I need a distro that i can teach my dad and brother

[PatrickMoore]

considering that my brother thinks some actually wants to pay him 50k a week to work at home. he cant seem to keep my dad's/ his computer working.so I'm thinking since im being given full liberty to overhaul the computer and have been given the blessing i'm going to have them try Linux... The catch is that i dont want to confuse my dad (who really only pays bills online) with anything thing overwhelming. so what would be a good distro to work with? suggestions are certainly appreciated.

[beastrace91]

Linux Mint, hands down.

That or straight Ubuntu. If you use the latter of the two be sure to install all the extras he will need to function though, flash, java, codecs...

Personally Mint is better for Windows converts because of the taskbar among other things IMO

~Jeff

[NightwishFan]

Go with any of these that catch your fancy.

SimplyMepis
Mint
Ubuntu
Mandriva
OpenSUSE
Debian
Sidux

[PatrickMoore]

I like mint, ive never used simply mepis but i am compelled.

[NightwishFan]

I use Debian Sid and my mom uses Debian Testing. SimplyMepis was recommended to me, and it looks ok.

[d3v1150m471c]

No offense but linux probably isn't the way to go for someone who can't "keep a computer working." Of course linux doesn't get registry errors and doesn't need to be defragmented, however, software and troubleshooting for a beginner on any linux distro is a nightmare, unless that person wants and has the time to learn the OS.

[marshmallow1304]

I have used Mepis. It is IMO the best KDE-based distro for beginners.

[castrojo]

I heard Ubuntu is good!

[kaldor]

Mint's very easy. But it really makes no difference if you are going to be the one to set it up. It's only good if THEY are the ones installing it. It's just Ubuntu with extras. If you're the one setting it up, you probably know how to install stuff like flash, java etc.

Mint's heavier too.

[NightwishFan]

My mom likes Debian and Ubuntu and she does not know what an "Internet" is.

[PatrickMoore]

the reason he cannot keep the computer working is because he seems to find all kinds of infectious whatnot. his latest was the xp internet security 2010 monstrosity

[dragos240]

My mom likes Debian and Ubuntu and she does not know what an "Internet" is.

I'll give you one internet if you can explain it to her.

[beastrace91]

My mom likes Debian and Ubuntu and she does not know what an "Internet" is.

Could your mom configure debian?...

~Jeff

[HappinessNow]

How about ARCH?

[HoboJ]

the reason he cannot keep the computer working is because he seems to find all kinds of infectious whatnot. his latest was the xp internet security 2010 monstrosity

Reminds me of my dad before I switched him to Ubuntu almost 2 years ago. Prior to the switch it seemed like there was a new problem every week from viruses to non-functioning software. After the switch there's been so few problems that I can count them on one hand. Everything has just worked and has kept working. So I suppose I can't recommend Ubuntu enough, it just works! :)

[chris200x9]

I'll give you one internet if you can explain it to her.

I'll throw in another one...no three, I'm feeling generous. :)

[ndefontenay]

Did you talk to the elders of the internet?

Otherwise yeah. Ubuntu is just fine.

[Rasa1111]

im gonna have to look into getting one of these "internet" things.
maybe even 2 if i can afford it, but i prolly cant afford 2. :lol:

[Madspyman]

If you go with Ubuntu wait till April, if they get used to Karmic, when the upgrade to Lucid happens they won't know where they are, best to wait for the latest distro to avoid confusion. Otherwise go with Mint it's pretty solid.

[crlang13]

If you go with Ubuntu wait till April, if they get used to Karmic, when the upgrade to Lucid happens they won't know where they are, best to wait for the latest distro to avoid confusion. Otherwise go with Mint it's pretty solid.

+1

I'd also suggest showing the a side by side comparison of Gnome vs KDE just to see how they like the look and feel of each.

[lykwydchykyn]

I'd recommend giving them something the same as or very similar to what you are currently using. When something comes up, they're going to be asking you for help.

I recommended Mint to someone a while back because I'd heard it was so great. And it is great. But I don't use Mint, or GNOME. So whenever he had some problem or question that was distro/desktop-specific, I couldn't help him.

You can't really go wrong with any major desktop-oriented distro these days, but don't stray too far from what you use yourself.

[lykwydchykyn]

No offense but linux probably isn't the way to go for someone who can't "keep a computer working." Of course linux doesn't get registry errors and doesn't need to be defragmented, however, software and troubleshooting for a beginner on any linux distro is a nightmare, unless that person wants and has the time to learn the OS.

You're assuming the user is going to be doing any troubleshooting on this computer. From the sound of it, PatrickMoore is the computer go-to guy for his dad and brother, no matter what OS is being run.

I've found personally that Linux works great for this type of user (those with limited needs, and no interest in maintaining the system themselves) provided someone knowledgeable about Linux is available to do maintentance and configuration.

[tjwoosta]

You're assuming the user is going to be doing any troubleshooting on this computer. From the sound of it, PatrickMoore is the computer go-to guy for his dad and brother, no matter what OS is being run.

