Forbidding Minecraft is crazy. Helicopter parent 100%.
Enduring based on what metrics? Fornite is now an 8-year old massively (and still is) successful game. And the Battlefield series is actually 7 years older than the Souls series if you count from Demon's Souls. Comparing these 3 games is even more absurd because they are from entirely different genres, and they are not mutually exclusive, one can enjoy more than one genre.
I agree with other commenters in here, I feel sorry for your kids and thankful that my parents didn't treat me like what you are doing with your kids now.
When I think about enduring titles, I think about whether the kind of game that you'd pick up 20 years later and still consider to be a good game. I raised them on a curriculum of games starting with 80s titles and as they got older I progressed them all the way up into the 2020s so they would have a perspective on where particular gameplay mechanics came from. I see your point about the longevity of the Battlefield series and Fortnite, but my impression is people don't go back and play earlier Battlefield titles: I have always viewed them a little bit like the FIFA titles where there is a constant treadmill of needing to buy the latest version of the game. This is not true for Dark Souls, for example -- it's a sort of game you could play in decades and it would be as much of a masterpiece then it is today. I didn't really mean to compare the titles, but rather to use them as examples of titles that I would approve or disapprove of.
My kids choose the games they play, but I exercise judgment in vetoing certain decisions. My example of the From Software titles were not games that I bought for them, or even played (in the case of Elden Ring), but rather titles that my boys were into because of their friend group playing it. They've been playing Night Reign lately and enjoying it. I think people read into my dismissal of Battlefield and Fortnite as indicative of some much larger pattern that they've had a really bad experience with, but I'm not sure that conclusion is warranted.
I was 100% on your side until you list FromSoftware games. As good as they are, they're a single-genre game developer that has a very narrow design and audience.
There's nothing more substantive or enduring about their games intrinsically, that's 100% you just projecting your own opinions about what games are 'enduring' onto your kids, and is not giving them the 'guidance' you seem to think it is.
Not really. I tend to favor single-player games because they can be effectively archived and played in several decades. Multiplayer games routinely just get killed by their publishers. So I do view single player games as intrinsically more enduring than their multiplayer counterparts.
I'm sorry you see it as projection onto my children. I'm keenly aware that many parents try to force their kids to live the life they lived, and I've been careful to not do that. But I understand that that's not coming through to you in this discussion. I appreciate the advice though.
> Multiplayer games routinely just get killed by their publishers.
You are confusing "multiplayer" with "massively multiplayer online" games. The vast majority of multiplayer games are not MMOs. There are tons of multiplayer games that you can run your own servers for, or which use P2P or local LAN connections to not require any publisher presence or support for.
Hell, set them up a Minecraft or ARK or whatever survival-crafter game server, and they can invite and play with their friends on it.
Yes! I'm a huge fan of those. Increasingly rare, though. Was trying to play No Man's Sky, Sniper Elite v2, Quake/Quake2 Enhanced recently with the kids and all required centralized multiplayer. Super disappointing. I do run servers for MineTest (Luanti, really, but ya know), Xonotic, Starcraft 1, etc. but connect-by-IP on an actual LAN seems like the exception these days, rather than the rule.
Out of curiosity, what games published after 2020 (just making up a year here) can you play on LAN with one player creating a server and another connecting via IP? It's my ideal setup, but it seems to only really be available in open source games.
> what games published after 2020 can you play on LAN with one player creating a server and another connecting via IP?
There are tons, it really just depends on what you want to play. Looking at my steam library (installed only, so I can verify there's a LAN option) gives me:
Misery, Necesse, Voyagers of Nera, Infinite Rails, Windward Horizon, 7 Days to Die, HumanitZ, Barotrauma, Avorion
Keep in mind that those are just from the MP games I have currently installed, that are from 2020 onwards. I have 131 mp games from that release period, and only 33 of those are installed, and I only checked games that I figured would be likely candidates (i.e. I excluded Sniper Elite 5, Remnant 2, MechWarrior 5, etc).
So yeah, LAN/ direct IP connect options are still really common, it's just something to check beforehand. Also, the genre really changes the likelihood of having it.
Some smaller titles in there, which makes sense! I'll admit I haven't heard of any of those games, so this may be ignorance on my part. I was thinking of the games from the bigger studios and their general desire to retain complete control of the multiplayer aspects of their games, but I concede that while they have the most players, they are not most of the games. =)
Appreciate you doing some legwork to make your point!
Come on, you can't claim with a straight face that something like Sekiro is not more substantive or enduring than, say, that Rocksteady Suicide Squad game.
Yeah, I'd mentioned the From Software titles because they have received universal acclaim. They were intended to be an example that was not contentious. So much for that!
I feel so sorry for your kids. They deserve a better parent. Remember: your kids are NOT you and they DESERVE to have agency in their lives EVEN if it goes against your interests and desires.
My job is to guide them and use my judgment where their judgment is poor. That is intrinsic in the nature of parenting. Thank you for the guidance though. I understand that you feel strongly and that you hope my kids can be happy even though they're stuck with me as a parent. I do too!
That is such a sweeping statement. Part of what a parent does is guides kids to good decisions, and protect them from the consequences of bad ones. They need agency, and more as they get older, but you do not let them just do what you want.
At the time it was a GTA title. Regardless, the Linux alternatives are useless, there is no alternative to the socially agreed upon phenomena, the child can either participate pr they cannot. The exclusion is not necessarily a bad thing, but you end up having the child swim upstream a bit.
That’s not really the case in 2025. Proton is very good
All games run on Linux in 2025 except multiplayer titles that want to install kernel level anti cheat.
Does Fortnite? I remember finishing hl2 on dx level 7, and then trying the same with ep1 and ep2. Those games are a lot harder when half the physics objects are not rendered. Do not get me wrong - I run Linux on all of my personal machines today, I play games on them, I know what's the state of gaming on Linux. I also know that every now and then I will get to at the very least read some logs to figure out what's going wrong, e.g. the native port of Civ VI was looking for a version of openssl whose time had passed. Further, relying on Wine/Proton inherently means you will always lag behind the bleeding edge in terms of DX APIs, as wine/mesa people need to catch up to implement them. Even worse if it is not related to graphics,e.g. as the spatial audio APIs don't have an open source analogue that is ferociously trying to keep up with feature parity. And of course we also have kernel level anti-cheat. I have immense respect for everyone who is involved in making games (and windows software in general) work on Linux. But there will always be stumbling blocks when you are playing 2nd fiddle, and you've not been given the sheets. And nobody told you where the gig is happening.
Fortnite will work with Heroic Games Launcher. Though I believe you may run a higher risk than normal of being banned by Epic for cheating. So try not to be too good.
It does work in Chrome with Amazon Luna, IIRC.
> Does Fortnite?
That falls under the "multiplayer titles that want to install kernel level anti cheat"
that's fair. unfortunately windows has changed so much since that time that the downsides of allowing kids to use it are much worse now than they were even 10 years ago.
> If you're doing things blindly in Linux, there's no point. The value is in understanding and leveraging that understanding to achieve your goals.
I don’t know about that. Just to be upfront: I’m not advocating putting your kids through this because I think they have to have that motivation for themselves to really benefit.
However, I basically did blindly follow guides to try and get things working without fully understanding what I was doing. Over time, things stick and I’m able to look under the surface and get a better understanding and better solve the problem I’m facing.
Hell, any “Learn X Language” book works like this! There’s always boilerplate that you need to kinda skip over for a while just so you can get a running program. Hell, I’m leaning Rust and I’m using #[] “decorators” and I couldn’t tell you exactly what they’re doing!
> If you're doing things blindly in Linux, there's no point
I digress. Everyone has to start somewhere and not everything has to have a point in the start
When I started using linux, I got so fascinated by open source software that I would just search for software/software types and searched open source alternative to X and go to alternativeto or others and try it out etc.
I used to copy paste dnf commands in the start and I still remember that phase.
I think I learnt linux from myself and have given challenges along the way and I feel like there are things that I have still done blindly along the way (building linux isos)
But the fact was that I still felt proud that I was atleast able to replicate the commands and able to have some familiarity with the process. I feel like if I wanted to able to know more about xorriso and cpio to a deeper degree to understand what wizard magic commands I was running to building custom linux iso s etc.
Now I don't know about fortnite etc., I am a kid but surprisingly games don't interest me that much, I am way more in my movies / tv shows (just ended dexter s8) right now.
There is some alienated feelings when people online my age mention the games they play but I think that games on linux are genuinely great support from what I know and my pc doesn't have anything beyond integrated gpu so yeah
my cousins didn't want me to play much games and so they didn't buy a good gpu during the pc and I think they did succeed in this.
Its complicated to how I feel the situation or even let alone think how I would even try to approach this situation if or when I become a parent myself. Honestly, parenting can be a bit hard but I still don't know if you should shun something that you think is faddish or low quality partially because I think that the best thing you could do (imo) is educate them on the positives on linux and how they might outweigh the benefits of fortnite in the short to long term in a fun manner.
Its um complicated and there is definitely a feeling inside me on that i do some incredibly niche things which would be so complicated to explain to someone my age in my proximity. I think there is only one or two of my friends who actually know even 1% of the stuff that I do in linux (one of them had installed hyprland because of me haha)
I’m sure you also give out raisins and sugar free mints at Halloween too.
We don't get many kids coming to the house on Halloween. Only two this year. We buy this big bag of candy at Costco, and we always end up with a lot of extra, and my kids end up sitting and eating it. Not great.
Just curious how did you persuade them? From what I see kids usually want to play whatever other kids play, like TikTok or Roblox or Fortnite.
This comment is epically pretentious, but I agree that kids shouldn’t be playing online games designed as skinner boxes to increase playtime and financial spend. Makes kids miss out because everyone is playing them? Eh, too bad. They gotta wait for their late teens, imho.
I don't see the pretension. We're simply making decisions about how to spend our time. Many times that doesn't align with what the majority of people like to spend their time doing. That's fine.
> If you don’t provide the context, Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less
Couldn't agree more - Linux can be a great way to get into computing. But only if done in the right way. Arguably for an older kid / teenager (boys usually) it's important to have access to the same games your friends are playing, otherwise you start to become naturally excluded from lunch table talk.
Of course it still depends if the kid is a social butterfly etc., but parents should understand this.
Agreed. My kids (8 and 11) both have Linux on desktops in the living room. They work really well for what they want now, but someday we might have to make different choices.
> Linux is not empowering- it is just a windows that works less.
As a child, I couldn't stand Windows. Nothing works, you just want to do that, but there is always some stupid error message, that tells you nothing. And it never does what you tell it to do, it always does some random mess, that you do not yet know what it even is, or how to fix it.
As a child you need to see causality and have a predictive system, so that you can form a mental model and understand things, or even have the ability to form a question to ask the adults. You do not need a system, that is it's own child and is always mulish yet things it is the smartest thing in the world.
the same happens with children not getting mobile phones, or not wearing the same brand expensive clothes that others can afford.
sorry, but what you experienced is comparable to peer pressure, and as a parent, giving in to that is the wrong approach. you will not agree because you suffered as a result and i am sorry you had to go through that. my oldest is just getting into the age where these things start to matter, but regardless, my kids won't get phones and or anything besides linux for their own sake.
fortunately times are changing and working in our favor. windows 11 is practically unusable already, inpart because it refuses to run on anything but the most recent computers, and in part because it requires an online account, not to mention all the advertising that i refuse to subject my kids to. windows games run on linux better than ever thanks to steam, and my kids school uses linux too for the most part. so admittedly, this will be easier for my kids than it was for you.
