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Old 10-05-2009, 11:19 PM   #1
linuxguy0481
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So I want to put a KDE based Linux distro on my parents desktop.


My father is in early seventies and my mother in her mid sixties. She is currently a school teacher and my father a retired quality engineer. I just wanted to give you guys a brief background on my parents.

After reading the viruses and especially a trojan that hijacks the browser and can steal your balance from your bank account got me worried to tell you the truth. My parents expect me to secure their computers. Which I have successfully in the past before but I am not always available so you can see I am worried a bit.

I really want a KDE based distribution for them. I have a done trial version with Gnome on a laptop for them to borrow and they did not like it much. They preferred KDE.

I will post the link below for the computer specs:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ctID=c00575717

I upgraded the RAM to 3.5 gigs of RAM recently. Right now it only has one partition and its running Windows 7 as we speak.

I most likely will be running a dual partition with Windows. There is just one iffy thing about the software my parents use. Both my parents rely on Office 2003 because of the International toolbar. They type in Spanish a lot and need that toolbar to click on the special symbols they need for the Spanish language. It's easier for them to use that than to memorize some special key combinations. If someone can tell me an open source equivalent to the International toolbar please tell me.

I would like a seamless integration using Wine to run Word 2003. I just want my parents to see Microsoft Word icon double click and boom they see the Office 2003 program staring back at them. They also use Skype to talk with my sister in Nebraska and have a Epson printer.

The video card is a ATI Radeon Express 200 by the way.

I would like it to be fast for them so maybe should I stick with a 64 bit distro?

I also would like them to either auto login or have them type in the password and see a GUI desktop.

Here are the distros I was thinking about not in any particular order.

1. Slackware.
2. Sabayon
3. Linux Mint KDE.
4. Kubuntu
5. Gentoo
6. Arch
7. Fedora KDE
8. PCLinuxOS
9. Mepis
10. Mandriva
11. Sidux

I also want something that easy on the eyes for them regarding graphics and fonts. Something pretty recent with a kernel release. I don't want a three versions ago kernel. Pretty good with program and system updates and FAST. I don't mind getting my hands dirty for terminal work either.

The primary use is Word 2003 with typing in Spanish with the toolbar, reading PDF documents, getting Powerpoint slideshows in emails from friends and family, watching youtube videos, doing some banking and Skype.

I really hope you guys can help me out with this one.

Thanks again.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 01:26 AM   #2
htnakirs
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Try live CDs of a distro before committing to an installation on the hard disk. Get Wine and check if the required apps work well.

I would rate PCLinux OS 2009 highly. Next, try Opensuse 11.1 - the live CD comes with KDE4 which is functionally dumb, but you should be able to test the usability of the distro and if suitable install it through DVD with KDE3.5.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 07:01 AM   #3
ronlau9
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My suggestion take a closer look at PclinuxOs, Mandriva , Linux Mint .
They are really easy distros to get used to.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 08:21 AM   #4
scheidel21
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I suggest Debian or Kubuntu and paying for crossover office(version of WINE) for guaranteed Office 2003 compatability with WINE Install OpenOffice.org for Impress as well, if you are not installing powerpoint with Office 2003. The remainder of the things should run fine. You can setup auto login on the KDE login setting via the Control Center Skype has a client for Linux you can download from their site, PDF docs can be read using KDE built-in stuff, and the backports site has a really easy flash plugin installer using apt-get. Works great for installing it even on a 64-bit distro. The banking stuff if web based should not be a problem as long as they use Mozilla/Iceweasel to browse.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 02:02 PM   #5
salasi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by linuxguy0481 View Post

I really want a KDE based distribution for them. I have a done trial version with Gnome on a laptop for them to borrow and they did not like it much. They preferred KDE.
Ahh, yes, but which version of kde? If 3.5.x is acceptable to you, I'd advise that you stick with this older version for the moment. If it has to be a kde 4.x version, try to go for an as up-to-date version of kde 4 as you can. Everyone will be different, but, for me, 4.3.1 was the first version that I'd describe as useful for an end user - still some rough edges and 4.3.2 is appreciably better, but if your distro of choice only makes 4.2.0 available, well, it shouldn't be your distro of choice (IMHO).

(Just to complicate this a little further, don't mistake the version that comes with your distro as the only thing that is available. For most distros, you can click an update button and get a newer version; the exact procedure will vary from distro to distro, and you may have to add some kind of update repository, but, if you have the bandwidth, it isn't a difficult procedure. This doesn't apply to kde 3.5.x, so if this older, less flashy, version is tolerable it does make life easier at the moment.)

Quote:
I would like it to be fast for them so maybe should I stick with a 64 bit distro?
I don't know what makes you think that this makes an appreciable difference, but it really doesn't. In some use cases 32 bit will be faster, in some 64. For most people, 64 will probably just edge it by a few percent, but unless you (or they) run benchmarking programs, you'll probably never notice, unless you have more than 4G of ram (which you don't) and need to use it and even then a PAE kernel may do the trick for you.

Quote:
Here are the distros I was thinking about not in any particular order.

1. Slackware.
2. Sabayon
3. Linux Mint KDE.
4. Kubuntu
5. Gentoo
6. Arch
7. Fedora KDE
8. PCLinuxOS
9. Mepis
10. Mandriva
11. Sidux
Slack, Saba, Gentoo and Arch are pretty techie distros; now I know you want to administer it rather than have your folks do it, but the question is are you happy with one of the techie-er distros.

Personally, I haven't tried a recent version of kubuntu, but I've always thought that they didn't do as good a job with kde as either other people do (eg openSuSE) or that Ubuntu does with Gnome.

Out of your list, Mint, Mepis and (just possibly, based on ancient experience) Mandriva would be my choices, and to that list I'd add OpenSuSE.

PCLOS isn't a bad choice if you want one of the 'I can't believe its not Windows' style things; I can't see the point myself as far my as own usage would be concerned, but for someone who is a devoted windows user, I suppose you can make a case for it.

Quote:
The primary use is Word 2003 with typing in Spanish with the toolbar, reading PDF documents, getting Powerpoint slideshows
Is Open Office acceptable; I haven't tried it in Spanish and issues with char sets may come into play (and there are detail differences between the basic OO version and the go-oo variant).

Quote:
After reading the viruses and especially a trojan that hijacks the browser and can steal your balance from your bank account got me worried to tell you the truth. My parents expect me to secure their computers.
Is there any chance of telling them not to do stupid things, and having it be effective? Whatever technical measures you take, having sensible users who are alert to, eg, phishing attacks, and don't fall for them is a big help.
 
Old 10-06-2009, 03:51 PM   #6
linus72
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I recoommend Moolux linux
slax-based, autologin, autoX with KDE
has firefox, opera and more
can be installed to hd too
its really nice

http://www.moolux.org/
 
Old 10-06-2009, 04:01 PM   #7
linuxpokernut
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Kubuntu all the way. The patch is to cigarettes as Kubuntu is to Windows, i.e. a powerful tool to wean you. It is the best transition OS IMHO and when my my own Dad is ready thats what I'm giving him.

The only problem is getting office 2003 to run in wine, and its one of your main concerns. This is what i can dig up on it...

http://wiki.winehq.org/MicrosoftOffice2003
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=2735

I am thinking about going to online college, which will require me to either hack it or install windows, and I ain't installin' windows. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of it on hand to see if i can get it to work or not, with the functionality you desire. From what I see on the wine wiki, it is do-able, however complicated.
 
  


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