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Giving the Gift of Ubuntu Linux for Christmas?
Father Christmas asks: "This Christmas I have decided to give all of my friends and relatives Ubuntu Linux CDs from the Ubuntu ShipIt service. In addition, I plan to help them backup their old systems, install Ubuntu, and then introduce them to using Linux for their everyday tasks. What sort of post-installation changes should be made to Ubuntu to make it easy for everyday people to use? What extra software packages should be installed? Should I stick with the default Gnome installation, or would KDE be a better choice? Is there anything else that should be done to maximize the utility of their systems, as well as make their first experience with Linux a great one?"
I'm emailing all my friends this link for Christmas.
...asking them permission first, before converting them over?
I know I've tried to run the concept by my parents and siblings more than once, and they refuse to part from their precious Windows.
Bleakness... Desolation... Plastic Forks...
You obviously want to spend quite some time with all of them, don't you?
there is no issue with my network
don't fuck with my machine!
...it's undoubtedly good for them, but how many of them will *want* it?
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
Suddenly a pack of argyle socks or some tighty-whities doesn't look like such a bad gift after all...
KDE is nice, but I think of it as more of a techie's DE. I switched from Windows so this may be completely off the mark, but I always thought that KDE was more like OSX's interface and GNOME more like XP's. (I use XFce on my laptop, GNOME on my desktop/server).
In a different sense, last time I tried Kubuntu, it wasn't as polished as the GNOME DE, I expect because more effort/time/money was put into integrating GNOME with Ubuntu than KDE with Kubuntu.
groupthink: It's good for self-esteem.
Make sure to install the non-free media libraries (e.g. libxine-extracodecs, Adobe Flash 9 beta, libdvdcss2). Make sure they have main, universe, multiverse, and restricted all enabled in their sources.list. You might want to add the WINE repository (deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt dapper main) so they get the latest version of WINE (install that too).
If they use GNOME, I would still recommend installing Amarok [1.4.3] (deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/amarok-stable/ dapper main) for their music pleasure. Hell, you could install Amarok 1.4.4 which comes with a built-in music store (Magnatune).
In the case of whether to use GNOME or KDE, I recommend giving both LiveCDs to him/her to try and let them determine which one they like better; it's completely personal preference to non-geeks (us geeks seem to prefer KDE due to functionality and customisability, but others prefer GNOME for its simplicity as well) and geeks alike. I recommend KDE, but that's just my opinion (Kubuntu is a nice KDE distro; they provide backports for up to date KDE packages on kubuntu.org including KDE, KOffice, and Amarok).
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
Don't forget the free foot rub coupon for grandma, the free breakfast in bed coupon for momma, the free yardwork coupon for dad, and the free nerdy love coupon for the girlfriend.
I would highly recommend Kubuntu (the KDE version of Ubuntu) because KDE is easier to navigate and configure when you have used windows before. I find the menus more similar to windows and better laid out. There's nothing stopping them from switching to Gnome afterward, but they will never stick with Linux in general if they aren't at least somewhat comfortable getting around at first.
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77 77 77 2e 6d 65 6c 76 69 6e 73 2e 63 6f 6d
with KDE it's less of a shock as a UI from windows.
I moved my mother to it. When I told her I installed linux I saw panic in her eyes, then I showed her the basics she needs(which i would have needed to do on windows anyway) and she probably couldn't tell the difference.
First make Ubuntu look and work as good/well as this:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/index.html
Just the small matter of fixing these minor finishing touches with desktop Linux:
Hideous/clunky GUI toolkits
No drag and drop app installation
No single 1.0 quality iApp equivalents ready to be clicked on
No silky smooth hardware accelerated desktop UI by default
And so on...
Dude, if you did this to me, I would cockpunch you.
Instead why don't you give them lottery tickets or something else equally as useless.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
"This Christmas I have decided to give all of my friends and relatives our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ from the church I go to. In addition, I plan to help them disavow their previous faith, if any, read the Bible, and then introduce them to living as a Christian for their everyday tasks. What sort of post-conversion changes should be made to Christianity to make it easy for everyday people to use? What extra faith-based initiatives should be installed? Should I stick with the default denomination, or would Southern Baptist be a better choice? Is there anything else that should be done to maximize the utility of their lives, as well as make their first experience with Jesus a great one?"
Are you sure your all your friends and relatives actually want Linux, terrific though it may be, rather than having it forced down their throats?
I have always been short of ideas when choosing a gift to offer for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's,... Now thanks to Slashdot I have a "gift model" which will work every time at almost no cost !
1. Order the CD set of the lastest Ubuntu Relase.
2. Offer
3. Install
4. ???
5. Happiness !
i think ubuntu is a great distro, but not everyone will want to use it(linux in general)... so what happens to the gift receipient who needs to use windows at home because he/she is a telecommuter?
