Why does this ASK slashdot have to turn into a battle again? Stop moaning and write your answer/help, Michael J. Kitchin (the poster) can make his own mind up on the info he has from us being productive with our posts...
here is my answer, i'm sure you will all mark this:)
Mum new to PC's/internet etc.. (not of the computer age and work has "these new PC's!" wants something simple to use and easy to remember etc.. (Some of you will scoff) Set up WindowsNT on p133 64Mb. Locked down most i could without being too restrictive. "Hiding" ALL non-relevent files folders does the trick too! Put home directory in an easy place. Made Icons/text large. (likes it that way:) Placed icon on desktop for Home directory(MyFiles!). Placed icons on desktop for programs she uses. Sorted out colors appearence to way she likes it and is best to read/look at. Made default save/load directory for apps mum uses the home directory so no searching! The latter half of this i did with mum, asking her what she wanted and how she wanted to have the desktop icons layed out
Sat down with mum and watched "her use it" for a few hours, she asks questions , i answer, she writes down in a little notebook until she remembers. I watch what she is trying to achive/do and help her advise on the most simplest/easeist way for her.
If you are helping someone new/old, dont overcrowd them with what you think is good/whizzie, understand what 'they' want to achive and act upon it in a manner that they will understand.
You cannot go mad with technology and set up how "you think they want it" and walk away, ask what they want and when you do it get them to sit with you they can tell you what they expect to do with it or how they would like to have the PC "presented to them".
You will find this svery rewarding as mum has thrown away here restrictions and now know a heck of a lot more now than i ever would expect!! And is happier at work using computers, she even has a geek c0de:)
// I used NT cos its easy (cheap cos my bro is a student and uses it too). 100% reliable [THAT IS UTTER TRUTH ON MY HEART] 95/8 falls over way too much with wierd and confusing msgs and lets you delete too much:) I am a linux dude, have been for years but if mum learns linux at home then it wont help her in the office it will only confuse and fustrate:) Plus if she is stuck my brother or friend can help out.
This topic is more than a tecchie post its about giving easy access to computing/internet to non-tecchies. Proving the desktop AND teaching/helping them how to work with it.
My old flat saw the wrath of a wild candle, I had to make the choice the pet or the laptop.
The chinchilla lived (he is sleeping right now, hes sooo cute) and I (*thankfully*) dried-out a wet IBM HDD which also lived its saved life, in a replaced laptop:) The old XPi-CD survied from a slight rear melting and still lives to this day!
ells (who knows what the insides of a crispy DELL CPi looks like)
Why not use PGP et al and encrypt those 'sensitive, job-endandering' emails. Start giving out your public key to all your mates, encourage them to send you their's. And the suits can scan all they like.... Its a hassle, but its peace of mind.
An application that pumps snmp and/proc data etc... into a database every n interval would be kewl. Then you could use SQL to search for certain criteria/data at a given period in time on a given machine.
Does anything do this for Linux? I wish I had the time to do this, i suppose it would be worthwhile doing!?!
I agree, installing Linux may be smoother than it used to be. BUT, when one talks about the ease of linux installation etc.. they must look at it in perspective. Us nerds/geeks/"hackers" are well experienced in this sort of thing, the rest of the population isn't; They are used to wizards, fancy GUI's, mind-numbing on line help and all that other bullshit associated with M$ Operating Systems.
You must take a step back and put yourself in the position of your gran. [now you are gonna tell me your gran is a sysop:)] These people have been brought up the M$ way, its not their fault, think about it. And when they turn on a PC thats what they expect to see. If you want to experience this, try getting drunk and successfully install and administer MVS on a mainframe, then you'll see what i mean!;-)
This is where the linux market is going, Rasterman stated that Redhat wanted to go the windows look, this is to attract those kind of people and I must admit i tend to agree. If Linux is to succeed on the desktop then it must offer some level of similarity between itself and Windows. And fair play to Redhat, if you dont like it there are many other distributions to choose from (Slackware (my fave) for one).
It is slowly getting there, its more than supported hardware, its about HCI! but dont disagree with people for saying Linux is harder to install/use, its not thier fault, blame M$ and Intel!
Its 1999, Software programming is not confined to the best math/scientists/brainstormers anymore in suits and on $$$$ salaries.
The software tools/API/kits are just as much common as a hammer and nail.
People do more DIY than ever before, will it be illegal to decorate your first borns' nursery? NO Therefore FREE software will never die, there will always be somebody out there who wants to DIY. First there was the shelf, then the room now its the "hello world", the handy app, to the spreadsheet. With the ease of programming with JAVA and the quality of good programming texts out there, somebody at Microsoft MUST have the COMMON SENSE to realize that this is evolution and the power of knowledge. If Microsoft want to stop this then they will have to burn all the books in the land.... Free software is becoming as (more) powerful and useful than commercial s/w. Free software is written by folks who CARE about what they do, its a passion. you know! Valueless, the real value is that these people produce quality code and functionality that Microsoft cannot even hope to suppass..........
I agree, i remeber doing some coursework at uni where we had to design a funky web page for one of our departments. It was a nightmare, Netscape 4.whatever supported this but not that and IE4 supported that but not this. Thats just the two mainstream GUI browsers (not mentioning other versions and other vendors!!)
And to using GUI tools, foo that, they create more mess that HTML code!
Slashdot Mirror
Why does this ASK slashdot have to turn into a battle again?
:)
:)
:)
:) :) Plus if she is stuck my brother or friend can help out.
