That would indeed be awsome. And that’s what I will do sooner or later since I KNOW that all the programs my parents use are running as good or better under linux! Maybe I will choose another linux distribution, but that’s another story….

EXCELLENT reasons. A lot of people do not use nearly all of the capability of their computers. Web surfing, sometimes little games, typing things. I fix computers, and I am surprised at how basic everyones setups are.

A good linux distro like Mepis, Ubuntu, or PCLinuxOS, will do ALL of that. The thing is that theyre such a pain to set up everything, but once its in its all gravy. Hey look at Windows XP! You need to spend 2 hours installing it and an hour and another 2 tying up loose ends (downloading, installing all the basics OO.o, FF, Thunderbird, WinRAR, Acroread, Flash, drivers, anti spy/mal stuff, running windowsupdate, etc). So when you really think about it, its not much worse to set up a linux machine even if something goes wrong.

If you setup there computer so they login not as an admin you’ll effectively get the same thing - but they will no how to use it and all of their hardware and odd software will work. Cost makes no difference - most hardware comes with a windows license, and a copy of xp runs just as well as popular linux on most hardware that mums and dads will have. Enable remote desktop when they do need to install something new and the administration is easier without linux. They both have a place. Linux is fun for me, windows is productive for them.

Where as thats a great idea, some moms and dads just want their PC to have Internet Explorer so they can play their Yahoo! games….Where as most youth or elderly people just “browse” the web or check e-mail. It all depends on the situation.

Are you saying that the latest version of linux will run just fine on a 386? If so, you are lying.
Also, the main reason that Linux is not more popular as a home computer is games (which might not be a problem with some mums and dads).
But before you install linux for you parents make sure that you will be available to solve any problems as they might find it difficult to get help from anyone else.

you know the alternative is locking down the windows install. A few hours when setting it up will save you from many phone calls also. I setup my parents machine in a restricted user mode. They can install programs or do anything like that but all of the programs they need are already installed.

I have even gone so far as to let my mother try out ubuntu from a live CD… she ran from it for a while. I’ve been pointing her toward open source to soften the blow, so she already knows firefox inside and out (well, for what she needs to know). But, when I tell her that spyware and virii are no longer a worry, she’s way more happy with her “safe” computer.

Dont forget about songbird for a replacement of itunes. Looks almost identical, but the features are better in songbird.

Yesss since I’ve discovered Ubuntu, installing it on my parents computer is the first thing I will do when I’m back home (I’m oversease right now). Maybe Xubuntu since their computer is quite old. It will be the same with anybody who asks me to re-install their system.. Nice post BTW!

Unfortunately one of my parents is basically hooked on a few games that are Windows only (Zooma, Bejweled) and its not easy getting her to switch.

I wish things were that simpole, and in 90% of cases it is, but when they are not you need to be an uber elite hacker to get Linux to run. Time concerns are almost always primary compared to money concerns. I would rather spend 300-500$ on a new, budget desktop, which is about the same price between Ubuntu and Vista desktops, than try to rehabilitate a recalcitrant ancient desktop. Case in point, my old desktop which is running Windows 2000, has had failing hardware components for a while, and even Win2K runs like its in molasses. I dl the Ubuntu installer, insert it into the machine, and during boot up of the live cd or text installer, it hangs, says it cant execute tty, and thats it. Nothing….., I cant even understand the damn error messages.

I tried doing this for my dad. I ended up giving up and putting XP back on. There are still kinks to work out.
Ubuntu or the other big distros are great, but as soon as something that doesn’t “just work” happens, you’re into heavy technical stuff and forum hunting to get it working.
Examples for me were installing Flash, and trying to get a USB headset to work.

This is a very good idea.

Except every once in a while your Dad will phone you up and say “I bought this tax software at Business depot to do my tax return, and i’m having trouble installing it.”

THEN tell your dad that you put UBUNTU on to make his life easier.

I’ve been planning on doing this to my Mom’s machine, actually installed it as a Dual boot with Xp and Ubuntu right after she bought it, with the intention of updating Ubuntu and showing her how to boot into it in the future. With Gutsy I think the time is now. It’s not like she’s going to need a full 80G drive anytime soon.

Oh, and as an extention to the ‘Mom and Dad’ theory, a good friend of mine was having trouble with his Xp system a few months back, had me over, I removed tons, and tons of crap, then it ran better. I told him, look, stick with Xp or go with Linux, either way - let me reinstall and you’ll have a like new machine. Weeks later he had trouble again, had another friend over who prompty told him his computer was ‘dead’ and that he had to buy a new one. Apparently after a few beers he did just that, bought the latest/fastest from Dell. So it’s not just Mom’s and Dad’s that think a computer is ‘dead’ just because it takes a few minutes to boot.

