My 7-year-old runs Ubuntu
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 14, 2011 8:27 PM EDT |
I'm with Helios -- our 7-year-old has her own laptop that runs Ubuntu 10.04. Her favorite app is TuxPaint. That's what happens when you're a Linux/BSD geek - everybody gets their own brought-back-from-the-dead computer. |
| bigg Jan 14, 2011 9:12 PM EDT |
My 4 year old can start the computer, log in, open the browser, go to youtube, and search for videos. Or go to amazon and search for toys. He started doing that when he was 3. The first serious use of a computer came when he was 2, learning his letters, using Qimo, playing a game that I can't remember right now. And he loves to play tuxracer. |
| jimbauwens Jan 15, 2011 6:32 AM EDT |
I started using computers when I was about 7. I got a old powerbook 180 running Mac OS 7.
There weren't any games on, just a browser and a text editor. Luckily 2 of my older brothers were studying informatics. They thought me HTML, and I had lots of fun creating simple website.
10-11 years later, I'm a crazy Linux freak. My 8 year old sister loves Linux (and tux of course), and "hates" windows. I didn't even need to tell her that. And she also wants her own laptop (I'm looking for one for her), and she has already chosen Qimo as the distro of her choice. You are never to young to start using computers (and Linux, of course). |
| Koriel Jan 15, 2011 6:56 AM EDT |
My nearly 3 yr old can start the computer which is hooked up to the TV (xubuntu) use the browser for his youtube fix (he loves truck videos), childrens BBC on iPlayer stuff like Chuggington and Bob the Builder.
I havent put any games on the media machine yet so he hasn't discovered them but i intend to. To be honest we were a bit wary of his computer use as he started taking to it at about age 2 and was never off the thing so we would have to limit his time (oh boy the petulance that incurred his bottom lip was heavily deployed) but now were not so worried as he has started using it a lot less of his own accord and playing with his other toys. |
| bigg Jan 15, 2011 9:33 AM EDT |
@Koriel: I've heard the same concerns about computer use at a young age before. To me a toy is a toy. I don't see why it is worse that a kid should play with a toy that requires him to use a keyboard and mouse rather than playing with a train with a face. |
| herzeleid Jan 15, 2011 1:43 PM EDT |
I started my kids out on linux young, taking them to work with me at the University, where I let them play with unix/linux, and we also ran linux at home. As a result, my oldest daughter, who got her first web gig at 16, is now the lead web developer at ticketmaster, and all of my kids have benefited to some extent from knowing linux. As adults, two of them use linux as their main OS and the other two use mac - and they are able to work productively in linux, mac or pee cee environments, which sets them apart from their peers. |
| lcafiero Jan 16, 2011 1:02 PM EDT |
Since she has the grave misfortune of having me as her father, my daughter Mimi has been exposed to Linux, GNU/Linux and a wide variety of FOSS programs for her entire life so far. At 8 -- while I watched carefully over her shoulder, explaining each step of the process -- I let her net-install Debian on a cast-off flavored iMac because the latest Mac OS named for a predatory cat released at the time wouldn't work on this machine. Since then, she has been using a variety of distros under her Dad's careful watch. Now, at 13, she is now doing "Girls Using FOSS" presentations -- with her friends who also use Linux -- at SCALE and the Utah Open Source Conference. [She now uses Ubuntu, which causes her Fedora-using Dad to rend his garment and wail at the sky, "I have no daughter!" Just kidding -- I'm glad she had the brains to try out a variety of distros and find what works for her. Also, like Ken's daughter, Mimi's smarts clearly come from her mother.] Also, Ken would remember Kai from Lindependence 2008, the then-11-year-old who staffed the Mandriva table, introducing newcomers to Linux to that particular distro at that event. Kai, now 13 as well, and some of his friends are regulars at the Felton LUG meetings in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the Central California coast. All of which is to say that you're really never too young for FOSS and, as Ken points out, one kid learning on a FOSS-based machine could be the one who walks on Mars, cure disease, etc. At the very least, the kid will grow up to be an average adult with an understanding of the concept of how software should work and how it should be available to society. Great blog, Ken. Keep 'em coming. |
| herzeleid Jan 16, 2011 3:52 PM EDT |
@larry - I caught your daughter's presentation at SCALE last year - you should be proud! |
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