Stop moaning and write your answer/help, Michael J. Kitchin (the poster) can make his own mind up on the info he has from us being productive with our posts...
here is my answer, i'm sure you will all mark this
Mum new to PC's/internet etc.. (not of the computer age and work has "these new PC's!"
wants something simple to use and easy to remember etc..
(Some of you will scoff) Set up WindowsNT on p133 64Mb.
Locked down most i could without being too restrictive.
"Hiding" ALL non-relevent files folders does the trick too!
Put home directory in an easy place.
Made Icons/text large. (likes it that way
Placed icon on desktop for Home directory(MyFiles!).
Placed icons on desktop for programs she uses.
Sorted out colors appearence to way she likes it and is best to read/look at.
Made default save/load directory for apps mum uses the home directory so no searching!
The latter half of this i did with mum, asking her what she wanted and how she wanted to have the desktop icons layed out
Sat down with mum and watched "her use it" for a few hours, she asks questions , i answer, she writes down in a little notebook until she remembers.
I watch what she is trying to achive/do and help her advise on the most simplest/easeist way for her.
If you are helping someone new/old, dont overcrowd them with what you think is good/whizzie, understand what 'they' want to achive and act upon it in a manner that they will understand.
You cannot go mad with technology and set up how "you think they want it" and walk away, ask what they want and when you do it get them to sit with you they can tell you what they expect to do with it or how they would like to have the PC "presented to them".
You will find this svery rewarding as mum has thrown away here restrictions and now know a heck of a lot more now than i ever would expect!!
And is happier at work using computers, she even has a geek c0de
// I used NT cos its easy (cheap cos my bro is a student and uses it too). 100% reliable [THAT IS UTTER TRUTH ON MY HEART]
95/8 falls over way too much with wierd and confusing msgs and lets you delete too much
I am a linux dude, have been for years but if mum learns linux at home then it wont help her in the office it will only confuse and fustrate
This topic is more than a tecchie post its about giving easy access to computing/internet to non-tecchies. Proving the desktop AND teaching/helping them how to work with it.
ells..
Could she be tried for fraudulent use of a credit card? :o)
Does nate smoke grass :)
:)
Does he have any pets?
My old flat saw the wrath of a wild candle, I had to make the choice the pet or the laptop.
The chinchilla lived (he is sleeping right now, hes sooo cute) and I (*thankfully*) dried-out a wet IBM HDD which also lived its saved life, in a replaced laptop
The old XPi-CD survied from a slight rear melting and still lives to this day!
ells
(who knows what the insides of a crispy DELL CPi looks like)
Why not use PGP et al and encrypt those 'sensitive, job-endandering' emails. Start giving out your public key to all your mates, encourage them to send you their's. And the suits can scan all they like....
Its a hassle, but its peace of mind.
An application that pumps snmp and
Then you could use SQL to search for certain criteria/data at a given period in time on a given machine.
Does anything do this for Linux?
I wish I had the time to do this, i suppose it would be worthwhile doing!?!
I agree, installing Linux may be smoother than it used to be.
:)] ;-)
BUT, when one talks about the ease of linux installation etc.. they must look at it in perspective. Us nerds/geeks/"hackers" are well experienced in this sort of thing, the rest of the population isn't; They are used to wizards, fancy GUI's, mind-numbing on line help and all that other bullshit associated with M$ Operating Systems.
You must take a step back and put yourself in the position of your gran. [now you are gonna tell me your gran is a sysop
These people have been brought up the M$ way, its not their fault, think about it. And when they turn on a PC thats what they expect to see.
If you want to experience this, try getting drunk and successfully install and administer MVS on a mainframe, then you'll see what i mean!
This is where the linux market is going, Rasterman stated that Redhat wanted to go the windows look, this is to attract those kind of people and I must admit i tend to agree. If Linux is to succeed on the desktop then it must offer some level of similarity between itself and Windows.
And fair play to Redhat, if you dont like it there are many other distributions to choose from (Slackware (my fave) for one).
It is slowly getting there, its more than supported hardware, its about HCI!
but dont disagree with people for saying Linux is harder to install/use, its not thier fault, blame M$ and Intel!
Have you visited the FSF?
:)
:)
If not this link my please you
http://www.fsf.org/help/help.html
HAve fun
Ells
Its 1999, Software programming is not confined to the best math/scientists/brainstormers anymore in suits and on $$$$ salaries.
The software tools/API/kits are just as much common as a hammer and nail.
People do more DIY than ever before, will it be illegal to decorate your first borns' nursery?
NO
Therefore FREE software will never die, there will always be somebody out there who wants to DIY.
First there was the shelf, then the room
now its the "hello world", the handy app, to the spreadsheet.
With the ease of programming with JAVA and the quality of good programming texts out there, somebody at Microsoft MUST have the COMMON SENSE to realize that this is evolution and the power of knowledge.
If Microsoft want to stop this then they will have to burn all the books in the land....
Free software is becoming as (more) powerful and useful than commercial s/w.
Free software is written by folks who CARE about what they do, its a passion. you know!
Valueless, the real value is that these people produce quality code and functionality that Microsoft cannot even hope to suppass..........
I agree, i remeber doing some coursework at uni where we had to design a funky web page for one of our departments.
It was a nightmare, Netscape 4.whatever supported this but not that and IE4 supported that but not this.
Thats just the two mainstream GUI browsers (not mentioning other versions and other vendors!!)
And to using GUI tools, foo that, they create more mess that HTML code!