"hey thanks father christmas! ubuntu linux!?!! this is really cool, but i can't install it on my work computer... really appreciate the thought though ;-) you know what they say, it's the thought that counts! *cough* bull$hit gift *cough*"
or
"hey thanks uncle father christmas!! cool! i've always wanted to try linux on my pc! i can be a hacker just like you!! can i still play halo and GTA and WoW? no? what? maybe in emulation? no, i'm not allowed to drink wine... oh, thanks anyways..."
being the geek in the family, they prolly come to you for all their computer needs/requests for help, etc, but would you appreciate a copy of windows and a promise to help install it on your computer as a gift? if you really want to give a computer or linux related gift, get you folks a giant mousepad, or a new usb thumbdrive(1gb thumbdrives at microcenter for $15!), or some other a wrt54g with dd-wrt preloaded, but not an install disk.
most people don't like religion or politics crammed down their throats by friends and family, evangelism of any sort is usually a turn-off. be politically neutral with your christmas gifts and give something your family really wants. you can spend the rest of the year thumping you chest about ubuntu/linux/FOSS (you prolly already do), but make xmas not about your personal software beliefs.
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
I would suggest using EasyUbuntu post-installation to install the various non-free packages that make Linux nicer to use. You can be sure that your friends and relatives won't want to keep using Linux very long if they don't have Flash, Java, WMV codecs, etc installed. EasyUbuntu makes it not look like doing this is an ugly hack.
Automatix is also a good choice, but I've heard some stories about people having problems with it not backing up their config files and such.
most people won't be that pleased though - but they will pretend to be, and that's what counts
As for advice, well, I prefer GNOME, I personally feel it's easier to work with and like that it feels like a more radical departure from what I've been using since '95 (ie. Windows 95-XP with the "start bar") - but some people would rather stick to something similar to what they know... I'd show them both, maybe get SLAX (a Live slackware with KDE) and something like a fedora live CD (yes, we have those now, and they can come with GNOME)... you know, just get them involved and making a choice.
What I want on my system after install (and I'm a fedora user so some of this might not be needed in the Ubuntu context...) would be mplayer, the DVD and mp3 codecs (we don't get them as standard), shutting off SSH (which "nicely" comes with remote root login set to yes), installation of a firewall, rkhunter (which is really good and should ideally go on as soon as you install - if you are as worried about rootkits as I tend to be) maybe ClamAV (although the extent to which it is really "needed" might be questionable), python (if it's not already on there - because it's just a matter of time until everyone uses it), the right drivers for hardware (but that's a given anyway)... and then just a tour of how to use it
I do think that if I gave it to people they would probably still use windows though, after all, they've already paid the tax
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
"Thanks for the free CD you cheap bastard."
I spend most of my time in bed, darling.
...had amazing, unspeakable luck with Ubuntu, a lot of free time, or a total of two or three friends/relatives, I don't see why you'd want to do attempt that. It will only end badly.
This is like replacing their automatic transmissions with manual transmissions in their vehicles.
"We've secretly replaced grandmas windows xp operating system with Ubuntu Linux... let's see if she notices."
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Just to be on the safe side, bring along discs for both 6.06.1 and 6.10. Some systems are less stable on 6.10 (problems hanging while trying to reboot on mine).
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
I appreciate your sentiment, and I wish you the best, but I think you are... well, very optimistic...
Checkout my dapper -> Edgy upgrade stories in my Journal. They arent smooth. They arent rocket science, but by and large, normal people would not get through it. So you are signing up to be the sole source of tech support for all your friends and family. Thats very generous, if you tell people to do something and they do it, after that time, anything that happens to any of those computers is going to be your fault... machine no longer has a power light? Must be that new fangled ubutnu thingum... Call Jake... This game doesnt install? Call Jake... For every single one of those problems folks are going to say... I dont understand this ubutnu thing because they cannot go to BestBuy and have the friendly teenagers there change the power supply because... "Ubuntu, we dont support that?!"
It isnt like there is anything wrong with Kubuntu. I run it almost exclusively and love it. It is truly great linux distribution, and a very easy (in comparison to other linux distributions.) thing to use. The problem here is the network effect. Everyone uses windows, so everyone supports windows, so everyone uses windows. I dont know how to fix that. I keep hoping that MS could develop some really effective copy protection for MS-Office, so that folks at home actually start paying the legitimate prices for it. That would provide an eye opener
I hope you can make it work for your friends and family, to help break the network effect, but be prepared for a lot of work.
2. Install basic things - codecs, xmms, firestarter, mplayer, etc.
3. Tell the the truth (like gaming on linux). Tell them pros and cons. It's pretty much like step #1.
Bravo.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Do you hate your friends and family???
Don't do it as a christmas present. Instead, just explain to them the virtues of linux and see if they are interested. And tell them the truth, that it may not run all the software they want to.
As soon as grandma finds out she can't use her greeting card or family tree software she will just get little johnny to format and install xp anyways.
