Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Hardware & Form Factor

  • Popular choices: second-hand corporate desktops/laptops, Raspberry Pi (including Pi 400, Pi 5), Steam Deck-as-PC, and cheap Chromebooks.
  • Several recommend desktops in a shared space (living room) to make supervision and time limits easier; laptops often introduced later.
  • Some like RasPi for “computers as objects” (GPIO, LEDs, sensors); others found kids just wanted Minecraft and were underwhelmed by Pi performance.

Distributions & Desktops

  • “Just works” picks: Linux Mint (often XFCE), Ubuntu, Debian Stable, Zorin, KDE Neon, Fedora Workstation/KDE, Endless OS.
  • More advanced ideas: Gentoo, Arch, Slackware, Linux From Scratch, immutable Fedora Atomic/Kinoite/Bazzite. These divide opinion: some say they’re great for deep learning, others say they’re an off‑putting first impression.
  • Many emphasize using whatever the parent can support well, plus easy rollback: ZFS snapshots, images, live USBs.

Learning Tools & Activities

  • Strong support for Scratch (plus MakeCode, micro:bit, GCompris, Tux Paint, Minetest/Luanti, MyPaint, Krita, Kdenlive, Blender).
  • Mixed views on visual programming: some say it transfers well to text languages; others felt it delayed text-coding. Alternatives mentioned: Hedy, Python + turtle.
  • A few pair Scratch with LLMs to help kids implement ideas; others are very wary of exposing children to LLMs at all.

Parental Involvement & Difficulty Level

  • Repeated theme: the OS alone doesn’t teach anything; progress depends on an engaged adult who can guide, answer questions, and design small projects.
  • Disagreement: one camp wants to “force” serious learning (Gentoo, shell scripting, building packages); others argue that starting too hardcore risks lifelong aversion.

Internet Safety, Screen Time, and YouTube

  • Heavy concern about YouTube, shorts, Roblox, TikTok and “digital crack” content. Many advocate bans or strict curation and network‑level blocks.
  • Techniques: Pi-hole/custom DNS, Mullvad/“family” DNS, uBlock filters, HTTP proxies, extensions that remove recommendations.
  • Several note DoH/modern browsers can bypass network filters; endpoint controls are hard even for experts.

Games, Social Fit & Platform Choice

  • Linux gaming via Steam/Proton seen as very good now; kernel‑level anti‑cheat titles remain problematic.
  • Tension between:
    • Using Linux to avoid ads, dark patterns, and predatory game design.
    • Ensuring kids can play what friends play and collaborate on school docs (Office/Google Docs vs LibreOffice friction).
  • Broad agreement: tailor to the specific child, don’t project your own fandom of Linux, and be willing to change course (even to Mac/Windows) if their needs and interests demand it.