My brother is 12 and just like other people of his age he can’t use a computer properly because he is only familiar with mobile devices and dumbed-down computers

I recently dual-booted Fedora KDE and Windows 10 on his laptop. Showed him Discovery and told him, “This is the app store. Everything you’ll ever need is here, and if you can’t find something just tell me and I’ll add it there”. I also set up bottles telling him “Your non-steam games are here”. He installed Steam and other apps himself

I guess he is a better Linux user than Linus Sebastian since he installed Steam without breaking his OS…

The tech support questions and stuff like “Can you install this for me?” or “Is this a virus?” dropped to zero. He only asks me things like “What was the name of PowerPoint for Linux” once in a while

After a week I have hardly ever seen my brother use Windows. He says Fedora is “like iOS” and he absolutely loved it

I use Arch and he keeps telling me “Why are you doing that nerdy terminal stuff just use Fedora”. He also keeps explaining to me why Fedora better than my “nerd OS”

  • rtxn@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Is this a virus?”

    Your 12-year-old brother is more security-conscious than most of the adults I work with.

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    He also keeps explaining to me why Fedora better than my “nerd OS”

    lol he’s already a true linux user.

    But probably best to have a talk about gatekeeping linux though. There’s no wrong way to run linux.

    • vsis@feddit.cl
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      1 year ago

      haha I thought exactly the same thing lol He’s linuxplained why his distro is better. That’s the spirit.

    • noobg@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I mean, there are definitely wrong ways to run Linux, like a single root user with no password, but your point is well taken. If Linux fanboys would keep the subjective gatekeeping to themselves the new user experience would be much more pleasant.

  • init@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    “Why are you doing that nerdy terminal stuff just use Fedora”.

    Because nerdy terminal shit is cool.

    explaining to me why Fedora better than my “nerd OS”

    😂

  • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    He also keeps explaining to me why Fedora better than my “nerd OS”

    Your brother is the wise guy of the bell curve

  • hare_ware@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    He also keeps explaining to me why Fedora better than my “nerd OS”

    Complaining about what works for other people? It is tradition. It’s innate Linux user behavior.

  • Espi@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Did you add Flathub or rpmfusion? the store without those things is kinda barren

  • pterencephalon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My older sibling did something similar - getting Ubuntu installed on my very first laptop (a 9" netbook) back in 2008 and replacing windows XP. But be warned: it is a slippery slope. At the time , I just wanted a computer that I could take class notes on (high school), and never wanted to touch programming or the terminal. Now I have a PhD in computer science. I still don’t use Arch though.

  • merthyr1831@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Windows really screwed itself over with how it handled its integrated app store. By making it Microsoft-owned and moderated with a bunch of caveats on the format (compared to most Linux package repositories) you ended up with shit like FOSS apps being repackaged and sold for money, low quality ports of apps, and a bunch of bullshit that made people avoid it like the plague.

    Linux for its faults with how package management works is far superior to even MacOS when it comes to finding free or low cost software. You get 80% of your apps available thanks to flatpaks and new apps can be uploaded with very little hassle compared to even iOS or Android. No fees, no lengthy review process (which could be a disadvantage arguably) and software is much restricted by the platform host.

    While GenZ/A may be known for being bad with computers, I think it might just be a sign that Windows is so outdated and poorly designed that people coming from better-designed platforms are confused at shit older folk just put up with for decades.

  • BrandoCalrissian9229@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    As someone who is interested in starting into the world of linux, was having a second hard drive necessary for creating a dual boot system or were you able to do it all on one hard drive?

  • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    An amazing story! I doubt I ever have kids, but if I do I’ll do something like this. God knows what sort of dumbed down tech crap they’ll be fed in school.

  • FermatsLastAccount@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My 11 year old brother had been using PopOS for a while. Unfortunately Roblox recently intentionally broke Wine support and I had to put Windows on his computer.