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Jolly Rancher | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 i don't know any 7th or 8th graders, but maybe start with a list, and winnow it down:  
1. grub -- or other -- bootloaders.  
2. filesystems -- "disk" partitioning.  
3. some different distros . . . 
4. ngnix  
5. a database manager ?  
6. an overview of development tools:  
  a. the gnu compiler family  
  b. git and revision control systems  
  c. languages?  
7. html, website construction  

probably can't cover all of this in a semester, you'll need to pick and choose
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tori | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 @Jolly Rancher @menherahair @buy robux today :ROBUX: very agreeable list I'd say, also helpful to go a bit into what FOSS is and why it matters
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翠星石 | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 @tori Ah yes, another "FOSS" supporter.

Can you please teach everyone what "FOSS" is and why it matters?

Don't forget that Linux is proprietary software :3
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menherahair | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +2 
 @Jolly Rancher @buy robux today :ROBUX: holy fuck you're gonna bore these kids to death. just have them do a minecraft server and mod watermelon pickaxe and sword in
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Jolly Rancher | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 gerontocratic privilege -- i'm old, so i get to bore kids to death.  be thankful i'm not telling you about my gall bladder.
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Yukkuri | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 @menherahair @Jolly Rancher @buy robux today :ROBUX: Exactly, enthusiasm cannot be taught, you have to impress, but it has to be practical. In 7th grade I was impressed enough by what mIRC scripts could do to start writing my own and eventually switch to C and FreeBSD by the end of 9th grade.

Writing multiplayer game mods sounds like perfect alternative to spark the interest, and switching to IDE OS of a choice would occur naturally at later point.
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Jolly Rancher | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 and, i wasn't trying to say throw this list at them, i was just trying to come up with some topics.  making the selected items interesting is up to the pedagogue.
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menherahair | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 @Yukkuri @buy robux today :ROBUX: @Jolly Rancher Easiest way to sneak some motivation and knowledge into kids is to let them figure out if they're doing a good job or not themselves, that's what exercise books do. Some fields have no way to do this at all, but computing has to have about a million, partitioning a disk sadly not being one. And you'd kill yourself trying to figure out if they really understand what a bootloader is.

Basically, every school needs to bring back logo.
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Jolly Rancher | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag +1 
 my initial inspiration for the list is the steps I go through to install Linux on something that does not already have it.  but, yeah, mere installation is probably going to be boring.  you have to include some games or networking or something.