That's a good point. My oldest has root on his own System76 laptop, and he's quite accomplished at administering it. But he is able to play and beat Elden Ring in Dark Souls, which would not have been an option five years ago in terms of compatibility.
Just in the last 5ish years Linux has turned into one of the best gaming platforms. I’m able to run pretty much anything on my laptop and steam deck both running Linux
As someone actually a teen. It is very interesting to share how I started my linux journey
I had only got a computer in 6th grade but I was always fascinated by computers in the sense that I was trying to run blindly termux scripts from youtube etc. to run windows programs or linux etc. and I had even successfully done these things earlier
But after 6th grade getting a pc, I was trying to learn some python in covid and uh, lets just say that vscode wasn't happy with a 500 mb ram win 7 pc
I even installed droidcam/womic etc. and it was a real treat on using your phone as a camera for sometime during online classes
Then uh my cousins and brothers bought me a new pc (technically my mum gave the money, so shoutout to you mom, i love you) and I am still rocking that pc
That pc has a very nice specs and they are so good except for one thing which is the gpu. it has just gotten an integrated intel 580 graphics card and barely any high power or mid power games can work on it
So I was having some games like valorant,portal etc. but mostly it became minecraft and I wasn't enjoying the other games
I was watching a lot of privacy content on youtube at the same time and how invasive microsoft is and how linux is just better in that sense.
Now I used to play valorant. It used to work on 60 fps but idk what triggered it to become extremely unplayable for me to the point that it was a godsend if it worked on 20fps
Tried doing everything but I realized that I am not playing a game at 20 fps and neither do I want to. It has kernel level access and its created by a game which has some chinese influence and Its not even about politics but I would actually not play american games with kernel level access either
That being said, First I thought of just reinstalling windows but then realized that if I am actually going through the hassle of re-installing system then might as well use linux (I thought backups were meh and I didn't have any important stuff [i think] anyways, although I wish I would've backuped my fathers occasional folders but eh its 2-3 years now)
Instaled nobara after watching linux experiment. To get the best linux gaming.
It is so funny but I thought that nobara/glorious eggroll had built all of this from scratch in start, like It was gnome and I was like wow did he make this and that and that oh my god, so cooool
Copy pasting dnf commands :sob: (I guess I am on cachy but old habits die hard regarding copy pasting, I still do it sometimes)
Then I went to raw archlinux, it was a mess in the start trying to experiment. I had arch kde and the experience was definitely something
Personally I used to play minecraft (with prism launcher) and not many games. And I genuinely wanted to play with arch more than gaming.
I then was on arch kde and I think I downloaded some games and tried to run it and lets just say that sailing the seas on linux was a very hacky solution but i was able to do that
Lets just say that your boy out here was installing a lot of software bloating disks and wanted minimalism and re-installing systems again and again (and always not making backups, I think I barely make backups even now :sob:)
I went from arch kde -> voidlinux iirc -> artix (realized that non systemd systems can't run vscode etc. a bit of a mess) -> arch hyprland iirc for a very long time and it was here where I tried to genuinely install proton and make games work and it had a very high learning curve (1-2 years flexing my neofetch) -> cachy hyprland (just 1-2 months ago) -> cachyos niri right now
Personally I would say that Linux is a W in everything but personally I just didn't have a graphics card at all to play modern games
From retrospect, regarding gaming, why not just buy older versions of playstation or xbox, are they not specifically designed for gaming itself. It can be a good physical level of seperation as well
I don't know what I do with linux honestly, I just do whatever my heart wants, so if someone asks me my hobbies, I genuinely don't know what to say, tinkering with linux/open source is the answer that I give (building custom linux isos, doing random open source cool stuff etc.)
I then go see on normal discord servers, the amount of games people play and I am like damn
The number of games I have completed/enjoyed can be counted on both my hands or maybe even just one
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up! Your experience is excellent, and it sounds like you're approaching it with good judgment and curiosity! Linux is a ton of fun, because it's a toolbox you can, as you say, "do whatever your heart wants". Much of computing has lost that ethos, and I think it's a real step backwards.
One of my favorite computer scientists, Alan Perlis, wrote the dedication for a very famous computer science textbook that used to be used to teach students at MIT. The book is sometimes called "The Wizard Book", but it's real name is "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". The dedication said this:
> This book is dedicated, in respect and admiration, to the spirit that lives in the computer.
> I think that it's extraordinarily important that we in computer science keep fun in computing. When it started out, it was an awful lot of fun. Of course, the paying customers got shafted every now and then, and after a while we began to take their complaints seriously. We began to feel as if we really were responsible for the successful, error-free perfect use of these machines. I don't think we are. I think we're responsible for stretching them, setting them off in new directions, and keeping fun in the house. I hope the field of computer science never loses its sense of fun. Above all, I hope we don't become missionaries. Don't feel as if you're Bible salesmen. The world has too many of those already. What you know about computing other people will learn. Don't feel as if the key to successful computing is only in your hands. What's in your hands, I think and hope, is intelligence: the ability to see the machine as more than when you were first led up to it, that you can make it more.
I think your journey is a great example of that spirit!
Thanks I was going through a rough time(rather not comment) but your comment helped me a little bit.
Thanks once agian, have a nice day.
I guess my hobby is computing :p
Also feel free to take the comments other people have created regarding you being strict etc. or their opinions etc. in a positive manner. I am sure you want the best for your children and parenting can be complicated and there is no fit one approach and its glad that your children like linux/computing as well
Singleplayer support on linux is absolutely top notch imo and its only some very anti kernel leavel multiplayer cheats supports which get troubled and honestly i am not sure what is the best way to counter against that in linux
But there are some good games I can suggest but you might know them as well: Minecraft,Counter strike etc.
Although they don't share the open source, they share a similar spirit of modding etc. and its gotten almost mainstream enough. Open source games are mixed story with the only good I know being tuxkart haha
I think there is a point in trying to teach children something for their own benefit, since if you might not teach them about open source, I wonder who might teach them (I technically figured things by my own but trying to one up my brother was my motivation, read my other comments to know more)
Its a mixed bag and one of the advices I can give with my supremely limited knowledge but maybe you can try to take more advices from similar people etc. whether its on HN etc. and actually try to get more advice from everything to try to find if that was the best equilibria etc.
But I mean if your children have no objection (like as an example, I am teen and I also don't have much objections with not playing valorant in fact it was the reason technically I installed linux)
SO I guess everything is subjective and we are all just yolo'ing it in this sense but I do think its so crazy that we can comment on this platform and not know each other but have a weird sense of faith that we are talking to a human with similar-ish hobbies/interests living probably hundreds of miles away in an instant.
I think this is the fun of computing just as much as well :)
Have a nice day once again.
Right on. I really loved Minecraft in the early days, but I think it's changed a bit since then, so I focus on Luanti (MineTest is the name most people know, I think) these days. But yes, I'm a big fan of both Minecraft and Counter-Strike. You have good taste. =) I understand that MineCraft is taking steps to deobfuscate its source a bit, to embrace modding a bit more. I was excited to hear that! The early days with Bucket were a real hack based on decompiled sources, IIRC.
Agree with you about discussing things online with others being kind of crazy; I first ran into the internet in the late 90s, and the ability to find others based on interest was amazing. But as you said, always a measure of faith involved (that they are humans somewhere that are like us and have similar interests). As a guy that makes a lot of choices that put me in a minority, I find that online is often the only place I can actually meet someone with my interests, though I've gotten quite used to this. I would say I run into someone IRL with my interests once every 10 years or so.
My kids and I have tons of discussions about all this, and I've been chatting with them about this entire thread for a couple of days now, getting their thoughts and explaining the counter-points that people are offering (I try to steelman opposing views if I'm really passionate about the topic). It's been a fun exercise, both in putting my ego aside a bit, and also stepping into others perspectives. I'm not sure I know anywhere else online I could have conversations quite this way.
Again, thanks for reply. Hope to chat again in future threads. =)
My kids were exposed to many operating systems at a young age, and you couldn't be more right regarding the mobile ecosystem. There's a lot of highschool aged kids who don't understand directories on a file system. They're used to tapping "open" and being presented with a list of files sandboxed in that environment.
The situation you describing is the norm for everyone, including you, for most subjects. Expertise gives you greater understanding and allows for more meaningful engagement with the subject, but most people are experts very few things.
When I "dance" (sway to the beat) at a wedding, I am doing the equivalent of tapping open on the file, whereas my parter with their lifetime of dance experience can move with a level of skill that is much more meaningful and nuanced. My best friend is a chef, his daughter has a vasty deeper awareness of flavor and technique vs most kids (including mine) who are just consuming without much thought. The same goes for my colleague who is also a musician and DJ - their kids can hear a song and instantly understand all the layers of production and instrumentation, whereas most children and adults are just nodding along to the beat.
If I consider most of the things I do in my life, I am interacting with them at very shallow and superficial level versus an expert, and I would assume the same is true for you.
I totally agree about expertise in a given domain. With that being said, I would consider navigating a directory tree below the level of swaying to the beat.
I'm not expecting them to get into the nitty gritty about page alignment and DMA transfers. A directory tree is more on level with toe tapping.
Personally I always loved computers more than smartphones and really loved the freedom even windows could provide over something like android (in the sense of its interface etc.)
I feel that a lot of people my age spend a lot more time on their phones as compared to computers and maybe even using the computer just for gaming or discord or something else (just click open, the games are there in steam, play run, it runs)
I feel like it is partially tech's fault as well. Tech really wants us to not interact with things or to create a superapp to abstract everything to get a bigger portion of the cake
I personally wouldn't be surprised if with things like AI browsers, we might be coming to the point where they genuinely just convert the whole internet into just a chatbot and would interact with the computer and everything on your behalf in the same interface (most likely)
I am pretty sure that if this interface or something similar comes true then most people might not even know about things like www. or internet links in general, and we might be shocked in the same way we are right now to them not knowing what files are.
Hee hee, great response to a great response!
When I was a teenager, I tried to dabble in Linux but the hardware support was abysmal and I couldn't use it, despite my strong intention to permanently switch to Linux.
These days the hardware support is usually fine and my employer requires me to use Linux on the desktop, but still, if I was a teenager I'd still be interested in games, a functional office suite, etc.
For my Linux hobby at the time, I ended up doing was installing MinGW on Windows XP and using Linux VMs on Windows, albeit I had an interest in that kind of stuff.
I don't think forcing people to daily drive Linux for the usual stuff makes much sense unless they want it and have an interest in low level configuration.
My experience is similar, although my kids are are a bit older (the younger one is 17).
There have been issues, mostly with gaming. On the other hand they are happy with the results in retrospect. I just got the 17 year old a laptop with Windows 11 on it she wants Linux installed on it.
Can you please elaborate on this? I have a five years old so it’s still early, but I want to prepare myself to educate him on starting from Linux. Do you use any special setup or go straight to Linux with them? Did they have frustrations using the cli and how did you encourage them? Did they ever want to give up?
What 'freedom' won't they have on a Mac or Windows computer which could run all their friend's software and/or games?
A linux machine works for its owner. A MacOS machine works for Apple, and a Windows machine works for Microsoft. The difference is rooted in control. Unfortunately, we have an entire generation raised on the idea that they shouldn't have ultimate decision making authority over a device they paid $1000 for. It's bonkers, in my opinion.
Linux can run significantly more games than a Mac at this point. It can run maybe 95% of Windows games without tweaking, it only chokes on games with kernel level anti-cheat.
