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So it's happened; mom's venerable Dell has bit the dust and I'm being called on to find her a new laptop. Everything I've seen here and elsewhere says Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare and we're trusting Microsoft's forced automatic updates to not break the computer. Dell is still offering computers with Win 7 and 8.1, but Microsoft is pushing the OS upgrade hard and heavy. I'd love for her to let me set her up with Linux but she's devoted to Google Picasa (Google not porting their apps is another rant) and I'm not sure how often she's going to be calling me with some Windows only program she needs. And then there's Apple, which makes my fingers itch to type, but it's looking better and better. So, what is the collective wisdom of the Soylentils*?
- Is windows 10 really not that bad and just roll with it.
- Is Linux finally ready for Grandma?
- Stick with 8.1 and turn off all the updates?
- Shell out the cash for a Macbook?
*Irony duly noted.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Walzmyn on Tuesday November 03 2015, @12:57PM
I'm in idiot. Why didn't I think of using SSH for updates? For crying out loud, that's how my own laptop usually gets updated; I see an alert on my desktop and I just update them both from the same chair. That was my primary concern about getting her on Linux and me living in another state - updates and installs confusing her.
Mom (I've got 4 kids, hence the 'grandma') already has an iPhone and iPad but is not happy using them since her computer died. In the lag between submitting this and it getting posted my mom's impatience and financial station asserted themselves. She drove an hour away to touch a Macbook, went home and ordered a Macbook pro with out even blinking at the $3k price tag.
I was meaning to ask the question in a more broad sense - I'm quite sure this is not the last time I'll get asked this question by the computer semi-literate. I've helped spec out dozens of computers, desk and lap top, but I'm just thinking it's time for these folks to get off of Windows.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BasilBrush on Tuesday November 03 2015, @02:09PM
She made absolutely the right choice for her. She's got an easy to use, secure computer which will run her key application. Had you served your own preferences instead, she'd probably have a Linux Laptop that she wouldn't use.
Hurrah! Quoting works now!
(Score: 5, Informative) by jmoschner on Tuesday November 03 2015, @03:13PM
Don't rule out a Chromebook. Cheaper to buy/replace and less on the machine software wise to maintain. If someone is already on board the google ecosystem it makes it that much easier.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday November 03 2015, @04:44PM
I'm in idiot. Why didn't I think of using SSH for updates?
Probably because it's not always easy to walk an end user through forwarding the SSH port through a NAT gateway, or even possible in the case of carrier-grade NAT.
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Tuesday November 03 2015, @05:12PM
A VPN might help. Alternatively an ssh tunnel to a fixed up machine on startup initiated by the target machine.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday November 03 2015, @06:27PM
Yup. autossh
http://linux.die.net/man/1/autossh [die.net]
something like this run on Grandma's machine upon every boot:
autossh -M 0 -f -N -o "ServerAliveInterval 300" -o "ServerAliveCountMax 3" -R 39876:localhost:22 joehacker@homebase.homeip.net
joehacker is your login on your own machine
homebase.homeip.net points to your own machine.
On your machine, every time you need a shell on grandma's machine you just type:
ssh localhost -p 39876
It pierces any firewall Grandma might be behind.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @06:28PM
I use Teamviewer. There system seems to reliably udp hole punch through three (yes three) layers of NAT on one side and one layer of NAT on the other.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @07:01PM
Not just SSH, there is teamviewer, as a desktop tool (Win/ Apple, Linux). Free for non-commercial use. https://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx [teamviewer.com]
I used to help my brother rebuild his computer in Vegas, while I was in NC. Was online for 8 hours reinstalling and setting up his windows machine. Just had my wife install it on her win10 machine, so I can manage her machine from Linux downstairs (broken foot not allowed to use stairs let alone leave bed)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @10:24PM
Linux Mint and Xubuntu have each been mentioned several times.
Below, Rich (945) mentions a classic desktop experience and points to the "good enough" paradigm (which Redmond has had as a business model for decades). I agree.
In that vein, he also mentions refurb'd hardware. I agree again.
Elementary OS, which he mentions, is another Ubuntu respin.
I have seen that distro getting mentioned a lot for its beautiful appearance.
(Whether that is old fanboys advertising the brand or new fanboys affirming the hype, I can't say.)
For those who think that Linux is too big a UI change from Windoze, one of my favorite Grandma stories is a post by Brian Masinick telling how his aged mom has hit the ground running with multiple Linux distros. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [freeforums.org]
(Now, it could be that he got the "adaptable" gene directly from her.)
For the folks where the usually-mentioned distros are "a jarring experience", there are a few distros that make an effort to emulate the look of Windoze's UI.
The most commons names are Zorin OS, Q4OS, and RoboLinux [google.com]
RoboLinux even comes with a VM [google.com] to allow folks to run that last Windoze-only app [softpedia.com] that they just can't shed.
As for closed-source proprietary TeamViewer, there are FOSS alternatives. [alternativeto.net]
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday November 03 2015, @11:23PM
I set my Mom up with a Linux system. She just needed web and mail and hadn't had a computer before, so it was fairly easy with nothing to unlearn.
SSH and vnc make it easy for me to support.