The first inaugural GWJ youth gaming scholarship, COMPLETE!

+1 on getting him a Steam account. Once we have a motherboard pegged down I'll see if I have any compatible RAM sitting around.

Edwin, are you giving him Win 7 32-bit or 64-bit?

BTW, are we going to get the other kids anything? Not sure how an 8-year-old would interpret this.

Great thread!

We've got plenty of components laying around the office but I'm not sure how old they are. I'll check back in a day or two once I've had a chance to sort through it.

trichy wrote:

Liam is one of us. He loves chess, gaming, and reading.

What kind of stuff does he like to read? Another thing we could consider is getting him a Kindle if there's extra money donated.

I have an unused power supply kicking around my apartment that I'd be willing to donate. I believe it's a 650w (and will update this tonight when I know for sure).

I've got an XFX 8600GT video card if he, or anyone else, could use it.

LobsterMobster wrote:

+1 on getting him a Steam account. Once we have a motherboard pegged down I'll see if I have any compatible RAM sitting around.

Edwin, are you giving him Win 7 32-bit or 64-bit?

BTW, are we going to get the other kids anything? Not sure how an 8-year-old would interpret this.

Liam is really good about sharing with his brother. In addition, Aiden is more into sports, and I've been driving him to his peewee football practice (which is one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen). I don't see it being an issue.

Jeff-66 wrote:
trichy wrote:

Liam is one of us. He loves chess, gaming, and reading.

What kind of stuff does he like to read? Another thing we could consider is getting him a Kindle if there's extra money donated.

I gave him my old Kindle when I got a new one, so he's good on that. If there's extra money donated, I'd love to hear suggestions about how best to utilize it.

I also have extra ram at home that I could donate but it looks like we might have it covered. I'll throw up a link when I get home.

Don't think I can help out much on the hardware front but I can definitely help out with populating a Steam list or chip in some money towards components if needed.

I don't have any hardware in this house that anyone would want for anything, but Nth me on the Steam/Kindle gifting. What kind of books does he like?

LobsterMobster wrote:

Edwin, are you giving him Win 7 32-bit or 64-bit?

I was going to get him the 64-bit one, but I can get him either. Same goes with Office and Visual Studio, they would match the OS.

trichy wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:
trichy wrote:

Liam is one of us. He loves chess, gaming, and reading.

What kind of stuff does he like to read? Another thing we could consider is getting him a Kindle if there's extra money donated.

I gave him my old Kindle when I got a new one, so he's good on that. If there's extra money donated, I'd love to hear suggestions about how best to utilize it.

Gifting on the Kindle is doable too. Here is the page on gifting to kindle. We basically just need an email address to send the gift e-book at the time of purchase.

My vote's for 64-bit.

LobsterMobster wrote:

My vote's for 64-bit.

This. At a time when more than 4 GB of RAM is becoming standard for workstations, and 4 GB is near standard for new home desktops, don't go for 32-bit.

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

I'm not saying don't do it, but it's something he's going to have to learn to work with.

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

I'm not saying don't do it, but it's something he's going to have to learn to work with.

It seems like you might be covered but I have a few dims of memory at home I can look into if needed.

momgamer wrote:

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

I'm not saying don't do it, but it's something he's going to have to learn to work with.

It is, but I tend to think of the "Maker" programs as starters. Visual Studio is a professional programming software suite. If he's really going to go for it, he'll need the extra RAM.

momgamer wrote:

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

Depending on the system specs, would it be possible to set them up with a 32-bit version of Windows XP/2000 to run in a virtual machine through Oracle VirtualBox/MS VirtualPC? That's generally how I deal with Windows software that won't run on Win7 x64.

shoptroll wrote:

Depending on the system specs, would it be possible to set them up with a 32-bit version of Windows XP/2000 to run in a virtual machine through Oracle VirtualBox/MS VirtualPC? That's generally how I deal with Windows software that won't run on Win7 x64.

Win 7 pro comes with a virtual PC of xp 32bit.