Compared to Windows, freedom from advertising and making your own decisions. Windows has so many dark patterns both out of the box and magically introduced with subsequent updates.
for many kids TikTok is power, not a terminal
> there is a lot of friction trying work with them in LibreOffice
LibreOffice is always a sticking point, in my experience. I some times get roasted for saying it, but if you want people to have a good experience with Linux, point them toward something online like Google Docs. Yeah it’s not consistent with the ideological purity that some people want, but in my experience non-technical people do much better on Linux when they don’t have to deal with LibreOffice. I won’t even speculate why, it’s just not a good fit for non-technical Linux newcomers.
Sorry I was THAT child in school. While I now definitely have some technical knowledge, 10-year-old me, definitely wasn't that smart.
This is just not true. LibreOffice is way easier to understand as a child, since all the functionality is available and discoverable as a menu/tree structure, as opposed to the toolbar mess of MSOffice. That might be useful for professionals, but when you are a child, the unpredictability of these ribbons is just confusing. I just want to format this thing. Click on it. Search the ribbon for the thing. It's not there. Click slightly differently. Now the ribbon header changed. Click that back. Where is it? Still not there. Shit, how do I do that? Describe it in the browser. I have no clue, how anything is called. When I happen to find something, everything is in some foreign language where I can only say "apple" and "house" in. Also there are tons of advertisements and useless whitespace everywhere.
Screw it, I am just opening Notepad (because Notepad++ is not installed and I will only figure out how to use portable programs from an USB stick in 2.5years) do some drafts and finish it at home with a sane office program. In LibreOffice at home, I can find the functionality I need independent of finding out how I need to click on the item to apply it. Also when I click on something, on the left there is a property window open, which lists all the basic properties I can change.
MSOffice has moat for professionals who already know how to use it. It is not friendly for children who have never used a word processor.
Converting MSOffice documents to LibreOffice is not that hard, especially as a child, since my mates also have not used a word processor for decades, and have not used fancy formatting. And then you come around the corner with a poster designed in Scribus. They are all like: what you can do that? And guess with whom, people want to be in a group for a presentation, and who people will trust when you tell them to please save it in this format?
Out of interest, what's your issue with LibreOffice? The only issue I have with it is when you need to open documents made in MSOffice. Otherwise, it does everything MSOffice does and faster with less cloud/AI crap. Reminds me of MSOffice during XP era when it just worked.
> what's your issue with LibreOffice?
I'm sharing observations about seeing other people, including casual computer users, forced into using LibreOffice. It becomes the software experience they hate the most. They associate Linux with LibreOffice and want it all gone so they can go back to getting work done on mac or Windows like everyone else they know.
Your comment is a good example of the disconnect between average computer users and the LibreOffice fans:
> The only issue I have with it is when you need to open documents made in MSOffice. Otherwise, it does everything MSOffice does and faster with less cloud/AI crap. Reminds me of MSOffice during XP era
Collaborating with other MS Office users is a key part of many people's jobs. Having poor MS Office compatibility isn't just a footnote, it's a showstopper issue that will make these people's jobs harder every single day. Making people's job harder and take more time is a great way to make them hate something.
As for not having cloud features and having an old style XP era interface: These are also points that are only positive for a specific type of computer user wants computing to return the earlier, simpler era of computing they fondly remember. For everyone else, that "cloud crap" is a helpful feature for getting their job done and that XP era interface makes it feel like they're stuck using outdated software. I understand you don't use or like the new features, but average people who use this software in their jobs might actually benefit from the new features and new interface.
I guess I wasn't really thinking about it in the context of jobs since the post was about kids. I was thinking about the kinds of "non-techie" people I often help with computer stuff (often older people). They don't even know what the cloud is, they just want to have a spreadsheet for monthly expenses, make a document or two to print out and an occasional presentation. There are a huge number of these kinds of people but they don't really generate money as a market segment so MSOffice has completely abandoned them. Those people do sometimes need to open a file someone else made in MSOffice but LibreOffice compatibility is good enough for their purposes.
> I guess I wasn't really thinking about it in the context of jobs since the post was about kids.
The primary reason kids would use office tools is for classwork, which is not dissimilar from job work.
If you're submitting a book report or something it doesn't matter what you're using to write it. However, once you get into group projects (which are very common, in my experience) being the odd one out who can't work with others is really not good.
Kids also learn how to use computers at most schools. They're probably exposed to some combination of MS Office and/or Google Docs products already.
Good point, but is Google Docs more compatible with MS Office than Libre Office? Can one work fricitonless between a Google Docs user and an MS Word user?
There is also OnlyOffice as an alternative to Google Docs. https://www.onlyoffice.com/download-desktop
It garbles up the formatting when importing / exporting. You can’t collaborate with people on office in a meaningful way.
MSOffice also garbles up the formatting of LibreOffice feels. Actually it also garbles up the formatting of MSOffice documents. I needed to fix the documents of my grandparents. Guess which program just works, and which just makes a mess.
I find it to be just a little bit irritatingly flaky in the UI. Weird glitches, slow sometines for no obvious reason. I don't do anything complicated with it; I can easily believe there are bugs lurking in lesser-used control paths.
The average person in the real world is more likely to encounter documents made in Office, that would be a major barrier to adoption.
Please, it’s a functional copy of Office ’97, which millions (billions?) of people used happily.
The thought of willfully making a child dependent on the biggest advertising company on the planet for their documents is pretty gross, at least when you have the knowledge not to.
> Please, it’s a functional copy of Office ’97, which millions (billions?) of people used happily.
Exactly. The Office '97 is nearly 30 years old. The world has moved on. People like their modern software.
I think LibreOffice appeals to people who think computing should have been frozen in time at some arbitrary point in the past when they were younger, but it feels stale and old to anyone who doesn't have rose-tinted glasses for the Office '97 era.
Most people don't want their software to be turned into some ideological battle. They just want to get their work done and not have to fight the software along the way, so they can get back to enjoying their lives.
There’s nothing “modern” needed from a word processor for 99% of people. You type into the white rectangle, save, and/or print. Three toolbar buttons are needed for that.
An actual useful feature is coediting a document, but has downsides, and can be done without the advertising company involved.
One should learn how to do it with autonomy early, so not dependent their entire lives.
I use LibreOffice for casual home use and can't remember the last time I missed a feature. The graphs are cumbersome to manage I agree.
> First and foremost listen to what your child is interested in
A child can only ever have interest in things he or she has been exposed to. A good environment will expose them to many different things, expanding their menu of interest options.
This. Thank you. Parents tend to project a lot of their fears and desires into their child. Your child is not you and will never be. They are their own person with their own interests. It's fine showing them your interests but forcing them on the child is not. A lot of nerd parents believe their kids like nerding like they do even when it's not true. Listen without judgement and be willing to install Windows if they want it rather than judging them for not wanting Linux or not caring about the command line or whatever programming language you are trying to force on them. You are a parent first. Nerd second.
Very fair. Yes you can’t force them but I still think there is value in attempting to start the Linux way which you very much did.
Sounds like you’re doing a great job and tuning in to the needs and interests of your child. Love it!
this is the line of thinking which led me to furnish daughter with Windows laptops and, later, desktops; I remove the adware & spyware to some degree, but Windows (and I assume Mac, but I'm not in that space) has the benefit of generally being reasonably intuitive for basic use WITHOUT A CHEAT SHEET and, importantly, fast and easy to teach intermediate use of. if she wants to know how to enable literal (that is, correct) filename sorting in File Explorer or write an HID driver, I'll be here. + I sure don't feel like debugging every strange artifact appearing in Steam games as a result of emulation.
one thing I have protested, to the point of being obnoxious, is school-managed Chromebooks. I've talked to every principal of every school she's been in since Covid-19 to persistently request I be allowed to furnish a Windows laptop or at least a Chromebook I manage. -and in a bit of a surprise to me, everyone's been accommodating (though never to let her use a Windows laptop; I think maybe providing it as an option makes breaking policy to let her bring a self-managed Chromebook seem reasonable). I argue I operate web services with user information at home and don't want school employees on my network, and I don't want the financial liability of her accidentally damaging school property.
> Her school/friends use PowerPoint
I'm amazed parents are still paying for MS office licenses... Google Docs had completely taken over my college in the late 2000s and has been the standard at all the companies I've worked at since then. Plus I thought Chromebooks were pretty standard in schools now.
What's pushing parents towards a paid product over a free one that works better for a student use case?
> What's pushing parents towards a paid product over a free one that works better for a student use case?
Office 365 is free for students and has the same collaboration features you’re describing.
Do they no longer require a school email address with a school part of Microsoft's program? Are middle schools handing out .edu emails now?
Edit: a web search confirms that they still have those requirements so I remain confused
My daughter also had the same - she was really keen on DTP-like things and DTP programs. Well, not just DTP programs, she liked ZTP and MTP tier programs -- she didn't like TTP programs per se, but quasi TTP was more her speed
> She wanted to do DTP-like things several times and the Linux options are not exactly... user-friendly. Etc.
What's wrong with Scribus?
Simple things are painful in Scribus, like adding an image.
Not my experience, when learning it as a child. Everything is a box, and you just draw a box and tell it, what to put in there. That's a thing 10-year-old me could understand.
You can do this on windows with wsl now too and have a more hackable machine that could dual boot in the future if wsl doesn't cut it
I think you're taking this too far. First off, limiting screen time and access to feeds while making sure kids are socialized is generally a good thing regardless of where they decide to go in life. Computers that make things a bit 'harder' help stave off mindless consumption of content without being oppressive.
Arguably you could just put your kids in a high-end private school with other well socialized children who have had significant sums of money invested in their development and haven't even been pacified with tech out of parental laziness/necessity but hey, whatever works...
Secondly, providing a linux based computer or old windows as an intro to technology has one very basic benefit. It teaches mindful interaction with technology. These things are tools. Regardless of how hard many companies try, computers (smartphone, tablet or desktop) remain machines that do exactly what we ask them when you ask them to do it and internalizing this at a young age builds stronger humans.
I sometimes used to make estimates of construction projects for my uncle since he wasn't a technical guy.
I am a teen and so when I had made the switch from windows -> linux, he was a little weirded out and I tried to do things in libreoffice but he just genuinely thought it was excel itself and he was trying to use his old experience for some niche thing and I was trying mine to figure out libreoffice etc.
Um, it was decent, I still use libreoffice but at that time, I just decided to open up google sheets (iirc) and just use google sheets for excel purposes and I think that later he even preferred it since he could then go to someone else and have them open up that excel as well
We never had collaboration on powerpoint presentations or etc., our school work was basically build a presentation and mail it
I live in the east tho so I am not sure how the western world's schooling system is entrenched in powerpoints collaboration etc.
I don't like google generally but atleast their suite is in the web and so I can naturally use it in linux as well without any limitations unlike the web versions of microsoft's monopolistic suite of softwares.
That being said, I am still on mac which my brother gifted me partially because I only have a computer and sometimes I like the portability of a laptop but I genuinely feel annoyed or I do feel limited by what I can do on mac.
Yes I have installed homebrew etc. but linux actually feels more comfy for me to use to be honest, I think I like both but I personally prefer linux more as well.
I would recommend if possible to try to buy them something like a old laptop and boot them linux as well to try to teach them your knowledge and try to bond with them.
There is just this instant sense of gratification I get when I realize that my pc is mostly open source and it has even gotten to the points of being reproducible and bootstrappable so somebody would technically be able to even re-architect or (myself) as well the way I use my computers in this open source manner. All of the things open source.. Wild.
I personally have starred a lot of projects along the way I have found and I am pretty sure that some of these projects could genuinely be useful to people.