I understand wanted to push free software and get people away from Windows. Giving them an install CD is not the way to do it.
Are you willing to be tech support 24x7 when WoW, MS Office, or Photoshop doesn't "just work"? If not, stick to the basics... Give out Knoppix DVDs, the Free Software windows CDs, or something similar.
Or maybe do something personal. Scan in old family photos and put give DVDs of them. If you have digital photographs of the family already, give out CDs/DVDs of them. There are a number of places that will make inexpensive 4x6 prints for the folks without computers or DVD players.
For Christmas you're going to turn your friends' computing lives upside down ("why the f*** is 'Expense report.sxw' different from 'Expense Report.sxw'?"), you also have really no clue how to do it since you're begging for answers on /., and your friends probably have _no_ idea what's coming their way if they play games or run Windows-specific apps you don't know about. Wow, what could go wrong?
Convering friends and family to Linux *is* worthwhile advocacy. I've done it myself. Doing it in a blanket all-my-friends manner, over the holiday season when your friends are probably not thinking much about computers is *stupid* advocacy.
Go somewhere random
Man, why not print out certificates for "The People Fund - Money for People", it would suck slightly less.
History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it - Sir Winston Churchill
A sure fire way to make your friends cry on Christmas day, and not the happy kind of crying either. I'm just thinking of what would happen if I did the same and sent a copy of Ubuntu to all my friends and relatives. It would be construed as an act of terrorism and I would probably be reported to the government.
First, ignore the jackasses who think this is a terrible idea because their family and friends wouldn't like it---because, um, you're not giving it to THEIR family and friends. After all, my family wouldn't like these Christmas gifts since we're Jewish . . . .
Second, I think that some of your offer to help install/administer their linux boxes should include spending time with them and finding out how they use their computer, what features they find essential, and the like. It would be worth it to burn a few live cds (at least Ubuntu AND Kubuntu, if we're only choosing between Gnome and KDE) and bring them over; sit with each family member (or at least primary computer user) as they play with each interface and ask them which they prefer. (Or just install both, if the HD is large enough and there's broadband bandwidth to spare.) It'll take longer---perhaps a lot longer---but if this is a gift for THEM then you should take the time to help them. (My experience on this front is that either people have very strong preferences right away or they're completely indifferent---but it is worth taking the time to find out.)
Third, (as others have said) the easyubuntu and automatix downloads will help them get up to speed with proprietary multimedia codecs quickly and painlessly. Other needs will crop up, but the more time you put in at the beginning making sure that THEIR basics get on the machine at install time means less administering stuff later on.
Fourth, be sure to spend time teaching them to use Synaptic or Adept---so that they feel comfortable adding and removing software.
Finall, spend time teaching them to use google effectively, so that they can solve their own problems should any arise. Show them the ubuntuforum and wiki sites, teach them how to ask good questions, etc. If you're installing dapper, odds are good that any problem they'll have will have popped up already---and so these sources will be valuable in case they have a problem before they can get ahold of you.
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under." - H.L. Mencken
not what THEY want... this reminds me of when i was 7 and wanted to buy my dad a GI Joe boardgame (yes.. boardgame... it was cool shut up) because I just knew HE'D be the one that wants it...
I gave my grandparents their first computer. I'm talking about showing them how to use a mouse, and very basic tasks for the first weeks. The OS? Debian unstable I customized for their personal use -- I'm talking I even wrote some applications like an ink monitor. This year I've already got them a new box, which is an Athlon XP running Ubuntu LTS with their migrated /home partition. The typical tasks are browsing the web, writing documents for their church/recipes/etc, viewing and printing photos from yahoo email, and much more.
If you give them an old computer with Ubuntu 'pre-installed' they'll have an easy go of it. I don't even remember how many years they've ran Linux now. I do know they never got any viruses or had anyone break into their system from the internet. The only major problem they have is getting someone to help them install a new ink cart if I'm not around when the ink is out. I say Linux is a great first OS when you consider how great the USB camera support is these days! =)
but keep in mind that people (even very the very intelligent kind) are reluctant to change. Not to sound like some typical pimply faced youth slashdotter, but I've been on Linux exclusively for ten years (my birthday's soon and I got my first SuSE 4.4 box around that time, dumping Windows 3.1). I'm on Dapper now of course and frankly, it's a beauty.
A Linux install will be a hard thing for the so called "Windows power user". Avoid these people like the plague. They know as much about PeeCees as your average Granma' but insist on using every piece of shitty spyware, because that's what they know. If someone approaches you, suggest to install Dapper, and take some time to explain the philosophy and technology behind if they're willing to listen (they usually don't).
Don't bother forcing anything upon anybody. I stopped trying to convince people long ago, let them have the shit they deserve. I don't do Windows repairs, not because I don't want to help but because I'm actually mostly incapable of disinfecting spy-spam-zombie-virus machines. Don't EVER try to convince people unless they're really ready to listen.
