My sister's windows machine decided it doesn't want to run, and I've convinced her
to try Linux out. I figure I'd install Slackware because I know it best, and well I can
have it up and running fairly quickly.

Since I've primarily run Linux since the days of win95 I'm not sure what software a windows
user would be comfortable with. She primarily uses her computer to watch tv, play mp3s,
rip dvds, bit torrent, and browsing the web.

Here's my short list of Linux replacements for the software she uses:

Xmms inplace of Winamp
Xine to replace media player
Azureus for bit torrent
Mythtv for pvr/television watching
Xcdroast to burn cds/dvds
and Firefox.

I'm not sure what to use for ripping dvds, and anything with that requires a command line
is out of the question at this point. What else should I look into?

Gnome is probably the best bet for a window manager, but else can replace the capabilities
of windows? What should I use for automounting the dvd burner? What should I use
for a graphical login?

I don't think the GUI looking like windows is important, because she did bring up
how much she liked OS/2 when she ran that. Ideally I would like to provide her with
something that can give her the functionality of Win2K, but have the speed/stability
of Linux.

Any help or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Look up autofs - I'm fairly sure it comes with Slack.
Alternatively, you can get a plugin for GKrellM (or maybe it comes with it? I forget) to mount filesystems at the push of a button..

Personally, I like XDM - small, simple, and easy to customise. Since I always use the same WM (FVWM2) it's no problem for me. If you want to give her the option of selecting a different WM at login time, the KDE one is probably better..

Thank you for the info. I will look into XDM, or possibly GDM since I'm not overly fond of KDE. It probably would've been
best if I had performed a search on some of my questions, but it's very late(or early?) and I'm not thinking too clearly.

I've sucessfully switched over a couple of people - with KDE, firefox, xmms, OO, and k3b they were thrilled... no complaints so far. the only possible confusion was with burning, but it's no more difficult than nero that they're used to. I don't know about gnome, but kde really has everything in terms of newb-friendliness, window behavior, eye candy, etc.

I'd recommend stripping down the "k" menu to the essentials, and don't even bother telling them about the kde control center or terminal at first -- too many options can confuse newly-converted m$ users

to convert relatives to use linux is easy...

first you have to go to their house and brag about linux.. tell them you are not trying to convert them.. tell them they have the free will to choose which OS they want to use.. tell success stories about linux.. then visit their homes every friday for a linux study.. and in a few months they will be converted to mormons.. i mean linux... hey it worked for my cousins... try it. heh

To rip dvd use mencoder from MPlayer package, it produces good quality DIVX avi.

LOLOLOL


Thanks i needed that

use Amarok (www.kdeapps.com(org?))
IT's a lot better than xmms

I think for the average Windows user, KDE is going to feel more familiar to them. If you are going to use slackware, you will need to get everything set up for them. Otherwise you would probably want to set them up with one of the more newbie friendly distros.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-General and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

for the dvd rips try acidrip as a front to mencoder. It works like a charm.

Gnome will automatically mount the floppy or CDROM from the computer screen if you double click on it, as long as your fstab is setup correctly to allow it.

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto default,users,ro 0 0

--Shade