I am sure you know some really cool open source projects as well and maybe you can share these softwares which can help them in the process as well. I have found it extremely surprising in how many things can be done by already built open source softwares.
It is not as if I don't use proprietory software, I think there are some trade-offs to be made
I decided to use obsidian partially because I found it to have a better plugin system than logseq (? sorry if this isn't the correct name) and I really like the excalidraw plugin in obsidian.
I set up one with Ubuntu for my seven year old.
1. It's in the living room next to an SNES and an N64.
2. I showed her vscode, did a short HTML tutorial, and printed out some HTML cheat sheet.
3. Some modest games.
4. No YouTube or social.
Most of the buzzwords are not important (power, freedom) but I want something "unrefined". That is, a little bit of the 1980s, 90s "neat creative toy" experience but nothing with a Recommender Engine. No "digital crack".
As an entertainment product, it's definitely 100% inferior to modern software, but you actually don't want it to "win" a contest against:
1. yourself
2. other children
3. healthy activities
Recommenders and modern games are really strong. Do not invite strong, self-interested parties to compete for your child's time and life against yourself, their siblings, their friends, their neighborhood and their own developing bodies.
Common pattern: Wake up; play one cup of Mario Kart 64; leave it behind and go outside for ten hours. Or play it together. A cute little nice thing in its little proper place.
Outside like the back yard? Where does your 7 year go for 10 hrs?
Oh good question so there is a neighborhood, we’re surrounded by playgrounds and parks with other children and in the summer it’s surprisingly easy to keep busy. I did get her a bit of a kit (flip phone, radio, skates, nice bag) and she is quite outgoing. This area is expensive (not upper class but price-wise) but it’s very dense and safe landscape for a child.
I should add. _Other_ children being on phones poaches them off, but currently enough are "let out" that it's not a total child desert. (This was harder for the previous child, long ago, so I think there is a trend.) A lot of them are given smart watches and she reports being teased for having a flip phone and not a smart device. I explained a little the situation as I understand and taught her some "cocky-funny" and "agree & amplify" deflections. This is a tricky skill to pull off but she managed.
Also also: winter will be harder (less kids out, short daylight) but she managed to get numbers and build "relationships" before winter. I'm so relieved.
There are both practical and philosophical aspects to this. Practically, you might want a somewhat locked down solution with the root account locked and the ability to wipe and reinstall remotely. Are you and your friend up for that? If kiddo barfs the system (they're kids, they will, and it's ok!) your friend is gonna need to be up and running quick. PXE boot, kickstart, recovery USB stick, etc.
Before investing time you might also get a several distros on live USB sticks, boot each one up with the kid and parent, and see which one they like best before you install it. Make the kid part of the process.
Depending on the age of the child, make the computer discoverable. The full app store might be too much for younger children (mummy what's a flatpak?) But you might preload a "basic" and an "intermediate" app, eg Minecraft and scratch and then a (simple!!) Python IDE. And put them in discoverable, kid friendly places on the start menu.
Games. Lots of games. Both for their fun value and for teaching the motor skills of mouse and keyboard. Curiosity apps like Google earth.
For older kids, compatibility with their friends is important so make sure that things like LibreOffice, chat etc Just Work. No 13 year old wants to be the Odd Kid with the Bizarro Parent Computer. You can involve them in thinking about what it means to have choice in computing and to not just be a consumer, but they're still kids facing natural social pressures.
I could go on all day. One last point. After the thing is all set up and has been running for a few weeks, check in with the child and parent. What do they like? What do they not? And fix those issues.
> The full app store might be too much for younger children (mummy what's a flatpak?)
More to the point, they won't know what to look for, or might decide on something inappropriate (or even just unexpectedly hard to use).
> eg Minecraft and scratch and then a (simple!!) Python IDE.
If the kid is interested in and ready for creating a program by actually typing in text, a plain text editor (that can be Xed or Kate or whatever) plus the command line will probably serve better. The simplest functional IDE is really the built-in IDLE, and it's IMX not pleasant to use by comparison. The built-in command-line REPL, on the other hand, improved substantially in 3.13.
> More to the point, they won't know what to look for, or might decide on something inappropriate (or even just unexpectedly hard to use).
Why does it matter. They try something out, it doesn't work, they try something different out next time. A child learning on it's own always works like that. They try random things out and see what works.
My parents gave an RPi and I had root, because I needed to install it myself. I broke it a few times, but why is that a bad thing? It's not like I could destroy anything important.
I had a long debate whether a graphical programming environment like Scratch was better than typing out a classical language such as Python, my friends sided with Scratch but I ended up teaching (a bunch of 11-year-olds in a school) Python using the pyturtle library for simple graphics.
The advantage of Python includes being a "real" language - you can literally make money with what you learn. Also, the program as textual artifact means in can be read out and discussed.
mu editor looks pretty good for kids to learn python. unfortunately it is no longer supported.
thonny is an ok replacement, but doesn't feel as kid friendly to me.
without root, how can they mess up the system?
at worst they can mess up their account. then set up a new one. i don't see a situation where you would need to reinstall remotely.
don't let them choose distros. use the same distro you have, or one that you are comfortable supporting. everything else will make it harder for you to help them.
Well, they can mess up the filesystem, eg corrupting it via shenanigans with the power, or nuke their home directory, config, etc. Enough that the next boot doesn't just work and get them back to where they were. Uncommon, but very possible.
Re the distro, I think that you should aim to minimize the "irrelevant" cognitive load on the kid and make them feel ownership of their environment. So yeah, I would rather learn how to help them do things in Zorin knowing that they chose it because they liked the colors than ram stock Ubuntu or god forbid Arch down their throat because it's what I or their parent ran. There'll be plenty of time for that once you know they are into it. And no harm done if they aren't.
sure, if you run something that is aimed at experienced users like arch then that's probably not a wise choice. but for example as a fedora desktop user i'd recommend something fedora based, because it will drastically reduce the troubleshooting efforts compared to something debian based.
We were gifted our old work laptops. My partner and I work for the same place. She gave hers to the mother in law after I wiped Windows and put Linux on it.
I gave mine to my son. I figured that my son might want to use the touch screen I went with Gnome because it seemed a little more touch friendly. I told myself it doesn't matter because he is 8 and I can always reinstall.
I chose Debian (Stable) so I wouldn't have to deal with keeping it updated, put a root password to prevent them from going crazy with installing stuff.
I will have to put Scratch on it someday, for the moment he cares about the following:
- the LEGO website to look at instructions - the music player to listen to soundtracks from his favourite games - MyPaint for making drawings
He is starting to figure out the idea of folders, deleting things, undo, etc., but hasn't asked for any other software or even games yet.
I am a professor and would like for my son to learn about word processors, spreadsheets, programming, etc.. If he ever asks, I will give him the root password and let him browse the repos. Right now, I'm just happy to see him enjoy it without doing what lots of his friends do: sit in front of YouTube all afternoon.
I recently installed Ubuntu on a little Geekom mini PC for my 6 and 8 year olds to share. So far my 6 yo isn’t too into it, but her older sister mostly uses it for the games I’ve put onto it through Epic and Steam and programming using MakeCode, mostly for Arcade (https://arcade.makecode.com) (I have a couple of micro:bit-based handheld shields) and more recently getting into the awesomely simple networking that the micro:bit provides (https://makecode.microbit.org).
Since the micro:bit requires some file management for programming them, that’s been a good entry point to the file system.
how do you manage parentcontrol on YT?
You ban it. It's mental cancer, to both adults and children. And I'm not even being hyperbolic.
Even the kid-safe stuff is so incredibly viral and empty, it kills all creativity and volition.
I’d agree with deferring any and all social media as long as you can get away with.
On the YT front a small thing that helps is an extension that removes all recommendations. So YouTube opens to a blank screen with only search and after watching a video there’s no now shady this. So it becomes much more functional to their interests.
“How to _____” “Explain how ____ works.”
Helps reduce the addictive parts and keep the “it’s a tool” parts in focus.
Yeah, Youtube for my six year old son is restricted to us looking up stuff for him to watch. Want to know how pencils are made? We'll look up a good video. Recently, that's not often either.
CocoMelon and its ilk on Youtube are abhorrent. It's digital crack tailored to absorb every little bit of attention. Avoid that shit.
There is a lot of good stuff on it too, including a lot of educational stuff.
I got my nephews a raspberry pi for their first computer. I tried gifting an old laptop, but that was rejected my the parents as “too much”, so I went the Pi route… first with a Kano Kit (which I think is no defunct) and later with a Pi 400.
The Kano was nice, because it was built for kids and had some guided stuff to help get them into it with various software and hardware to play around with.
With the Pi 400 it was stock Raspbian. The kid wasn’t sure where to begin. While it came with a book geared toward kids, I don’t know that he read it. I was trying to find a way to show him around to stuff he might think is fun, without it seeming boring over overwhelming, but I didn’t feel it went that well. I was also living 6 hours away at the time, so there weren’t regular visits for questions or to help things along, and the parents didn’t know anything about Linux.
Ultimately, I don’t think it inspired them as much as I was hoping. All they actually wanted was something to play Minecraft on, and the Pi edition was a very compromised experience for Minecraft. The Kano did have a mode to let people use Scratch type programming to automate aspects of building, which I thought was really cool, but it didn’t totally seem to click… though I did see some limited use after a couple years.
I think not having someone in the house who can guide and field questions really hindered the ability for them to really thrive on Linux. It would probably be worth including a series of lessons to ramp up their skills and knowledge. Doing something like that was difficult for me due to the distance and also not so much parental support on the idea of kids on computers. I was swimming against the current a little with those gifts, because I thought it was important they get access to the main tool they are likely to use throughout their life.
This is such a weird thing to read. You try to project your ideas on the kids, thinking that is the best thing to do. Let them be.
I learned Linux when I was like 13 or 14 and not because my father told me. He didn't know much about computers in early 2000/late 90ties.
The curiosity, the desire to learn, the need to set up my own isp, the need to start to make money, the curiosity of how html, php and other stuff worked let me to Linux.
Teach them how to be curious and feed that curiosity, the rest will happen.
And if they choose Mac over Linux, just get of their way, otherwise they will rebel.
Seems like need was a necessary prerequisite.
I’d agree that projecting ideas on to kids isn’t the greatest thing since it’s top-down. But so are most ideas that get pushed to kids via media, school, friends, etc. And many of those aren’t the best either.
You're not wrong. But I think you fail to realise that everything you did on computers in the late 90s and early 2000s had friction by default. Even on Windows. Modern devices are friction free and designed to passively hold your attention as much as possible.
Introducing alternative computing to your children so they actually learn skills isn't about control it's about giving them exposure. If all they see are iPads and Chromebooks, they’ll think that’s all there is and then compare the frustration of trying to do things with a real computer to the ease of just consuming content. I think that frustration is the point for a developing brain. It teaches problem-solving. Requires focus and patience. Rewards perseverance.
Curiosity needs a spark. Sometimes that spark is just showing them a terminal and letting them poke around, or getting them in to Scratch or any of the similar game design visual coding platforms.
Not everything has to be fun or easy. Struggle is part of learning. As a parent, we are up against an industry built to keep kids from ever getting bored. There's no guarantee they'll go down a more rewarding and impactful path if you are too handsoff. Especially in the early years.
>You try to project your ideas on the kids
That's what parents do. My dad brought home a C64 back then, and a book about BASIC. We didn't have a joystick for it, so we built one together. He showed me how a speaker works by taking one apart. He taught me about HAM radio. Showed me neat stuff he built with electronics. Helped me with my math homework, because he was a goddamn math wizard. I watched him disassemble our piece of shit washing machine and fix it several times. None of it was mandatory or forced or nothing. It was more like, hey son take a look at this cool shit. And I thought it was cool, and my dad was the coolest dad ever because he knew all this stuff!