My 0.02 Euros.
When my aunt gave live hermit crabs to me and all my cousins without checking with any of our parents first...
Are you sure that Ubuntu is going to open every single file from all of their applications without any trouble. And all of their applications will work in Ubuntu? Especially the games the kids play?
It's may be all well and good until they find out that you broke the computer and little johnny can't play on it anymore.
Of course, if you're looking for a way out of future Christmas obligations, this may be a great plan.
Today, I installed Ubuntu on my girlfriend's parents' machine, replacing their less than legit copy of Windows which doesn't let them update any more with a fully legit OS instead. I thought that it would be a good idea since all they do on the computer is write the occasional letter,browse the web and make MP3s out of their CDs to put on their MP3 players. Their Brother printer is also well supported and works perfectly under Linux. I reckon that as far as they're concerned, there is little to no difference between Windows and Linux. It has a mouse to click on the icons and the keyboard works. This is one side of the spectrum that can benefit from Ubuntu. I, on the other hand, benefit from Ubuntu because I can use it to do all of the things I used my Windows machine to do (except playing games). I am comfortable learning new commands and learning a new way to install programs and I am comfortable with the idea that there can be more than one desktop active at the same time. But I wouldn't have been only a few years ago and would hate to have had someone force Ubuntu upon me. I decided to make the move when I was comfortable and no one could have forced me to do it any sooner. In fact, before I was comfortable with Linux, I tried a few different distros: the main ones that interested me being Ubuntu and Fedora. It may be that Desktop Linux was just not mature enough for me to use as a newbie, but I was not willing to give it the time of day. I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth and it was a couple of years before I tried it again. I am worried that if you install Ubuntu on all these people's computers, they will also be left with a bad taste in their mouths and, as you know, bad news travels faster than good. I reckon it's all well and good advertising Ubuntu (or any other OS), but you have to leave it to people to make the switch themselves.
Really.
This type of posting comes up every holiday season. The distro may change, but it's the same subject every year. Use search.
To make them like it... give em:
firefox with flash and the java plugin... so they can surf with no problems...
messenger thats capable of msn and icq... so they wont want their msn back
xcdroast or something like that
codec's and and and
help recovering their data
just dont make them feel like going back in time... ^^
Give them Ubuntu Christian Edition! !
If you don't want to spend the next 6 months troubleshooting linux problems and then reinstalling windows, don't do this. Most of them will probably buy a new computer and never ask you for computer help again. If that's what you want, fine, but it sounds like you are trying to be helpful here, and that is not the way to do it.
SAILING MISHAP
If you really expect to transition all your friends and family to Ubuntu linux, shouldn't you at least try it out yourself first? Then you will know first hand what changes will need to be made and how appropriate it is for your users.
Anyway, that said, ubuntuguide.org is an excellent user-friendly one-stop-shop for new users, including how to install just about any 3rd party or non-free application or library that the average user is likely to need. Thanks to the richness of Ubuntu Universe, Backports and other high-quality repositories, most of these instructions simply boil down to:
1. Add extra repositories
2. Install package foo
Of the top of my head, it's mostly non-free and patent encumbered libraries you'll want to install. That's multimedia codecs, dvd playback and macromedia Flash.
You might have to get some binary drivers, depending on your user's hardware. Most popular kernel drivers, like Nvidia, ATI and MadWifi are in linux-restricted-modules-*.
Nothing else really comes to mind besides that, but you should really try it for yourself to be sure.
Make sure to install the non-free media libraries (e.g. libxine-extracodecs, Adobe Flash 9 beta, libdvdcss2).
Mepis comes with all of that but decss, which is against the law to distribute in the US. Mepis now uses Ubunto as a base but still has the same KDE look and feel it always did. You might also have to get the "essential" Windoze Media codecs listed in the xine comand line dump, if you want to play some types of WMV. For all that, Mepis is a great time saver on installation for "normal" users who want all of the above non free junk.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I'm going to make contributions to The Human Fund in the names of everyone I know.
Give them the gift of knowing how to use the Ubuntu install CD as a LiveCD and how NOT to nuke their hard drive (hint hint don't ever click "Install" unless you WANT to install). Once they're comfortable with that there will be none of this "My program isn't working I need it reinstalled can you come over I can't do any work for the next 4 hours until you're off work" crap; just throw in the CD and hit Firefox/OpenOffice.org and continue working until help arrives.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
If I were your friend, I'd not thank you for imposing your [religious|political] beliefs on me. *Especially* when such beliefs mean I have to change out virtually everything familiar to me on my computer, and limits my choices in the future of games and applications. (Seriously, would you walk into your friends house and dump all of his food in the trash, or all his books or clothes? Because emotionally - that's what you are doing.)
What is it about Linux that leads people to such acts of zealotry?
Once you've explained to them that they've all got to strip naked and stand in a circle holding hands with stupid grins on their faces, I'm sure you'll never have to buy them an xmas present ever again.
