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A PC for my grandmother?

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by SteelBrush, Feb 21, 2011.

  1. SteelBrush

    SteelBrush

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    Today my grandmother asked me if she could have her own computer. At first I thought I'll just get a G4 for £10 and give her that, but she wants to use the Internet to keep intouch with family members, I also have a horrible feeling she wants to use facebook, so a G4 just won't do. Inspite of taking basic courses at the local community college about ten years ago, she is still intimidated by Windows, every time it hassles her with "do you want to do this?" She fears she has done something wrong. She has used OS9 but it's no longer viable for Internet surfing.

    So I was hoping that well informed members of retro would be able to point me to a suitable Linux distro. I know they produce distros for children, do they release simplified distros for inexperienced over-65s? If not can someone recommend an easy to use distro.

    I haven't actually built the pc yet or aquired many components, I have a case, a card reader, a super drive, and a PSU. The likely specs are as follows.

    CPU: Intel or AMD dual core

    Motherboard: microATX

    RAM: 8GB max

    Graphics: Built in or modestly priced card.


    I have limited experience with Linux, the most fun I ever had with it was when I installed I think it was Red Hat on a Performa 6320 when it was the fasionable thing to do. It was over ten years ago and I've only ever booted up a live CD since, so anything that's not too complicated for me is a bonus.

    So any help is very much appreciated.
     
  2. Skaarg

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    If she is intimidated by prompts for "do you want to do this?" I would feel times where linux asks for your password to perform an action would be worse for her. If she's used OS 9 before and enjoyed it have you considered building a hackintosh? (because I assume your grandmother doesn't want an expensive new Apple computer, nor would I ever recommend it. =P)

    Honestly I would go with an AMD X2 to save some money, and only 2GB of RAM will probably be necessary for her purposes, and decent onboard video will do. I don't see too many grandmothers playing crysis, but one of my old UT clans did have a 55 year old lady. =P
     
  3. TmEE

    TmEE

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    For internet browsing you're not going to need an extra GFX card, any onboard thing will do. 2GB RAM is very reasonable for such use, even 1GB would do if there was an older OS on it. I would suggest a cheap AMD Sempron CPU, it will do just fine for things described, even a PIII will :P
     
  4. Ritz

    Ritz

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    That... That's awesome. Can you forward her my number?

    I think we should make this a thread about gamer grandmas.
     
  5. Flygon

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    Why not chuck her some Windows XP? That hardly has any "Do you want to do this" prompts, in my experience.
     
  6. Overlord

    Overlord

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    XP is a ten year old operating system that's no longer being actively patched. I wouldn't recommend it for a new computer.


    I've seen older people happily using desktop Linux on netbooks - something basic like Ubuntu once properly set up will be perfectly fine if all she wants to do is browse the web (Firefox) write/print letters (OO.o) and send email (Thunderbird or Evolution). Hell, if she wants to do IM down the road, that's what Pidgin is for.

    99% of people will never need beyond these.
     
  7. Spanner

    Spanner

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    Linux Mint might be the perfect distro, considering that it's known as a Linux beginner's distro.
     
  8. dsrb

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    8 GB grandmother is now a meme
     
  9. Infiniti

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    In the past 10 years I've known 3 old women that all thought the CD drive was a cup holder.

    Best advice I can give, remove the CD-Rom drive once you get an OS on the build.
     
  10. Shadic

    Shadic

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    Why install via disc anyways? USB is more convenient in a few ways.
     
  11. SteelBrush

    SteelBrush

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    [​IMG]


    Srsy.

    Linux Mint does seem the best option. It's a distro I was aware of, so why I didn't think of it, I guess when I think of Linux I just think Ubuntu and not much else.

    8GB with a dual core is excessive for now but maybe in the future she'll get the confidence to use windows 7.

    Can anyone recommend good some good Linux compatible peripherals? I would need a webcam and a trackball (she finds it easier than a mouse and my current one is ADB)

    My grandmother is also a gaming granny, she uses the wii almost daily. I can't imagine her playing a FPS but she's better at wii golf than I am.

    EDIT: Clicked wrong button, derp.
     
  12. RamiroR

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    Don't feed her linux. Don't. First try hackingtoshing :D
     
  13. SteelBrush

    SteelBrush

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    If your implying that she use OSX, I'd rather she didn't. I personally hate it. I use it daily and I find kills me a little bit every time I boot up my G4, it is in no way an improvement or uprade over OS9. If not please elaborate further.

    Linux Mint does have a PPC variant, so I'll try this out in the next few days, I might drop OSX for Mint depending how it goes, I'll update with progress.
     
  14. Maxd

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    Put Ubuntu Netbook Remix on there. Big icons, stupid-proof, practically. It runs fine on desktops, very resource-friendly, slick looking too.
     
  15. Conan Kudo

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    I'd personally suggest Jolicloud. It's a variant of Ubuntu that has been specially adapted for netbooks and old computers. It blurs the line between web based and local apps, and is fairly idiot proof.
     
  16. Skaarg

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    I think Jolicloud is a neat idea, but they suck for support. When I installed it on my netbook my wireless and touch screen (sure this is more likely to have a problem) didn't work, but they said it would be fixed by 1.0. Thing is on their support site many people had problems that were just set as to be fixed in 1.0. When 1.0 finally came it fixed some problems, created new ones, and removed features. All the Jolicloud team had to say was that it'd be fixed in 1.1. Jolicloud might get there some day, but I would not recommend it as a main OS.

    As for people saying Ubuntu netbook 10.10, (to my disgust) Unity is coming to all versions of Ubuntu in 11.04. So I would just wait for that or install the current version of Unity on 10.10.
     
  17. Overlord

    Overlord

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    To be blunt, a Hackintosh is bad for anyone except a power user who knows how to get around the problems that come up. For a regular Joe who's interested in OS X it's either pay a fortune to Jobs or simply don't bother at all.
     
  18. nineko

    nineko

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    I'd just use XP, 2000, or even 98. Simpler, faster, better.
     
  19. Overlord

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    And I already covered why all 3 of those are bad ideas. =P Old OSes with non-actively patched-yet-known security flaws are NOT something you want running on a computer for someone who isn't a very confident user.
     
  20. SteelBrush

    SteelBrush

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    I would just love to shove an old OS on an old machine, if all she was going to do was use MS Word to print a letter then I would. Win2000 is my favourite MS OS, it's just a clean classic enviroment that doesn't harass you like XP. However there is no browser support, IE6 is a security joke and others such as Firefox no longer support the required version. Using an outdated OS (OSX10.2 Jaguar) on my main Mac, I know that it causes too many problems. I am experiencing increasing difficulties due to javascript. Some websites don't even render correctly. I often have better luck using Classilla (an in development browser for OS9) than I do FF3, Safari and IE5 are no better.