Sadly, he was taken from us too soon. I often wonder what he'd think about the tech and electronics of today.
Because children have the necessary skills and understanding to choose an OS? Most adults do not!
For my toddler's first desktop, I started with a simple collaborative setup project. Nothing at all fancy: had them write a scheduler, MMU, etc. Holding off on network stack and drivers until they're a late teen, though.
Well, there is nothing at all wrong with those projects, but perhaps start at the lowest level first, such as building a bootloader. Being able to boot hardware using your own code is a tremendously valuable lesson for a toddler to learn.
Totally agree, but if you don't teach them how to build a simple CPU, RAM and storage device first (possibly also network card), the experience is quite lacking.
correct! That's why I made sure my kids know how to mine rare earths and assemble a decent CPU from scratch. They loved it.
I would recommend installing Scratch[1] - it's a programming language designed for kids from 8yrs old onwards. I would recommend pairing it with a Raspberry Pi, as you can do fun real-world physical stuff with using Scratch, and I think kids can find that very interesting. Eg, start with a simple program to turn LED lights on and off, programming buttons, playing sounds etc. Eventually this could lead to making simple games or other programs. Regardless, would highly recommend getting a Raspberry Pi as its just so much fun using it to interact with the physical world and getting to learn actual electronics.
[1] https://scratch.mit.edu/parents/
As a parent with two kids that used Scratch during 2020 or so… be cautious. The web community was an unregulated social network with follows, likes, comments, and a wide age range (apparently) of people interacting. Around that time, there was a lot of inappropriate content, some bullying, sketches about self-harm, sex, etc. Perhaps they’ve fixed the issue. If not, I would try to install it locally and keep them away from the official website.
Incidentally, I later came to believe that the visual coding impeded their ability to learn text-based coding. That was just my experience and I don’t have formal research to back it up, but I still wonder about it.
> visual coding impeded their ability to learn text-based coding
As a former child, my opinion is the opposite. I learned visual programming with Lego Mindstorms NXT in ~2008, and later developed an interest in text programming on Roblox in ~2012. It's my belief that my fluency with concepts like control flow and values output from one part of the program serving as inputs for another part of the program were largely transferable to text-based programming. Learning a first programming language is 30% learning syntax, and 70% learning programming.
There's Hedy if you want to try a text based programming language for kids: https://www.hedy.org/
seconded, Scratch is a wonderful learning environment. I would pair it with ChatGPT and supervision, LLMs will really help flesh out ideas and figure out how to implement them for kids who won't know how to start, and since you can't just copy-paste into Scratch, the kid will have to actually do the work of dragging the blocks around. We did some amazing stuff with Scratch - visualizing algebra and trig functions by drawing them as a graphing calculator would, we even made a binary tree based morse code decoder, a rocket simulator (using real-ish rocket equation physics, air resistance, etc). Now we have mostly moved onto Desmos (graphing calculator) and Python.
I don't want to police someone else's parenting, but even with supervision I would be deeply cautious against exposing kids to LLMs from a developmental standpoint. Even adults have a hard time not anthropomorphizing LLMs, a kid under a certain again would essentially be unable to not view an LLM as a person, which could have some SERIOUS ramifications down the line.
An immutable distro, probably Fedora Kinoite https://www.fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/
>In windows when a child goes searching the web for a “movie maker for windows” they are going to be in a world of hurt either finding expensive commercial options or super scammy sites promising the world.
It's funny that you use that example because the state of video editors on Windows have never been better from industry standard free options (DaVinci Resolve) to FOSS options (KDEnlive, Openshot, Shotcut, Avidemux etc).
What you describe is a Google / web / browser problem not an OS one
There’s a Linux version of Resolve that works fine as long as you have NVidia and don’t mind transcoding m4a audio tracks to PCM (some codec licensing issues I think)
And transcoding H.264 video to whatever codecs the free version of Resolve supports
Ah yes sorry the video software was a lazy example but I think you get my point. I did see them find confidence in having such a deep library of free software to poke at and around with.
Insert slightly more niche need that a kid might have ;)
I made sure to expose my kids to Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. They would use Linux for a bit, but ended up on Windows for games and Mac OS for media. Over the years, though, as Windows has gone EOL on their hardware or they have been forced into Windows 11, Linux has come back.
My oldest now has mint on her laptop and Bazzite/W11 dual booting her desktop. This was her own choice, and she did the setups herself.
My youngest is now almost an adult, but I went through the same thing that you are doing now about 15 years ago, before the prevalence of smartphones. You have a lot more options now, especially with cheap hardware which is well supported by Linux.
When they are older, let them install Linux and give them full control and root access. Let them break it and try to fix it -- if it's too far broken they can just reinstall.If they're not into tinkering, or not into tinkering yet, consider an immutable distribution like Kinoite, Aurora, or Bluefin. It is difficult for them to break things
Don't expect them to dive in and never leave the Linux ecosystem, an important lesson is "the right tool for the job". If they know that it is an option, they can always choose it.
I might be a bit odd in that I've been using Linux as my primary desktop since 1997, so the kids have seen it around for their entire lives.
My main advice here is that you need to tailor this to the individual child. What will turn one kid on to free computing, will cause another to think of Linux forever after as "that annoying thing which I was forced to use, when I didn't have a choice in the matter", and that's probably the opposite of what you want; it will associate "Linux" in their mind with not having a choice. What is this 8-year old girl interested in?
It's so weird to me that this comment is so rare in these discussions. Linux / not Linux ... depends on the kid and what their interests are. I have two kids, one of whom I have exposed to Linux as I figured they'd get a kick out of it (which they did). But for the other I can tell they wouldn't really care much about the OS.
Same goes for adults. I'd advocate for Linux to some of my friends & family but not others.
Kids are all individuals!! Parenting should be flexible and personal.
I can’t support Linux as the first computer enough. Both of my boys got an Ubuntu desktop for their 8th birthday. I showed them some basics. They were motivated to figure it out. They learned how things work along the way. Also no scammy popups or notifications causing confusion or them granting access “just click yes and it goes away”.
Ununtu (non root) and timekeeper plus. I work with them when they want to install something or do updates.
They have steam, minecraft, OpenRA for games and are happy.
They create music, program arduinos, edit videos they make with friends.
My kids (pre-teen) have Pi400s. It lets them play around with basic graphics apps, write stories, write and print letters to family, play simple games without the kid-hostile world of modern “mainstream” gaming, watch movies from the NAS, etc.
More than enough to keep them entertained and teach them the basics.
These days, I would start with ZFSBootMenu and Debian Stable.
Why ZFS? So that backups are easy, snapshots are cheap, and when the inevitable happens, it takes a few minutes to reboot and roll back.
Why Debian Stable? Because it will continue to work and get security updates for years, without changing out from underneath them without notice.
I would also recommend that any computer for an 8 year old be placed in the living room or a similar easy-to-watch-over place. Kids need guidance; if they didn't, they wouldn't be kids.
Adblocking, obviously. Everyone needs that.
Agree with having the computer very visible in public space like living room. For us this was an additional reason to get a desktop as the first computer, it’s staying put; no sneaky use out of sight as it’s stuck where it is. Laptops can come as they mature.
I'd give them a stack of Slackware floppies and half the manual.
Pretty sure that's against the Geneva convention.
This comment made my day :D
If that was in the 1990s that would be impressive
If that was in the 2020s...
My 13 year old came to me asking for Linux because of steam. He had heard of people moving to steam on Linux instead of upgrading to windows11. So if your child is into gaming show them steam on Linux and at least they’ll use it to play games. Then from there you can ease them into Linux itself while having steam+games to keep up the usage and interest.
Just take it slow, I pushed the console a little too hard on my 13 year old. He now refers to it as the “black box of despair” hah.
You might look at ZorinOS or Linux Mint. Mint is very easy to use, I was able to get my elderly mother to use it. It has a software store and built in automatic backups.
Zorin has some built in features to support Windows software pretty easily I understand, but I'm not sure if that's through wine or a VM or what.
You can test them out in your browser thru the website below and see if it fits what you're looking for.
https://distrosea.com/
I'd suggest burning her a Knoppix CD-R. I learned on Knoppix, back when storage was scarce and expensive -- I couldn't afford a backup drive for the family PC (which I ended up being admin for despite violating COPPA every time I asked for technical advice online). So I was scared to repartition or anything...
Actually, I'd suggest guiding her through burning one of her own.
Then let her decide if she wants to keep Windows on the machine or install it.
The process of obtaining an ISO, burning it, and booting it will teach her a lot about the hardware involved.
All these people talking about voluntarily giving their kid Linux.
When I was 12 or so my Dad installed Linux on my laptop as punishment because I kept installing viruses on Windows.
I suppose it definitely helped with my knowledge of Linux as I had to do a lot of tinkering to get anything I wanted to work, even then 90% of the games I wanted to play didn't work (Waaay before Proton was a thing, Wine alone wouldn't work for most games)
Also had the added benefit of me just generally not wanting to use the computer, Linux sucks for desktop use. Constant source of issues that I just dont care for, I use a computer to play games or do work - I don't care about the operating system side of stuff. You dont daily drive a project car.
I really like the idea and I wish I was introduced to Linux too as a kid! (although I did eventually get into it myself when I was 13)
Linux has a really steep learning curve for people who have only learned Windows at school or are used to the touch-based interface Chromebooks and smartphones/tablets provide. It can certainly be overwhelming for a kid who just wants to work on a school project or game with friends, so you'll need to maintain a delicate balance if you try to make this work.
If I was considering this for my kids, I'd try to give them something as friendly as possible. No terminals or writing code at all, unless they actually get interested and start asking you about how the computer works. Sit down together and teach them how to responsibly use the internet, protect their privacy and find free software.
Try to make the experience interactive and let them know that they can customize it however they want and help them do so. I always found Windows and macOS very limiting in that sense as a child and my only options were downloading sketchy apps or writing my own terrible scripts (I remember trying to animate my wallpaper on Windows with Python...).
It's also very important to ensure they're covered for schoolwork and any gaming needs. I won't recommend Libreoffice here, Office online or in a VM will be a much better experience and Proton is amazing at gaming on Linux these days (although if you've selected low-end hardware it may be worth considering a dedicated game console).
I generally think most people will appreciate Linux if they give it a try. People just tend to be negative because they've been taught to stay inside the closed ecosystem of big OS vendors and closed, user-hostile software. Once you experience freedom, there's no going back!
Good luck with your project!
EDIT: An important downside I forgot to mention is that there is practically no way to set screen-time or app limits, or block certain websites which is something important to have at least in the beginning when teaching responsible computer use. For those who have tried this, what's your approach?
I'm also interested in how to better control how my child uses the Linux computer, particularly how to restrict which programs and sites they use without stifling their creativity and discovery.
I went with LDE Neon for both my kids. It's also what I use, I really like the KDE ecosystem, very polished experience overall.
Also it's similar enough to Windows that they don't feel completely out of touch on the school computers.
Killer app is Krita for the older one, even got him a cheap Wacom later on.
Otherwise school work, native Linux games, and YouTube. That last one with the younger one I have to keep an eye on. Honestly thinking about blocking access, we'll see.
Both like gaming, so I set up wine for them on my machine with separate accounts. Learning about email, downloads, files and folders by installing Skyrim mods (using kid friendly settings on Nexus), also an exercise in managing frustration...
