Start'em young

[mudguts]

Way back when, Steve Jobs thought that by putting MAC's into the public school system, he'd create a bunch of Apple lovers by the time that they started spending their own money.

I think that we should start the same here.
This is my three year old playing with Ubuntu 9.10 on my laptop.

He also has his own Asus eee PC 701 running Xandros too. The younger boy, he's 1.5yr's old, is getting used to my Compaq TC1000 tablet pc running 9.04

Let's see some pics of your kids playing with linux.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2586/4091499110_94941eac49.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/4091499118_d5d3feeac4.jpg

[falconindy]

So what's with the Dell running Vista?

/obligatory

[LinuxFanBoi]

So what's with the Dell running Vista?

/obligatory

I'll tell you what's with it... the game being played on that dell is a web based game that if played on firefox running under linux doesn't give you scroll bars or the top and right side.

My wife spends hours on that game and I decided it was worth putting a windows partition on her machine so I wouldn't have to hear about it any more.:mad:

[Firestem4]

I'll tell you what's with it... the game being played on that dell is a web based game that if played on firefox running under linux doesn't give you scroll bars or the top and right side.

My wife spends hours on that game and I decided it was worth putting a windows partition on her machine so I wouldn't have to hear about it any more.:mad:

Looks like its time to get another game =P

[LinuxFanBoi]

Looks like its time to get another game =P

More accurately, it's time for the folks at Adobe to give us linux people some love.

[Tipped OuT]

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

Not to sound mean, but why would you want to do that to your kid?

I mean, letting him go on the computer at such a young age. He's messing up his eyes, and if he becomes a geek, you'll mess up his social life.

Geeks aren't too popular in society last time I checked.

Anyways, do what you want, it's your child. I'm just saying, maybe give him a chance to become something great, like a Scientist.

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

[00ber n00b]

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

Not to sound mean, but why would you want to do that to your kid?

I mean, letting him go on the computer at such a young age. He's messing up his eyes, and if he becomes a geek, you'll mess up his social life.

Geeks aren't too popular in society last time I checked.

Anyways, do what you want, it's your child. I'm just saying, maybe give him a chance to become something great, like a Scientist.

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

You say that now. Until he becomes another Torvalds or Gates...

[Tipped OuT]

You say that now. Until he becomes another Torvalds or Gates...

Yeah true, but what are the chances in that? :p

[LinuxFanBoi]

Yeah true, but what are the chances in that? :p
remember the phrase "the meek shall inherit the earth?" well they got it wrong when they translated the file from open office document format to Word format, it was meant to say "the geek shall inherit the earth!"

[tgalati4]

Except, when I converted the document, it came out:


˙ɥʇɹɐǝ ǝɥʇ ʇıɹǝɥuı llɐɥs ʞǝǝƃ ǝɥʇ

[LinuxFanBoi]

Except, when I converted the document, it came out:


˙ɥʇɹɐǝ ǝɥʇ ʇıɹǝɥuı llɐɥs ʞǝǝƃ ǝɥʇ

Now that's funny.

[gletob]

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

Not to sound mean, but why would you want to do that to your kid?

I mean, letting him go on the computer at such a young age. He's messing up his eyes, and if he becomes a geek, you'll mess up his social life.

Geeks aren't too popular in society last time I checked.

Anyways, do what you want, it's your child. I'm just saying, maybe give him a chance to become something great, like a Scientist.

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

If someone can't like me for the geek that I am, why would I want them to be my friends?

Explain.

[Paqman]

Geeks aren't too popular in society last time I checked.


Geeks do fine once they hit a certain age. It's the nerds that have problems.

[Tipped OuT]

If someone can't like me for the geek that I am, why would I want them to be my friends?

Explain.

Exactly. No one will like you for the way you are (geek) except other geeks.

But if you're not a geek, then what's the problem? You'll do fine in society. See what I'm saying.

Now, if this kid turns into a geek, he'll just live another life behind a computer screen, when he can become so much more.

Anyways, enough of this, back on topic.

[tjwoosta]

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

Not to sound mean, but why would you want to do that to your kid?

I mean, letting him go on the computer at such a young age. He's messing up his eyes, and if he becomes a geek, you'll mess up his social life.

Geeks aren't too popular in society last time I checked.

Anyways, do what you want, it's your child. I'm just saying, maybe give him a chance to become something great, like a Scientist.

***Personal Off Topic Opinion***

Geeks are smart, smart people are successful. We are moving further and further into a world of brains over brawn every day. Also just because he's learning to use a computer with linux at a young age doesn't mean hes going to be a geek.

Most kids these days use computers at a young age. My cousin had a computer in his bedroom when he was 4 and he knows perfectly well how to use it, but prefers to play outside with his friends and be active.

