[Geeth]

Originally Posted by Oxygen

I tried to get my parents onto it but they just wanted XP... the only difference is when Linux breaks I fix it, when Windows breaks... they're screwed!

Overall... if you can, then go for it.

When Xp break.... re-install

[cousinlucky]

Although I can not " talk the talk " of Linux I have learned to let people go through the pain, money, and irritation I went through trying to safely use windows on the internet. When they relate their computer problems ( viruses, trojans, etc. ) I tell them that they will have to get a hard drive reformat. I also tell them that they will have to keep getting hard drive reformats until they use Linux for the Internet.

Every photographer I know uses a mac!!

Good Luck!!

[jmadero]

So I have a story as well. I've switched my mom and my girlfriend (both hate computers with a passion). What this has resulted in:

My mom finds it MUCH easier than Windows (runs Gutsy, won't upgrade to Hardy for her, just to keep things simple). She uses her crappy ipod on it (i set that up), her DSL, OpenOffice (I set the defaults to save as .doc, .xls, etc...) so she won't have any issues with any other computer.

Girlfriend, has Vista dual booted, HATES Vista, asked me personally for Ubuntu. She rarely goes into Vista (probably once a month or less -- she was just in Europe and couldn't connect to the campus net in Ubuntu so was forced to use Vista....remembered how horrible it is).

So what I have done for both of them (I live several hours from my mom). I set up Skype for her (she doesn't even use a webcam on it, but I use one), I also set up remote desktop. Once in awhile I'll get a skype call from her saying "I can't figure out how to do..." I remote desktop to her, take control of her system and walk her through it. This HAS NOT happened often so it's not constant tech support..


Well that's my personal story on it

[Dapper Dan]

I had a similar experience. After setting my mother's box up and making the desktop as plain and simple as possible, she hardly ever asks me to fix computer "problems" anymore. When she was using ME, it was just about every other day...

[harner]

I tried converting my parents to RedHat back in '98. It worked great for a few weeks, then I couldn't use my scanner and everything snow balled from there. Oh well, at least I tried.

I'd say no. I would rather build a computer and load XP then teach a new OS to my parents on a brand new PC.

[Freston]

My mother runs Linux-only (Ubuntu) for about a year now. I never get any calls about it. She does ask questions when I'm over at her place, but nothing much. Mostly about games she installs from the repo. No, she even tells friends that I installed a good 'program' on her computer that is easier than what she had.

Heheh, I don't even think she could switch back to XP anymore.

[Artesia]

These stories are fairly encouraging. There's potential for a great thing and potential for disaster. But it's good to try.

I think the dual-boot setup is a fairly safe way to go. If they're just totally lost on the linux side, they can always fall back on Vista. There's just no predicting what problems will pop up because they impose these insane restrictions on themselves. Like, you're supposed to let the computer "rest" a few seconds after closing an app before you launch another. Or a website needs to load fully before you follow a link. Tabbed browsing? Nah! You shouldn't load two pages at once. They were absolutely adamant about getting a virus scanner onto the Mac before connecting to the internet (but have no idea what a firewall is). For which they purchased an external modem, not realizing that one came with the laptop.

If anything, I'm looking forward to hearing about their adventures.

[bigtomrodney]

Originally Posted by Artesia

For which they purchased an external modem, not realizing that one came with the laptop.

In the land of dodgy winmodems, that external modem may save your life

[Mel Thompson]

You see, I'm from this planet . . . Earth . . . and back there, you know, those silly people just load DVDs into their computers. I tried to get them to add libraries and dependencies in their terminals and then tried to get them into "aptitude" and "update" and "apt-get & synaptic," but the simpletons . . . they were just hoping to load in that DVD and watch a movie. They didn't even enjoy lines like "sudo apt-get install aptitude non-free plugin flash free non-free," which I just get the biggest kick out of. They just don't share my sense of humor. Me, I'm up late nights just mooning over libstdc55++ and lib6nqubrfm--++free/plug/non-free etc., but they just ain't feelin' my groove. So anyway, now that I muse this over, keep those Earth folks away from Linux if they plan to do much more than type a letter . . . oops, that's if they can ever figure out the printer set-up protocols. I kind of do figure them out, in a kind of psychic voodoo way which I can't really explain over the phone to them. If the printing thing fails I have them export as a Post Script when export as PDF isn't available and then we all together execute a dozen line commands to turn it into a low-resolution http which is then e-mailed to me and printed out, and heck I use the stamp to pay for their postage to send it back to them, what the heck. It's a kind of one-tenth-the-quality for six-times-the-price sort of thing, but I'm hot for it in a kind of half-Marxist/half-Libertarian in the low-rent basement, semi-deadhead, quasi-medicated kind of way. I like to think of myself as a shaved-headed, one-man Black Rock City of inept computing.

[bigtomrodney]

Originally Posted by Mel Thompson

You see, I'm from this planet . . . Earth . . . and back there, you know, those silly people just load DVDs into their computers. I tried to get them to add libraries and dependencies in their terminals and then tried to get them into "aptitude" and "update" and "apt-get & synaptic," but the simpletons . . . they were just hoping to load in that DVD and watch a movie. They didn't even enjoy lines like "sudo apt-get install aptitude non-free plugin flash free non-free," which I just get the biggest kick out of. They just don't share my sense of humor. Me, I'm up late nights just mooning over libstdc55++ and lib6nqubrfm--++free/plug/non-free etc., but they just ain't feelin' my groove. So anyway, now that I muse this over, keep those Earth folks away from Linux if they plan to do much more than type a letter . . . oops, that's if they can ever figure out the printer set-up protocols. I kind of do figure them out, in a kind of psychic voodoo way which I can't really explain over the phone to them. If the printing thing fails I have them export as a Post Script when export as PDF isn't available and then we all together execute a dozen line commands to turn it into a low-resolution http which is then e-mailed to me and printed out, and heck I use the stamp to pay for their postage to send it back to them, what the heck. It's a kind of one-tenth-the-quality for six-times-the-price sort of thing, but I'm hot for it in a kind of half-Marxist/half-Libertarian in the low-rent basement, semi-deadhead, quasi-medicated kind of way. I like to think of myself as a shaved-headed, one-man Black Rock City of inept computing.

You don't ask for help, you don't offer any but you do complain a lot. Have you asked yourself why?