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Comment by thom | Hacker News Reader

I've been tempted by these as semi-destructible machines for my young kids to cut their teeth on. The oldest has a Chromebook but reinstalled with GalliumOS which has been perfectly adequate so far. I'd be intrigued to see a direct comparison between these as two ultra-cheap Linux options.

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Why are children these days ‘allowed’ to ’destructive’? I was using my mother’s NeXT Cube back in the early nineties when I was about eleven or twelve and it’s still in mint condition. It was made very clear to me that allowing me to use it was an enormous privilege and that if I had in any way damaged it there would have been hell to pay and I have absolutely no doubt that my arse would’ve been kicked into tomorrow if I had broken my side of the deal. Teaching kids to take care of stuff is a key point in the escape from disposable consumerism.

I also got to play around on a NeXT cube as a kid. I had no idea they were so expensive! Wikipedia says a NeXT cube cost around US$10,000 (equivalent to about $19,600 in 2019.)

For that price I am amazed we had one in our house at all. I think my dad was trailing it or something, we did not have it very long.

My dad would have loved to have you instead of me. He walked in on me with the family PC taken completely apart and flipped out, lol. I agree with you though.

I dunno, I think it might make them more fun in internet discussion forums.

A second-hand Thinkpad 11e might be a better option. They are designed from the get go for the education market (looks like some schools buy them in bulk), and are very sturdy. But can be had for pretty cheap on eBay in used condition, and it's just a regular Intel laptop with hardware that's all Linux-compatible.

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