I have spread Linux today. Well, sort of...
The neighbor's kid (not a child but a mildly disabled adult) had been asking about Linux - for quite a while. I showed him how to install Linux, specifically Lubuntu, and left him a few thumb drives with different distros on them. I told him that I'd show him how to install Linux, but he has to figure out how to use it on his own.
The directions I gave him were simple: Things are where you would expect them to be. (Also, to add "+Linux" to his search terms.)
For example, open the menu and look under "Internet" to find your web browser. If you want to adjust the theme, that would be in the logical place for it to be. This is a standalone PC, so there's no difficulty doing a clean installation and no GRUB issues with trying to dual-boot the system. He knows how to do a clean install.
This isn't his main computer, so we'll see how much effort he puts into it. He's well in the range to figure this out on his own and with search engines. He's more than capable of figuring this out on his own (with the help of a search engine). By the time I left, he was happily browsing and had agreed with me about the awesomeness of an email client instead of webmail. So, he'd also configured Thunderbird and was poking around in the calendar.
So, I may have grown the Linux population by one - but I doubt it. I suspect he'll stick with Windows as he's a heavy gamer and enjoys things like VR. He's aware that there are some games that likely won't work with Linux and that some people make compromises to use Linux over another operating system. He'll be just fine.
If he has 100 questions for me the next time I see him, I'll know that he's been using Linux.
However, I suppose that if I do this 3 billion more times, a good chunk of the population will be using Linux!
The neighbor's kid (not a child but a mildly disabled adult) had been asking about Linux - for quite a while. I showed him how to install Linux, specifically Lubuntu, and left him a few thumb drives with different distros on them. I told him that I'd show him how to install Linux, but he has to figure out how to use it on his own.
The directions I gave him were simple: Things are where you would expect them to be. (Also, to add "+Linux" to his search terms.)
For example, open the menu and look under "Internet" to find your web browser. If you want to adjust the theme, that would be in the logical place for it to be. This is a standalone PC, so there's no difficulty doing a clean installation and no GRUB issues with trying to dual-boot the system. He knows how to do a clean install.
This isn't his main computer, so we'll see how much effort he puts into it. He's well in the range to figure this out on his own and with search engines. He's more than capable of figuring this out on his own (with the help of a search engine). By the time I left, he was happily browsing and had agreed with me about the awesomeness of an email client instead of webmail. So, he'd also configured Thunderbird and was poking around in the calendar.
So, I may have grown the Linux population by one - but I doubt it. I suspect he'll stick with Windows as he's a heavy gamer and enjoys things like VR. He's aware that there are some games that likely won't work with Linux and that some people make compromises to use Linux over another operating system. He'll be just fine.
If he has 100 questions for me the next time I see him, I'll know that he's been using Linux.
However, I suppose that if I do this 3 billion more times, a good chunk of the population will be using Linux!
