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Someone who hasn't used a computer since the Windows 95 times wants to have a computer with Internet now. This person is probably as computer-illiterate as you can get, so I'm going to have to put some serious thoughts in how to set this system up. Windows will require a lot of constant checking up, with anti-virus software and the likes, and I expect that to be way too hard to use, so I'm checking into a Linux system which can take care of itself. I can set it up to update everything once a month or so without him having to do anything, so his system stays reasonably up-to-date and safe without any user interaction needed, which seems like a good idea. I'm also thinking of giving him a GNOME3 desktop, modified to, yes, remove even more features. I want to get rid of the ability to have more than one "Virtual Desktop", so that going to the activities view will always list ALL his open programs. If anyone knows good GNOME3 extensions, a good distro or has a better idea, speak up please!
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:36:45 UTC from web-
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:38:05 UTC from web
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@neurario He barely used Windows 95, because it was way too hard for him. Luckily, between those times, he never touched any computers, so he isn't used to anything. I can give him anything which I believe will work best for him, without having to fear that it is "too different from Windows".
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:40:15 UTC from web
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@omni my first windows was XP =|
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:38:26 UTC from web-
@mushi My time went like this: Windows 95, followed by 98SE, then 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, SUSe Linux, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Parabola GNU/Linux-libre :P
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:41:42 UTC from web -
@mushi Mine was 3.01
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:43:28 UTC from web-
@mrdragon @omni my father always thought Computers were devilish machines made by satan to enslave people and destroy families. it was hard to get him to buy one for us. Then we had it unchanged for 8 years (I bought a better video card once, and i got weeks of lectures abouthow the computer was controlling my mind and stuff)
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:47:11 UTC from web-
@mushi With all due respect, this sounds like the kind of guy who shouldn't be using Windows and switch over to free software like I did. He's just a tad more paranoid than I am :P
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:50:32 UTC from web-
@omni he is the sortof guy who wouldnt be touching a computer
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:51:03 UTC from web-
@mushi If I would let him see and read some stuff from Richard Stallman he might give it a chance with free software, but I want to protect you from getting more crap for not using free software yourself then, as the FSF does a good job at making that sound evil (although, up to a certain point, it's at very least more dangerous to use) :P
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:53:10 UTC from web-
@omni no, he doesnt like computers, he doesnt even know what "software" means
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:53:47 UTC from web
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@mushi That's... yeah. Wow.
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:51:29 UTC from web-
@mrdragon for you to see what i have to deal with. we still have the exact same computer we had in 2009, when our old computer got completelly absolutelly super extra lost and nothing could fix that again
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:53:10 UTC from web
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@mushi I remember very vaguely playing with some sort of parrot program on MS-DOS. Might have been on Windows 3.1.
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:45:35 UTC from web
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@omni I kinda want to use Arch Linux, or Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, as that makes it easy to install no more than needed, but you can't let Arch or Parabola auto-update itself once a month and expect it to go right. I could, of course, set it up to notify me in some way when it goes wrong, or I could just SSH into his system once a month and take care of it myself quickly, but if he turns it off while I'm updating, that probably won't go fine either...
Sunday, 16-Dec-12 11:49:33 UTC from web
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