Hi, I switched my desktop to Linux full time many months ago and I’m never going back. My kids want gaming PCs for Minecraft, Roblox, fortnight, etc. Kid games for now.

Hardware

I’ve been planning to show my kids how to build their own computers, and I think I can 2 for 1 this. My current PC is a prebuilt Ibuypower, and the last computer I assembled had an AGP slot. I know spinning metal is out generally. Other than picking an AMD graphics card what tips can you offer me?

Software

I want to give them the opportunity to learn and fail, so I don’t think I would go with an immutable distro. Thoughts? Assuming a separate /home I think having to reinstall once in a while is a good lesson.

Firefox with full add blocking of course.

Is there an application for managing screen time, and while they’re still little I’d be interested in some kind of blocking/filtering.

Thanks folks!

  • dingdongitsabear@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    4 days ago

    all-AMD system and don’t buy new stuff, go a gen or two back; new keyboards and mice and case.

    • better OS support
    • way cheaper
    • you fuck something up assembling, no biggie
    • the hardware is more than adequate for their needs
    • no esoteric distros, something widely used and documented, with fresh mesa and friends and sane defaults - Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.

    can’t help with the mentioned games. weening them off that corpo spyware is good in the long run but it’s detrimental to their social life.

    • Clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      21 hours ago

      That’s exactly my struggle, I don’t really want them to play those games but I also don’t want them to face social challenges because of me!

      Thanks for the tips.

    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      There is no reason to favor AMD. Get whatever is cost effective (and not problematic)

      You can pickup a 12th gen Intel CPU for not much and the motherboards are cheap. Combine that with a decent GPU and you are solid.

  • TGhost [She/Her]@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    4 days ago

    Fortnite will not be avalaible,
    But there is plenty games avalaible on steam for Linux, a lot of Indies but well made.
    And BTW, they can be soft brained so its really good for kids.
    There is also itch.io where you can find some ore.

    But I hope they don’t play fortnite to be with friends because it will be tough for you to convince.