Ubuntu girlfriend project

[ajifans]

Decided to give Ubuntu a real acid test this weekend and installed it on my girlfriends laptop.

The test is can someone who is completely clueless about PC's use Ubuntu successfully on a regular basis?

I set up the basic installation and ran automatix so she would be basically on a level pegging with someone who had just bought a new laptop.

She broke her Windows installation and her laptop did not come with a Windows disk, so I decided as she only uses her laptop for Internet, playing mp3's and simple office stuff that it was going to be Ubuntu to the rescue.

So far so good. She's happy that all her Powerpoint presentations and spreadsheets work fine in OpenOffice, and was particularly impressed with Sound Juicer automatically recognising audio CD's so she just has to press one button to extract them.

Unfortunately it's got a Broadcom wifi chipset, which I'm having issues with. So looks like I'm going to fork out for a new card using the Ubuntu supported list for reference.

Anyway I'll post back on the process, and if anyone has any good tips for helping IT-illiterate people with the transition I'm all ears.

[Linuturk]

HAHA

I just installed Kubuntu for my girlfriend! She is breezing along just fine as well, even though she is a bit more advanced with her use.

She also has a Broadcom Chipset, and while I tried to use the suggested drivers built into Ubuntu, I had more success with ndiswrapper. Be sure to blacklist the bad driver, or it won't work!

[bapoumba]

Hello :)
And what about talking to her and _about_ her like a grown up person that can understand things when explained ?

[Kateikyoushi]

I want to do the same now that she is back to PC after using MAC for a week or so, unfortunately the notebook has a webcam which does not work in linux so I don't have a chance. T_T

[Vomit-Orchestra]

I went to install it on my boyfriends PC...
Let's say...he is a ****.

He doesn't believe that he can play oblivion on ubuntu *slap*

[jeremy]

I haven't even got a girlfriend!

[soham]

I can run every thing on ubuntu even final cut basic.

[Kateikyoushi]

That's a bad excuse, you can make an ubuntu notebook for your future girlfriend.

[ajifans]

Hello :)
And what about talking to her and _about_ her like a grown up person that can understand things when explained ?

No offense was intended to females. She's just a person that's fairly clueless when it comes to comptuters; the fact that she's female is irrelevant.

And for that matter no offense intended for my girlfriend, she's more intelligent than I am; she's a doctor. She can fix organic stuff but electronic things are alien to her.

She's not interested in how the OS works, she just wants to know how to perform basic tasks. I taught her how to do the things she needs to do, but there's no point overloading them with the fundamentals of the OS.

E.g. I tried to explain what Gnome is; i.e. a desktop environment that you use to interact with the operating system, and she had a face like a dog that's just been shown a card trick.

One step at a time.

[DJ_Peng]

Just out of curiosity, which version of Ububtu did you use, ajifans, Dapper LTS or Edgy?

I know what you mean about her being great with organics but not so much about electronics. I've had two docs who saw me making notes on my PDA a while back and was amazed because they can barely master their Blackberry.

[weatherman]

I would show her kubuntu as well, then let her choose

[DJ_Peng]

Actually if he uses Ubuntu I'd hesitate to show the doctor something different, if only to keep information overload to a minimum and keep my support easier. When I first tried Linux I tried Freespire and like I told a good friend after I switched to Ubuntu, it may be great for them but it didn't give me the feel of being able to control the setup as much as I liked, especially when it came to testing the next versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. My specific recommendation was "burn the Freespire disc and if you like it go for it, but understand that I can't supply much tech support since I'm not using it. If you want something I can answer a lot of questions about check out Ubuntu." Alas, she's still running Windows but at least she's not upgrading to Vista.

[ajifans]

I agree with DJ_Peng, if I'm familiar with the distro (Ubuntu -Edgy) then I'll be better placed to answer queries.

Fortunately I've got two things in my favour:
1) Her Windows installation was broken - she now has a working computer.
2) I have a track record of recommending her apps that she really likes, e.g. Opera - therefore she's willing to trust me.

[macogw]

My mom is a clueless computer user and her computer is all Ubuntu. It's easier than Windows for her. I put a wireless card in her desktop for future use (to get rid of the wires around the house). It's a Broadcom, and it was running in under 20 minutes. There are good howtos out there for them.