Uhm, sooo “Dumb” this down. Please!

Tempest Love

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Say you’re teaching this to a five year old....
  • How would you explain exactly what Linux is?
  • Step by step how to download this.
  • What does it make your computer do differently.
(By teaching a five year old I mean: No fancy computer tech words that I’m gonna have to look up every other word to understand)

Weird request, but yeah, I know nothing of computers. NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL about computers.
 


Hi Tempest, and welcome! You say "you know nothing about computers".... yet, you have used one to get here and to begin asking questions. But I'll accept the idea that perhaps you know "little" about computers and that instructing you will take a lot of time. We are all volunteers here, and none of us have the time to be a full-time tutor to you. But there are many people here who will jump in and help advise you as we go along.

On your next reply, please tell us what kind of computer you are using. Is it a desktop, or a laptop? What brand is it (Dell, HP, Acer, etc)? Do you know what "model number" it is? If you can tell us those things, we may can look it up online to find out more details that we may need to know (like how much memory it has). Do you know if you are using Windows 10, or Windows 8, or Windows 7..... or are you using a Mac computer?

If I were to attempt to teach technology to a 5-year old, as you suggest, I think that some of the first lessons would have to be vocabulary. I'm sorry, but you have to learn new words and terminology to understand the complexities of installing and using a new computer operating system (and that is exactly what Linux is). If you don't have the patience for this, you should give up now and save us all a lot of time and effort. It will help if you are ambitious enough to Google for words you don't understand, but you can stop us and ask to try to explain things better for you. We may Google for answers ourselves and just give you a link so that you can go read up about something in question... a word, or a computer device, or how to perform some task.

So, with vocabulary... I've already used just a bit above. Any questions? Or how about these terms: mouse, keyboard, monitor, DVD-ROM, USB flash drive? And a few more before I stop for tonight... how about: RAM, BIOS, UEFI, hard drive, partitions, format, boot (warm boot or cold boot), file systems (such as FAT32 or NTFS). Okay, that's enough for now. Either you know some/all of these terms, or else maybe your head is swimming already. But you will need to learn and understand most of these words if you hope to download and install Linux.

Sometimes a better solution is to take a local class where you live and get some computer basics down first. Another possibility is to find someone local to you that will be a personal tutor to help you. There are thousands of YouTube videos that can teach you things also, especially as you learn the language so that you know how to search better. There are many different versions of Linux, so as you search you may want to just concentrate on one or two... some suggestions are Linux Mint and Ubuntu. These are often the most user-friendly for new people just getting started, but there are many more that you may want to consider in time.

Cheers
 
Say you’re teaching this to a five year old....
  • How would you explain exactly what Linux is?
  • Step by step how to download this.
  • What does it make your computer do differently.
(By teaching a five year old I mean: No fancy computer tech words that I’m gonna have to look up every other word to understand)

Weird request, but yeah, I know nothing of computers. NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL about computers.
Actually, not as weird as you may think. :D Welcome to the group, young lady. I understand your hesitation, but don' be shy about asking questions. You are among friends here. That translates to "we were all where you are at one time, and have not forgotten how it feels".:):) Learning something from the basics to advanced information is a journey, and should be fun, not scary or a drudge. Take your time, and smell the flowers on the way. You don't have to learn everything in one night, there is no exam to cram for. Like anything new, understanding this stuff comes with time. I don't claim to be a guru, but I will help you if possible, so let your Linux journey begin!:cool: Are you currently using windows, and wish to change over, or are you starting out with Linux, or are you surfing the web on a smart phone? You most likely know more than you think, after all ....you found your way here.

Happy Trails,
Paul
 
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