Hello,

My father, who's over 70 years old, is computer illiterate. He has had a computer for years now, but still fails to understand how basic functionality in windows works. Now he's managed to send and read emails (with lots of explanation from me and my brother), put some ebooks on his ereader and... well that's it. When he wants to add new books to his ebook manager, he's at a complete loss. When he needs to copy some files, he's at a complete loss. When something unexpected happens, he panics.

Now, he has this notebook (paper) where he keeps notes on how to do things, but he still manages to become stuck. If he didn't write something down, he often ends up calling me again and again asking how to do something.

Now, seeing all this. Windows is apparently too difficult for my father. Is there a Linux distribution I can install that is really simple in how it works? All he needs to do is send and receive emails (but he needs to be able to open various attachments), manage ebooks (and put them on his ereader), occasionally type some documents (he has a hard time understanding the basics of word processors) and be able to view/manage his photos

Please help. I'm at a complete loss which distribution is best for him. It needs to be way simpler then windows.

Whether it be Windows or Linux, the thing here would be to find applications which work easily enough for your father that he can contend with them.

Managing photos is any of difficult, challenging, confusing, or simple. However it all depends greatly on how you approach it, how much effort you put into the subject, plus the numbers of photos you take, receive over SMS, receive over email, capture from the internet, or receive in some other means. It's very simple for me to get photos over email, SMS, or by taking pictures; in fact my phone probably has thousands of photos. They are however all in different folders or places of organization and it's up to me to choose to let that be, or move the photos and videos around so that there is coherence to them. For me, organizing photos on something like a phone is easy, tap-hold, continue to tap to select, then do an action. On a desktop it's different, but similar. The bottom line though is Windows, Linux, or other, I still have to put in mind power and some amount of effort to manage them, if I choose to do that.

Linux can be simpler than Windows. Linux can also be far more difficult than Windows. What a person learns is the UI interface they are given. Note that people learn phones, and also that iPhones are different than Android.

It's great that your father is trying and that he has an organization method, or is trying to do that. But please be aware that there is no magic wand which can make something like web surfing or reading email idiot proof.

If Windows is to difficult for your father, I'm not sure you will find anything in Linux
that would be any easier. However the easiest linux system to use and learn would be Linux Mint.
It is very 'Windows like' and his Windows experience would be an asset.

+1 for Linux Mint. I moved my wife over to Linux Mint having been using Ubuntu and then Linux Mint myself for about five years at the time. She was reluctant to move but I was finding Windows increasingly difficult to deal with, especially when there were wifi problems so I persuaded her to let me replace it with Linux. There were some teething problems, especially as, unlike Linux, The Firefox profile was scattered about and I lost the saved passwords as they were not with the rest of the profile. I set it up to look as much like Windows as possible and with the Mint Menu being in the same place as the Windows Start Button and the task bar in the same place and I put icons for her most used apps on the home screen she actually adapted pretty quickly.

This may sound silly at first but I have used this environment for myself at times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_(software) https://www.sugarlabs.org/
works great on my Raspberry Pi...

Edit: fixed link.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I would second Mint, but I must say Windows seems completely irrelevant to this issue (note that Windows is not particularly easy to use--it's just that most persons learned it bit-by-bit, are used to it, and didn't notice the learning curve).

The issue seems to be complete unfamiliarity with using a computer. Whatever OS you pick, be prepared to do a bit of teaching. If what your father wants to do is send and receive emails and use his ebook reader, focus on teaching him those skills. Let him feel comfortable with those before moving on to geekier stuff, such as updating the OS.

Don't try to teach too much at once, which is a common mistake when computer adepts attempt to teach computer novices. They say, "It's simple, you click here then you click there then you type this" all the while doing it so quickly that the new user can't follow it. (My girlfriend has just this very problem when her boss tries to show her a new skill, say, in Excel, which girlfriend doesn't need to use regularly: Boss is so good at it and demonstrates it so very quickly that girlfriend, who is a whiz at Word and MS Lookout because she lives her working life in them, just can't keep up.)

Here's a good template based on JIT.

1. Show him the big picture (how the email program works). (Note: "Using email" is not a task. Using email is a skillset made up of a suite of tasks.)

2. Show him one task (say, opening, reading, and closing an email).

3. Walk him through the task (tell him what to do as he does it).

4. Have him do the task while you provide feedback (it's important to let him make mistakes; lead him to fix the mistakes, don't fix them for him).

5. Have him do the task and explain what he is doing as he goes.

6. Let him do the task and ask you questions if he gets stumped. Repeat until he feels competent on his own.

Move to the next task (say, responding to an email).