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My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

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Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#151

Post by JVIDEL »

frigg wrote: post #144
wting wrote: post #21

Both my parents are 60+. My mom is perfectly fine using Ubuntu on my old x61 for email, browsing, and YouTube. To be fair she could probably replace it with a tablet if it weren't for the fact that she visits a lot of flash sites (Chinese TV streaming sites). Likewise my dad is on another Ubuntu machine at home. His work needs access to some software / printers that can't be run via Wine so he's stuck with Windows th…

Nobody has mentions the UI. I know Ubuntu has come a long way but Windows' UI is much, much nicer. It may sound silly but I think it's a valid reason for some. The same reason why one would buy an iPhone over another less expensive (or non-apple) phone, you pay for looks (it may not be the only reason of course but it is part of it). People like nice-looking stuff, and older folks seem to care (or notice) less these…

One word: Cinnamon

It's what Ubuntu should be, its what Windows 8 should be! it's classic and yet functional and customizable, both my parents laptops are using it as UI and I hear no complaints.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#152

Post by nitrogen »

eropple wrote: post #143
nitrogen wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're forced to use Windows and need a terminal, I recommend running Cygwin's xterm with a rootless (i.e. no "root" background window, so windows share a desktop) X server. It's a lot better than running Cygwin's bash in cmd.exe.

I did this for a while, but mintty is good enough now and comes in Cygwin's standard packages.

It's been a while since I've used Cygwin (using Linux Mint for everything except gaming and music editing now), so I hadn't even heard of mintty. I'll check it out if I find a need for a good console in Windows again.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#153

Post by Raphael »

pavs wrote: post #125
bartkappenburg wrote: post #118

As I'm reading through the comments I see only two types of users: - the hackernews audience - 60+ low level users (no offence) The former group has enough experience and knowlegde to get the system (linux) adapted to their needs. The latter are only using it for either browsing, checking email or watching movies. I think we're forgetting the important 'middle' group: the ones that aren't in IT but are working with a…

The only reason Linux is not more mainstream than Windows is because its not pre-installed on your computer when you buy. Even installing popular linux distros like Ubuntu from scratch on a new system is much easier than installing a Windows OS on a new system. I recently had this experience and I was stunned to see that for Windows I had to search and download vendor specific drivers for windows to even work with my…

Windows 8.1 downloads drivers without prompt.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#154

Post by dubcanada »

spencera wrote: post #5

Just have to say, Apple has been working the usability angle a lot longer than Ubuntu and it doesn't seem to be upsetting Microsoft too much. Of course, this comes from a person who has never been able to rationalize spending his own money on a Mac.

I would actually disagree with that, as far as stats go Windows is losing market share. Not extremely fast, but they are.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#155

Post by frigg »

lawn wrote: post #148
frigg wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has mentions the UI. I know Ubuntu has come a long way but Windows' UI is much, much nicer. It may sound silly but I think it's a valid reason for some. The same reason why one would buy an iPhone over another less expensive (or non-apple) phone, you pay for looks (it may not be the only reason of course but it is part of it). People like nice-looking stuff, and older folks seem to care (or notice) less these…

I have to refute that statement in regards of Windows 8 on desktop. The amount of confusion in that UI, even for me, is a handful. If we ignore the metro side of things, I agree with you however.

>If we ignore the metro side of things

Yes, absolutely. My start screen is an empty, blue wall with a large tile taking me to the desktop. Despite the start screen I like everything else about the system.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#156

Post by lucb1e »

ma2rten wrote: post #136
lucb1e wrote: post #50

This thread is awesome. It always feels like I'm the only person on the planet using linux in school; school requires us to use Windows and teaches several other proprietary vendor lock-ins; and very, very few friends actually use Linux, even though most are programmers. Tomorrow I'm going to an open source event, mostly to show support for foss in general. Ironically the event will be in school: the very thing most…

What kind of Dutch school is that? High school? I studied Computer Science at University of Amsterdam. I think I was the only one who was using windows. (I would ssh into a university computer to do most programming).

Hmm, I'm not sure I want to tie too much information to my alias publicly, but I guess with enough effort you can piece it together anyway (as far as I'm aware there are not that many open source events in the Netherlands today).

I'm doing some IT study at Fontys. Not a university by Dutch standards, but their english name is "fontys university of applied sciences". In any case, we have one other Linux user in class and one macbook (I consider a Unix lookalike at least a tiny bit better than Windows), and we're an advanced class doing the study in three instead of four years. Some first year students I know (not doing the advanced track) are totally happy using Windows 8 with all the vendor's crap still in place.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#157

Post by georgebarnett »

jmspring wrote: post #71

My dad replaced his XP netbook with an older 11" MB Air I had. He has since downloaded Xcode 5 and started working on learning objective C in his mid 60s. His only subsequent request was figuring out a solution for my mother's machine requirements around an iPad. She's one of those that clicks on emails they shouldn't.

My mother (65) never took to computers. I gave her a laptop years ago, but the scary keyboard/trackpad black setup combined with the 60 minute charge (this was 2001) means she never touched it.

When HP had a fire sale, I sent her one and she loves it. I think the interaction model is more friendly for her than the unknowns if a trackpad and windows.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#158

Post by eropple »

davexunit wrote: post #40
nmridul wrote: post #3

The same experience here. My parents also use Ubuntu now (firefox, Libre office). The main issue with Linux is, some one needs to install and setup everything for them. Finding and installing that missing wifi driver is not something that they can do. Windows installation is breeze, just pop-in the disk and it will install everything for you. Hope pre-installed ubuntu systems get common.

>Finding and installing that missing wifi driver That "missing" wifi driver is not there because it's proprietary. It doesn't make sense to blame a free operating system for faulty hardware. In any case, I know that in Ubuntu, the user is informed of nonfree drivers being available and it's trivial to install the drivers from that point.

> It doesn't make sense to blame a free operating system for faulty hardware.

This mindset is toxic because it does not adequately think about the end user. I mean--drivers? What's a driver? Why do I, a user, care that it's difficult for Ubuntu to do something that Windows does? It doesn't work, that's all I care about.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#159

Post by tluyben2 »

ma2rten wrote: post #136
lucb1e wrote: post #50

This thread is awesome. It always feels like I'm the only person on the planet using linux in school; school requires us to use Windows and teaches several other proprietary vendor lock-ins; and very, very few friends actually use Linux, even though most are programmers. Tomorrow I'm going to an open source event, mostly to show support for foss in general. Ironically the event will be in school: the very thing most…

What kind of Dutch school is that? High school? I studied Computer Science at University of Amsterdam. I think I was the only one who was using windows. (I would ssh into a university computer to do most programming).

I studied CS/AI at UvA begin 90s and they had those horrible win 3.1 machines (the sysadmin there hated them); a lot of my classmates preferred that over the unix machines. Nice to hear that improved.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#160

Post by lucb1e »

sliverstorm wrote: post #105
lucb1e wrote: post #50

This thread is awesome. It always feels like I'm the only person on the planet using linux in school; school requires us to use Windows and teaches several other proprietary vendor lock-ins; and very, very few friends actually use Linux, even though most are programmers. Tomorrow I'm going to an open source event, mostly to show support for foss in general. Ironically the event will be in school: the very thing most…

What do you mean, nobody uses Linux? At my Uni, in CS you couldn't not use one *nix or another. All the classwork happened on some timeshares.

That sounds like it should be really. As far as I know, this isn't the case for Dutch, French and Argentinian schools (the ones I have experience with, or know someone that has experience with).
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