I've found personally that Linux works great for this type of user (those with limited needs, and no interest in maintaining the system themselves) provided someone knowledgeable about Linux is available to do maintentance and configuration.

Its the same way with my family. I just installed debian stable on everyones machines and setup ssh. I can own everyones computer from my laptop. ;)

I regularly log on and do updates and routine checkups.

I chose debian stable for a few reasons.

1. I was the one setting everything up so it didnt really matter what I chose.
2. Very long release cycles, meaning I wont have to upgrade for a long time.
3. Extreme stablity, possibly the most stable of all linux distros.
4. Low resource usage. (a few of the machines only have 256 mb ram)


EDIT: ohh yea, forgot to mention that all 6 of these boxes have been setup this way for over two years without any issues at all. Literally nothing. :)

[d3v1150m471c]

You're assuming the user is going to be doing any troubleshooting on this computer. From the sound of it, PatrickMoore is the computer go-to guy for his dad and brother, no matter what OS is being run.

I've found personally that Linux works great for this type of user (those with limited needs, and no interest in maintaining the system themselves) provided someone knowledgeable about Linux is available to do maintentance and configuration.

It works great as long as someone else is around to fix things when something goes wrong. Wait until they try to install a tar package, and it doesn't work the first time around, so they follow some random tutorial that breaks their system. Or when they have no idea what obscure dependency does what to make something work and totally blunders it. There are a plethora of things that can go wrong on a Linux operating system, contrary to popular belief, with nearly no available tech support or ways of backtracking out of the situation. Nonetheless, I fully support Linux OS's but I have to be a bit cautious of pawning it off on people who do not have the time, resources, or know-how to enjoy it only to give it a bad name.

Another thing I'd like to add is that one could easily install Linux to a usb and let someone try it without having to actually install it.

[woodmaster]

Xubuntu or Mint seem relatively "Windows like" for newer non-geek users.

[V for Vincent]

My computer illiterate mum has had no difficulty at all with a properly set up Ubuntu. Didn't even realize she wasn't using Windows anymore, even though I hadn't changed the default interface :D

If all you do is browse the web and listen to some tunes, "it's too difficult" is just something that gets in your head.

[NightwishFan]

Debian Stable is amazing. If your hardware all works, I advise using that as well. Some say that it is too out of date but to put it in perspective it should be more up to date than Hardy, and possibly much more sturdy.

On my laptop I run unstable and the only problem I have is the Gnome shell will not work. (It does on testing). The reason I use unstable is my laptop's suspend and other power management works faster and flawlessly.

[lykwydchykyn]

It works great as long as someone else is around to fix things when something goes wrong.

That's pretty much what I said


Wait until they try to install a tar package, and it doesn't work the first time around, so they follow some random tutorial that breaks their system. Or when they have no idea what obscure dependency does what to make something work and totally blunders it.

The type of user I'm referring to, and from the sound of it what the OP is dealing with, isn't going to attempt those things. They probably wouldn't dare open the Windows control panel, much less try to install something from a tarball. I have several friends and family like this in my life, and those for whom I've set up Linux seem to be pretty happy with it. And I don't give them admin rights.


There are a plethora of things that can go wrong on a Linux operating system, contrary to popular belief, with nearly no available tech support or ways of backtracking out of the situation. Nonetheless, I fully support Linux OS's but I have to be a bit cautious of pawning it off on people who do not have the time, resources, or know-how to enjoy it only to give it a bad name.

No argument there.

[PatrickMoore]

for the time being im going to set them up with mint. from experience i personally like gnome because ive always found kde to be buggy, Im currently living with them so if they have issues i am right here to get them on the ground running. i think for what my dad uses the computer linux will be much better.

[NightwishFan]

I agree, I set my mom up on Debian Gnome and she never needs any help. I am currently in the market for a distro optimized for simple maintainability as well, so tell me how it goes for you.

[weichimaster]

considering that my brother thinks some actually wants to pay him 50k a week to work at home.

50K a week would be nice, particularly for working from home (assuming it's in $, £, euros or somesuch currency).

[garvinrick4]

You do understand that whatever you decide to use you are going to be tortured on a daily basis for the rest of your natural life.
Dual boot and leave the distro Dad uses to pay his bills at least the lights going out will not be blamed on you.

[OldMerovingian]

You do understand that whatever you decide to use you are going to be tortured on a daily basis for the rest of your natural life.
Dual boot and leave the distro Dad uses to pay his bills at least the lights going out will not be blamed on you.

I can somewhat relate to this. I have two friends set up on Linux, one running Kubuntu 9.10 and the other running Mint 8. The Kubuntu user just types papers and surfs the net, so she has never had any issue. However the Mint user was trying to rip music, and put it in the wrong place so her root partition filled up and caused all sorts of issues. Then she couldn't figure out how to rip music in the right format and on and on.

You have already stated that they are pretty basic users, and as such probably won't run into many problems. I personally do not mind being called up and asked to explain something, just be prepared for it. If anything, it will always teach you more about Linux. I have probably learned twice as much by having other people use the system and break it, than I would have from the systems I break! :D