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Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

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Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#111

Post by daveFNbuck »

simion314 wrote: post #36
daveFNbuck wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a lot more work to get the same desired result of no more support calls.

What exactly? Plugin an USB then opening Firefox on youtube and watching a video, then try to print something? Is this more work then reinstalling Windows, do all windows updates, reinstall all the apps, restore the data , each time something fishy starts happening and you are not sure if the computer was infected?

Installing Linux on your parents' computer and then having them give up and get support from a local store is less work for you than properly teaching them to use Linux before installing it on their computer and then providing support whenever they have issues.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#113

Post by pjmlp »

brightball wrote: post #69
gotorazor wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the biggest problem I see to Linux adoption in these scenarios. Unless it is something super geeky, nobody makes client softwares for desktop Linux.

This has actually been one of the big perks of Electron.

I think you mean the Web.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#114

Post by rootoor »

My 97 year old grandpa has a MacBook Pro and a few years back he was constantly on the phone with my mom trying to fix issues. We installed a Remote Desktop server so my mom could fix things quickly. After a visit we diagnosed the problem. Because of his poor motorskills, he was clicking and clicking-and-dragging things by accident. To mitigate this, we installed some software that locked the applications in the dock and got him a mouse with a ball you move with your thumb. The problems disappeared overnight.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#115

Post by neodypsis »

mpg33 wrote: post #112

90% of the issues when it comes to tech and my parents is dealing with accounts(aka setting up accounts and keeping track of usernames and passwords).

I can relate to this. I tried, unsuccessfully, to teach my parents to use a password manager (e.g., KeepassXC).

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#116

Post by owaislone »

I used to install Linux on any computer I could find 10 years ago. Friends, family, fellow students, college labs (yes!) and had almost the Linux snob but I learned the same thing. Some fairly non-technical people I introduce to Linux are still using Ubuntu to this day and they actually feel totally lost when they have to use a Windows computer. They feel like pulling their hair when they have to use a Windows computer for some reason.

I've since calmed down and don't "preach" it anymore because of the "support calls" as I don't have a ton of free time and energy I had 10 years ago but I can totally relate to OP. Once I set a laptop up with Ubuntu and install apps that people need, they go without asking for help for _years_. Only issues people used to call me for were when they had to access documents that Ubuntu wasn't able to deal with properly like MS Office docs or old CDs with auto-play apps. Better broadband speeds almost completely fixed that problem on it's own.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#117

Post by Synaesthesia »

rootoor wrote: post #114

My 97 year old grandpa has a MacBook Pro and a few years back he was constantly on the phone with my mom trying to fix issues. We installed a Remote Desktop server so my mom could fix things quickly. After a visit we diagnosed the problem. Because of his poor motorskills, he was clicking and clicking-and-dragging things by accident. To mitigate this, we installed some software that locked the applications in the dock…

You should get him an iPad or consider it. My grandpa who’s 94 won’t use anything else. That said he’s probably used to the setup now.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#118

Post by pjmlp »

jcoffland wrote: post #72

> Do yourself a favor and use standard Ubuntu. Do yourself a favor and use standard Debian. Honestly, I don't know why anyone bothers with Ubuntu anymore. It doesn't really add much over Debian except for it's shitty release cycle.

It is a distribution that actually cares about the out of the box desktop experience, with the right set of drivers available by default regardless of FOSS religion.

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#119

Post by y4mi »

williamdclt wrote: post #99

I really would like to do the same. My father is always complaining about Windows problems that just don't happen with Mint/Ubuntu, and my mom has an machine that's too weak and old to run windows properly. The one thing that prevent me to do that is that they use their computer for work. While I'm certain that I wouldn't have any problem doing their job with Linux, they ask me "can you absolutely guarantee that I'll…

I can guarantee you that there is no equivalent to word on Linux. All compatible office suites display word documents differently, and none come close to feature parity if we're talking about advanced macros and similar.

There is no alternative to Windows If they need Microsoft office for work... Or a VM just to run that shitty application.

Same applies to video conferencing software. If he is forced to use a specific tool, he'll probably be be plain out of luck. Most can't host the conferences from Linux.

Thankfully, most people don't need word or one specific brand of video conferencing software... So using Linux would still be an option to a lot of people

Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls

#120

Post by rhizome »

phaedrus wrote: post #109
gambiting wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So my personal anecdote also involves mint - I've set one up for someone years ago(probably around 2013-2014) and you're right, it had no issues. However, when I came over to visit last year I wanted to do some maintenance, so "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" would be the start. Nope, turns out that the update servers for that version of Mint have been switched off long time ago and none of the links resolve an…

This was what turned me off from Linux Mint for my own use. The catch-22 of you need to upgrade to a supported version, but the servers / packages you would need in order to do the upgrade were turned off in the meantime. To be fair, Linux Mint states that a complete reinstall is the recommended way, but since I do development, it's a pain to have to locate and reinstall from scratch all the packages I need. Also I t…

it's a pain to have to locate and reinstall from scratch all the packages I need.

    dpkg --get-selections | cut -f1 > ~/installed_pkgs.log
    cat installed_pkgs.log | xargs sudo apt install
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