Ubuntu For My Mom

[SlidingHorn]

The last time my mother was in town (I live in Cleveland, she lives in Virginia), she was telling me about some issues she's been having with her semi-new laptop which came with Vista. Basically there was some kind of licensing issue w/ her Windows software that has, in-effect, rendered her machine useless.

My proposed solution is that the next time I head out to visit, I'm going to bring an Ubuntu CD and completely replace Vista. Her questions were what you would expect from your average, computer-illiterate mother: "Can I check my emails, IM, view work documents, etc?" All of which I assured her she'd be able to do.

My question is, should I gear her toward any particular flavor/release of *buntu? I've heard that Mint is made to be more "user friendly", but I have never played with it, and I would probably be more inclined to stick with an actual Ubuntu release, as I'm going to be the one she calls for help if something goes wrong.

So yeah...my questions:

1. What release (karmic, lucid, etc)
2. What flavor (K/X/Ubuntu)
3. Should I bother looking @ Mint?
4. What additional packages would you consider for your mother?
5. How easy/difficult is remote access if she has a problem and needs me to access her machine from my home?

Thanks a lot guys!

[Breambutt]

We're in the same boat and let me tell you, these moms will always have trouble with everything no matter what you do. Probably less with Ubuntu than with Windows.

I could only recommend setting her up with the same distro you're using in case of an emergency, makes it at least a little easier to troubleshoot on the phone in case that happens.

I installed regular Lucid in her desktop (been using Intrepid on a laptop for over a year) machine made out of my spare parts, stripped the UI from pointless elements, removed stuff from menus she'll be less likely to need and installed a huge-*** Cairo Dock with icons that can't be misinterpreted as something they're not.

Didn't even think about remote access, but now that you mentioned... have to visit momma some time.

[_khAttAm_]

[*]What release (karmic, lucid, etc)

Lucid 32bit.. 64bit has problems with Flash and people are also mentioning Memory leak problems.. which my Maverick is also suffering from.. I used Lucid 32bit from Alpha 1 and barely had a problem....

I haven't used Linux mint much and I can't really talk against or for it.. but since it has menus and things in the lower panel it might give the user a familiar feel... So LM 9 (based on Lucid) is also an option you may want to consider....

But it is always better to have what you have since it is easier to troubleshoot over telephone...

[*]What flavor (K/X/Ubuntu)

Ubuntu... Gnome is simple...

[*]What additional packages would you consider for your mother?

Skype.. since it is the only widely used software for Voice and Video that works in Linux... you'd want to test and configure it properly...
aMSN will also be nice if she is used Windows Live Messenger a lot and has problems using empathy..
gyachi is an option for Y! IM which is somewhat similar to original Y!IM client... but I don't know if it works in Lucid...
and if she's used to Desktop Email clients, I'd recommend Mozilla Thunderbird..

[*]How easy/difficult is remote access if she has a problem and needs me to access her machine from my home?

I'm not familiar with this.. but you may see help here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC

[unmole]

Just make everything ULTRA obvious. Put al ink to Firefox on desktop named Internet, to evolution named Mail etc. Also, it would probably be a good idea to configure all her IM accounts as well.

[Backharlow]

Its all about familiarity. Young people (and computer people) explore new systems in an intuitive way. Old people like to be taught procedures, to learn new systems. They don't just discover anymore.
So.
Use plain old vanilla Ubuntu, because if five years from now she calls some support dude, it will be a known standard.
Walk her slowly through the gnome menu, pointing out that the apps are arranged by task i.e. "internet", "office", etc, while on Windows her apps were organized in the start menu by the names of their publishers, which was more vague. Also point out that when you hover over an app in the menu, a roll-over indicates what the app does. So, for Firefox, it says "Browse the world wide web". For Empathy, it doesn't just say Empathy, it says Empathy IM Client, and on hover, "rend and receive messages."
If she is like many Windows users she has lots of redundant desktop shortcuts for applications because she never really liked the start menu. Drag a launcher from the gnome menu to the desktop of the handful of apps she will probably use most.
Install wine.
Try to install the few windows apps she's worried about abandoning.
Get her to move a few files around in nautilus, and open them with default apps, and show how to change the default.
Set up automatic updates and set it to just once a week.
explain sudo in that it is like the account control mechanism that MS added for Vista, where you have to grant privileges to change the OS, and then let her pick her own password - something she won't mind typing every few days.
Don't show her synaptic package manager - it is too nerdy. Show her the Ubuntu Software Center.
Walk her through using the Network Manager applet.

Migrate her personal data in before you do the walk through.