Well, you'll probably never even see them again..
OS evangelism as a Christmas present.
I know it's the thought that counts, but jesus wept...
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
There really seems to be no question of "Do these people want to be converted?"
It's pretty audacious to assume that everyone you know really wants to learn a new OS, deal with a whole new slew of applications and the 'nix intricacies that they will inevitably have to work with to keep the installation functioning. A personal desktop OS isn't like a corporate desktop OS. You can't say "Here, it's installed, now don't touch anything." People will want to customize things, change settings and I'm pretty sure that somewhere along the line something will break. I'd much rather have someone who normally wouldn't even know what Linux is switch to something like Mac OS X.
First, do everything that you can to ensure that they can use as many websites as possible. Install Flash, RealPlayer, Java, and Shockwave plug-ins. If they can't watch videos and play games, "linux is broken." That includes the ability to play mp3, wmv, quicktime AND DVDs.
Second, really think about installing Wine (you may end up doing this just to get Shockwave working). It'll cause grief either way, but if they can run whatever cheap recipe CD they picked up at Wal-Mart, they'll be happier.
Finally, set up automatic backups. They -will- delete an important file or trash the OS at some point. Have a way to bail them out. Ideally, install a proper backup system, but something as simple as a second hard drive and a script that runs "cp -r" on their home directory would work.
You'll also want to ensure that they have a live CD. That's easy with ubuntu, but in general, leave them with a "goof-proof" boot disk.
Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
When my clients throw out their old machines, I scoop them up and usually turn them into some sort of dev server, usually with Ubuntu or Debian, so I can play with Asterisk, iptables configs, etc. but I think they could go to a better cause. We get about 2-3 machines a week and while they might not be great for the latest version of Office and games, they could be great Surf/email boxes. Problem is, I've yet to find a distro that is:
* fairly straightforward to install (I don't want to dedicate my life to this but I don't mind compiling a driver or two)
* supports a good range of older hardware
* is lightweight and easy on the resources
I've tried Ubuntu with KDE and Gnome but both of them were really sluggish on a Celeron 450 with 128 MB of PC100 RAM. Most of these boxes will be of similar age/power so I'd like to get something that runs fairly well and stable: it doesn't have to be a screamer, nor does it need alot of bells and whistles.
body massage!
If you want to introduced them to linux, do this, install it on their computers as the secondary partition. Take care to resize their original partition (and save ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING FIRST) before you install linux. Then have Grub make Windows as the primary boot up.
Tell them that if Windows is ever broken or whatever, to try the Ubuntu.
Better yet, instead of installing Ubuntu at all, give it to them on a USB stick, (I'm fairly certain Ubuntu can boot off USB, like Knoppix, but not 100%, if not, go with Knoppix instead). Tell them that if their computer is broken, use Ubuntu on a stick. If they don't want it, they have a nifty 1GB USB stick (a decent present, I saw 1GB sticks at Aldi for $22 last week, not too expensive either) and can use it for other purposes.
This way you can introduce them to Linux without forcing them and stay their friend. Yeah, most people won't use it, but perhaps 1 or 2 will and like it. The way you are doing it, you are almost guaranteed to have them all hate it and fill your time with more calls than ever before.
Also, give them a disk with Windows Apps (ad-aware, AVG virus scanner) so it seems that they still have a choice.
GNOME tries very hard to be a desktop environment that just works. KDE has more options you can set, which is great if you like that sort of thing. A typical comment from happy KDE users seems to be "I have my KDE desktop set up just the way I want it." A typical comment from happy GNOME users seems to be "It just works, and I don't need to fuss with it." (This is not to imply that you can't customize GNOME; of course you can. And there are plenty of people who are happy with the KDE defaults.)
I do agree that you might want to first boot a live disk of Ubuntu, and then boot a live disk of Kubuntu, and see whether they prefer GNOME or KDE. They should have the final say about what they prefer. But if they aren't sure, I suggest GNOME.
Remember: you can always run KDE apps under GNOME and vice versa. When I need to burn a CD or DVD, I pretty much reach for K3B, even though I run a GNOME desktop. And there are a couple of KDE games I like that don't seem to have GNOME equivalents.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Wow, I would clear your personal schedule this year. After you do all of those installations you're up for quite a few support calls about simply stuff like, how do I use this website (b/c it doesn't work with Internet Explorer) or how do I backup my files? You found it annoying that you get called whenever IE gets corrupted, well good luck trying to play WoW now.
In my experience it's a great idea to supplant windows where non-*nix user aren't installing applications. But when you start talking about non-*nix user's home computers you're in a new ballpark until Quicken, TurboTax, Printers, Scanners, Aim, and all other common apps are install and go.
A GNOME user who isn't foaming at the mouth. I don't see one of those every day.
