Who needs games when you've got bling. | |||||
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By Niall C. Brady, July 2009.
Introduction Fedora 11 Game Spin Questions and answers Screenshots IntroductionMy eldest son is ten years old. He has been using computers in one way or another since he was 4, and he has already seen Linux because I had installed Ubuntu and SLED 10 on his XP computer some years ago. He impressed me when he got into bzflags, so much so that I tried playing the game, but he never really got interested in Linux simply because of the lack of games (that interested him).It's now early July, and tonite Christopher did a yum update after he had a problem getting compiz to work properly. That's pretty cool because at the start of June, I set him a challenge to use nothing but Linux on his computer for a month (I thought he'd last a few days and then give up). The month has passed and I wanted to see what Christopher thought about using Linux daily. Back to top ^^ Game SpinI chose the Fedora 11 game spin DVD as I was interested to see if it would captivate him long enough to get him genuinely interested in Linux. I downloaded and installed it on my sons computer, it was running Windows Vista previously and he was happy with what Vista provided for him but like any kid, was excited to see the 'new linux'.
Using the Fedora live DVD installer I made the computer dual-boot between Linux and Windows and I challenged him to try Linux for a month. He was excited by the idea but he wanted to know if his favorite game Counter Stike Source would work in Linux, I said we'd check it out. He kept saying keywords like 'beryl' and 'redhat' and I knew this would be interesting. I explained the Linux basics to him, told him only to use root for installing or configuring things, and created a login for him on the linux-noob forums so he could post his questions and screenshots. After about a week or two, I intalled Wine and attempted to get Counter Strike Source working, and while it installed ok and Steam loaded, I never did manage to get CSS playing yet. He has an ATI video card in his computer and perhaps that was the problem. Either way, if anyone knows how to get it working let us know. The game spin was deliberatly chosen so as to provide him with some entertainment. 
He liked it, and really got into a game called Lin City NG, and he also tried to compose some music using the Linux version of Fruity Loops, called LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio). Instead of doing what I expected (focusing on the games) he quickly started to google how to enable cool things like spinning cubes and docks. I've seen this stuff before but to see my own ten year old son get all excited about it was another matter. In fact, it WAS the reason that Linux was interesting to him. He wanted the wobbly windows, the fire burning on the screen, the rain drops, the spinning cube, that stuff, was cool. Bling, was in, and it went by the name of Compiz Fusion. Back to top ^^ Questions and AnswersThe month is up, and below I have asked my son Christopher what he thought about his month with Linux.How often do you use computers ? What age were you when you first used Linux and what do you remember about it ? After using Linux for one month, what did you like the most about it ? is that i did learn much about linux and i think that was fun knowing more about linux. I liked the effects but some of them didnt work because of the video driver." After using Linux for one month, what did you dislike the most about it ? Why do you use Windows Vista ? If you could change one thing about Linux, what would it be ? Will you keep on using Linux ? Back to top ^^ ScreenshotsImpressive ? yes, definetly so, even his younger brothers want to have the spinning cube. Here are a few screenshots of Christopher's Linux desktop, not bad for a ten year old ! | |||||
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(c) 2009 linux-noob.com Created by Niall C. Brady on July 12, 2009 Back to top ^^ Digg it ! |
