Which disto best for old people on old hardware

[acatak]

Hello Ubuntu forums,

I have a question: My parents want me to get my grandmother a computer that she can use for only two things:
1. Learning to type, so it has a typing game

2. Document typing, so open office should be fine.
It is not going to go on the internet at her house, but i load all the software at my house.


She has never used a computer before in her life. Hopefully this will keep her busy :D

I just built a computer with 256 Mb of Ram on an old P2 processor.

What is your suggestion on the OS? I heard that xubuntu and Edubuntu takes less system resources? Which do you think will work the best...

[Duskao]

Ummm, well those specs are pretty low. Might be tough running any of them on it. Your best bet at this point is certainly Xubuntu. However, in a couple months Lubuntu should be realeased with 10.04 and that will be the lightest buntu desktop environment. You can do it now as well I believe, but it's still a beta thing. Should be able to install it just with sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

You might have to stray from the buntu's with this. Give puppy linux a try. Or tinycore.

[MaindotC]

I agree. I tried installing Ubuntu desktop on a Dell Dimension 8100 (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dsleest/specs.htm#memory) which as you can see came with a minimum of 128 MB ram and I could not get the installation to complete. Granted you could easily upgrade the memory but it was just such an old machine that I decided to wait for bigger and better things. So, it will take a long time to boot but I suggest you find a little more memory (if you have the capacity) on ebay or something and make sure that's not a problem.

As you get more exposure to Linux you can start tightening things like making sure Open Office starts on boot, or even better, removing unnecessary applications or options that a user may accidentally damage a system.

[snowpine]

I would start by checking out Puppy. It runs very well on older hardware, and there are a ton of Puplets (community "remixes") for various needs. Maybe you could "remaster" Puppy specifically for her needs? (And share it with the community: "Grannypup" :))

[acatak]

thanks for the responces.

can you run puppy off hard disk, or does it have to be of cd/usb?

[Megafag]

Hello Ubuntu forums,

I have a question: My parents want me to get my grandmother a computer that she can use for only two things:
1. Learning to type, so it has a typing game

2. Document typing, so open office should be fine.
It is not going to go on the internet at her house, but i load all the software at my house.


She has never used a computer before in her life. Hopefully this will keep her busy :D

I just built a computer with 256 Mb of Ram on an old P2 processor.

What is your suggestion on the OS? I heard that xubuntu and Edubuntu takes less system resources? Which do you think will work the best...

Crunchbang Linux (http://crunchbanglinux.org/) might work?

[snowpine]

thanks for the responces.

can you run puppy off hard disk, or does it have to be of cd/usb?

Yes, you can install Puppy to hard disk. :)

[Nicolas.Perrault]

The way I learned typing was via a program called Stamina. The programs works on Wine 1.2 like a bliss. It's funny and very light. I didn't know how to type before, and in three months I got to 55 wpm, 3% error. I would absolutely recommend this to a friend.

By the way, good luck with getting your grandmother on Linux, I'm doing the same :D

[Bucky Ball]

A sidenote: Edubuntu is NOT a stand alone distro. It is an add-on to regular Ubuntu so you would need to install that first anyhow.

Xubuntu will install on that machine. Use the alternate install ISO, not Desktop.

* Mavis Beacon typing tutor is the bomb but Windows.

[Puppyite]

Hi acatak,

Puppy Linux 4.2.1 (http://www.puppylinuxfaq.org/content/5/5/en/download-puppy-linux-free.html) is the only logical choice for the that PC. Your Grandmother will find it easier to use than any other OS.

I am author of Puppy Linux FAQ (http://www.puppylinuxfaq.org/) the definitive guide for using and enjoying Puppy Linux. I invite you to visit my site. There is no easier way to get started with Linux than by visiting www.puppylinuxfaq.org

Regards,
Puppyite

PS: Puppy Linux is insanely fast on new computers and comes with a full suite of software (http://www.puppylinuxfaq.org/category/9/bundled-software.html).

[Leppie]

A sidenote: Edubuntu is NOT a stand alone distro. It is an add-on to regular Ubuntu so you would need to install that first anyhow..
not necessarily... at this moment i'm running the edubuntu karmic livedvd (though edubuntu is still at 9.04) which can be downloaded from the ubuntu mirror.

xubuntu may be too much for the pII, depending on it's speed it may be just within the requirements but wouldn't run as smoothly as crunchbang or puppy.

if you want an ubuntu distro, you could try the minimal install with enlightenment (i used to have e17 on a debian system with memory footprint of under 40mb with x up and running).