LinuxQuestions.org
Welcome to the most active Linux Forum on the web.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General
User Name
Password
General This forum is for non-technical general discussion which can include both Linux and non-Linux topics. Have fun!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 08-05-2013, 11:42 PM   #1
corbintechboy
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 480
Blog Entries: 1

Rep: Reputation: 51
Passing GNU/Linux on to my kids


I have something that is bothering me and I have no idea how to present the question. Please understand, we will all pass away some day and our legacy will be left behind for others to either carry on or simply forget,

I have 3 children whom have never used a Windows computer in our home. They get by just fine with GNU/Linux.

Now, my question is tough for me to ask because I have reflect on my own eventual demise hopefully in many years.

I am concerned with what version of GNU/Linux to get my kids interested in. My position, in reflecting on my own dismissal from life is I want to introduce them to a distribution that will be around for there lifetime. Sure, I understand we don't have a crystal ball here. But I was one whom bought into Libranet and I at that point realized nothing will last forever, or could it?

I feel pretty safe raising them on Debian. I mean Debian does not depend on one person to continue on. Slackware is a favorite of mine, but would the torch be carried on? Arch is probably a safe bet as well.

My reasoning for this thinking is my kids might grow to simply be users, unlike me the computer tinkerer I am. If I can raise them to not be dependent on Windows, I feel I would be doing them a favor and saving them some headaches in the process.

I hate to even post this question and believe it or not this has bothered me for awhile. I even wonder if someone will carry on the torch of this very forum? An excellent place I hope lasts forever for the betterment of mankind.

Thought?
 
Old 08-06-2013, 02:04 AM   #2
gnashley
Amigo developer
 
Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Germany
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 4,928

Rep: Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612Reputation: 612
Teach them to build their own and they will never be without even if the internet somehow 'went away'.
 
Old 08-06-2013, 02:24 AM   #3
k3lt01
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2011
Location: Australia
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900

Rep: Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637Reputation: 637
I think distros like Debian will continue because of the huge volunteer base it has. Fedora is similar but also has the backing of Red Hat which is an added advantage. Even if Canonical doesn't end up fulfilling its owners desire I can't see Ubuntu disappearing either.

I'd be trying to get them using a distro that has ease of use (I personally think Debian is easy) and is stable.
 
Old 08-06-2013, 02:50 AM   #4
corbintechboy
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 480

Original Poster
Blog Entries: 1

Rep: Reputation: 51
Quote:
Originally Posted by k3lt01 View Post
I think distros like Debian will continue because of the huge volunteer base it has. Fedora is similar but also has the backing of Red Hat which is an added advantage. Even if Canonical doesn't end up fulfilling its owners desire I can't see Ubuntu disappearing either.

I'd be trying to get them using a distro that has ease of use (I personally think Debian is easy) and is stable.
That's pretty much how I see it.

Debian I believe is gonna get it here. I mean they can roll with the updates by simply changing a file, easy. If that file is tought to them it will be second nature for them.

Thanks all for the replies.
 
Old 08-06-2013, 05:42 AM   #5
cascade9
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Location: Brisneyland
Distribution: Debian, aptosid
Posts: 3,753

Rep: Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935Reputation: 935
Quote:
Originally Posted by corbintechboy View Post
I feel pretty safe raising them on Debian. I mean Debian does not depend on one person to continue on. Slackware is a favorite of mine, but would the torch be carried on? Arch is probably a safe bet as well.
Debian has a pretty good chance of lasting a long time.
Slackware would go on without Patrick Volkerding IMO. There are a lot of dedicated Slackware users with high technical skills. It might turn into a 'community' distro, it might take different directions than it would if Patrick Volkerding was still around, and it could even fork into several different distros, but I cant see it going away.

One other distro family that I think has a very long term future is Red Hat/Fedora.

Quote:
Originally Posted by corbintechboy View Post
My reasoning for this thinking is my kids might grow to simply be users, unlike me the computer tinkerer I am. If I can raise them to not be dependent on Windows, I feel I would be doing them a favor and saving them some headaches in the process.
I'm a fellow tinkerer...but mostly hardware, not software. Thats why I use debian, it lets me do what I want to do with a reasonable amount of not-that-hard-to-do tinkering. Even with my basic software skills, I find that moving from Debian to things like Fedora is airly easy..the commands might change but the basic idea is the same.

If your kids have basic software skills and a 'normal linux users' knowledge of how linux/BSDs work (and computers in general), they are better equiped to deal with the computers and OSes of the future than your average windows user. IMO anyway.
 
Old 08-06-2013, 06:00 AM   #6
Hungry ghost
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,222

Rep: Reputation: 667Reputation: 667Reputation: 667Reputation: 667Reputation: 667Reputation: 667
I also suggest Debian. Even if Debian disappeared for whatever reason, I think its package management system (dpkg, apt-get, aptitude) would probably continue being used by other distros, and this would ease a contingent switch to another distro.
 
Old 08-15-2013, 11:25 AM   #7
Ryan1955
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Aug 2013
Distribution: OpenSUSE 12.3
Posts: 4

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
It's great that your kids are starting with linux. Even though the working and business world is using Microsoft products, I'm pretty sure your kids can handle windows with ease if they ever need to. After all, if you use linux you can handle any other OS
 
Old 08-16-2013, 12:23 PM   #8
DavidMcCann
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Jul 2006
Location: London
Distribution: PCLinuxOS, Debian
Posts: 6,131

Rep: Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302Reputation: 2302
Nothing lasts for ever, but Unix has been around for 44 years to Windows's 28! Since Linux is the most common form of Unix, it's not going to vanish any time soon!

If you look at institutional use, the big players are SUSE and Red Hat. Surveys of web servers show a tie between CentOS and Debian. One can probably conclude that SUSE, Red Hat, and Debian are going to stay the course.

Slackware will probably continue, but it will never make it out of "hackers' corner" without tools for automated installation on multiple systems, a commercial support service, and a repository that includes things like LibreOfficerather than rubbish like Calligra.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
LXer: Debian 7.0 GNU/Linux vs. GNU/kFreeBSD Benchmarks LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 06-11-2013 02:00 AM
LXer: Teach your kids Linux from an early age with Qimo linux for kids LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 05-31-2010 07:40 PM
LXer: GNU/Linux and freedom: non-free software hidden in your GNU/Linux distribution LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 04-02-2010 11:21 PM
Passing args in terminal window is OK. but isn't when passing in GNOME launcher why? majrys1962 Debian 0 11-18-2008 06:00 PM
linux for the kids dr_zayus69 Linux - Distributions 6 12-14-2004 09:05 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Non-*NIX Forums > General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:45 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration