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Ask Slashdot: Linux For Grandma?
First time accepted submitter BlazeMiskulin writes "With XP approaching end-of-life, I find myself in a situation that I'm guessing is common: What to do with Mom's machine (or 'grandma's machine' for the younger of you). Since a change has to be made, this seems like a good time to move to a Linux distro. My mother (82) uses her computer for e-mail and web-browsing only. I know that any distro will be able to handle her needs. I've been using Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS, and Redhat--usually with KDE interface) for about 10 years now, but I know that my preferences are quite different from hers.
I have my own ideas, but I'm curious what others think: What combination of distro and UI would you recommend for an old, basic-level user who is accustomed to the XP interface and adverse to change?" My Grandmother seems happy running KDE on Debian.
I have my own ideas, but I'm curious what others think: What combination of distro and UI would you recommend for an old, basic-level user who is accustomed to the XP interface and adverse to change?" My Grandmother seems happy running KDE on Debian.
If she does, I would suggest Linux Mint, as it will have a reasonably familiar interface (icons, start menu) and is also an acceptable system. Keep in mind that you will have to keep adjusting it to her tastes, for example, editing menus or creating icons for her. If you are familiar with another systems (say, Unity), you might try that. As you will have to give her support, it's very important that you are familiar
And pray she doesn't want to stay with Windows. My mother learned to use Windows 8 out of spite enough so she doesn't need Linux, but not enough so she can keep her own computer clean (by the way, I need to go back there check how is the new antivirus working, does anybody have good recomendations?).
I setup a Linux station over 10 years back for my mother, who at the time was used to XP. Worry less about the distribution and more about the ease of the steps that it takes to do the tasks she wants to accomplish. I setup up an AWN dock with Firefox, OpenOffice Apps and VLC. In the end it kinda looked like ChromeOS does these days... I handled patching, updates, support via VNC. The amount of support calls dropped signficantly because it just worked. Change usually isn't the problem trying to memorize new series of complicated steps is.
KDE on Debian or any other distro tends to provide the most "XP like" user interface that I've seen. You just need to enable double-click mouse behaviour instead of the default single-click, add a few of their favourite apps to the desktop, and they're good to go.
If you're on an old system, you'll want to disable the file indexing daemons as well, as they can consume a lot of CPU and slow the machine down. If all the main user does is email and web browsing, they're not going to benefit from the indexing.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
..and that is coming from a die-hard Slackware user.
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Seriously. Why even bother updating if what she has works, and that's all she does with it.
Uses Ubuntu. He is retired in his 60s.
I'm recommending a Chromebook to my mother in the same situation of web browsing and web-based email only. I like it for her since it's low cost, difficult to do anything software-wise to mess it up, and as close to zero maintenance as I can find.
Mint is an excellent team and the Debian based distribution is a rolling release distro (so fewer fresh installs for you) Also. LXDE is about as basic and standards compliant as it gets. Start menu, task bar, desktop icons, standard window manager, file manager, and with Network Manager, it's virtually a clone of the Win95/XP design.
I think you'll find that pretty much any solid distro (such as mainstream Fedora, Ubuntu and Debian derivatives) with either XFCE, LXDE or KDE (if you don't mind a lot of bloat) will accommodate most people fairly well, while being relatively easy to learn in a short amount of time. After all, I bet she spends most of her time in Firefox :/
I'm also interested in hearing what others recommend.
-PM
Windows 7 may work or even mac if you can take on the cost of one.
Install Gentoo
One hour and a usb live stick should be all that is required to let Grandma try out KDE, Gnome, XFCE, etc.
Let her pick, she is the one that has to actually use it after all.
Of course, end of life doesn't mean it will disappear in a puff of smoke. However, I do understand the risks associated maintaining an unsupported OS. I second the Linux Mint idea. I run a distro with Xfce desktop on my netbook and it's lightweight and would take grandma 5 minutes to learn where the browser and email applications are.
The reduction of Microsoft support shouldn't have a massive impact on your Mom, unless she has sensitive information stored on her machine or uses it for card purchases then the risk posed by malware is minimal. Like you I've been a user of Linux for around ten years and converted many people to using Linux. Sometimes this is not appropriate though and this is one of those cases.
If all she is doing is basic email and web browsing, why not use chrome os.
And yes, it is Linux
She doesn't want Red Hat. She doesn't want Ubuntu. She doesn't want Mint (well, maybe she does, but not the distro). She doesn't want Linux.
She doesn't want any form of Mac OS either.
What she wants is for you to stop yelling at her to replace her computer. XP's end of life just means she won't be getting those updates that reset her machine overnight. Your assertion that "a change has to be made" is completely false. Now, stop whining, try one of the cookies she just baked (they're delicious), and try not ruin this visit like last time.
I'm a huge fan of Linux Mint. They release fairly regularly and have several "sub-flavors" as well. I'd try something like Maya(13). That's their Long-term support version. If you're concerned that she'll have issues, download it & run it as a LiveCD ( the default ). If she likes it, it is set up for easy installation right through the booted liveCD. It's very easy to use & my almost 10 year old laptop has no problems with it. It actually was a faster/easier install than any Windows version & updates are (mostly) seamless. http://www.linuxmint.com/relea...
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
Running a recent version of Linux Mint with the MATE desktop
http://linuxmint.com/
Create a big 4GB casper file on the USB stick.
Have it mount the existing hard disk and create shortcuts so they can get to their photos and stuff.
Maybe put on http://www.playonlinux.com/en/ to help get some of the old Windows software working under Wine
Bring a new stick with you over the holidays with upgrades.
They may or may not use it (they can just remove the USB stick and reboot to go back to their old getup), but at least you feel good that you've done "your part" without spending more than a few hours downloading and twiddling while you're there, and they don't go running off to all their friends complaining about how you came and now their computer is all different.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/... I've moved my mother from WinXP to a Chromebook three months back, and because she was already using Chrome beforehand, she took to it while hardly noticing it was different. I haven't needed to help her once to do what she normally does (email and web).
Just go with KDE. Of the big desktops, it runs the fastest and has best quality assurance. Also the UI resembles XP, which was one of your requirements.
So Debian with KDE or the Fedora KDE spin.
If she needs Flash, Google Chrome is pretty much the only option. If not, then Firefox is fine too.
If you have extra money, I would just go with a new Chromebook or a tablet.
I had a different situation with my aunt, 71, and her amazing ability to corrupt an OS in less than 2 months. Ultimately, what I did in her situation was to run a live CD distro of Ubuntu and that finally solved her situation. No disk writes, no problem.
My thought for your Mom is maybe try slowly introducing her to Linux via a live CD, and let her slowly get used to it. This will give her time to learn while still not having to immediately have a daunting learning curve ahead of her. Have her try using it an hour or 2 a day and this can give her the experience she needs to not be intimidated by something new, and if it becomes too much. She can stop, pop the CD and reboot into XP and get what she needs to get done in the short term.
This distro seems to be able to mimic a number of OS layouts to ease transition: http://zorin-os.com/
Support is support then. If you have to do a lot of hand holding for them anyways, then you might as well do it with whatever YOU the support person is most comfortable with.
Unix has the advantage that it can be remotely supported through a 2400 baud dial-up connection.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
My mother (who is a grandmother to my kids) runs Debian Wheezy with the XFCE desktop environment. The machine is fairly locked down and I've made quick-launchers for the apps she uses 99% of the time: Email, web-browsing, word-processing, music player and video player.
She's happy and I can administer the machine remotely, so I'm happy.
I bet that soon grandma will start hackin' like a nutcase, posting patches on lkml and eventually switch to HURD :-D
Buy her an android tablet
ChromeOS is perfect for Grandma.
Zoid.com
NEXT WEEK my Mom's moving 2000 miles closer to my sister and me, and she's wondering about her PC. I almost have her convinced to try a DVD-based distro before changing her hardware or upgrading from WindowsXP.
The best pre-transition moves are to:
1) Start using tools available on both platforms. For my Mom, that's Firefox and LibreOffice.
2) Identify Windows apps she can't do without. Search for Open equivalents, and also test the program to see if it will run under Wine/PlayOnLinux.
3) No matter what distro is selected, plan on a year or so of dual-booting, to be sure nothing important is missed.
Once the apps are handled, the distro itself won't matter much. I'll probably push her toward something in the Ubuntu family, because I'll be her IT department, and Ubuntu is easy for me to manage.
http://xkcd.com/934/
My 70 year old parents have been running Mint for four years, largely without incident. It's on a dual core Atom / 2G / 80G. I kinda want to trash that box, but the damn thing refuses to break badly enough.
Note that just about any (grand)parental use case outside of browsing fries this implementation. The sole "major" issue we've had is when Dad tried to get Picasa going on Wine. I'm sure it's possible, but it was far simpler for him to install it on his Windows laptop.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
I suggest Linux Mint 13 Mate. easy to adapt to coming from XP, and being a Long Term Support version nearly maintenance free. my wife is a parallel, she adapted within a couple days.
All they're doing is surfing and using webmail. They understand firefox. The OS is almost irrelevant.
It's linux-based, locked down, with simple interfaces for web browsing, email, contacts lists, calendar, etc., all integrated. Designed for older users.
System updates are handled automatically, and included for the life of the product (or the company, I suppose), and basic technical support is free, so she doesn't have to call you. More detailed support (which includes how-to on using the system, problems with accounts at various websites, internet connectivity issues, and so on) is also available as a non-free extra.
(it's not a distro, it's an all-in-one desktop system that comes with the software installed.)
Just upgrade to Windows 8.1 and be done with it.
I would generally agree, as these force-Linux-to-relatives plans are always a bit cringeworthy. But in this case I have heard reports of the Windows 8.x GUI causing problems to ordinary folks too, so I would look into other platforms as well.
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If all she really needs is email and a browser, look for the simplest, cleanest UI you can find that provides that very basic functionality. Then configure the UI to looks like what she is used to - Windows XP.
Don't over complicate the transition with things you might think are cool, just keep it complicated enough to meet her needs, no more.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."
--Albert Einstein
My grandmother's on a laptop with Slackware + KDE. No issues since I gave it to her, told her click firefox for internet, and showed her where KDE games are located.
(My mother, on the other hand, is quite happy with Windows 7. My step father stays somewhat current on technology, and handles most of her troubles).
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
My mother (who is a grandmother!) has been using Kubuntu for years now. No complains from her.
If I were to reinstall the OS today, I would consider Mint.
Goodbye Slashdot. You've changed.
Of all the distributions I've seen, Elementary seems to be the best in terms of UI. They've got a sensible set of human interface guidelines that are very easy to find and pretty much everything on there by default seems to work exactly how you would expect it to. I'm a big fan and am looking forward to their next release.
Should be a piece of cake. My mother was using Linux for a while on one of those little Dell netbooks they used to sell, and she didn't even know. Just gotta set up Firefox and Thunderbird and you should be good to go. Maybe Libreoffice too.
The old Dell netbooks had a somewhat interesting interface, which was quite easy to use (particularly for such a small screen) -- but if you're not buying a new machine I'd suggest Mandriva or OpenSUSE. Definitely want KDE -- once you start up, just set it to use the classic launcher, and she should feel right at home!
Emails laden with powerpoint? For a granny?
Are you kidding?
If anything, that's the best argument right there to dump Windows in general.
Run something else. ANYTHING else. Just run. Run quickly.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I would have done this for my mom, but she absolutely had to have slumlord software (she used Quicken Rental Property Manager). It was so kludgey even on WIndows, so I wasn't going to try it on Wine.
That presumes that Grandma's computer can even run Windows 8.1, which may not be the case if her computer is too old.
My Mother (now in her late 80's) has been using Linux and KDE since I gave her a computer back in the 90's. I had it dual boot for a while but finally gave that up when I spent far to much time fighting windows. By then she was comfortable with Linux and only needed one windows program that I was able to run under Wine.
Other family members have accounts on the same machine so they have net access when visiting ( less of an issue now with tablets and laptops) and I handle the admin details. I'll be visiting her this weekend and will probably spend less than an hour updating and checking logs. My last visit to do this was Christmas.
It's a no-brainer.
There are certain things in the kernel itself for Linux that my customers have found drastically confusing and I've found difficult to explain. So really I don't think Linux (or computers) are great for old people. Single purpose devices seemed more popular for a bit years ago like e-mail only devices but I don't know what happened to that big market.
Really? 5 years ago I left a live image CD in my wife's laptop accidentally. 4 days later, she complained that she "couldn't find the e, and please stop messing with my laptop". That was 5 years ago with a kindergarten teacher who hates computers and gets mad when they change the yahoo front page and "hide" things.
It boots from everywhere so why install, it has office options (I prefer Open 3.4.1 but everybody has it's tastes, so You avoid also thath other office 2003 unplug by M$) save on a pendrive flash hdd run from ram it's light and fast I only miss a good cad (trying Dassaults Draftsight) and MathCad (trying something now ) and its all U need and mama does'nt care about passwords or users eitherway she did'nt use Xp sigle user autologin.
Just windows7 will give the same problem in a few years and windows 8 8.1 is wrong by design 4 a PC not to say 4 a Phone (they killed Nokia) and 4 a tablet, there are so many good one around why choose the last bad and underdeveloped with the worst interface, at that point u can choose ~buntu it's bad the same
Hey the too successful software reminds me of FORD make it break so the customer will switch microsoft wrote me today (8 Xp machines to turn to 8 8.1 I'd rather install OS/2 )
Crunchbang Linux!
To be honest at her age there probably isn't much point, it will be much less effort (for both of you) to periodically update an image of windows which is re-written weekly.
You could store her emails (if not webmail) on a separate partition, and favorites (if she uses them) using one of the many favorites syncing browser add-ons.
He's not kidding. My father (88) and his friends dote on powerpoint files with pretty, scenic pictures and cheesy music. They send them by email all the time.
My mother is 75 and she has been using ubuntu for about 8 years. She wrote a book with all the instructions I gave her to send/receive emails, write docs, surf the web, print, scan. She NEVER used a computer before starting with ubuntu, so I had no transition problem to address, but on the other side I had to teach her EVERYTHING from scratch.
My mother who is 83 has been running Kubuntu turn since the Vista days. She has learned to trouble shoot her printer problems. Even grannies can learn linux.
Please, give her an iPad.
Less problems for you, less problems for Grandma.
Zero maintenance, easy to use.
This is no contest.
Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
No one is targeting that anymore!
Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
Kull: She told me she was 19!
I've been running Linux on my home computers for about 8 years, starting with Ubuntu and switching to Linux Mint + Cinnamon to get away from Unity and Gnome3. I've had some issues with hardward peripheral support (less lately), software availability (less lately with everything moving to the cloud), and Office documents getting mangled formatting as they went through Open/LibreOffice and back, but as long as your Grandma doesn't do anything of these things and just uses the browser for surfing the web and email she should be fine. Linux Mint also comes with a lot of multimedia support built in - I was able to add the same stuff in Ubuntu, but it was more convenient to have it from the start in Linux Mint, so you're less likely to have to come back and figure out why some song or video won't play.
Indeed, Metro is both horrendous and confusing. You can save Windows 8.x with ClassicShell or equivalents, which put a real Start Menu back, though.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
Maybe not the answer you're looking for, but let your (grand)mother try an iPad. My mother (who is also a grandmother) loves it, and keeps telling me so.
Perl Programmer for hire
I don't want to hijack the discussion, but I noticed nobody mentioned anything about watching video streams on Linux. My mom, 85 years old and not an anglophone, uses her computer to read newspapers and watch online broadcasting TV channels from the homeland, here in the United States. Her laptop has win 7 on it but due to being 4 years old and only having a Intel core-2 duo processor, the effects of aging started to manifest themselves with a lot of freezing while she is on firefox, watching a tv show (in some sort of shockwave plug-in) and I noticed with the lot of updates pushed by micro$oft, the boot times are getting lengthy or feels liket hat to me. I want to be proactive and nip it in the bud before it blooms into a full fledged problem. I am also considering Linux but due to her extensive use of streaming videos, I can not decide which distro to go with, if any.
Suggestions ? I'm all ears...
__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals
My mother does receive quite a few PowerPoint-laden emails. So far, Libreoffice has opened them all perfectly. My mother doesn't even know what "PowerPoint" is; she just knows that she gets cute slideshows when she clicks on the attachment.
Spoken like a true Windows-cluebag.
1) If you give them regular user privileges on Linux, they can't trash the OS.
2) The next version of windows is going back to the 'traditional look and feel' so forcing them to adapt is retarded.
3) We know that's you Steve Ballmer, go back to your forced retirement.
The sure as fuck can and will trash the OS. Whether they're just trashing their user profile doesn't matter. It'll require you to fix it for them.
No it isn't, and whoever told you that is an idiot.
I wish I was Ballmer, and so do you. He's got money out the ass.
My mother will be 80 this year. She's been on Kubuntu 12.04, loaded on a retired laptop, for the last two years and does just fine. Of course, everything she cares about can be done with a web browser. The occasional Word or Excel document can be done with OpenOffice. ( Hey, Ma? Is that Open or Libre? I don't recall at the moment ). She has poked around some other stuff, like playing mp3 of her favorite music. She hooks up her camera and pulls her latest pictures over. The machine is all she needs or wants and its free. She still remembers her Windows stuff and helps the other seniors with their computer based needs.
8.1 allows you to boot straight to the desktop.
A tech-illiterate user will see the desktop and the usual icons for browser, windows explorer, etc.
8.1 also has a visual start button so people will know where to click to turn the thing off.
The only real difference is the start menu. Coming from Vista/7, you do the same shit. Hit start, then type.
Coming from XP it's a bigger change, but it's a huge improvement and well worth the 2 minutes to learn how to use it. If your particular granny thinks otherwise, there are plenty of 3rd party solutions to restore a "classic" start menu.
I've switched my Grandma to Mint a few years back.
The best part is perhaps the lack of malware attacking the OS, it will save you considerable support time ripping viruses off the machine.
Don't forget a way to get into her computer and help out, I find teamviewer works well if you are willing to accept non-free (as in FOSS) software.
Libre Office will handle most attachments friends may send in Word format.
People think they need Windows, but many casual users simply live in the browser and edit a Word file on occasion.
She seems happy enough, her Firefox works the same and Thunderbird works ok for her.
I'm a bit of a Luddite myself - very attached to the XP-style interface, and not inclined to upgrade to the latest and greatest unless I have a reason. And I've been using Lubuntu for years now and am very happy with it. All of the things that spoil Ubuntu users, but with an interface that suits us crotchety old folks. Plus, it's designed to run fast and light on older hardware. Now get off my lawn.
Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 NLT
My grandma wanted a simple computer to check her email and Google. I loaned her my Ubuntu netbook to try out. She loved it.
Unfortunately, the rest of my family decided they knew better and got her a giant, heavy Windows laptop which has proceeded to sit on her desk, collecting dust, ever since. Sigh.
Ok, tell me this - is WinXP suddenly going to die? I don't think so.
Simply slide an inexpensive boot-from-cd or flashdrive SoC computer between the WinXP machine & the DSL or cable modem, run a linux-based firewall & clamav on it, & keep on running the XP computer 'til the hardware dies. How difficult is that?
Not popular hear I know, but my mom has an iPad. Best decision I ever made.
That presumes that Grandma's computer can even run Windows 8.1, which may not be the case if her computer is too old.
If the computer is so old that it can't run 8, then it's time for a hardware upgrade anyway just to use the modern web.
Windows 8.1 System Requirements:
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)
- RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
- Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
7 has the same requirements (and 8 runs better than 7 on the same hardware).
Vista has only slightly lower requirements.
Of course, this is a completely separate issue from an OS upgrade.
My mother who is 83 has been running Kubuntu turn since the Vista days. She has learned to trouble shoot her printer problems. Even grannies can learn linux.
