Ubuntu and parents?

[Hambo]

Hey all.

My dad wants to get into computers and the like, and I was wondering, has anyone here installed Ubuntu for their parents, or just someone pretty much computer illiterate? How did they cope with it?

The last computer my dad had was a comodore 64, bear in mind. Do you think he'll find it easier to adapt to then Windows?

Thanks for reading.

[oly]

I installed ubuntu for my parents it worked out much better than XP, the reason i installed it for them was because they where getting hounded by viruses and adaware and various other problem.

since installing ubuntu i have not had to touch the computer, with the exception of the odd phone call asking how todo something or what application to install those sort of questions.

[barbarian]

I'm gonna try to install Xubuntu on parents 500Mhz Duron with 192 ram.. But I'm doubting cause XFCE 4.4 still beta.. Perhaps I'll give a try Kubuntu first..

[BoyOfDestiny]

Originally Posted by Hambo Hey all. My dad wants to get into computers and the like, and I was wondering, has anyone here installed Ubuntu for their parents, or just someone pretty much computer illiterate? How did they cope with it? The last computer my dad had was a comodore 64, bear in mind. Do you think he'll find it easier to adapt to then Windows? Thanks for reading.

Fire up a c64 emu for ubuntu.

http://www.viceteam.org/

Anyway, on a more serious note, he may better off not having encountered windows. Nothing to really re-learn, no bad habits to break. Just set up a box, maybe do the main set up (put flash, codecs, etc), show Add/Remove, introduce "advanced" (which goes to synaptic). Firefox for the web... Bookmark these forums, let him have fun with it.

[nalmeth]

Anyway, on a more serious note, he may better off not having encountered windows. Nothing to really re-learn, no bad habits to break. Just set up a box, maybe do the main set up (put flash, codecs, etc), show Add/Remove, introduce "advanced" (which goes to synaptic). Firefox for the web... Bookmark these forums, let him have fun with it.

Exactly.

A lot of times, people can't get into linux, because they have such hard pressed instincts from Windows, and really can't adapt to something new.

A milder computer user might adapt more easily, as long as you get everything ready for him.

What kind of PC do you have? Specs?

[Bloch]

For the first few months Linux will be to blame for everything -
the printer runs out of ink? -- it never used that quickly under windows
can't read a scratched cd? -- must be this new linux stuff

The only major disappointment in ubuntu (for my non-IT friend that is) is that he cannot watch some video streams that he used to watch every day. They are in smil format. I showed him how to save the link on the desktop, but even then Real Player gives video but no sound. The fix I discovered was to kill esd before beginning, but we are already into geek territory.

With the mplayer plugin sometimes failing (silently) to read a stream and with no flash 8, ubuntu may dissappoint those used to browsing for video streams. 90% of them work however.

The other major problem is the non-proprietary formats. However I think every Linux user, no matter how IT-deficient, should know the meaning of open source, proprietary formats and the "ubuntu philosophy" so they can understand why the default sound file is ogg and why OpenOffice is only 99% compatible with MS Office.

[Kvark]

Almost all people have years of Windows experience and no Ubuntu experience. That is why Windows is easier for almost all people. But this is an interesting case, no experience of either. I think they will have less trouble with Ubuntu then with Windows.

On the security side they don't need to know about firewalls, anivirus looking for security updates and all that stuff to stay safe. They only need to not download programs from strange places. But if they set up a server such as samba for them then the server needs to be configured correctly so perhaps you should take care of the server stuff.

When it comes to system maintenance. The only manual maintenance Ubuntu needs to keep running as it should is regular backups.

On the breakage side it's easier to break Windows then Ubuntu from my experience. Nothing they normally have permission to do on Ubuntu can break the whole system. Tell them to think twice before doing admin stuff that asks for their password. On the other hand they won't know how to troubleshoot, read logs, edit config files from the command line and so on if something does break but I doubt they could troubleshoot Windows problems either.

On finding and installing software. It's a lot easier to learn how to use Synaptic then how to search the web or p2p programs for virus free software. And they don't need to mess with Wizards who want magical CD Keys, reboots and stuff. On the other hand about half of the programs one installs on Ubuntu doesn't appear in the menu so they must learn how to edit the menu and panels manually.

[Johnsie]

Best thing to do is pre-configure everything for him and make sure the deskop looks nice and it's easy to work out what the icons do. I installed Ubuntu on my family computer and made sure everything was better than windows but also easy to use. Tooltips and good descriptions in launcher names are a good way to go and having a nice background is good too.


Xubuntu is really good on old hardware, I'm, usinhg that on one of my servers and I was surprised at how much I can do with my old hardware. The good thing about Xubuntu is that it's Also quite simple to use. The only downfall with Xubunu that I found was that it's hard to do stuff with the desktop items out of the box.

My family computer is dual booting Windows and Ubuntu but I was sneaky and put ubuntu at the top of the boot list with a timer
That way they pretty much HAD to get used to Linux and now they barely go into MS.

Windows can be a scary experience for people new to computers because of all the spyware and virii. If you go to Download.com you'll see that the most downloaded programs are security programs. Linux is immuned to most spyware so he'll have to worry less about stuff like that. Then again, I'm a hardcore Ubuntu advocate so I'm always gonna be a little biased

[Johnsie]

Oh and it's always good to point new people in the right direction for technical support. I find these forums and the #Ubuntu in Xchat (or any other irc chat client) are the best places to get support so make sure he knows where to get help.

[danpre]

I have installed kubuntu on two computers for my parents (thay have some computer skills and thay were using computers before) and one computer with kubuntu for my father in low.

For my father in low this was first contact with computer ever, he is over 65 years old and he love it: www (he is no watching tv news anymore - prefers to read news on internet), email and family pictures browsing. Because of his very low needs for computer speed he is using old noname computer with 500mhz processor and 256mb of ram - enough even for kde, firefox, thunderbird, gwenview.

So - concluding - yes, ubuntu is very good, because you just install it and don't have to worry about safety (viruses, troyans), licenses and younger cousins tring to install stupid windows games.

danpre