Lots of good ideas here. Gives me hope to know not all of us are after Pokemon.

Mr Hayman spent many years at the supercomputer facilities in Alaska. He is as
biased about linux being a real scientific tool as I am, with my 18 years of
supercomputing experience from the Origin2000 and IBM/SP2 at UofM's MSI, to
having built 5 of our own clusters (Linux) in the basement of Akerman Hall. But
the reality of the matter is that there is much more invisible Linux than what
I have seen. I bought an MP3 player for my car circa 2008, and when I opened
it up I realized it was an ARM chip in it and it was running Linux. Mind blown!

I do not feel comfortable with anything other than a unix, at this point. I
started with an Amiga, which had a powerful CLI and an excellent windowed
environment back in the 80s. Unix and X11 are just like it. But it is not
nostalgia or the familiarity that kept me on Linux Slackware since 1993, it
is the fact that it really matches my personality and how I think.

As for how to engage youngings with technology, I also think that logic is the
thing to master first. But I cannot distinguish it from a computer now. The
real reason is that what a better way and a very inexpensive way to explore
logic, etc, than to put the thoughts/math in code and watch it run! The
barrier-to-entry is very low, and the information a click away. I do not know
why kids even look at Pokemon when there is much else that is so much more fun.

And one final thought, for which I have to put my Alan Watts hat on. Try to
do what you like, do not worry about the money, and imerse yourself in it
and spend the time in it. It does not matter if it is art, science, social
service... just start from somewhere. You want a mesh built? Go for it.

IN