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Domain: eldy.eu

Stories and comments across the archive that link to eldy.eu.

Comments · 7

  1. Re:Dial up can still access gmail by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Informative · on Ask Slashdot: Remote Support For Disconnected, Computer-Illiterate Relatives

    Does Chrome OS even support dial-up?

    It could, with an ethernet dial-up modem.

    Having said that, I think the best solution would be Debian with Eldy installed, and a few scripts for parent-specific needs (like a revert-to-default/familiar setting) linked to big, clear buttons.

  2. Oodles of Linux options by fritsd · · Score: 1 · on Ask Slashdot: Protecting Home Computers From Guests?

    Because malware doesn't exist for Linux, right? And phishing is impossible as well?

    If the live CD is set up to not mount your harddisk, and if it has a guest account without root privilege, then only malware that does privilege escalation (becoming root) after exploiting a bug can do damage.
    Now I'm not a real security expert at all, but I think if the live CD is paranoid enough to not have any harddisk kernel modules, have SELinux on in "setenforce 1" mode, and if the live CD is burned to a DVD-R instead of DVD-RW then I think you'd be quite safe.
    Seeing as Linux is used for a lot of different tasks, I believe (but I'm not certain) that there are several distros especially *for* this purpose; hardened Linux distros for computer forensics, penetration testing etc.
    A quick look at distrowatch.com shows (N.B. I haven't tested any of these, my family are not computer criminals AFAIK):

    • http://distrowatch.com/search.php select distribution category:
    • "security" -- 16 distros
    • "privacy" -- 5 distros; these sound useful esp. LPS
    • "forensics" -- 8 distros
    • "live medium" -- 210 distros, many are i18-ized

    Now if your guests are not only hardened computer criminals but also very old, consider the extreme user-friendlyness of the Italian project "ELDY":

    http://www.eldy.eu/
    I haven't tried it yet, but I respect their philosophy: "when you were a baby, they taught you how to walk and cycle. Now that you're grown up and they are getting senile and feeble in the head, you can teach them computer use. Do your best to try, anyway". (I paraphrase ..slightly.. )

  3. Ok? So it's Eldy but.. by danielpublic · · Score: 1 · on Faint Praise From WSJ For a Linux Touchscreen PC For Seniors

    ... in some probably unnecessarily fancy/expensive hardware?

    Eldy, runs on most hardware, it's about a 13MB download free as in Gratis/Freeware and packs a Developers Network for bugs, translations and so forth.

    In other words: Go ahead and recycle some hardware! Get a sturdy desktop or better yet, build a frame around it if needed be or hook it to a bigger (flat)TV.

    I'm sure there exists some keyboards with bigger keys today if that is a requirement. Anyhow, it would be cool with a free as in Freedom oshw keyboard that was easy to build for the average /.-readers. Molding the keys or heck better yet, printing (im sure someone would help on the forums) a mold and molding with some silicone/rubbery material.

  4. Ok? So it's Eldy but.. by danielpublic · · Score: 1 · on Faint Praise From WSJ For a Linux Touchscreen PC For Seniors

    ... in some probably unnecessarily fancy/expensive hardware?

    Eldy, runs on most hardware, it's about a 13MB download free as in Gratis/Freeware and packs a Developers Network for bugs, translations and so forth.

    In other words: Go ahead and recycle some hardware! Get a sturdy desktop or better yet, build a frame around it if needed be or hook it to a bigger (flat)TV.

    I'm sure there exists some keyboards with bigger keys today if that is a requirement. Anyhow, it would be cool with a free as in Freedom oshw keyboard that was easy to build for the average /.-readers. Molding the keys or heck better yet, printing (im sure someone would help on the forums) a mold and molding with some silicone/rubbery material.

  5. Ok? So it's Eldy but.. by danielpublic · · Score: 1 · on Faint Praise From WSJ For a Linux Touchscreen PC For Seniors

    ... in some probably unnecessarily fancy/expensive hardware?

    Eldy, runs on most hardware, it's about a 13MB download free as in Gratis/Freeware and packs a Developers Network for bugs, translations and so forth.

    In other words: Go ahead and recycle some hardware! Get a sturdy desktop or better yet, build a frame around it if needed be or hook it to a bigger (flat)TV.

    I'm sure there exists some keyboards with bigger keys today if that is a requirement. Anyhow, it would be cool with a free as in Freedom oshw keyboard that was easy to build for the average /.-readers. Molding the keys or heck better yet, printing (im sure someone would help on the forums) a mold and molding with some silicone/rubbery material.

  6. Alex sounds a lot like ELDY from Italy by fritsd · · Score: 1 · on New Linux-Based Laptop For Computer Newbies
    There was a BBC news page last year about another British project, simplicITy, which used the Italian ELDY Linux project to get elderly people acquainted with computers.
    Here's the link: http://www.eldy.org/ (in italian), http://www.eldy.eu/ (in english).
    Some more links: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldy, http://www.webnews.it/news/leggi/4217/eldy-linformatica-per-la-terza-eta/ (in italian) (I wonder if this isn't refered to more often because the primary sources are in italian?)
    Apparently the idea is that the project contains both a technological and a social component: young people are encouraged to teach the elderly.
    I absolutely *love* this quote on their english page:

    Teach the people who taught you how to walk, how to surf the Internet!

    Personally, I don't care if they earn a lot of money (ripping people off / providing a value-added service) by selling them gratis (FOSS) software, as long as it means that more old people can take their first baby steps on the informational superdirttrack. My parents acknowledge that nowadays, you seem to need that internet for more and more stuff, but they find it a bit too difficult to use.
    Down with the Digital Divide!

  7. Re:Senior Citizen Linux by bheer · · Score: 1 · on Why Top Linux Distros Are For Different Users

    Someone should make a version of Ubuntu or openSuse or Fedora or whatever that is designed for Seniors. Large Fonts, easy to use, very little duplication of apps, no problems.

    The Eldy project does something like that; it's a shell over Linux (or Windows). The BBC had a story about it some time back about Eldy-based PCs being sold to the elderly.