[Jerry N]

Personally, I still prefer Windows (Sorry about that!) but I set up a machine with Ubuntu 10.04 for my wife to keep up with what the grand kids are doing on Facebook (she won't use it without a lot of prompting). The only things that count are the great big Firefox and Evolution icons on the screen (named Internet and Email respectively). My 14 yr old granddaughter who normally uses a Macintosh (aaaarrrgggghhhh!!!) used it to access her e-mail and Facebook and didn't even realize that it was Linux (and didn't care). She thought it was Windows! I did move the menu bar from the top to the bottom of the screen - that is the very first thing I do after a new Ubuntu installation, even before installing the proprietary stuff.

Jerry

[Smart Viking]

Both my parents use Ubuntu, my mom have been using Mint for some time but she is now using ubuntu.

Ubuntu and Mint is just as easy to them to use, but, if you are lazy and does not have so much time configuring the system, install Mint, if you do have time and you want Ubuntu, install that. The only criteria is make sure things work, because they don't have a clue how to fix things!

[Hreinsi]

I would recoment ubuntu first

[scouser73]

The last time my mother was in town (I live in Cleveland, she lives in Virginia), she was telling me about some issues she's been having with her semi-new laptop which came with Vista. Basically there was some kind of licensing issue w/ her Windows software that has, in-effect, rendered her machine useless.

My proposed solution is that the next time I head out to visit, I'm going to bring an Ubuntu CD and completely replace Vista. Her questions were what you would expect from your average, computer-illiterate mother: "Can I check my emails, IM, view work documents, etc?" All of which I assured her she'd be able to do.

My question is, should I gear her toward any particular flavor/release of *buntu? I've heard that Mint is made to be more "user friendly", but I have never played with it, and I would probably be more inclined to stick with an actual Ubuntu release, as I'm going to be the one she calls for help if something goes wrong.

So yeah...my questions:

1. What release (karmic, lucid, etc)
2. What flavor (K/X/Ubuntu)
3. Should I bother looking @ Mint?
4. What additional packages would you consider for your mother?
5. How easy/difficult is remote access if she has a problem and needs me to access her machine from my home?

Thanks a lot guys!

1 = I'd recommend Lucid as it's an LTS and your mother won't need to change when Maverick Meerkat comes out.

2 - Ubuntu

3 - Look at Mint if you want to, it does come with extra codecs if she's going to be playing DVDs & other stuff preinstalled, but those same codecs can be downloaded with Ubuntu

Linux Mint FAQs

4 - Will your mum be using an email client as opposed to logging in via web-mail? If so, Ubuntu already comes with Evolution but I would recommend Mozilla Thunderbird as I consider it a far better email client.

5 - I've never done remote access before but I have Google'd this for you.

Ubuntu Remote Access

Additional Packages.

Instant Messaging client such as, Empathy, Pidgin

VLC Media Player - VLC Media Player

The latest version of OpenOffice - OpenOffice.org

I think that's it really, hope your mum has a great time using Ubuntu.

[Nick_Jinn]

The last time my mother was in town (I live in Cleveland, she lives in Virginia), she was telling me about some issues she's been having with her semi-new laptop which came with Vista. Basically there was some kind of licensing issue w/ her Windows software that has, in-effect, rendered her machine useless.

My proposed solution is that the next time I head out to visit, I'm going to bring an Ubuntu CD and completely replace Vista. Her questions were what you would expect from your average, computer-illiterate mother: "Can I check my emails, IM, view work documents, etc?" All of which I assured her she'd be able to do.

My question is, should I gear her toward any particular flavor/release of *buntu? I've heard that Mint is made to be more "user friendly", but I have never played with it, and I would probably be more inclined to stick with an actual Ubuntu release, as I'm going to be the one she calls for help if something goes wrong.

So yeah...my questions:

1. What release (karmic, lucid, etc)
2. What flavor (K/X/Ubuntu)
3. Should I bother looking @ Mint?
4. What additional packages would you consider for your mother?
5. How easy/difficult is remote access if she has a problem and needs me to access her machine from my home?

Thanks a lot guys!

I would suggest Mint Linux over Ubuntu for noobs. Its basically Mint, and should almost just be a distro of Ubuntu rather than something seperate, but its just a little bit easier as it has all the proprietary codecs installed already.

I would suggesting using the Mint distro of Ubuntu. I would also customize the desktop for her first.

I would suggest adding the main start menu on the top left and keep the advanced start menu on the bottom left....Add widgets for changing user, controlling CPU, power saving, system moniter, and create a drawer that contains her favorite programs like messenger and firefox and others.


Install whatever software you think she will like, and if the computer can handle it, enable some eye candy on the control panel.