/me bangs on desk

I support my mom, my daughters (two), my nieces and nephews (7), my two sisters and my brother. It got so bad with Windows viruses, spam, spyware, bots, and so on that I finally said that if you want my help I’m going to have to put Linux on it. Ran through several types until Ubuntu caught on. My life if MUCH easier!

I think I might have to do that too. There are more and more programs that run on Linux now… and many of them are even better/faster on Linux than on Windows (Skype, Google Earth, etc). I think pretty much everything that my parents could ever need is already available on Linux, so they should be just fine with Ubuntu on their system.

The above reasoning was why I finally switched my wife to Kubuntu, the same as I’m running. In addition to the above advantages, networking is easier on our LAN.

She only boots to Win XP now when she wants to play Kyodai (still far superior to Linux mahjonggs).

I’ve been doing this for over a year now and I have this list of clients running Ubuntu - all administered remotely: father, 2 sisters, brother-in-law, cousin, 2 friends of the family, grandparents and 1 friend. None of which have had any major problems.

Thanks for the article. I enjoy the design of your site although the grey on grey is hard almost hard to read.

Anonymous says:
… I tried Ubuntu once (one of the newer versions), couldn’t get my dialup modem working. Ho-ho, poor driver support is the first problem with Linux now.

Of course. Driver support on linux is bad, and it takes a lot more nuance to configure and set things up. Look at Ubuntu, you got newbies installing it and then discovering that they have to drop to the terminal often to input a bunch of incomprehensible commands just to get their stuff up and running.

The latest versions of Ubuntu, for example, have improved drastically on getting things up and running (restricted drivers, MP3 support, etc) which is all point and click now. No howtos and dropping to terminal, but a lot of stuff is moderately difficult to set up and use, like wireless cards.

I wouldnt trust my mom to install Windows XP, and I especially wouldnt trust her to install linux. But if I install and set up linux, then she can do everything that she does just as easily as she would on a Windows machine.

Reasons to not switch your parents:

1. They are used to the Windows interface. Switching them would cause utter confusion regardless of Gnome’s/KDE’s similarities to the Windows’ GUI. Older people don’t learn as fast. They are more stuck in their ways, and they don’t like change.

i have a a way of trouble shooting over the phone …
i dont think i can do this with linux …
am not familair with the interface …
so am just sticking with macOS X …
hehe …

Nice article but could you please fix your HTML code? Half the bullet points are in blue, making them unreadable.

Plus the grey is not easy to read…

I got my mom on linux this summer and it’s been great for her. But dad won’t budge. Windows 98, Corel Draw 4, Word 97 and frequent reboots are what he’s come to expect and he’s not willing to change. For him, it’s about not wanting to learn new ways of working. And, still, he tries to obligate me into supporting his desktop. “I wrote the Apollo lunar lander code at Boeing in 4800 bytes and that should be enough for anyone.”

I have done this for my Dad’s computer. Here’s where it goes wrong.

- He is blind to everything that happens on a computer. He does not “see” the “updates available” indicator. There is some sort of peceptual filter that causes him to just not notice dialogs and windows that pop up all over the place.. even when he has to click to dismiss them he will *never* pay any attention to them.
This isn’t a problem with Linux.. it’s a problem with old people and computers and Linux can’t solve it.

- Printers.. there are a lot of relatively modern printers that simply aren’t supported on Linux.. My dad has one of them. Given that he is old.. he must print everything… he does not understand the concept of having information in a digital form.

- When something goes wrong, the neighbour can’t help. Linux does not administer itself.. it just requires administration less often. When you do need to do administration it is orders of magnitude harder to do on Linux. The GUIs just aren’t there yet. Your parents can’t run vi (nor should any human be expected to).

Audio on Linux either works or gives you nothing but grief. I have a degree in computer engineering and I can’t get working audio to “stick” on my Ubuntu box. If it works on the desktop it doesn’t work for Flash. If I get one of the no-working audio cases working I lose audio somewhere else (e.g. totem). Looking at the options for audio in the settings it is clear that audio on Linux is a disaster.. there are 4 or 5 options to pick for “what to use to try to make sound” one of them works (and it isn’t “auto”), but not for all applications.

What your parents really need is a Mac. They truly just work.. largely because of the control Apple has over the hardware. PC hardware is a minefield of half-backed chipsets and shoddy systems integration. Microsoft has the resources to try to sort out a solution. The Linux community can’t keep up.

I totally agree with you except for point #2. If you read the article called “windows is free” (first on google) you’ll see that for a lot of moms and dads, they don’t “pay” for windows in their minds, so they don’t need a free system.

Exceot for that, I totally support your point, since I do install a few linux distros on “normal people”’s computer every year.

Did you make the website on linux?? I am viewing it on a mac with firefox and the layout is out of wack…missing left and right sidebar, images are shifted.

I have been using Ubuntu for almost a year now. It’s hassle free, a joy to use and the computer is as fast as the day it was first installed. That’s the way it should be. I only fire up Windows for a few programs that is not available on linux.

