Linux is a rather scalable and reliable Operating System, that most companies rely on it, but in desktop market it is almost absent! May one think about user unfriendly problems (which have been solved since the early 2000s), nowadays Linux is comparable to both MS-Windows and Mac OSX in this area (thanks to both GNOME and KDE). I think Linux lacks in books for kids and starters, it is so easy to find dozens of books about MS Windows for kids, but can you find them that easily for Linux?
Last summer I was in my city, Hawler(Erbil) (the capital of Kurdistan), and visited most of the bookshops in order to find a Kurdish book about Linux, but what a shame I couldn’t find one!
Another strange story, I went to Salahadin University (the place I graduated in), and talked a bit about open source softwares and avoiding using illegal softwares, one of the attendants, asked me do we have any alternative of Windows? Most of Kurdish haven’t heard about anything other than Microsoft! Isn’t it strange?
I am planning to write a booklet for learning Linux for kids, and I really need your help, if you have any idea, any useful link, or if you want to help me out, please leave me a comment or send me a message.
Tags: Erbil, Hawler, Hewler, Kurd, Kurdistan, Linux, Linux for kids, Salahaddin, Salahadin, University
Slaw Kak Amanj;
I am glad for your initiative and it is a great step. You would not be surprised that so many people in other parts of world ( I am in US) including me with an MS in computer science don't have much with Linux. The problem was that stereotype that Linux was for geeks who enjoy sitting in a command line for years !! I have not checked Linux GUI but I trust you when you say it is competitive to other OSs in that area.
I love open source and I am living and breathing Java and its many community built frameworks. But the fact that windows is not open source does not make it any more expensive for people to get it running for less than 5 bucks in countries where there is not much about digital rights. I am paying a few hundred for an OS but in Erbil you would pay the same amount for the hardware and the software is all 'free'.
I am sure you will be helping a lot of people in taking a step to this area, but it would not be easy. Just be patient.
Kamal
This post has enlighten me and your initiative is, although challenging, brilliant.
Linux provides an alternative to the unstable, vulnerable and popular Windows, and is also free. But as you mentioned in your post, it's still not popular enough to be adopted at massive scales. And this is mainly because of the marketing done by corporations that today have the highest market share. Therefore the problem resides not necessarily in content creation – although that's very important as well, but on reaching the masses and sending the message in an efficient way.
At a first search, you can find tens self-help books for Ubuntu on books.google.com but most of them are commercial. Hence, as ironical as it may sound, in order to learn how to use something free, one would have to pay first.
Of course there are plenty of free resources on forums, blogs and websites, but reaching those resources poses a problem for countries still in development with a questionable internet penetration.
Your drive in writing a booklet is motivated and I'm committed in helping you as much as I can.
We should meet and discuss this more thoroughly.
Totally agree with you Amanj, That would be a great step.
I don't know which Linux distribution are you going to talk about, but I recommend Edubuntu since the booklet is intended for kids.
Wish you success,
Husen
Thank you guys for your support!
@Kamal, you are right, it is easier to find a (cracked) software freely than buying one in Kurdistan, but our (as Kurd OpenSource Group) main goal is educating Kurds to avoid using (illegal) softwares!
@Bogdan, your support is highly appreciated, I know it is easy to find tons of books on Linux, but most of them targeting experience users not starters or kids.
@Husen, I think it is one of the best distros for learning basic stuffs!
Novell has produced a coursework for children on Linux: http://www.novell.com/partners/training/academic/sled.html
http://ocw.novell.com/suse-linux-enterprise-desktop/get-ready-for-open-source-suse-linux-enterprise-desktop-book-1