Mom wants Linux
 

My mom wants linux. She is not very computer literate, she is just fed up with Windows.

Whats the easiest distro for a windows user to switch to? I use RedHat, but not so much as a desktop but as a server. Is there a distro that will be alot easier for her to use or should I just stick with my redhat?

I set up a machine for my parents with SuSE 8.2 pro. They like it; it's very easy to use.

If you do the setup for her it really doesn't
make a lot of a difference at the end of the
day whether it's SuSE, Gentoo, Debian, Slack
or Mandrake.

Once it's up and running they all do the same :}


Cheers,
Tink

My parents are doing fine with Fedora 1. : )

Well what about Wine, are there any that do a hassle free install of this (or another windows emulator)? She has software like quicken, etc.. that she dosent want to have to buy again

Hi,

There's a program out called crossover office which is basically an emulator. I'm using it to run Quicken, it is SO easy to set up. Quicken is one of the programs it was created to run. It's really good. And Lotus Notes has never been easier either.

>Craig

funny :)

Hey, great.
I would suggest a dual-boot setup. Don't make someone go cold turkey into Linux. A dual-boot lets you see the advantages and work through any problems while minimizing headaches.
I don't care if you think Windows is a total load of cr**. People change their minds about this when pushed up against a wall. Even though there is only a small problem to resolve. This keeps hurdles from being emergencies.
Any of the major Linux distros should be fine (if the install goes okay). Suse has
this package which I am considering on trying on my FTP Suse install.
Good Luck to you and your mom both.

Are you sure that Winerack is going to be
downloadable? For all I know Crossoffice
is pay-ware, and I can't imagine SuSE
putting it in the download-section.


Cheers,
Tink

Sorry, if that was unclear.
I did a Suse FTP install (that is free for all, as in beer).
The Winerack I am considering buying, just to see how far it goes for running miscellaneous Windows programs. As you say, I doubt this would be offered free.
I did try the Crossover plugin (again, not free) when I was running Mandrake and it worked great.

When my mother got her new Dell, she would call me all the time wanting to know how to fix Windows problems. About 6 months ago, I installed RH 8 with apt-get on her computer and everything works without problems. I'm gonna upgrade her to either RH 9 or Fedora soon though...

i would give her mandrake or suse because i have heard those are the easiest to use

though there shouldnt be any major differences on using them

but i think your mom is gonna have to learn some command lines and stuff
im a newb and i cant really get around any problem without people telling

me to do a command line dealy :)

I've heard that Red Hat 7.3 is hte easist to use. I'm a newbie and I run SuSe 8.0. It works good so far and I'm a newbie.

I found that SuSE 9.0 Pro has been the best distro for me, it was easy to set up and managed to configure ALL of my hardware correctly for me. I would strongly recommend it.

What makes it fun is to struggle a bit, and importantly enjoy the feeling of sorting the prob out. And the more you learn the more stable your linux become, soon enough your mom will have her own fav distro. As a newbie I have found there is always help for linux fans/newbs. Some time there is someone prepared to 'break' their own system tohelp you.