Sarcasm aside, I wish I could come across more people with such balanced perspectives about their desktop environments...Most people I've seen don't seem to feel secure about their own choices unless they're verbally bashing other people's...so when I see a change from that, I appreciate it.
If I had points currently, I'd mod you up.
Don't give anyone an OS to install - give them a *NEW* PC with the OS installed like they would get in the store. If you want to be extra nice, do some setup for them too. If they like it, they can send you thier old PC & then you can turn it around to the next friend / relative, and so on...
I have a script, along with a set of support files, that I wrote for Breezy. I never got around to releasing it, but it automatically updates your sources.list and installs all the extra software you want that's not included by default. If you're interested in helping me update it for Edgy, tweak the list of packages it installs, and testing/tweaking it, we can put it on sourceforge or whatever, and it'll make the task you're talking about much easier. Just respond to let me know.
Just install Firefox, OpenOffice, Gaim, and similar open-source and cross-platform software for them. That way, when Firefox renders a web page "incorrectly," when OpenOffice borks the formatting in a Word document, or when Gaim doesn't let them make the hideous profile they want to have, they have other programs like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and AIM to fall back on, and they'll still be able to install new software and hardware with ease. Pretty soon, they might realize that the programs you gave them can do everything that they need. Then, and only then, are they ready to switch from Windows to Linux. Even if they don't make it that far, at least you've gotten them to understand that there are alternatives to the crap that Microsoft tries to shove down their throats.
You know, as much as I'd like my relatives to use linux - and they may appreciate it in the long term - I realize that it is something that *I* would like. Giving the "gift of Ubuntu" to others during the season is really a gift to yourself, as it panders to your interests, and not likely theirs. If they showed and interest in such things it might be a nice gift, but you really should consider whose interests you have in mind.
One of these days I'll probably be nuking the grandparents' computer and throwing linux at it, probably after one-too-many windows service calls. However, I'd never consider changing everything over a gift, but rather a compromise.
I put "linuxing" somebody's computer as a gift in the same arena as the girlfriends who tried to buy me clothes items they liked (and I didn't) for various occasions. It's not a gift to me, it's an excuse to spend money on yourself in my name. Alternately, I had some smarter ones who actually went shopping with me, and we picked out clothes that we both liked (casual, but not dumpy, and nothing that tried to feel like a smartass 15yr-old).
Perhaps you should gauge what your relatives want before giving this gift, no?
that Ubuntu fanboys have taken the clear, undisputed lead for the title of Most Annoying Distro Zealots. Please, try to act like a reasonable, sane human being and get them something they'll appreciate, instead of something you want to force on them. Geez.
Isn't the point of giving Christmas presents to give your friends and family something they want, not only something you want them to have?
This sounds akin to giving your wife a table saw (unless e.g. she likes carpentry).
http://outcampaign.org/
Socks or pajamas would be a better gift.
Do you hate your family?
as they either have iPod's (both Mac and Windows users), or use Mac-specific software (iLife), or Windows-specific software (games). The only person whom I personally know that could get away with that is my mother (email-only), but she's got my old CRT-based iMac, and she's perfectly happy with Mail.app.
Those clever folks at Canonical have figured out how to do a combined live + install disk. Only one disk needed.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
While amaroK rocks (it's the first of it's kind that got me to switch from xmms/beep-media-player), I'd highly recommend Exaile. It's very similar and incorporates much of the functionality, but it's designed for Gnome. It fits in much better with the desktop. I've been using it for a few months now and have been very satisfied. They provide many packages for different distributions as well.
If you're using Gnome, give it a try. If you using KDE, stick with amaroK.
"It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
I have messed around with Linux since the old days. We're talking since like '92 or so here. My first install was 15 floppies that I downloaded from the Penn State mainframe on dialup using Kermit for my FTP client, lol. I think it was Debian 0.9 or somesuch. Over the years I have partitioned, re-partitioned, etc. It works but the amount of fiddle-farting around involved is extreme, and the chance that something can go wrong is also non-trivial.
My suggestion to anybody that wants to install Linux these days is to forget about partitioning your drive if it already has Windows installed. Instead just go to Ebay and snag up a cheap HDD! Set that puppy to master, set the windows drive to slave, and install away. A 20-40 GB hard disk is plenty of room for a modest Linux install, especially for somebody that just wants to try it out or install it for the first time.
Then install GRUB and just boot your 2nd windows hdd using the drive remap function to make windows think its on the 1st drive. Its a piece of cake. You could pre-install linux on the 1st drive, and make your GRUB menu.list something like this:
You already know they only have one HDD to begin with, so you know that Windows will be on partition 1 of the 2nd drive after you install the new linux boot master HDD. So you can get a can of compressed air, open their case and blow out the dust bunnies, slap in the new drive, reboot, and bingo! No installation required, everything just works, no risk of messing up their windows stuff, and the cost will be pretty minimal given the current price of a 20GB IDE drive.