Anyway everyone will be different, just set up something they'll enjoy. Already for a kid to know Linux exists is a head start.
Seconding “YouTube ban.” I do it now at the network level. If at some point they alter parental controls to allow list channels I would consider adding it back, but the sheer quantity put forth onto the platform makes it impossible for any parent to moderate (or moderate effectively).
At least with streaming a TV show or movie there are defined breaks instead of an endless array of kid dopamine
Do you block it with openwrt? Any good packages?
Yes, that's what I'm thinking of doing, blocking directly on the router.
It was somewhat manageable before with proper education (teaching them what to avoid, time limiting), but now with shorts and AI it's becoming a cesspool.
The main reason I allow it is to show them the dangers of it, of knowing to be careful. Otherwise I feel like as soon as they get access, they'll be completely unprepared... and of course as they get older they will definitely get access.
I started with Red Hat 6 (not RHEL) as a kid, because it was what was included with the book on Linux that I was gifted. Some time around 2000, I was given some retired beige powermac G3 desktops, and I switched to Debian for its PowerPC port. I've been with Debian ever since.
So maybe pick something with the realization that they may stick with it for decades. :)
I also kept Windows on dual boot so I could play UT99 with friends. The social aspect is also important. My son is comfortable using our Debian machines, but also has Windows on his primary desktop so he can play Roblox and Minecraft Bedrock with school friends. I wouldn't want him to lose that.
I’d start by not setting them up a Linux computer.
In both school and work it’s overwhelmingly likely they will either be asked to do things in MacOS or Windows only. Make sure they’re proficient there first.
Linux as a personal OS, regardless of how passionate you are about it, is still a hobbyist platform. If your child becomes super into computers, then you can help them dive deeper down the rabbit hole.
But I wouldn’t drop them at the bottom of the rabbit hole prematurely. Just because your kid liked listening to an AC/DC song doesn’t mean they will want to dive immediately into the world of Brutal Deathcore.
> is still a hobbyist platform
Even if you consider this to be true (I don't), then... so what? They can just learn that there are other operating systems with different icons and different clock in the bottom right corner. They are kids man, they will learn fast. They won't unlearn Windows by using a Linux computer once in a while.
Besides, they would still need to choose between Apple and Microsoft. I'd rather teach my kid the essentials of using a computer (how to find information, how to create documents, how to use tools like Inkscape or Krita). Those skills translate to any desktop environment, and most of those tools do too. Something like Debian or Ubuntu is just great for that, and comes with the benefit of being free. A tool like Inkscape (or its FOSS successor) is going to be available in twenty years time. How many proprietary apps didn't end up as cloud-only subscription-based services?
A lot of software engineers use Linux professionally of course (I do), so even that argument for choosing Windows or MacOS isn't very strong.
+1. I set up Fedora, openSUSE and later Arch for our son (then 10-11yo). He became instantly curious about typing those strange words in terminal (unix heritage all the way :), started to check internet availability with 'ping' by himself, etc.
Unfortunately, the laptop has a Nvidia GPU, which conflicted with some of his games, and the gaming experience was all in all not very smooth. Eventually I gave up and went with Windows 10 LTSC -- surprisingly usable and bullshit-free (!), but, well, I don't think he has ever touched the terminal in this Windows system. I'd say after switching to Windows, his progress in Actually Learning Stuff About Computers has more or less stalled. It's mostly mindless gaming and Youtube these days (luckily, he's interested in sports exercises, athletes etc - so there's at least some "real-world related" information included).
Contemporary Linux can be quite confusing, but it is still miles ahead of Windows in encouraging the child's hands-on experience and exploration of the system. The GUI inconsistencies of current Windows are simply horrible IMO; back in the Win2k/XP days, it was actually quite a usable -- and, hackable! -- system; these days it's just an insanely huge, impossible-to-grasp mess. Also, I have yet to find a simple, easily understandable and modifiable solution for setting daily computer time restrictions for our son on Windows -- surprisingly, while there are a gazillion of small single-purpose apps in the Windows world, there doesn't appear to be too many options for parental control if you wish to avoid a Windows account altogether.
I did this two years ago for a 10 year old.
I went with Linux Mint XCFE
The issue for all parents is surely online safety, especially so for our youngest.
I managed to prevent the 10 year old acccessing porn and other non child friendly sites.
change the browser to the Mullvad Browser or and librewolf
---------------------
make sure you change the DNS in network manager and the the browser.
https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
I used these:
you really dont want an 8 year old on, facebook, X, reddit or any of the other trash sites----------------------- search engines:
Qwant provides a safe Junior search.
https://www.qwantjunior.com/
-----------------------
It takes time to set up.
once it is set up, become a kid and search for porn, gambling etc, to see if you as an adult can find those sites. if you do, block them
to block sites just add lines like these to ublock/my filters section.
If a child does click on them they are blocked and do not open. This also works if the child opens a link from a search engine. This way also removes the proceed button that allows you to bypass the restriction.
etc etcfor fun; set up a few aliases, so they can update from the terminal.
This is great for kids, typing update into the terminal and watching it update && upgrade
My son has his own linux account. He made an absolute mess of everything he could drag around on the desktop, just for fun. Every time I'm in there, the KDE start menu pops out of some other weird place, not even at the border of a screen anymore. Plus, we seem to have some kind of mass xeyes invasion going on there. It makes troubleshooting anything interesting, at least.
He recently learned there are other computers running Windows, which he hates because of the ads.
The big question for me is how to give a child an experience that builds an accurate mental model of what a computer is and what software is. This was easier back in the day (like, Apple IIe times) when you ran one program at a time and if you didn't interact with it, it sat there, inert. (Yes I realize there is always some steady-state physical process going on, e.g. the pulsing of the clock-crystal, refreshing DRAM, etc. But I'm talking about software.) There is something beautiful and....solid about running a single process running in immediate mode on a simple CPU.
Contrast this with a modern experience. There are hundreds of inscrutable processes running, constantly talking to the network, to disk, doing who-knows-what. What does "software" mean on a modern machine? Software runs the gamut from a command line one-shot tool, to an invisible daemon, to a desktop app with a window, or multiple windows, to something hosted in a browser, to something hosted by something hosted in a browser. How can you build a clear mental model amidst so much noise, clutter and (both UI and runtime) heterogeneity?
In the same why "phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny" I'd argue the correct computer for a kid is a single process box with either hard-coded programs or a floppy-like experience (e.g. SD card "floppies). Given all of this, the perfect kids computer system is an HDMI TV dongle that runs an Apple IIe emulator, Logo, and a handful of retro games, and an SD card slot for other programs (prepped by the parent). No wifi or internet, bluetooth for connecting a keyboard, and no mouse.
I am not a parent, but I have a little brother whose technology is partially controlled by me. I control what apps can he install, what games can he play, what ads can he see (almost none), and leave the rest to our parents.
he recently got a "new" PC. it's quite old, it has an Intel Celeron E1200, 2GB DDR3, 300GB HDD, no wifi (ethernet-only), and still runs Vista.
I've been doing my research and found out that I could install a lightweight Linux distro like Arch Linux, with a lightweight window manager like i3 or dwm, and maybe run a few games he likes (Minecraft, some NES/SNES/GameBoy games; I have low expectations from this computer), and a basic web browser.
We set my son up with a linux computer when he was 9 - he was always dragging broken electronics home off the street, so when he found an old beat up thinkpad we managed to get it running with a little tenderness and linux mint! He's been on linux ever since, constantly upgrading computers by getting second hand/free laptops (it helps that his uncle works in IT and can grab a nice Dell or two now and again). It's always fun to put linux on a new machine! In any case, for him it has been great - the desktops are super customizable. Like everyone who gets into linux, it's been fun for him to install pretty TUIs and silly command line interfaces (bob ross quotes was a recent one). There are so many fun hacking tutorials on youtube. Lots of hours on kdenlive and blender. When he was younger he LOVED minetest, which is a hackable version of minecraft. Some other commenters have said the libreoffice is a big issue for people making the switch. Obviously not a big deal for an 8 year old! But my kid is about to go into highschool now. His school uses google classroom for everything so it's still not an issue. so many games that kids play are just in the browser? thankfully my son thinks fortnite and roblox are stupid ways to spend his time. it seems like if they really _need_ to _game_ its another issue, but that shouldn't be a problem for 8 year olds?
There are have been so many benefits. He's been a great touch typer from a young age (compared to his peers especially, who mostly used phones). I mean, being on linux exposes you to using the command line, which makes you _want_ to hack, so he's learned about network. You also avoid the barrage of ads that microsoft is currently assaulting the rest of the world with in their start menu.
>As a tech parent I think one of the best things I did for both my son and daughter was for their first computer to help them to build and setup their own Linux computer (It was Ubuntu back then but they’ve both moved themselves to Arch these days).
Of the important things my father, who definitely is a "tech parent", did for me none of them have anything to do with him teaching me some piece of technology.
To be very frank, if the best thing you have done for your children is getting them to use Linux you are a total failure as a parent. To be fair to you, I do not believe you at all when you say this.
>Now my friend wants the same for their daughter who is 8 years old.
One of the actually most valuable thing my father did for me, definitely in terms of education outcome and career. Was getting me interested and spending time with me and explaining me things. The particulars do not matter, I can not remember them. It is totally irrelevant whether what Linux distro you use or what you teach them. What matters is that the parent is there, explains and encourages.
>Linux with free and open software is the goal and focus.
This is about an 8 year old.
> To be very frank, if the best thing you have done for your children is getting them to use Linux you are a total failure as a parent.
Where are you getting this from?
I paraphrased the part I quoted from the OP: "one of the best things I did for both my son and daughter was for their first computer to help them to build and setup their own Linux compute"
Ah, I see. I had taken the "one of" much more heavily than "the best things", as to mean: "I think this was a good decision I made that I'm proud of". I was taken aback by you concluding they were a total failure as a parent as a result of their assessment of that decision.
> One of the actually most valuable thing my father did for me, definitely in terms of education outcome and career. Was getting me interested and spending time with me and explaining me things. The particulars do not matter, I can not remember them. It is totally irrelevant whether what Linux distro you use or what you teach them. What matters is that the parent is there, explains and encourages.
Yup, that's the essence of parenting and should totally not be overlooked!
Debian stable with KDE desktop on a nth hand desktop computer. Place it in a central place at home. Random probably used office-grade accessories. Install some games and libreoffice on it. Internet access only under supervision before age 10.
I won't give my kids a Linux PC. It will be either Windows or macOS, something that just works.
Hi Nadella, you know that Linux works. While I can't say much about macOS, we know very well how Windows works and how it fails every day. But the point here is that Linux works and better than those two, that someone calls an 'OS' but while macOS is based on FreeBSD, Windows by itself it a mess if a OS. The point here is just to register that if you give someone a Windows and then they learn about Linux, they change. If you start with Linux, you will never accept Windwos because of so many reasons. And Nadella, we both know how the internet works, the internet is Linux.
This is why I'm giving my kids a windows machine, to keep them away from people like you.
Fedora Atomic, maybe? I would have probably found it a bit too restrictive as a teen, but I think it’s a good choice for preventing a younger child from accidentally breaking the system, while still providing enough ability to experiment and learn stuff using distrobox
Breaking the system is the point! Let them break stuff, you learn when you have to fix it afterwards.
These threads always come across to me as “how do I get my kid to be exactly like me and enjoy my interests?”
> Linux with free and open software is the goal and focus.
Notice the goal and focus has nothing to do with the kids and their learning and enrichment.