Pics of your mom hitting up man pages and googling her own solutions and fixing her own printer or it didn't fucking happen.
Wednesday I got a visit from my neighbor asking for help with his computer. My heart sank. I had set him up with Mint 15 on his laptop and he was happily using it for the past 6 months. "What's wrong?" I asked. He said "something about "user profile service"". Oh, he means his desktop (Vista) so I fix it by doing a system restore. I asked about the laptop. "Its working fine, no complaints."
For this man to have no complaints, you have to understand what a dramatic experience computers are for him. He was a truck driver for the county. Never worked a day of his life at a computer, but his wife was a secretary. (She has passed on). So he tries to do stuff.. but any little thing that changes is a big deal. MSN shut down MSN messenger service and replaced it with Skype. That generated two visits from him - one the "little man" disappeared. And the new Skype icon that they installed for him. He even added his own MyFi to it.
And that is why I recommend Linux. It's never generated a support call to me from him.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
I do hate when yahoo "hides" things? Have you recently tried to download an attachment in the webmail?
I've installed Linux on computers for various non-computer oriented relatives. None were my grandma but for the sake of this discussion they may as well have been. My annecdotal experience is this:
If they were previously using Windows it will not work. It's not a matter of Windows being more user friendly than Linux. It's just amazing the level of detail with which a non-computer person will memorize the interface they are used to. You can try some desktop manager that attempts to clone the Windows look. Even if you don't see the difference yourself your relative will. Non-computer people learn to use a computer differently. Where we learn a generalized concept of what the various parts of a user interface are and quickly recognize variations on the same theme they only memorize exact instructions. Click on this. It looks like that. Now click there. It's a horribly painful process and once they have learned it once they DO NOT want to do it again!
Otherwise they will be happy with Linux at least for a while. So long as their friends aren't using computers. If their friends are using computers then eventually one will show them some shiny thing (usually a silly game) which is Windows only. Then your relative HAS to have it. It doesn't even matter if there are a dozen equivalents that are only an "apt-get install" away. They want what their friend has and they want it now! Despite what one might think desire to conform to the herd is no less strong in the elderly than it is in a high school teenager. This is actually the one exception to that first rule, that they don't want learn how to do things over again. They will do so to learn Windows so they can run that stupid little app that their friend has. Then they will distrust you and always take the exact opposite of your advice for leading them down a different path in the first place.
For my relative where I experienced this it was silly time wasting Flash games. That was back when there was no up to date version of Flash for Linux. We even tried Crossover but it didn't work for everything. Thankfully now there is an up to date Flash for Linux. Even better Flash is dying. DIE DIE DIE Flash! As applications move from the desktop to the browser the opportunities to hit this problem are getting smaller. Maybe there is hope!
But for now... if they don't have friends (on computers). And they haven't already been exposed to Windows... then just about any easy to use desktop environment that "gets the job done" will do just fine!
If you haven't guessed, each of these scenarios represents one relative that I have attempted to put on Linux. So far I am 1 for 3. Better luck to you!
Then use KDE on Debian.You can overthink the solution if you will take time to puzzle it through.If she is happy,then use that.No need to get too fancy with the distro.
The Geek Hillbilly
Both my dad and my sister are running Xubuntu without issues. My sister is ok with basic tasks on a computer but far from a technophile and my dad knows almost nothing. His only use is really for fantasy football websites.
Neither really plays games - both just do web browsing and not much else. Honestly as long as there's a Chrome icon on the desktop many people wouldn't know they were using anything different.
Keeping that on their systems keeps me from the headache of supporting Windows and all the associated spyware.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
My grandmother is 90. She went from using nothing to using an iPad. She mainly plays solitaire, but also uses it to browse the web, read email and even Skype video calls with the multitude of grandkids and great grandkids (even 1 great-great grandson.) It didn't take much to get her comfortable with it. It is lightweight and a good lap pad will ease the weight even more. She even takes it to her many many doctor appointments to have something to do/read while waiting...
Sorry but what? Grandparents like me are the ones who built Linux. Why would we not know how to use it? You silly dumb kids.
You're probably thinking of great parents at this point and in fact my parents have no issues using Linux.
Email attachments are the bane of a smooth user experience for grandma.
She probably has a web mail account, and uses a browser to access it. She's going to receive all kinds of weird attachments from friends, and she will want them all to just work. There are Power Point slideshows, Word documents, spreadsheet files, movies, embedded images, links to images on mailing lists, flash animations, PDFs, MIDIs, and more. Any of these can be in several layers of forwarded messages, or stuffed into an .eml file. They can be messed up by a friend's email setup that does crap like "soft" line breaks-- breaking lines and indicating this by adding an '=' symbol to the ends of the breaks.
To get as much of that to work as possible, need lots of software. Libre Office to handle the Power Point, doc, and spreadsheet files. But that's not enough, need codecs so Libre Office can play whatever video or audio is embedded in the Power Point. Got to have Thunderbird for the .eml files (which still often do not open properly), and a PDF viewer.
Finally, a weak point of Firefox, and I think all browsers, is association. Firefox is quite poor at remembering which program to use to handle a particular file type. Often the user is forced to browse around in the file system. Grandma is not going to like having to slog through /usr/bin to find a suitable program, if she even gets that far.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
My matching relatives are happy with Ubuntu's default. Their tiny app bar holds about 5 custom apps on their screen size, and that's enough for those simple uses. It also has a nice upgrade GUI they've managed themselves through a number of updates. I tried Qt & they used it but didn't like it: too complex.
I know other non-tech people who worked with xfce, though it's similar memory-wise to Ubuntu default, so if your graphics card can render the UI without the 2d fallback, you're ahead with the default.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install win-xp-theme tell her it's the new upgrade for XP..worked for me :)
Please just admit that you have no understanding of the subject. I asure you that it is painfully obvious to those of us that do know what they are talking about how truly clueless you actually are.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
You have seen many recommendations already and I don't know much about your Grandma other than she likes KDE on debian. Personally I am not a fan of KDE because i find it has more issues than other window managers and there are some other quirks I don't like. I won't go into the details as it's mostly preference than anything else. If you are set on KDE because that's what granny is familiar with there are only two distro's I have seen that I like. For someone that wants something similar to windows with a smaller learning curve I can only recommend PClinixOS. I did'nt use to like them but recently it has become more stable and is starting to impress me. It is based on mandrivia so you cannot use debian or ubunto repositories unfortunatley. It also has a rolling release cycle so you dont have to reinstall everytime there is a new version. Personally I use linux mint with the cinnamon interface. It is based off of the new version of gnome but has a more standard interface which would be relatively easy for a windows user to get a hang of. Both distros have some unique features I have not seen in many other places. Before deciding which distro to install for you Granny I recommend you try each distro that has been recommended so you can get a feel for which one she will like.
