[m01]

Get the Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB (or more if you care). Get the RasPiKey [1] for faster storage (compared to SD cards), without needing to get an SSD. Just use the Raspberry Pi OS.

Re: software setup, curriculum etc.. there are so many resources that target the Raspberry Pi that you can choose something that the child finds interesting.

You can do a desktop computer build if/when they outgrow the Raspberry Pi.

[1] https://www.uugear.com/product/raspikey-plug-and-play-emmc-m...

[1718627440]

My parents did that, to me. I got a Raspberry Pi 2B, an micro SD card, a monitor and a keyboard. My dad helped me to flash the SD card, but everything else I need to figure out myself. Honestly, Linux is not that user unfriendly. Sure it breaks, but when it breaks it behaves like a broken system and not like a baby that throws a tantrum, or a nanny that just pushes you around, because she believes her own lies. I did corrupt my system multiple times. It doesn't matter, because in Linux you can just do everything, including copying home directories from a fried partition. I learned programming accidentally, because I clicked on everything and wanted to know what this weird program does with the blue and yellow cross icon. The only sad thing is that I lost my first website and server, because I rm -rf'ed in the wrong directory and didn't knew version control yet.