If you just want to give out CDs then give them a LiveCD type deal.
Clickety Click
I'll buy you whatever you want for christmas if you can get ubuntu to work on my home system. I'll even pay for the plane ticket to fly you to the Bahamas.
You're too cheap for presents yourself, so you're expecting Mark Shuttleworth to fund your Christmas, eh?
I hate it when people get me shitty Christmas gifts that I'll never use. Sometimes it's a cute stuffed animal, sometimes it's a talking keychain, sometimes it's a house decoration. I mean, it's fun for like, an hour, until I get sick of it. What a waste of money! I much prefer it when my grandma gives me a box full of clothes that fit me, or when my mom gives me enough toilet paper to last until next Christmas. I don't want cutesy shit that I don't need, the best Christmas gift is something that I'll actually use. Which would you rather hear, "Wow! Your Christmas gift saved me so much time and money it's unbelievable! Thanks so much!" or, "Ummm... Yeah... It's still sitting on my living room table. I look at it sometimes." You may think that your friends and family would do great to start using Linux and overthrow the monopoly, but I think that my family would be really smart to start driving smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, but they're in love with their pickups and SUVs and I'm not about to change their minds, so I get them a gift certificate for a full inspection of their truck, brakes, alignment, oil change, all that fun stuff instead. It does a hell of a lot more good. I know you mean well, but use your head. What will they really get use out of?
That's it. The PERFECT GIFT to my girlfriend. In fact, I'll just return this expensive diamond ring and put the install dvd right on her finer before I drop the question!. Oh, slashdot you come up with the best gift ideas! Without great advice like this, Im sure I'd just be a miserable loner with out any women.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=80295
s tallation_Guide
;^)
If you're not an absolute open software zealot, you're going to want to put on restricted stuff, and the best way to do this with Ubuntu is a little shell script (and user maintained repository list) called Automatix. It is especially important because this will get rid of totem-gstreamer and install totem-xine, which will allow them to play all their media.
Beyond that, generating restricted deb packages for ATi cards (fglrx) can be a trial, but here's a link with idiot-proof step by steps:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_In
You're looking to use method 2, but tell your users they can type "m-a" instead of module-ass[TAB].
Best of luck.
--
Toro
It looks to me like the internal contradictions of this "ask slashdot" posting qualify it as a troll.
A real person who installed Ubuntu on their own machine would not mail disks at Ubuntu's expense to friends. A real person with a small amount of experience would realize that the user's investment of time and work and familiarity with the existing computer setup is far more important than the operating system. A real person wouldn't style this kind of intervention as a gift to a friend.
-
Note, the question appears on Saturday night. This seems to be a slow day for technical news. But this is an intense time for United States election news. There should be plenty of electoral stunts (surely a few suprise emails, no?) including exploitation of all the fraud opportunities in computerized voting.
Also toss on flash. In Ubuntu it isn't as easy as clicking on the link in a web page that says "flash is required to view this content; get flash here". It would be nice to install it for them.
The truth shall set you free!
If you don't want to support MS Windows users, than don't. Nobody can force you do it. If you don't have the guts to say no, don't whine about here.
Aw leave the win98se on the machine, it won't hurt anything. Just make sure that GRUB can find it so they
can play the good old games on it like Doom2, RedAlert, WarZone2100, Redneck Rampage, Dune Empire, etc. Even
win2k would be ok except the old 'dos' games would not work right because of sound issues. Anything newer like
XP are a non starter. You need to remove XP and reformat the disk partitions that it had access too. Then you
need to use an issue of linux with the 2.4 kernel, no newer and keep it as your 'security manager' for your system.
I realize this may mean that you have three systems on your machine, but you will now see why.
You see, the developers of linux decided to sell out to the monopolists and microsoft years ago when developing
the 2.6 kernel. They left off the 'shred' program from implementation in 'Konqueror' in KDE 3.1. There was a
debate about leaving off support for shred, but the stooges for microsoft and homeland security won out. So if
you want a really good and secure deletion routine, there is nothing like a good old kernel 2.4 under KDE 3.1
distribution. Shred can completely obliterate XP from all those partitions that XP had access to. Just set
shred to 35 pass 'Gutmann' obliteration and rewriting with random characters and XP and all its front doors
back doors, hidden shares, microsoft corporate viruses, etc., will be GONE. Each distro will re-install GRUB,
so install first windows (win98se rewrites the master boot record). Windows already installed, fine. Then
install kernel 2.4 linux like S.u.S.E. 9.0, then install the new linux. When you install the first linux. Do a
note of all the parameters GRUB uses to boot it before installing the new linux over it. Use the first primary
partition on the first drive for 'windows'. Windows already installed? Its done dat already. Then go on from there
using separate partitions for each linux distro's '/' partition. The distros can use the same 'swap' partition
with no real ill effects thought some may argue otherwise.
