Linux, now for Parents?

[waw]

Hi,

i've always used Windows, but I've been wanting ot switch over to Linux, I'm computer savy but actually taking the time to familiarize myself with the process has been eluding me.

My parents are relatively savy as well, but they are typical parents when it comes to computers. To make it worse, about once a year, they suffer massive viral attacks that forces them to take their windows/dell machine to folks like Staples and the Geek Squad.

Linux seems like it would solve their problem, and I've been told that they can format it to appear like their familiar windows so it wouldn't be a hard change for them.

What can you guys recommend?

1. Is Linux their answer?
2. How steep is the 'learning' curve... I'd probably be doing most of the work to set it up, I live too far away to help them everyday however.
3. What uh, kernel (i think it's called) or form of Linux/package should I get? The most complete and 'best' working, probably the better.
4. IS it possible and how easy to make it appear like Windows?
5. Any other thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Thanks for your time!

[Dann]

Well, if you could get everything up and running for them, meaning all the drivers installed properly, etc, I don't see why they would have a real problem with it. You'll probably have to give a bit of a crash course on installing things, like using synaptic instead of clicking .exe files. Things like that.

Distros using KDE tend to look a lot like windows. So perhaps Kubuntu. It's one of the easier distros to use, and the look shouldn't confuse them too, too much.

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
I think switching your folks to Linux, unless they really want to switch, is not really going to work. There are several members here who have stated that each time they tried to "convert" or introduce someone to Linux in this manner it has not yielded good results. Try introducing them to open source alternatives like Firefox and Open Office in place of Internet Explorer and Office XP/2003 and so forth. I think Firefox alone could reduce the number of spyware/trojans and hijacked OS files. I'm not trying to discourage you but rather save you some time. I wish you good Luck with which ever route you decide to take.

[rokytnji]

I'm a parent and Granpa to. I seem to do ok and I aint computer savvy.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Burn a few Linux LiveCDs and let your parents boot with them so they can play around in Linux a bit. Be sure to explain that Linux will run much slower when running from a CD, but if they like the system, you can install it to the hard drive when they are ready.

Have fun with Linux!

[jmadero]

I put my mom on Ubuntu for about a year and she really liked it until someone else came along and bought her a Mac and convinced her Macs were "the universal truth" for OS's...

But what I did...I set up the system completely and then set up remote desktop support and skype. Any time she needed help she'd just give me a call, I'd get on skype and I'd video chat with her while watching what she did on the computer so I could correct any wrong moves.

Oh yeah, she's also HORRIBLE with ALL electronics, so if your parents are savvy, I'd say definitely let them try it out...Maybe dual boot at the beginning just so that if they hate it it's not a pain in the .... to get windows and windows drivers set up again.

Also for Windows, you have them running a decent anti-virus and firewall? I rarely see people getting viruses if they are avoiding spam mail and have avast and zone alarm installed.

[i92guboj]

Hi,

i've always used Windows, but I've been wanting ot switch over to Linux, I'm computer savy but actually taking the time to familiarize myself with the process has been eluding me.

My parents are relatively savy as well, but they are typical parents when it comes to computers. To make it worse, about once a year, they suffer massive viral attacks that forces them to take their windows/dell machine to folks like Staples and the Geek Squad.

Just using avast! and some antyspyware software you can avoid most trouble, as long as your parents don't go clicking every single attachment that comes in spam mails.

Remove all the links to IE and set another browser as the default browser (firefox, opera, anything is better than IE and more secure).

Linux seems like it would solve their problem, and I've been told that they can format it to appear like their familiar windows so it wouldn't be a hard change for them.

A desktop is a desktop, I don't think they will be having any big trouble using it, as long as everything is set up conveniently so they don't have to worry about anything. In linux, when things work they usually keep working unless you change them, and to do so you need root permissions. Normal users can't break anything important.

1. Is Linux their answer?

Yes and no. Linux is less vulnerable to viruses and there's very little malware that actually works in linux. However, windows can be secured, and people can be teached how to behave correctly and what things they shouldn't ever do. The only difference is that linux enforces good practices from the start, and programs that are not well behaved just die horribly in favor of better alternatives.

2. How steep is the 'learning' curve... I'd probably be doing most of the work to set it up, I live too far away to help them everyday however.

For the regular desktop user there's no learning curve, other than learning how to work with the new applications. That can be helped a bit if you install some of the tipical linux programs on windows: openoffice, firefox, pidgin... So they can start becoming familiar with them before they start using linux.

3. What uh, kernel (i think it's called) or form of Linux/package should I get? The most complete and 'best' working, probably the better.

The word you are looking for is "distribution" or "distro" for short. Ubuntu seems popular amongst newbies, some other popular choices are fedora, suse, mandriva or debian, in no particular order.

4. IS it possible and how easy to make it appear like Windows?

All desktops are like windows. I don't really understand the guys who think kde is any more windowsy than gnome is. They all have a taskbar, a menu, windows, and that is. They are 99% the same stuff to the end user. Yes, it all works much line windows.