LobsterMobster wrote:
momgamer wrote:

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

I'm not saying don't do it, but it's something he's going to have to learn to work with.

It is, but I tend to think of the "Maker" programs as starters. Visual Studio is a professional programming software suite. If he's really going to go for it, he'll need the extra RAM.

I bloody well know what Visual Studio is. I do this for a living and curse it every day. Dude, he's 12. Unless he's already coding, he IS a starter. For just starting out, Visual Studio is sandblasting a soup-cracker. I agree very much he should have it. I'm just saying we need to look at the whole picture.

Who is going to be supporting him on this machine? Trichy, can you do it?

momgamer wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:
momgamer wrote:

I hate to pour cold water on you guys, but double-check that 32/64 bit idea based on the development environments/tools he's going to be looking at getting into. I recently upgraded and my machines are in an advanced state of higgeldy-piggeldy with this very problem right now. Half my tools won't run. I know Visual Studio is good with 64-bit, but RPG Maker, for example, does not officially support 64 bit OS's last I heard and I can't get my copy to run on Win7 64 bit yet.

I'm not saying don't do it, but it's something he's going to have to learn to work with.

It is, but I tend to think of the "Maker" programs as starters. Visual Studio is a professional programming software suite. If he's really going to go for it, he'll need the extra RAM.

I bloody well know what Visual Studio is. I do this for a living and curse it every day. Dude, he's 12. Unless he's already coding, he IS a starter. For just starting out, Visual Studio is sandblasting a soup-cracker. I agree very much he should have it. I'm just saying we need to look at the whole picture.

Who is going to be supporting him on this machine? Trichy, can you do it?

I can to some degree, but my computer knowledge is painfully limited. I know enough to assemble the machine and install the various software, but that's about it. I do have a few local friends in the university's CS department that would be willing to help.

Thanks for updated list in the OP Trichy.

Can you give some of us non-US Goodjers an idea as to what is the going rate on shipping over there so we can make a decent impact with our PayPal-ing?

I'm not too familiar with it myself, but I think Microsoft's Kodu is supposed to be good for kids learning to program.

I'm pretty sure I have a 19-21in spare widescreen monitor in the basement. DVI/HDMI/(VGA--gah).

I cannot guarantee it isn't full of spiders. It's in the basement. I do not go into the basement. Because I heard once there were spiders. From my wife. Because she does laundry down there. **shiver**

I seem to be unable to find 'liamdavis735' on Steam at this time.
Maybe also post a list of fav games he would like to have? With the inevitable Steam Summer Sales
coming, it should be easy to get him quite some.

I've got a spare x1650 video card:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/deskt...

Sparhawk wrote:

I seem to be unable to find 'liamdavis735' on Steam at this time.
Maybe also post a list of fav games he would like to have? With the inevitable Steam Summer Sales
coming, it should be easy to get him quite some.

Trichy, post a link to his Steam profile page. The Steam account name search is broken and always has been.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Trichy, post a link to his Steam profile page. The Steam account name search is broken and always has been.

Fixed in the OP.

trichy wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Trichy, post a link to his Steam profile page. The Steam account name search is broken and always has been.

Fixed in the OP.

Add the wish list on Steam, could be even better. Although we maybe want to organize it a bit, so there are no doubles.

I don't have any components, and a similar lack of cash (my flipping kids and their need for clothes, shoes and food steal it all) so all I can do is wish you luck and say that I love this community.

Your sister is a hero. I don't know how she manages.

Sparhawk wrote:
trichy wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

Trichy, post a link to his Steam profile page. The Steam account name search is broken and always has been.

Fixed in the OP.

Add the wish list on Steam, could be even better. Although we maybe want to organize it a bit, so there are no doubles.

That's a tough one. I know he loves Civ V and Sims 3, but it's tough to ask him to put together a list without giving away the surprise. I definitely want to steer him more towards games like simulation and strategy, and also some independent games that might show him the kind of things that are possible. Also, any games with strong mod tools of course. Any suggestions there would be great.

Magicka? Maybe Defense Grid: The Awakening?