No, they don't force me, they just whine and bitch and bug me until I fix their computer. I'm not the one whining here, its the shithead MS lusers who want free tech support for their broken computers. Apparently there are plenty of them on slashdot who don't want to lose their free tech support.
I don't care what people put on their damn computer, just don't bug me about it or cause me a bunch of problems.
"Stop the whining"? You people are the ones who whine all the time. I'm sick of it. Get a real computer and leave me alone.
This is a terrible gift idea. I'm sure your family members are just fine with their current OS, and they're going to hate Ubuntu once you set it up for them. When they buy a digital camera and plug it in, expecting it to work, they will have to call you. When they plug in a printer, they will have to call you. When somebody gives them a CD of some puzzle game they like, it won't work. When they open a word doc, it won't look the same as it did in office. What happened to solitaire? It used to be in the start menu. Why does the interface run so slowly? I bought this landscape designer software, how do I install it on my computer?... I can't? Why not? On my old computer I just put the CD in and it installed. I called the cable company today because my Internet 'went down' and they told me to click on control panel, but I can't find the control panel. Blah Blah Blah. You get the idea, I could go on. Linux is great for some people. But don't force it on others because you think it would be good for them. It probably won't be.
nothing
It's a nice idea, but i'd prefer to give a purchased copy of the SuSE 10.0 DVD instead, more on there!
http://nathanlindsell.blogspot.com/
What about roommates, neighbors, the guy down the street?
I have had shitty roommates who would bug the fuck out of me until I helped them with their computer. Every day, they'd have some stupid problem and if I helped them it would take four hours to do everything they wanted. When I was working the graveyard shift, I had a roommate like this who would wake me up. I was also going to school as well, so I got only a few hours sleep per day. Needless to say, I did very badly in both school and work. So you are saying I should do it anyway? Fuck that.
I have no obligation to them. Would you spend four hours every day for some bastard you didn't even like? It adds up. What if you know two or three of these people? Are you really going to spend 12 hours out of every day helping people with their computers without being paid? Some of us have lives. Some of us have jobs. Some of us have to sleep. Maybe you are a robot funded by some major university, so you don't have to worry about those things.
For the record, I bought my mother a WinXP computer about a month ago. So I don't know why you are going there, but she usually doesn't need much help as she usually only plays card games on it.
Hallowed are the children of the Ori.
"Man is pre-eminently endowed with the power of voluntarily and consciously determining his own point of view." E. Mach
Guess what?
You can't get past the Mount Points screen!
In other words, Ubuntu-Kubuntu NEVER TESTED AN INSTALL FROM LIVE CD WITH CHANGES OF MOUNT POINTS!!
How FUCKING STUPID IS THAT?
I'm telling you, folks, after THREE DAYS now trying to get Mandriva 2007 to not crash (it simply died on its own when I went out for an hour - came back to a black screen, rebooted, no desktop except for the panel! No clue as to what happened anywhere!) , SUSE 10.1 to properly do update (Zenworks updater fails totally - SUSE acknowledges it's borked, users suggest using Smart which "mostly worked" - eventually an "Update all packages" crashed and burned the system) and now trying to install Kubuntu and failing with the unbelievably stupid problem of a screen that you can't go beyond, I am about to reverse my opinion about Linux on the desktop.
Linux "mostly works" on the desktop - IF you can GET IT TO the desktop - which apparently EVERY distro is now making virtually impossible.
Folks, Linux will not be destroyed by the kernel, or Microsoft patents, or corporate desktop inertia, or any of that.
It will be destroyed by the UTTER STUPID INCOMPETENCE of the distro makers and their apparent UTTER INABILITY to TEST, TEST, TEST before releasing their distro!
Everybody here knows I am an avid Linux supporter, but this sort of distro bullshit is just unacceptable. The Linux industry needs to step back, get a grip, and stop releasing new versions every six months WITHOUT ANY GODDAMN TESTING!
It's not the kernel's fault. It's crappy distro design, and utter lack of testing.
Setting up package repositories, for example. This should be UTTERLY AUTOMATED. No going to Web sites, copying and pasting command lines to a terminal, no hunting down mirrors and manually adding URLs (like Smart does), none of that crap.
Every distro should have ONE location (with mirrors) where a comprehensive list of repos and mirrors is present. Every distro should run a cron job at night that goes there, updates the list of repos and mirrors, disabling ones that are done, enabling ones that are up, getting the catalogs of stuff and rebuilding the package database. The ONLY thing the user has to do is browse available software and either install or remove it. No dependency crap, no nothing else. The advanced user can be given the ability to select preferred repos and mirror and the like in "expert" mode.
And every distro needs to make DAMN SURE that an update does NOT break the system, at least not without providing an easy and automated way to uninstall the offending update and restoring the system to functionality.
NO distro has package management right yet.
STOP fucking around with installing "three dimensional windows" and the rest of that eye candy BULLSHIT and GET THE BASICS RIGHT.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!