The title pretty much explains this post: How many true Linux users here on LQ (besides me) are under 18? Please explain your poll votes.

I'm 20, didn't start using Linux till I was 19.

Do you feel it would help young people to be identified somehow? Say a unique icon or color?

I started around 18 or 19, so there's no way I could be under 18.

I used to be well under 18 back in the day. Oh yes, and used Linux too at that time. Still do. And while I used to know "teens" using Linux, nowadays they've pretty much moved on to Windows 7 or OS X, or just stopped using computers for good (as much as it's possible these days).

1 members found this post helpful.

I guess I'm in the minority then. I'm 17 (but soon to be 18 the same day as Final Freeze for Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal") and have been using Linux (on and off) for 3 years.

The one thing I find that really is quite bad is that most people my age only see computers skin-deep. They think that they can't use a computer without being able to game on it. I'm sorry, there's much more to entertainment on a computer than just gaming. There's music. There's videos. There's TV. There's audio recording software. There's just about everything else but popular game titles (but 0 A.D. has Windows, Mac, and Linux builds, thanks to it being free and open source software). It's a shame that kids can't do much with their lives other than play video games.

And even if you want to play games, why not just use a game console (or, hello, cell phone!)? Games on the computer are a waste of time unless you really have no alternatives.

And even OS X-ed out has very few games available for it, yet kids still like it? Insane, I tell you.

Who knows? Maybe Google Chrome OS will change their minds.

I've introduced my two grandsons to Linux (they were 5 and 3 years old at the time; they are now 10 and 8 years old). Their first request when they spend the weekend with us is to use my computer to play games (supertux in tops on the list). Simple shell scripting to make things happen is fascinating to them. Soon they will be teens using Linux.

I have an old box hanging around that I intend to give to them after I've gotten a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to complete the package. I'll show them a few distros and let them choose which one to install.

I'm 27.
I've been using Linux for less than two years, and sometimes FreeBSD recently.

26 years old. I have been using Linux since I was 15 or 14... I think.. It could be earlier.

Linux 1.0.0 was released when I was 19. This information comes in handy when I forget how old I am.

I didn't start using Linux until about five years later: version 2.0.36 in Debian Slink.

Evo2.

Am I really the old one here? Started using it somewhere at the end of the 90s and I was around 40 years old (then).

You sure beat me!

Evo2.

Sorry, but I disagree. I think video games are great on any platform. Out of all things that I have done in my life, I consider video games as one of the few things that is NOT a waste of time. Yes, I know, things have changed recently, video game companies have gone to hell, and rarely produce good games anymore, but a few good ones slip out once in a while.

I do agree that gaming on a PC can be difficult at times. I can't count the number of times I've had problems with running games on Window$, sometimes I had to take the game back because it didn't work for whatever reason. At least on platforms, games are pretty much guaranteed to work. However, never get an Xbox 360, it has extremely bad reliability, chances of hardware failure are 40-50 % and don't go down after servicing. I'm sure M$ had to bribe a lot of people to be able to put this sorry excuse for a product on the market ... it should be illegal to sell it. (I had one and it broke)

Anyway, video games are great, and I still play them, and I probably will keep playing them until I die. And if others think it's a waste of time, I don't care, I don't care what people think, not for a long time, and it's a good thing, it's the reason why I still live.

More FLOSS games are always welcome, I'll try them all.

As for google OS, stay away from it. It's a trap, all they want is to get your data on their servers, where they can keep an eye on it. Google has strong gubmint ties, so be very weary of it, they are evil, there is no doubt.

A mere youth!
I got my first computer when I was 58, and started using GNU/Linux when I was 60 (5 years ago). Better late than never...

I started using Linux when I was 55 (OpenLinux 1.3) in 1999, before Caldera Systems merged with SCO and promptly did a header off the high board before the pool was filled (sigh). OpenLinux was a good distro.