Seriously, ask her. Show her a couple of options that you're willing to support, point out the differences from her old desktop, and let her choose.
I recommend something with an OSX dock-style launcher, perhaps Unity (with appropriate privacy tweaks) or Avant Window Navigator. I got a 70-year-old to switch from Windows to Ubuntu/Unity in under an hour, with very few follow-up questions.
It might also be helpful to give her a linux distribution that you use regularly, so any support you have to do in the future will be in a familiar environment.
He has a penchant for 'Nature Websites' and every time I turned around it was another request to fix their broken PC (Read:Remove all the malware and associated virus). Windows AV doesn't seem to catch malware at all, at least not whatever he was finding. After the umpteenth trip over there I asked if he would be interested in a different OS that wouldn't get messed up so easily. I installed Linux on their machine, and that was the last service call for about 4 years until the PC hardware died.
After the PC died I helped them pick out a new machine to purchase. I stopped by several weeks later to see how they were getting along with the new Windows PC to find out it was still in the box. Why is it still in the box ? Because they were waiting for me to come install Linux on it, they were not willing to give Windows a second chance even though it was a new version on a new PC.
Installed Linux on their New PC, and it's been another couple years with no support calls or issues.
I was surprised with how easy that conversion went for them, and the lack of calls from them for assistance after they were shown where the browser and mail client were.
I have moved a few relatives to Linux. I moved my own senior citizen parents to Linux during the Win2K-to-WinXP period and never looked back. They loved the multiple desktops, and wondered why the more-expensive Windows OS lacked such a great feature. The only problems I have ever had with seniors on Linux are:
1. YouTube videos with blue people (when Adobe launched their final, flawed Linux Flash Player - the one that makes people blue on Nvidia cards (easily fixed)
2. Horrendously bad Linux printer support. Linux drivers for many modern printers are not available or suck and there's just no easy explanation for why a local printer must be dealt with in a retarded scheme like CUPS. (once you get it working though, it's as low-maintenance as all other Linux stuff)
3. KDE added a stupid bouncy icon for your mouse pointer while an app is launching (that keeps bouncing long after the app is running) and I have a parent with a vision issue that caused this the be a VERY unpleasant thing (wish Linux devs would work on actual bugs and critical stuff like better printer support before adding shiny baubles like bouncing icons). This was such an issue I had to switch the user to Gnome (which I personally detest). Note to devs: Don't pollute a good UI with crap like this (when you have no idea of what user accessibilty problems you might cause) without an easy and obvious disable option - I've been drivig linux since the early slackware days and I did not have the time to waste hunting for an enable/disable for this one which I admit might be there. Best option: Make new "features" like this stupid one disabled-by-default. The moral of THIS tale is: when setting-up Linux for older users, be prepared for the occasional surprise about what seemingly innocuous thing (I'd personally never even paid attention to the fact that the mouce pointer was bouncing) could become a major pain....
In conclusion: GO FOR IT! No matter what issues you encounter, they'll likely be better than the issues you'll face with Windows.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Puppy Linux. First, get her using Firefox and Thunderbird on her XP machine, and use a nice family picture as the wallpaper. Then have her run Puppy Linux off a live CD, with the same wallpaper, and as long as she is doing web stuff and email, she will hardly notice the difference. I'm assuming it's an older machine but I have a 10 year old laptop that is running Puppy quite well. If she does have a problem, she ejects the CD and does her stuff in Windows. But pretty soon, she won't need that crutch, and you can get rid of the windows partition and always run from the live cd (or make it bootable from the hard drive).
I don't know why the focus is on Linux.
I got a Microsoft Surface (rt) for my Mom and she loves the thing. It gets a lot of negative press for not being a "real" windows but it fits her needs well (web, email, Netflix, solitaire), has a touch screen and keyboard. It's relatively inexpensive and moreover, Microsoft offers two years of training for $99 (one lesson per week). You can't beat that price if your grandma is interested in learning more about her computer (assuming she's somewhat close to a Microsoft Store).
But I install Ubuntu LTS for people migrating from Windows. For low end machines, (think Athlon XP area), MATE does a good job. For more recent hardware, I just keep Unity and move the close buttons to the right side.
Why do you hate your grandmother so much?
And they could use Thunderbird or Seamonkey on any UNIX-like platform they please
Surprised that nobody mentioned PC-BSD - that's the FreeBSD for PCs that one could use.
My mother is 81, started using a computer about 15 years ago, first Windows 98, then 2000, XP and now 7. From 98 to XP I always used the same (classic) interface. When moving to 7 I tried to make it as "classic" as possible, but MS messed this up. I don't understand that they have absolutely no clue about older people having troubles moving to new interfaces. Was it so much trouble to keep the classic interface?
I installed Mozilla/Firefox and Eudora from the beginning, removed IE from the desktop. She still uses Eudora (which does not install in 7 if I remember correctly, but you can just copy the install folder from XP and that's all). I tried to install Thunderbird once, but she didn't like the buttons. That was years ago. Now Eudora starts to show signs of age as well, and I'm in doubt what to do. I don't like Thunderbirds layout.
I moved her from Office 2003 to OpenOffice and then LibreOffice without much trouble. I helped her get a new mobile phone recently, and I hate the fact that this phone will probably not be available anymore in three or five years, and then she'll have to get used to a different phone. So I'm going to buy a second one, just in case. Same with de house phone. How difficult can that be? Well it can! So another set that has to be doubled.
When this computer is finished and Windows 7 is done, and there is nothing left but a Windows 8 interface, I'm afraid I have to move her to Linux as well. Then I hope to find an LTS version that stays up to date for five or seven years, with a classic gnome interface or maybe something like mint. My goal is to keep changes as minimal as possible, but in the current world, this is a difficult task.
All my ex-Windows family members have been happy with Mageia4. Grandma has the most locked-down instance: an LXDE desktop with a pared-down menu and locked-down configuration. Her "favorite" win32/win16 apps are handled by Codeweaver's Crossover. Never had a problem or complaint from her.
My wife, OTOH, loves to tinker and will not stop. She get Windows7 in a virtual machine with her data saved to the underlying Linux OS, so "fixing"her computer is as easy as killing the broken VM and launching a clone.
The sibs and kids seem to be happy with Mageia4/KDE4 except one who is Apple-only.
Since they are all on the same distro, I maintain a local repo of customized configs and apps, so re-installing/new computer is easy if it becomes necessary.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Choose the most stable OS you are willing to support. "Stable" as of "Debian stable". I.e. you want an OS that will work even if you are away for a couple of months and will not need a day to update when you return.
For me that would be either:
a. Debian Stable (slightly harder to configure, extremely stable package base, but you won't get the latest versions of popular software)
b. Ubuntu LTS (easier to configure, more up to date packages, but needs to install updates more frequently than Debian stable)
Don't go with a non-LTS Ubuntu. It gets tons of updates and you have to do a dist-upgrade with each new version. It is also infamous for breaking the UI experience with each new version. You don't want a training session with your mom/grandma every time.
For Mint, I'm not sure if they have something similar to LTS. If they don't and you don't like Ubunut just pick Debian.
I'm not trying to be insulting by asking that, but a lot of old people are racist so they're Republicans. Their kind is also against learning new things. That means that if she is one of those Republicans, she'll never be able to use Linux. That's why you always see Republicans using that Microsoft garbage. Their kind just can't learn.
My Mom (who is also a grandma) has been using Linux for years on a laptop I set up for her.
She is running Ubuntu 12.04. I switched the desktop to Gnome Classic so it would be more like what she was used to (I believe she was on 8.04 when I first set up the laptop for her)
Her main programs are firefox for Gmail, ScummVM for Monkey Island games, and Lbreakout2.
She also has made various forrays into photo-related or drawing-related programs, but never felt comfortable with any of them.
When this laptop wears out, maybe I will get her one with a touch-screen and see how she likes MyPaint :)
Pics of your mom hitting up man pages and googling her own solutions and fixing her own printer or it didn't fucking happen.
My my, aren't we feeling douchey today. Do us all a favor and find a happy hour somewhere. Don't come back until you've told at least three strangers you love them.
the subject says it all pick your favorite distro and LookXP to it.
It even runs Windows binaries.... and looks like Windows (kinda).
For one, she will NOT want to install all the constant flow of updates, while CentOS (like upstream, as we say), is *stable*, and she doesn't need the GoshAWoWeeK3wl eyecandy crap so popular with teenagers.
Besides, you've been using CentOS for years. Who do you think is going to get called for tech support... and wouldn't you rather work on something you're *very* familiar with?
mark "read a zillion horror stories of folks doing tech support for their folks over the phone, esp, WinDoze tech support....:"
My mother or my kids Grandma (74) is a retired IBM programmer. She never asks for computer help.
I have installed it more than 2 years ago in her laptop, she never used a computer in her life and now she uses most of the common social networks with chrome browser, Office suite, type training software and some others that are already available in software center with no issues.
LXLE is perfect for old computer! http://lxle.net/
There's still a major issue. They need close (X) buttons on metro apps. Dragging the bloody thing down to close is not intuitive nor convenient.
The same reason nobody mentioned ReactOS, he asked for Linux solutions.
XP will keep running. End-of-life only means end of gratuitous and automatic updates. It does not mean that XP will suddenly stop working.
Why should he admit that? You never do.
The best distro for old computer is LXLE!
"LXLE is an easy-to-use lightweight desktop Linux distribution based on Lubuntu and featuring the LXDE desktop environment. Compared to its parent, LXLE has a number of unique characteristics: it is built from Ubuntu's LTS (long-term support) releases, it covers most users' everyday needs by providing a good selection of default applications, and it adds useful modifications and tweaks to improve performance and functions."
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lxle
I'm the defacto tech support for my church/neighborhood. I've installed Ubuntu on quite a few of these users, especially ones whose older machine was running XP, and they did not have the recovery disks to restore from, and the machine was crufted with malware such that it would take more time than it was worth to clean the system. In the first case, I gave them a 3-way ultimatum, spend $75/hr for at least 3-4 hours for me to clean the system, OR I would backup their docs, nuke XP from orbit, install Ubuntu, and life goes on OR they buy a new system with Win7/8 on it.. After seeing a LiveCD demo of Ubuntu, and my explaining to them that they would not be plagued with the endless malware and its slow down of the machine on Linux, they smartly opted for the "nuke/pave" option. Since then, word of mouth has spread and I've done quite a few more systems in the neighborhood. Quite a few of these were essentially unneeded upgrades, in that the user was not seeing any real slowness on the system due to malware, they just wanted their machine to perform better than it was under XP. These original "upgrades" were done using Ubuntu 10.04LTS as they were done in the 2010-2011 timeframe. Since the turd that is Unity/Ubuntu 12.04 (and above) I've switched to Debian Mint for these upgrades, as the "focus group" I tried on Ubuntu 12.04LTS with Unity were unanamous with their scorn for Unity. What with XP patches/"support" coming to stop in April, I figure with a little local advertisement on the imminent un-support for XP, I'll get a nice uptick in business doing these upgrades.. Mayhaps even enough work to hire some help...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Unix has the advantage that it can be remotely supported through a 2400 baud dial-up connection.
Who uses a land-line much less a dial-up modem these days at home? I doubt many computers can support a dial-up modem card.
My mother who is 83 has been running Kubuntu turn since the Vista days. She has learned to trouble shoot her printer problems. Even grannies can learn linux.
Pics of your mom hitting up man pages and googling her own solutions and fixing her own printer or it didn't fucking happen.
His mother writes man pages you insensitive clod.
Why change her? Teach her to run xp vm. Have her machine running xp, set up as a virtual machine named internet or mail, that is set to boot into the program she uses. Or if you are lucky and she uses yahoo/gmail/thunderbird set her up in Mint, dressed to look like XP.
Even if XP support is coming to an end, it doesn't means that the OS will suddenly stop working.
Just leave it that way until the PC stops working, if it works, don't fix it. Don't pull a Google on her.
500 squid and my mother loves it. Its pretty and it works, everything just plugs and plays. It took me only half a day to set it all up, and I have never used a OSX in my life, printers etc all good. I'll be moving my dad across next, so that they are both working in the same environment. I use Mint xfce and love it, but after looking into what my parents do, like sending and receiving word docs, then I had to leave the linux dream behind. I don't regret it because now when they call its only to talk to me about life and fishing, not the network!
I figure its a similar deal with the IPads, my mum feels like she is up to date with the world, and I know that apple will stop here from doing anything too wild.
Windows 8 became quite tolerable once I installed a nice start menu hack that gave me a Windows 7 style start menu and allowed me to boot directly to the desktop and disable that fucking metro piece of shit.
...is like asking my toaster to learn to make coffee.
Father of 80 or so very happy....
I've used Debian, Ubuntu, and Xubuntu in the past for this purpose. However, the constant updates in the Ubuntu repositories, even on a "stable" version like 12.04 LTS are just a killer. Several packages are updated and pushed every day. Often, these updates break core functionality or introduce bugs; so I've turned off the automatic updates in favor of upgrading to the new release every 6 months. Except, even with an i5 and a SSD, the upgrade process takes hours. Simply wiping sda1 and reinstalling from the ISO is often faster.