Your page isn’t rendering properly in Firefox 2.0.0.7

This is entirely a great strategy for increasing the numbers of Linux users. In USA, there is a tremendous aging population where BabyBoomers are now in their 60’s and 70’s and need more computer help than ever. Get them on Ubuntu, get their printer and potentially MP3 player working, get DVD playback and DVD burning working, create a bookmark in Firefox called “Tech Support 1″ that goes to ubuntuforums.org, and it will work. I’m working hard on my folks, as is.

One problem I have with one set of relatives is that they use Quickbooks and so far I haven’t seen the Linux equivalent that is worthy. Is there an online Quickbooks-knockoff that’s just as good and as cheap or cheaper?

In reply to several posters here:

>

That’s why the reader, as a technical person, sets up the computer FOR the parents.

>

The latest versions of DSL can still run on a 386, and I believe Puppy can still run on those machines.

>

Parents don’t connect their camcorders to their computers. Digital cameras aren’t a problem these days, and iPods can be used easier on Linux than on Windows.

>

Good god, does installing Flash really qualify as “heavy technical stuff”? Dude, it’s two clicks away in the Synaptic Package Manager. If you can’t manage that, then maybe your parents should be providing technical support for YOU.

Good article.

Yep. My mother has been running Debian 4.0 ‘Etch’ since last christmas and there has been no problems at all Not a single problem. She is complete newbie and knows nothing about computers or operating systems but everything has worked as smooth as you could ever hope.

Couple of weeks before last christmas she said to me that when I come to home in christmas I should look at her computer because it was unusable. She used Windows at that time. When I then turned that computer on I immediately saw that it was totally messed up. It was full of trojans, viruses, spyware and other shit like that. Registry was broken and when I tried to start programs I got all kinds of ugly errors and BSODs.

I decided that I would not even try to fix it. It would be only matter of time when it would be broken again. I backed up any personal data, formatted the harddrive and installed Debian Etch which was in testing state at that time. Etch was wery stable already so I was sure there would not be any problems, and I was right.

I used that christmas holiday teaching her Linux basics and, how to transfer photos from digital camera to computer, how to use openoffice, how to use skype etc.

This christmas I’ll buy her new faster desktop computer or laptop, move Debian from old computer to new one, check that everything works ok and then install some new software etc. I’ll probably allow secure VPN-connection from my computer to her computer. I live about 120km away from her so VPN-connection would be an good idea.

I manage my family’s computers. There was a bit of struggle when I decided enough is enough with maintenance headaches and decided to move everything to linux, but when an online game they played start slowing down the machine due to malware, etc. they moved so fast to linux that there wasn’t any learning curve at all.

Of course they were used to open source and cross-platform softwares under windows so that helped too.

Most browser-based online games (and even Yahoo games) run nicely in linux.

Very good points….

My parents are running Kubuntu and I do not need to worry, neither do my parents…

definitly worth a try!

I switched my parents over to Ubuntu in July when high speed internet was finally available where we live. I have an SSH port forwarded, but I have yet to use it. I don’t have to worry about removing viruses and spyware anymore.

No trade like “Windows -> Linux” will ever go 100% smooth, but its definately worth a try. The cost is propbably the main reason why they would change. But today it would be totaly pointless to convince my parents to change, XP works perfectly for them.

I noticed that a couple of comments along the lines of “linux is not ready for the desktop because of the lack of drivers”.

So, what’s the difference with some hardware is “not compatable” with Vista?

Just stumbling through…

My parents use a ~300MHz processor Pentium II machine with 6gigs of storage and 64k of memory. They use Win98. They don’t go online. They have domain email account only which they can connect using a modem and email password. They use Eudora. Other than that they have Office 2000, and that’s about it. They don’t need anything more from their machine. They have been using it for more than 7 years now. I will never ask them to switch. And I know they will never want to buy another machine unless it catches fire or something like that. If they do want to buy another machine, I would seriously ask them to consider their choice and buy the cheapest machine in the market and install linux in it. Since they are using Win98 now, they will not have any problem using Ubuntu if I make sure I put only one taskbar in the bottom with similar layout to Windows. Also since they use Eudora, thunderbird is almost exactly similar to it. And OOo is no different to MSO2000. They will have absolutely no problem with anything if they do switch. If they do have any problem, they can always call me.

I wonder why people keep saying linux has bad support for hardware. Last time I installed Ubuntu, the only things I had to install was wireless driver, audio driver, and … well, that’s about it. Everything was installed out of the box. It popped up a message saying ‘properitary driver for graphics found’. One click took care of it. Rest of the things were automatically taken care of. When I last installed XP in the same machine two years ago, I had to install everything manually. I had to goto each vendor’s website, download the correct driver, and then install it. To my horror, XP didn’t natively support USB 2.0. I had to download separate driver for it. With linux as easy as a cake.