I work as a volunteer assisting elderly shut-ins with learning to use a computer. Instead of the troublesome and expensive Windows and Apple systems, which they can't afford anyway, I would like to set them up with a low-cost laptop with a simplified, standardized Linux-based system so they can do basic chores like letter writing, checkbook balancing and sometimes photo collections or email. Since these users are absolute technophobes, the obvious first requirements would be:

1) No command lines;
2) No passwords (must be secure system);
3) No antivirus requiring updates;
4) No complex desktop or taskbar (3 - 4 icons max);
5) No ability to disturb settings by accidental keystrokes or mouse clicks.

I have been using Linux Mint since January 2020, and have set up one simplified Linux system for an elderly person who was already familiar with computers. She greatly prefers this to Windows and Apple systems she has used before.

If someone has done this before for a new computer user, my questions would be:

1) How did it work out?
2) What Linux version and setup did you use?
3) What software did you use?
4) How did you secure the computer for this kind of user environment?

Any advice from someone's experience would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ron Purcell

I would say to stay with Linux Mint then but mainly use a dock for the icons. Your short list should include Tint2, Plank, and Cairo, in no particular order.

I used to put MX Linux on old computers/laptops to give away.

I put AntiX, (my distro of choice at the time), onto my sisters computer, & she's been using it happily ever since, must be a couple of years now, & I've had no complaints from her (74).

I'd say just use something with a standard desktop environment (as in: not an individual window manager). The DEs all have very good support for large font sizes, which is important for people who might not have great eyesight.

Regarding some of your points:
1) If you don't want them to use the command line, don't put a terminal icon on the desktop! Most modern distros boot directly into a graphical interface with a "display manager" to collect login details.
2) Some display managers let you set a default user. I think they still require a password, but of course you might not set one for that user. It wouldn't be very secure though.
3) You don't need an antivirus with Linux unless you're sharing files with Windows users, which your old people are unlikely to be doing.
4) Most Linux desktops start out with only 2 or 3 icons on the desktop or even none at all. If the user wants more, he creates more.

I'm not sure about no.5.

I'm not surprised your friend likes Linux. It's an ideal system for us oldies because it's secure against malware, very stable (no crashes) and predictable.

It has worked out well overall.

There were a few wrinkles initially with websites that still used Adobe Flash for videos, and that had to be manually installed/upgraded, but Mozilla Firefox would still disable it immediately every time a new version was released. More of an issue with Adobe/Mozilla being useless than with a Linux-based OS.

I have no idea what Linux version was used. It was a pretty standard setup of Debian GNU/Linux stable, which uses Gnome desktop. Not much extra software needed - think I installed LibreOffice and Calligra office (in case they preferred one of the other), VLC for videos, plus uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger addons for Firefox.

Secured with a standard passworded user account because they're only old, not stupid.

Thanks for all the tips - greatly appreciated!

Personally I would put (any distro; only the RAM and CPU has to decide) with :
- bar at the bottom (or like ubuntu at the left)
- few ions more direct on the desktop for link to files: phone number list, birthday list
- teamviewer so that you can log into their pc and make the necessary updates (if agreed) and perhaps update their phone number list!. remote is important (else you will have to spend a lot of time in driving to their location)

Seen lots of useful tips. But I would like to add one:
Use MX Linux KDE version
Reasons:
- KDE looks relatively familiar, coming from Win10
- MX is pure Debian (stable, Buster at the moment, but has lots of extra GUI apps for all kind of extra's.
- Most importantly: You can install it en tweak it to your needs . And then use the snapshot utility to create an installable ISO (with or without users, as you like).
- When you are fully satisfied, you can give this ISO to your "clients", or install it for them.

Tips for "set and forget" (yes, I know... never forget, but it's for a non-techical user) security:
- rkhunter, chrootkit, clamav, apparmor, maltrail(!!!), lynis, checksecurity, tiger

/etc/samba/smb.conf tips for getting samba to play nice in MS environment:
workgroup = <<your_workgroup_name>>
netbios name = <<your_machine_name>>
client min protocol = NT1
client max protocol = SMB3
server min protocol = NT1
security = user
usershare owner only = false

Tips for software:
- wine if you need certain Windows progs.
- Firefox and Libreoffice are pre-installed.
- I find Evolution the most hassle-free groupware suite, especially for GMail (including calendar and contacts)
- MS Teams and Zoom work flawles

Tips for "set and forget" backups:
- Timeshift for the OS
- Backintime for the /home and other filesystems.

Tips for a nice default user profile:
- Create a user and nice environment
- Move the files (inc. dot files) to /etc/skel
- chown root:root on these files.
Every new user will have the created look and feel.

I created a lot of different ISO's for specific needs in the past with MX18 and MX19
They allwere very easy to set up for me and later for my "clients" (from ordinary users to forensic experts).
The only downsid I can see for the moment is the upgrade path to the next Debian version
MX18 --> MX19 required a reinstall. I suspect it will be the same for Buster --> Bullseye

Thank you remmilou, I will look into these details. I expect some "clients" may be familiar with Windows, others with Apple, others only with a hand calculator, like the one I will meet tomorrow. Each one may need a different approach, though I was hoping a simple minimal user interface would work for most of them. Training people in their 80s and 90s for this could be "interesting".

A new question, remmilou - for a nontechnical user who doesn't do much with their computer, how necessary is it to keep installing new Linux versions when they come out? My own Mint 19.3 version and the one I installed for someone else last year are stable and working fine for our needs. I have so far seen no reason to install new versions that do things we don't need, unless support is discontinued. Would be interested in hearing other thoughts on that.

With respect to post #9, you don't need antivirus software or Samba on a stand-alone Linux computer — only if double booting with Windows or netowrking with a Windows computer, which your clients are hardly likely to do.

When setting up the computer, make sure you have a separate /home partition. That way, if you have a distro like MX or Mint which need to be re-installed when at the end of its life, you can do a clean install without wiping your data. Also, having all the personal files on a separate partition makes it easier to run a backup too to safeguard them.

Of the distros available,
> Mint is very reliable — get the Mate version as it's the one that they recommend for beginners.
> Zorin is said to be for "Windows refugees". The Gnome version would probably suit some-one more used to a smart phone, while the Xfce version would be better for some-one with Windows experience.
> Linux Lite is also designed for beginners or former Windows users.

I know this probably goes against the grain of the question, but what about giving them something like ChromeOS? Cheap, simple to use, probably meets at least most of their requirements.

I would go with slackware. It comes with multiple desktop environments for different hardware. Just set it to start run level 4
with auto login.
Install slackware 14.2 and do one update. good for a long time.
And if Slackware 15 gets released same thing. Just add skype everything else is there for browsing
watching videos etc etc. Takes me for ever to apt-get a system that works close to what slackware does out of the box.
You have four browsers two mail clients if needed,
etc etc etc Not one distro does this out of the box what slackware does.

Would it mean facilitation if you used something like Vivaldi as web-browser, as it it still comes with its own mail-client? My impression is that the choices must be limited. If the users are comfortable with Web-mail.., in this exceptional case (of an elderly new user), I might ... darn. They should have it!

The way in which a “supporter's” interventions are planned and organized should determine some of the software choices.

Apart from the quality of the environment and the programs, an important point is the time it takes for a new user to become more or less autonomous. You have to make concessions and the biggest challenge might be to abstain from imposing your own predilections.

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