For the next upgrade, I'm considering the new ASUS chromebox. If the included chrome OS isn't up to the task, I can always blow it away and install a normal Linux distro on it.
My grandma runs twm, so fuck you all.
KDE is ok but not the best unless the user is a power user who likes a more custom desktop. Better XP alternatives are mint with cinnamon or xfce. Both seem a bit snappier and less laden with configuration options. If mum is running XP with the default Fisher price theme and the clouds-and-rolling-green-fields wallpaper the featuritis of KDE is wasted on her.
That said a bit of change is not always bad. If mum uses web for everything then chromebook is pretty classic looking and very simple to use and maintain assuming you are getting new hardware and want affordability. OTOH it could be useful to depart from the possibly stale XP era desktop style if mum is not too set in her ways. In my personal experience GNOME 3 has gone over fairly well. If us FOSS hackers hate it that often means it is something casual users will like;-) . With GNOME 3 you get something that reduces down to a simple launcher. In just a few minutes you can put mum's apps in the favourites dock, do a couple minor tweaks then show mum how to launch her app. Virtually everything us /. types b!tch about w.r.t. GNOME like hidden or missing config options or problems with multi desktop on multi monitor are stuff mum has no clue about and will never care to learn about. So GNOME is the choice I made and now they think all forms of MSFT windows suck.
Depending on the CPU and RAM configuration for the PC in question (if you are not getting a new one), then either Xubuntu or Kubuntu, with Firefox, Chromium, and LibreOffice. Works like a charm ...
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
My wife and I are grandparents, although a few years short of the 82 mark. I'm hesitant to recommend any flavor of Windows to anyone who just wants email, a web browser, and maybe a spreadsheet or word processing capability. I've had fair luck getting older XP users to transition to Zorin, which I believe may be intended for that purpose. Mint Linux, which I use, would come in a close second. But some Windows users just must have Windows, possibly because they think they're familiar with it. Being forced to use Windows 7 or 8 may change a lot of that.
Yep, that sounds familiar. I get those forwarded to me a few times a month, though most of the time they are military and not cute as he is an old Marine.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
those minimal requirements are B.S., they'll get you a system that would bog down on typical youtube page. Hard disk with a windows office product and typical software will need 20+ GB to actually run.
from experience, minimal win 8 machine needs 4GB RAM, 60 GB disk
Here you go VNC viewer for Chrome https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vnc-viewer-for-google-chr/iabmpiboiopbgfabjmgeedhcmjenhbla?hl=en
Chrome Remote Desktop https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en
And there is bunch of RDP viewers too.
'nuff said!
Differences between how you act when some one is watching, and how you act when no one is watching, define who you are
My grandma has never used a computer until 2012 when I gave her an old laptop with Ubuntu, which she is still using. So I think Ubuntu is a good choice too.
My grandmother has used both of these OSes with success. Lubuntu is great since it is almost indiscernible to her from Windows Vista, which she used to have before the hard drive broke. She also used Meego Desktop, which is great due to its simple menu UI. However, we had to switch from Meego Desktop due to issues with Skype sound
I've setup Debian for people unfamiliar with Linux. When it comes down to it, it's stable, viable long term, and there are lots of GUIs to choose from when it comes to performance.
Zorin OS core has very XP looking ui choice. She might find that an easier migration.
this is a viewer to control a mac from a chrome book not to control a chromebook from a mac
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
WinXP had to be forcibly retired eons ago because seniors tend to solve problems by clicking on everything, and that how he installed too many toolbars and rootkits. Switch to ubuntu+gnome2 was fairly painless.
My grandma's fine with Ubuntu running Gnome 2, with LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, SimpleScan, Shotwell, and VLC.
Twinstiq, game news
Father been using Ubuntu for 2 years now, and he's really happy with it.
It also has a bitcoin wallet, so grandpa can pay for porno anonymously.
LXDE + Debian:
- Faster
- Smaller
- Simpler
- More like XP than KDE/gnome
Trust me, she'll like it better than KDE.
My dad inherited my old computer with windows xp abou5 years ago. He called me all the time having problem with adware etc. After a few times i got tired of fixing his computer and put ubuntu on it ( pre unity ) and put icons for firefox, email and skype on the desktop. After that he stopped calling me. So if you want to keep in contact with granny, keep her on ms os.
I set up a Linux Mint distro for my technophobic mom 5 years ago and she used it daily without any trouble.
What I did though:
_ Set a wallpaper she likes.
_ Remove all the icons/shortcut but the ones she really needs (Chromium, Skype, Rythmbox for music and a folder to all the movies i got for her)
_ Set Google, gMail and Youtube bookmarks in Chromium.
_ And most important: DESACTIVATE THE AUTO UPDATE ! Nothing worry a non-techy more that unexpected popup. And why update something that already works ?
Just setup Grandma (Mom) with Ubuntu Unity and 4 Large Icons on the sidebar. She is 89 and never used a computer but commented that it didn't look too hard. As simple as the setup is she is reluctant to use it. I teach windows to old people (146 on the list) and have 17 in Ubuntu class that started last week. Its a start. Unity fits the older gen thats never click the screen and its reliabile. The computer club has about 75% still using XP so I'm hoping the Ubuntu class grows real soon.
My parents are in the 70's and on the other side of the world from where I work. I set up a new laptop with Mint Cinnamon and pre-set up their email accounts etc along with desktop icons to start email, Firefox . They have adapted quickly as the GUI is as close to XP as anything modern I can think of. At the same time I gave them an Android tablet.
Given the limited range of things they do, a tablet can also do the job and can simply be replaced and log back into to get them up in running if the tablet fails. They have got the hang of it reasonably well and it lessened the learning curve when they got their first smart phone, also running Android.
Nevermind what the distro or the desktop environment is (well, within reason). So long as you can help her, even on the end of a crackly phone line, it's fine.
When installing for any non-techie, Desktop Environment aside, show them how to find their browser and applications, show them how to find the file manager, and install Synapse so that they can search for pretty much anything (for bonus points, set the Synapse shortcut to something simple like Super+Space). Basically, give them their starting points, and show them how to search.
Whether you choose to move your mother/relative/neighbour to KDE, Xfce, GNOME 3 or even Unity if you like (or even Windows or Mac at that) it has no bearing. Once you have set them up and you have installed the applications and configured all shortcuts, it's you who needs to know the system.
I support my dad on his Mac (he's die-hard Mac which is why I haven't moved him to Linux) piloting him blind because I know the system inside out, I know if he clicks in one place, I can predict the set of dialogs he'll see. I use Manjaro Xfce for Linux because it's install-once and sufficiently light. When setting up for a non-technician, I customize shortcuts my way, show them the ropes in person and hand them a cheat sheet based on my setup choice. If they mail me or call me, I know how to pilot them back to safety.