As a society we are slowly evolving. What your kids experience in school is probably going to be quite different from what you remember from school, just like what you experienced in school was probably much different from what your parents experienced. Things are different.

My parents have told me many stories. Stories of times when it was acceptable to use words like the N word and other derogatory terms. Times when it was acceptable for young boys to fist fight to resolve their disputes. Times when it was acceptable for seniors to paddle freshmen as high school initiation. When my parents were in high school if you knew how to use a computer you were a nerd. When I was in high school everyone used computers and you were an outcast if you didn't know how to use one. My point is society is constantly changing. Geeky things become less and less geeky until finally they are accepted as the norm. There is quickly coming a time when by isolating your child from computers for fear of him turning into an outcast will actually cause him to become more of an outcast. Something like "Hehe, thats the kid who doesn't even know how to type right" or "haha, you don't even know how to use the internet what a loser".

Ive witnessed this first hand. I knew a couple kids in elementary school whos parents wouldn't let them wear baggy clothing because that wouldn't have been acceptable when they were in school. The only thing this succeeded in doing was isolating these kids from other kids their own age who had the "cool" cloths. They were dressed different from other kids their age and they got picked on heavily for it.


As far as the eyes, that is something every computer user should to look into. The computer monitor itself has no negative effects on eyesight. The problems arise from sitting infront of the screen for hours on end. Your eyes are designed for hunting, and focusing on something two feet away from your face all day long can ruin your vision and cause nearsightedness. Also poor lighting conditions and placement of equipment is know to cause eye strain. These problems can all be avoided by proper conditions and taking frequent breaks from the screen.

[Tipped OuT]

<Mega Snip>.

Well, ok. But as far as I know, in society, when ever someone mentions "geek" it's in a negative way, not a positive. Society may be evolving to be more tolerant with this kind of thing, but it's still the same.

And yes I know what messes up the eye.

Anyways, please let's all get back on topic, I don't want to hijack this thread.

I will not respond to anymore replies regarding this matter.

Thank you.

[doorknob60]

I'll tell you what's with it... the game being played on that dell is a web based game that if played on firefox running under linux doesn't give you scroll bars or the top and right side.

My wife spends hours on that game and I decided it was worth putting a windows partition on her machine so I wouldn't have to hear about it any more.:mad:

Is that....Farmville? Lol, so many people are obsessed with that game XD

[lancest]

My son is not yet 2 years old be he can already recognize that Ubuntu means computing in our home. IMHO By the time he gets older the desktop computing landscape will have changed greatly

[mudguts]

This thread seems to have taken a left turn.
Yes, the Vista system is my wife's laptop running Farmville (OMG shoot the developers!)

will the boy be geeky. perhaps. But it's all about being a well-rounded person. I'd rather give him the tools to succeed then not to.

We also goto hockey games every Sunday and he loves playing basketball and doing social activities.

Will it wreck his eyes? Perhaps. But laser surgery works wonders! I had it done.

Now.. who else has young kids learning the ways of the force?

[koleoptero]

I'll tell you what's with it... the game being played on that dell is a web based game that if played on firefox running under linux doesn't give you scroll bars or the top and right side.

My wife spends hours on that game and I decided it was worth putting a windows partition on her machine so I wouldn't have to hear about it any more.:mad:
Farmville works fine for me in ubuntu karmic and firefox.

[amazingtaters]

I'll tell you what's with it... the game being played on that dell is a web based game that if played on firefox running under linux doesn't give you scroll bars or the top and right side.

My wife spends hours on that game and I decided it was worth putting a windows partition on her machine so I wouldn't have to hear about it any more.:mad:

Actually, I play Farmville on Firefox in ubuntu all the time. In fact, I just got done with that.

[Tipped OuT]

Will it wreck his eyes? Perhaps. But laser surgery works wonders! I had it done.


lol That's almost the same as saying:

"Let's just throw trash on the streets. Will it make a mess? Perhaps. But the community workers stop by and work wonders for us all the time."

[mudguts]

lol That's almost the same as saying:

"Let's just throw trash on the streets. Will it make a mess? Perhaps. But the community workers stop by and work wonders for us all the time."

or it's like saying, let's kill kittens cuz they're gonna die sooner or later anyway.

[coolbrook]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2586/4091499110_94941eac49.jpg

Be sure to update us when he's been convicted of hacking into the Toronto Stock Exchange and he's behind bars. That chair should be some conditioning.

[earthpigg]

Actually, I play Farmville on Firefox in ubuntu all the time. In fact, I just got done with that.

+1 some games need sun's non-free JRE, some need flash. in the repos.

[Dark_Stang]

Well, I don't have any human kids... But this is Peach, she's 7 months old, and she likes to play with my laptop.

http://darkstang.com/images/peach_linux.JPG

[coolbrook]

It looks like Peach has plans.