I have sent my father (who I no longer interact with) and my mother, a laptop with ubuntu installed. I have not had to support that thing for 5 years. it just runs. no updates, no virus scan ads. Its been amazing. i installed VLC player and firefox. They are living the life being "connected"
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
#32Would love to switch myself but with a 4k XPS had all kinds of scaling issues and gave up which was a shame. Considering typical Linux user probably has cutting edge hardware was surprised how poorly 4k was handled.
What desktop environments did you try?
Linux itself is oblivious to 4k, that's a job for drivers and DEs. Before you gave up, did you try switching DEs or looking for better drivers?
GNOME, for example, supports HiDPI and (experimental) fractional scaling. [0]
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#33> Show them the app store and tell them, whatever they install from there is safe (so no viruses or something)
Is this generally true for Ubuntu? I'm not terribly familiar with it, but i was under the impression that vetting apps is a difficult problem in general.
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#34I did the same thing a while back, except that I used Fedora because everything in Ubuntu crashed constantly on their old hardware and half the drivers wouldn't work. When their old Dell finally died, they decided to get a new one and asked me which they should get. I pointed them at the previous gen XPS (that still had USB-A ports) and they bought one with Ubuntu on it out of the box without asking questions and don't appear to know the difference (they did ask me if I could change the trash icon back to the old one, because they didn't like how "blue" the new one was… but that was a minor change compared to my dads work machine being upgraded to Windows 10 so I think they're okay with it for now).
So far they seem happy with it; hopefully more laptops ship with Ubuntu or similar in the future.
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article mentions that first you check how they use the computer, transition them to free software apps, after that transition to Linux. To check if their hardware works you can use a Live session, check the video, sound, network,printer.scanner etc
That doesn't work for stuff they buy on their own, which was what happened on my case. Additionally any dude at the local PC store can help with configuration issues during warranty. Or when their network goes tits up and the calldesk from the network provider only has support scripts for Windows or macOS.
For configuration you can help them with TeamView or something similar, usually parents don't go and buy printers or video cars without asking you if you are the one that is more technical.
But if you already ton't help them cleaning Windows and instead sending them to a store then sure let them continuing use Windows.
I am a Linux user and Free software supporter but I would never try to switch someone that is happy with his system, I am lazy and I hate taking responsibility for the system. (as an example a friend of mine fixed someone PC by reinstalling Windows but the sound would not work because of missing drivers (he did not had internet do find drivers) and he was suspecting of stealing the sound card or breaking the sound somehow... so yeah if you don't care send them to a store)
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article mentions that first you check how they use the computer, transition them to free software apps, after that transition to Linux. To check if their hardware works you can use a Live session, check the video, sound, network,printer.scanner etc
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?
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#37I'm curious how it actually saved you headache and support calls? Your general process of switching them over was well thought out, but I can't see how this really helps either of you.
In my experience Linux requires a lot more command-line tweaking and such to get basic things working, but then again that could be for my more advanced use cases.
So the only benefit I can see is that it is more privacy focused and safer than Windows, but at the cost of a limited application selection (through the Ubuntu App Store at least).
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't work for stuff they buy on their own, which was what happened on my case. Additionally any dude at the local PC store can help with configuration issues during warranty. Or when their network goes tits up and the calldesk from the network provider only has support scripts for Windows or macOS.
For configuration you can help them with TeamView or something similar, usually parents don't go and buy printers or video cars without asking you if you are the one that is more technical. But if you already ton't help them cleaning Windows and instead sending them to a store then sure let them continuing use Windows. I am a Linux user and Free software supporter but I would never try to switch someone that is happy…
Exactly because I care to have a life outside work, and don't want them to have to depend on someone located 3000 km away, that I rather have them going to the local PC store.
Actually, yes my parents do buy stuff on their own, or by talking with friends of theirs, to whom Linux is that strange thing that some "university guys" use.
And to make it clear, it isn't a random PC store that does dirty tricks, just like many random car repair shops happen to do, rather something proper.
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#39I run Ubuntu on three machines and never in a million years would I set it up for my parents. I still struggle with lots of little gotchas and annoying issues like sometimes it just doesn't want to suspend. Or sometimes after resuming, the keyboard doesn't work so gotta unplug it and plug it back in. Sometimes my wifi just conks out for no apparent reason. On and on, just lots of little paper cuts.
I switched my parents over to OSX years ago and have had to do almost no tech support at all. I really like Linux, but I still would argue that the OS that "just works" the most is still OSX.
Re: Switching my parents over to Linux saved me a lot of headache and support calls
#40Skype is not mentioned on the page.
I guess, we live in different realities.