First, it is really nice to see how many people use and know Linux and care about their kids being safe and care to teach them how to learn computer and programming.
Second, for such young age, you still need to manage the pc. So Manjaro with Plasma is my choice.
The software to install is your choice, because it really depends on what they will do, but Minecraft and other Minecraf-clones is a must and LibreOffice for their works.
Install LibreWolf with uBlock Origin, for their default browser. Keep Pi-Hole as the default DNS server and if you or them don't have one, buy a Raspberry PI and install one. That is a critical step. Best 70 bucks you will ever spend.
They probably will want to play games. It's a slippery slope. But if you go that route:
Steam works amazingly well. And you can set up family controls.
Roblox works great using "Sober" I don't recommend letting them play Roblox but I'm stuck with it.
Minecraft and Curseforge work well, too.
Time Keeper Next is a great time limiting control system. If you have a little awareness of docker you can run it in a container and even access it on your phone through an admin gui. If you need help on that get my email from my profile and I'll happily share my details.
My kids 8,10,12 know how to use the command line. I'm really proud of them.
This is how my co-worker's son turned from a happy, energetic 8-year old into a 400 pound 20-something who does nothing but play games as soon as he comes home from work. It consumes his whole life.
I don't disagree at all. It's such a complicated problem, unless you have all the kids in your kid's circle prohibited from gaming the peer pressure is intense. I am starting to come to the conclusion that you can't really limit them (my kids were getting an hour on weekdays and two on weekends) but then my son especially fiends the rest of the weekend for screens and it is constant conflict. I'm at wits end. But they exploit any gaps in parent alignment and then you have predatory gaming companies where PM bonuses are tied to time in game. It's unhealthy for kids and families.
Steam? I'm not sure what you're referring to by "this". All they're recommending is a standard setup that millions of people have. If your co-worker's son turned into a 400 pound 20 something, that sounds like a separate set of problems, not based on Steam or using Linux.
Agreed. I think Linux is, 800% less predatory (I love Trump math) than Microsoft Windows. Just booting it up clean is inviting a salesperson shilling all kinds of junk to your kids.
That's a problem with the kid, not the games.
The reason I started with Linux when I was 9yo (1999) is because we bought a computer and PC Magazine gave away a CD with Corel Linux. So I did what obviously must have been done... thankfully the disk came damaged, otherwise my lawyer dad would have learned the importance of making backups XD.
So, I would suggest: try to get a throwaway computer, give the kid it and an USB with Linux and let them alone. Do not force anything, just give them the tools and a gentle push. Let curiosity take the wheel and be prepared to answer a lot of questions.
I really don't see the value of getting a child started with Linux unless you are trying to push them into direction of being a developer, but even there I'm not sure how much sense that makes here in 2025 (from multiple perspectives).
If you want an alternative to Windows, then a Chromebook might be a good choice since this is what they will probably be using in K-12 education, and there are plenty of free online tools for learning to program, doing 3-D modelling, etc if they are really into it.
I setup Linux Mint on an old HP laptop for my 7 year old. Things jist worked out of the gate. She doesn't use it for much else other than Roblox (Sober), Minecraft, YouTube, and OBS (to record videos - NOT stream), but it's teaching her how to use the keyboard and mouse and navigate by using something other than touch on a tablet. It also teaches her the basics of window managemen: minimizing, maximizing, putting them side-by-side, which has been a big adjustment but she's quickly gaining proficiency.
I wonder at what age they start getting upset that they dont have what all the other kids have. The peer pressure on conformity I think is still strong. thought not explicitly stated.
I have seen older children cry that they dont have an iPhone or they dont have the latest iPhone, or in a different region, that they dont have Android and of course the latest Android
These were older than 7 to be sure, but not sure when it starts.
you can set your kid up to be independent and a FOSS influencer but I dont think that always works.
> I have seen older children cry that they dont have an iPhone or they dont have the latest iPhone, or in a different region, that they dont have Android and of course the latest Android
Just to be clear the solution to this is not to buy them the latest phone every year. You’re describing consumerism, not parenting
This reeks of a weird parent trying to make their kids weird. Kids can learn so much more about computers when not wasting time yak shaving some Linux stupidity.
Comedy option: Give them Linux From Scratch [1] and the minimum set of tools and packages required to bootstrap it.
App store? Yeah we have one, it's called make.
[1] https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/
Unironically this though. Computers are bad for children, if they want to use them, make then actually learn what they're getting into.
Or even better, don't let them have any kind of computer at all. Unfortunately that only works if your entire community goes down that route
I have a 9-yo. We experimented with time limits &c, but that just leads to endless discussions on the size and applicability if thise limits.
Now he has a mostly-airgapped Thinkpad (with music, kiwix, music-experimantation stuff, programming things, and onlyoffice), and doesn't know the ipad's passcode.
The laptop has nftables set up so that only an ssh connection to my laptop works, which I use to update it, add content, and occasionally unblock it, when necessary.
Their first "Linux" computers were Android (that's based on Linux, right?) and Chromebook.
I honestly don't know if they've ever touched a PC or Mac, (except for the ones we, as parents, have.) They learn how to use them in school.
If they're interested in geeky stuff, I'll show them how to use them. Otherwise, it's important to recognize that "Linux" is often a combination of politics and hobby.
Debian, XFCE. It'll be easy to use through point-and-click, decent hardware support, and the local nerds will almost certainly be able to reverse any software issues.
Kids commonly enjoy drawing, so it's likely a good idea to install Krita, which I'm not so sure is in the repos and might require a bit of imposition of hands.
Libreoffice will be installed by default, one might want to switch it out for something else for whatever reason.
I would install Mint with XFCE so the kid can learn what a traditional GUI looks like, and the benefits.
Assist them with installing the interesting programs, from Inkscape to Celestia to Geany and Python.
But first you’ll have to decide what to do about youtube. Most kids won’t do anything else once they find it. Keep them away from adults as well. Probably no internet at first.
> Now my friend wants the same for their daughter who is 8 years old.
Be careful - even the most obvious things (to us) won't be to a small child. They'll need a bit of a guiding hand and/or someone to ask questions to. Linux isn't obvious and I wouldn't be too surprised if they run into hard edges at some point (sound driver stops working), without someone to actually go to for help the computer just becomes a brick.
- Someone who installed Linux on his beat-up laptop when he was 12 (*), and faced endless frustration with it. (My parents confiscated the laptop because I started hitting it lmao - later got a Windows desktop that "just worked")
* - I don't remember if it stopped being able to run windows (hardware too weak) or, if the windows partition had corrupted itself and I couldn't afford a new copy of windows.
Oh all good points. Sorry to hear of your personal frustrations. Yeah agree, I think learning computing is actual best done in a little community or even club. You know a few parents who care or after school gathering in the computer room or library space.
A friend had a cool idea of asking their friends to be their child’s mentor in certain areas; “I’d like my child to learn music taste from you, would u take them under ur wing for this?” Then the child could call that “aunty/uncle” for advice; same for the tech mentor.
Maybe also Linux has continued to get easier and more reliable over the years but yes very valid point; ongoing care and support make all the difference like many things.
Yeah that'd be a really good idea, and don't get me wrong - I still think Linux is a really nice idea, and will really give the kid an advantage. You just don't want to have the opposite effect by having the kid associate the computer with pain hahaha
> also Linux has continued to get easier and more reliable
100% especially if you get some very common hardware it's arguably more reliable than windows nowadays lol
I set up Scratch for my daughter but she ended up mostly playing games (Minecraft and Super Tux are her favorite). She did pick up some computer skills though. For example she has pretty good understanding of files and directories - something that most kids struggle with in mobile-first era. I don’t allow internet access. She is too young for that.
I’d lock a bunch of parts in a closet and tell the kid he’s not allowed to use it. Worked pretty well for me.
If they can’t get anywhere in the shell, what good are they?
Kidding, check out Puppy Linux, or things on lists that contain Puppy.
>How would u setup a child's first Linux computer?
preloaded with tons of stuff my kid might find cool (depends on his or her interests which nobody knows better than I do), and with completely disabled internet access if kid will be using it without my supervision.
For a child that age I would definitely install some educational software. GCompris and KGeography for a start.
I would look for things that fit the child's interests rather than deciding a "mini-curriculum" in advance.
Endless OS on a ex corporate box/laptop could be a good option.
https://distrowatch.com/table-mobile.php?distribution=endles...
Thanks! Never heard of Endless OS till now. Looks very reasonable for kids.
My kids are too young for it, but it lead me to find GCompris (especially with kiosk mode) which is for a much better fit for my kid's ages.
Not sure why a full desktop required, perhaps a Raspberry pi 5 16gb, the pi 500+ or any other mini pc or a cheap chromebook would be enough to start, obviously depends on the kid's interests
We were hacking library computers as a kid to access blocked sites. If you put a good enough reward behind almost any OS a kid will figure it out
i suppose the ideal would be a working device to browse the internet, a usb stick and a pointer to the arch install wiki.
turning things on their head, i got started myself with coherent floppies borrowed from a friend and then later slackware linux downloaded off some ftp site i read about on usenet.
i have vague memories of downloading mint for the atari st and maybe something about it's c compiler, but not much.
I'd give them the parts to build a computer and a USB stick with Gentoo
Compiling from source'll put hair on your chest
Im also interested in this, so happy to hear any experience!
In my situation i need some type of "remote admin capability", since we are separated :-(
antiX would be interesting, getting them used to config files..
maybe a USB stick with a few distros on it, experimenting with installing them, including dual-booting.. a mix of distros spanning debian/redhat types, and kde/gnome types.. maybe a couple of live distros on their own USB stick.. having a virtual machine in the main install and learning about installing into them..
scratch and python..
Cheap Chromebook. Kids are hard on stuff
Windows Movie Maker used to be such a gem, pity it has been discontinued! Nowadays I use Openshot on Windows
It's what hooked me on video editing as a kid. I then moved on to cracked Sony Vegas and eventually Premiere and After Effects. I made short films with my siblings and friends to try and recreate VFX that I had seen on YouTube channels like freddiew. The interest eventually died off a bit but I gained skills in video editing that I have to this day. Movie Maker made that happen for me :)
OpenShot is available for Linux, too, FWIW.
Same way you teach kids to swim! Drop them into run level 3 and show them the man pages.
I would ensure it is easily reimageable and restorable to a known good state.
Easy: Steam deck for christmas.
You wouldn't - the whole point is for them to figure it out.
Just give them a raspberry pi and show them gcompris and luanti.
My six year old had some good fun exploring GCompris, but it feels like it desperately needs an overhaul and some cleaning up.
Similar experience here. Tux paint was also great around that age.
The second hand desktop idea is good. But, if her parents are a bit on the nerd side as well, think how much fun they could have together with a Raspberry pi! It could be the evolution of playing Lego together.
Check out Sugar Labs and SugarOS for a basic experience
Please don't inflict Gnome upon them.
A full KDE install, with all its apps.
$ pacman -S tuxracer
i would teach them to use arch linux.
don’t give your kid sudo
Sorry as I may have somethings which I have written in other comments as well so sorry if its repetitive but let me give you a direct response.
I have thought about it and personally the only way i find is to actually educate them that there are options, free and open source options and what it means and trying to generate an intution for them
It was always fun and still is to try to find open source alternatives to X or Y thing
As someone who actually went against the tides in the way and installed linux myself and did things myself.
I feel like I was just inspired by my brother who flexed one day hard on me using archlinux(although in vm), that was the reason why I had decided to use archlinux (love arch, using cachy based on arch rn) but my reason was to "prove" to him.