-- "Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability." --Dijkstra
We've a client who came to us asking if we knew any PAYPAL dial up providers because his ISP is dropping their service, and the client likes to have it as a backup in case of issues with the 3G network he uses as a primary.
For XP refugees, I'd recommend distros with an XFCE or LXDE desktop environment. Most XP refugees will be running somewhat older hardware and so XFCE and LXDE don't need a great deal of RAM or CPU power. Also, they're both the most "Windows like in terms of desktop environment and so the change won't be that great.
Make sure to install all of the software that they're likely to use, especially browser plug-ins for evil proprietary media formats. Also make sure that they know how to save Libre Office documents in evil M$ formats if they need to do that.
I've had quite good success switching folks to Lubuntu or Lubuntu LXLE.
Ubuntu works very well.... I've installed on a 4 years old machine and my mum had absoluterly no problems! Finally ending the virus and updates problem of winxp.
Windows XP will not get anymore support but "end-of-life" doesn't mean it will not function anymore. Let's say Windows XP will become a "Zombie" but it is still alive and kicking. This comment is made by a diehard Linux lover.
i have had my mother (who is a grandmother xs2) on ubuntu 12.04 for a while, a while ago, and then switched her to mint15 because it's nicer looking. every now and again i get a call about hot to do something, but those questions are more about how to do something on the powerbook i got her than regarding the linux desktop.
My dad is nearing 75, and he's now using 100% Linux (OpenSuSE).
If all you need is a browser, e-mail and an office suit, any linux that isn't too technical in the market should do.
Perhaps it took me about 4 hrs total of training over the 6 months he's been using it to explain any details he might ask.
He's using Firefox, Thunderbird and Libre Office.
You can disable system restore (or set the max space usage to something tiny), disable/make the page file static, and disable hibernation (C:\hiberfil.sys will be the size of the amount of physical RAM, in addition the page file) and you should be well under 20GB. 4GB RAM is advisable, however.
I've been running Slackware since 2001 -- earlier than that, if you count the dialup ISP I had starting in1994. Carry on.
I would have recommended the excellent Lindows/Linspire, then gOS, but, oops, they've been forced out of existence.
After that I gave up.
Kriston
Windows 7 is going to be less problematic transistion than a Debian based distro+KDE.
Xp to win7 is a lot more familiar that xp to KDE. If all she uses is a basic desktop, you can install a third party menu and the major difference with be a thicker taskbar. You can even set win7 to never combine taskbar apps and it'll be further like xp. With win7, other people can troubleshoot her problems.
Don't mix her with your ideological battles.
Oooooh!! Even grannies can learn. If you could give your arm a rest from patting yourself on the back for being so brilliant you can install an OS, you might notice that 1) lots of olds are not stupid about computers, 2) lots of women are not stupid about computers, 3) lots of old women know about computers. Grace Hopper did not become an idiot the day she got officially old.
Shocking as it may seem, I think we actually need one more Linux distro: a lightweight, bullet-proof simple OS that keeps itself securely up to date with little to no user interaction and provides what 95% of grandmas need: an icon to launch a web browser. Something very much like Chrome OS, but which can be easily installed on old laptops and features automatic updates (neither of which apply to Hexxah's builds of Chrome OS).
In absence of such a distro, if you know of a good guide for turning something like Linux Mint 13 (LTS) XFCE into the above, please post here.
www.gaiageek.com
http://xpq4.sourceforge.net/
It all about her needs and expectations.
When we finally convinced our grandma (now 93) to get a computer for email almost 10 years ago, we initially gave her an older mac thinking it would be easy for her.
However, she has basically zero computer experience so understanding basic UI interfaces is out the window.
However, over time she starting having problems because she couldn't understand how to manage overlapping windows.
She would accidentally minimize a window, couldn't figure out where it went and would open up a new one.
Repeat this 30+ times on a computer with 512MB of ram and you life becomes utterly painful... It would take like 3-5 minutes to open up a new window, because there was like 2GB of swap in use.
I tried to explain to her what she had been doing many times, but the concept of overlapping windows was just beyond her comprehension.
I ended up installing linux on it and hard coding x to run firefox at startup, bypassing a window manager entirely.
When she quits firefox, it kicks her out to the login screen.
That's it. No menu bars,no tabs,no background processes - just one big window.
In this case, KISS isn't just a goal - it's a requirement.
If it's humanly possible to switch to a different program, it will happen with her and she can't figure out what happened.
True, It drives any visitors crazy (until they read the sticky note that says use the guest account that brings up a conventional desktop) but it's has caused the least grief.
It would be very difficult to do something similarly with windows/mac.
I had looked around and there was a number of KIOSK type programs, but they wanted $100+ for the trouble.
All she cares about is her email. I setup the homepage as her email and it auto-logins in with the remembered password.
She doesn't even use Google for searches.
Don't ask me why The Cousins switched her to Google mail (which is a horrible choice because the UI changes every few months and I have to re-explain everything over again). I've tried to switch her back to the simpler thing I had but she doesn't want to budge...
If I were to start over again, I'd probably get her a chromebox (needs a big desktop screen) or maybe an ipad (if she could get comfortable with the whole swiping thing).
If you want a XP like experience, LXDE is really hard to beat (not to mention super lightweight).
Icewm is another option, if you want something that is even simpler with a similar layout.
The only problem with giving them Linux is a lack of support for some applications. For example, I had installed Arch on my livingroom PC for my family, and set it up so that the kids can just click on their picture to log in. My wife needed applications that are not well-supported by Wine, such as iTunes. I was able to find workarounds, but they weren't very elegant, and weren't things I could have my wife do. Taking iTunes as an example, I had to manually mount the volume, extract her pictures, and reset her photo roll. It became a very messy monthly project to have to do for her, and one of the reasons she would state she hates Linux. Also, she likes photo editing, and there wasn't an application/suite that she could find that she really liked and could edit easily. After 2 years, she finally won and we got Windows 8.1 for the family PC. If the person you are trying to help doesn't have a preference for applications, and isn't set in their ways for a certain application, any distro with a good graphical package system should work. Mint is very good for beginners, as well as Ubuntu. If you need to meet lower system requirements, take a look at XFCE and LXDE alternatives.
yes, you can add those things to list of about 30 other config changes and call the paper "How to Make Windows 8.x not so Much of a Pig"
Not an undertaking for your Aunt Minnie or Grandma
If a lot of concepts change, wouldn't it be better if the interface elements looked different from what the person was used to? If the icons are the same as say Windows XP, I think people would intuitively expect them to work in the same way. But if they don't people would get more frustrated. Having that, learning a new system a whole level deeper would of course take more time and effort...