I don't think his intention was to setup my linux computer or to even teach me. I learnt everything myself at a young age and that does make me proud (I think)
I am speaking this as an actual teen who installed arch I think when I was 15 but try to influence how they think about the world or induce curiosity in them. I was always a power user even when I was on android once running partially because of piracy and emulations
And even that piracy learning was from my brother. Him and my uncle were doing things and I wanted to play a game and download it from net but I didn't know how and he just said to search it + download or something basic on internet and that was it, I then figured it out myself but I think I was literally 8 or something and I was proud of it and I prided myself on becoming a technical user and trying to do some technical milestones or anything I found interesting
It has become a part of my identity to associate myself with someone technical. I feel like I can do a lot of things, I can "figure things out" when others might give up at an identity level.
I am not sure how you might be able to do it, my identity had formed on trying to prove someone with higher authority (I mean big bro's respect still means a little) almost in a rebelling manner
I wanted to up my brother, show that I am more superior to him in tech and now its funny because my brother and cousin comes to me and they say I am a nerd when my brother is a software engineer himself. I try to take it as a compliment though.
I don't know how you can replicate it but I think a way for parenting to make it is to try to just give them ideas themselves and when they think that its their ideas, give them crazy feedback loop and show them rewards and even think of respecting them in a way if they show interests.
Its more like the aristotle's quote iirc, you can teach nobody, the only person who can teach someone is themselves or something similar
I think this idea of letting someone convince it was their idea goes bigger than parenting. The book I had came to learn about it was from how to win friends and influence people which was from my cousin who had gotten into a very decent college and so people around me were saying his life was set so i tried to get him to respect me etc. by listening to him or if he gave me a book to read, then I would be emotionally invested in reading it at a young age etc.
He once taught me about assets, liabilities cash flow at a really young age. So I think I got very familiar with both finances and technology in my life.
Maybe young-bro big-bro dynamic is different from a kid - parent dynamic but I was the youngest in my families but I am just honestly telling my story in case if it helps anyone
If you have any questions, please let me know. I would love to answer.
I would put your entire house behind a custom DNS relay you control, like a PiHole. Use that to eliminate access to advertisements, pornography, some walware, and social media.
I would also consider use of Gentoo as your Linux distribution to force learning about building packages and command line. I would avoid Arch as that might be too much of a challenge.
For me the goal would be forcing them to learn how this stuff works. I would emphasize scripting in the shell like bash scripts, JavaScript via node, Python, and possibly even Perl. This will take a lot of guidance to get this started because they will need some real world use cases about why they immediately benefit.
Once you get the OS finally set up create an ISO of it and put it on both a thumb drive and home file server. Give the kiddo root access to their own computer and let them really break stuff because you can restore from backup
Edit:
Immediately downvoted. This comment apparently caused a nerd god to shed a tear.
> For me the goal would be forcing them to learn how this stuff works
Ignoring the hilarity of this comment, that's not really how kids learn.
- "Dad, I'd like to draw a house on this screen"
- "Ok kiddo, first we have to download stage1 tarball from FTP mirror I know the name of without looking it up"
"Dad, can I play a game?"
"No! You're learning Perl now! End of discussion!"
You could do both from the same machine. Just sayin'...
Thanks for this perspective. For many kids this might be too much of a learning curve -- but for some, it might be right on.
I learned a TON in the 80s as a kid by rummaging around with a retired Kaypro II running CP/M, breaking stuff by accident and fixing, and trying to hack the few games it had...
Starting hardcore carries the risk of giving them a bad firs impression that can keep them from willing to learn thise things in the future.
Its how I learned this stuff back in the days of DOS.
So then pretend its easy and get them an iphone.
I suspect the goal is you, as a parent, want to feel good to yourself that you are doing something positive for a child. If that's all this is really about then put them in a corner with some educational videos and give yourself a high-five.
> Its how I learned this stuff back in the days of DOS.
In the days of DOS there was no (widespread) alternative.
You first need to capture their interest, otherwise they will see the shiny GUIs other people are using and wonder why they have to write long hard-to-remember commands instead of double-clicking on an icon.
Yep, that's what I thought. Just get them an iphone and be done with it.
You seem to think that the world is either black or white, but reality is more nuanced than that. Plus, the fact that you learned a certain thing in a certain way doesn't mean that it is the best way for everyone else to learn that thing.
It is. You are either willing to spend time with your child or you aren't.
Now I think you're trolling, because at no point this discussion was about the will of spenting time with your children or lack thereof.
You not wanting to teach your kids is not me trolling. This thread is only about what Linux setup to use to help teach your kids about computers. Teaching kids takes time.
I know this is complicated (it isn't), but parenting requires a dedicated investment of time. Or, just get them an iphone like most other parents and ignore them all day. Or maybe you can hire a surrogate parent to teach them since you have more important things to do.
Let me try one last time to put this in terms that might be easier to understand for you. If we apply the same reasoning to e.g. Mathematics, it would be something like "Either you teach Calculus to your child from day one or you don't teach them any Math at all. Not willing to teach Calculus from day one means not willing to put the effort in parenting your child".
You seem to think that you can only spend 24 hours a day with your child or zero.
The expectation for most people here is that you throw a toy at a child and if its not Windows they will just get smarter (magically)... maybe even teach themselves to become a rocket company CEO.
This thread just reinforces, to me, that people who claim to write software skew highly autistic. Nothing I said here is complicated, but when you are a person with exceptionally low social intelligence spending more than 5 minutes a day with your kid might really feel the same as 25 hours.
I am not kidding when I say just get your kid an iphone and pat yourself on the back. You are either trying to teach your kid something directly with your time or you are just expecting them to want to figure it out themselves because you can't be bothered.
OP this is who you are setting up your children to be like
I was going to say I'd help them install Gentoo or Arch. I learned a lot myself with some help of a friend through SSH when installing and using Gentoo.
Do not pre-install, but make them part of the installation process. :P
> I would put your entire house behind a custom DNS relay you control
Advertising companies are pushing DoH to remove control from you and give them the control, so be aware of that
> I would emphasize scripting in the shell like bash scripts
What would they want to script? What will they achieve? Why would they be interested in this?
>Advertising companies are pushing DoH to remove control from you and give them the control, so be aware of that
True. My first naive attempt at content filtering for my kids was to use a family friendly DNS for the whole network. That's when I learned about chrome's secure DNS option, witch effectively bypasses my intended settings. I guess endpoint control is the only effective option. A mandatory http proxy could be used to filter by hostname too. None of them easy, and I'm supposed to be an expert. Normal people has little chance of implementing technical parental controls.
> What would they want to script? What will they achieve? Why would they be interested in this?
That's where you, the parent, are required to spend with the child to help them answer those same questions. The way to answer it is what problems do you have that you wish were solved... then show the kid that.
Problems I want to solve then get my kids to solve them? Sure they can do some
Because they will have no problems a computer can solve with bash scripts
I take it you don't write original software for a living or a hobby. For people who do write their own software they go through this multiple times every day. Knowing what to teach their kids or how to get started isn't a mystery.
Yes I write original software for work.
I'm not going to get my 8 year old to write an jinja2 based integration with vaultwarden for network administration, or some software to pull out multicast routing tables from a global multi-vendor network and display in a useful fashion, which are two things I've worked on today.
I think the benefits of DoH (& ECH) outweigh the negatives, especially when it comes to censorship resistance.
Learning to build packages? Gentoo? PERL?
As a first platform for a preteen?
Its how I started learning this stuff as a preteen before Linux as a thing. If learning is too hardcore just get them an iphone.
I was literally contributing to Gentoo Linux at age 13. Before, my dad started me on Slackware.
edit: downvoted. Some of you all simply have no belief in or respect for the intelligence of children.
I had my first computer when I was 7. It was a 286 from way back in the day. I learned to navigate around a command prompt and deface some of the IBM software my dad brought home. If was fun to get into things, reconfigure things for games, and just solve problems that came up. None of this was super complicated. I mostly taught myself, but my dad spent the time to get me started and help to figure it out.
I didn't start programming until age 28, because my dad couldn't program and I didn't how to get started on my own. But, had he gotten me started on programming too I would have been programming from the command line as a preteen. I knew other preteens who were doing so.
That is why the comments here are so puzzling. Supposedly this a community of mostly software people. I take it most of these people commenting here lack the focus to figure any of this out themselves, much less teach a child to do it. There is even a comment in here from somebody not knowing what to teach a child and then being completely mystified about it once its pointed out.
My wife is a special education teacher. The common reality she sees (the normal parent) just plants a phone their kid's hands and ignores them all day. To most people that is a technology education, the hands off approach. I really get the feeling that is what most people are looking for something to throw at a child and then wash their hands of it, and the comments here further reinforce this assumption.
Didn't downvote you, I remember my first steps too.
But we weren't the overwhelmed gen alpha consumers. Average teen-and-under currently is far less technically inclined (including analytic skills) than a teen of the 90's or 90's had to be.
When a child touches a computer for the first time, he does not know how it works, regardless from which generation he is. But childredn learn a lot in two years.
This would not work for mine, they just wouldn't use it under those conditions. I would rather show them a good time initially and increase complexity if they take a liking to learning about computers. My eldest is much more artistic than technical and has little interest in programming and tech in general. But he took to Krita on Linux with enthusiasm.
BTW didn't downvote you.
My wife, who is clearly not a child, thought all the same things.
Her computer is old and we are no a budget... So now she is running Linux kicking and screaming. In all fairness there was no learning curve at all because she hardly knew how to use Windows in the first place. I showed her how to install applications from the command line and configure her games to run native or with Wine. She is happy camper, especially since her favorite games are running faster than on Windows.
What I really suspect is that people want their children to just be smart... on their own. If only there were some tools you could buy that would just do it for you.
The reality is children smart enough, at any age, to really do anything on a computer beyond gaming, social media, or ReactJS can learn anything, but it will take direct involvement from a parent to coach them through it. This is exactly the same if the kid is 8 or 18. There is no magic Linux set up that will just do it automagically.
I sure am glad I had normal parents
Get them to install WordPress on a different second-hand computer. Other things exist to host but WordPress has a lot of resources out there, and going from bare metal to WordPress introduces a lot of staples of Linux systems administration while still being fairly easy to do.
FWIW this is what I recommend to adults wanting to get into the industry as well, I would just usually direct them from there towards automation, containerisation etc. For kids I would point out that they could host other things instead of WordPress, or even write their own..
Get the Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB (or more if you care). Get the RasPiKey [1] for faster storage (compared to SD cards), without needing to get an SSD. Just use the Raspberry Pi OS.
Re: software setup, curriculum etc.. there are so many resources that target the Raspberry Pi that you can choose something that the child finds interesting.
You can do a desktop computer build if/when they outgrow the Raspberry Pi.
[1] https://www.uugear.com/product/raspikey-plug-and-play-emmc-m...
My parents did that, to me. I got a Raspberry Pi 2B, an micro SD card, a monitor and a keyboard. My dad helped me to flash the SD card, but everything else I need to figure out myself. Honestly, Linux is not that user unfriendly. Sure it breaks, but when it breaks it behaves like a broken system and not like a baby that throws a tantrum, or a nanny that just pushes you around, because she believes her own lies. I did corrupt my system multiple times. It doesn't matter, because in Linux you can just do everything, including copying home directories from a fried partition. I learned programming accidentally, because I clicked on everything and wanted to know what this weird program does with the blue and yellow cross icon. The only sad thing is that I lost my first website and server, because I rm -rf'ed in the wrong directory and didn't knew version control yet.