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If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

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Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#51

Post by kube-system »

alamortsubite wrote: post #37
kube-system wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Ubuntu is fine if someone is using a browser and that's about it. When they start interacting with other software or services that expect them to be on Windows/Mac, that's when the problems start. For instance: your family member comes home from the store with a boxed copy of TurboTax expecting it to work on their computer.

TIL you can still buy a desktop version of TurboTax.

I see them at some aisle end-cap in just about every big box store January through March.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#53

Post by number6 »

matteoraso wrote: post #33
tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

>It is not a seamless experience for your average Mac or Windows user. Maybe not in 2012, but Windows 11 is such a disaster that I firmly believe that Linux is now the user-friendly option between the two. The only problem is that on rare occasions, you do need to debug some very frustrating issues. It's a tradeoff between having an OS that works well 99% or an OS that's never quite right 100% of the time.

> The only problem is that on rare occasions, you do need to debug some very frustrating issues.

Why are all my links opening in Edge? Didn't I deinstall it? What is Candy Crush?

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#54

Post by xigoi »

tapoxi wrote: post #16

My wife bought one of these early 2010s netbooks running Ubuntu. She didn't know what it was or how it was different, but eventually she started asking me for support. "How can I use Office? Why can't I play this video? What's this error in the software upgrade screen?" Linux is fine for day-to-day use if you're already technical and can debug it when you inevitably hit a roadblock, or you have a family member who ca…

> How can I use Office?

If you really need the one from Micro$oft, open it in the browser.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#55

Post by xigoi »

hogepiyo wrote: post #7

"Anyone" is a stretch. If you need specific software for work or something (Office, CAD stuff, some embedded stuff springs to mind..) you're still kinda SOL even now.

If your employer requires you to use a specific operating system, they should provide you a work computer with that system.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#56

Post by fragmede »

k310 wrote: post #49
alexjplant wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> bluetooth Has Just Worked (tm) on Fedora and Mint with the past three Thinkpads I've had, even with AirPods. > video games From what I understand Valve's efforts on Proton enable a plurality of modern games to run on Linux to the point that their flagship Steam Deck ships with a Debian-derived distro. > Adobe suite, etc. Niche creative software like high-end photo editing and DAWs are, admittedly, not well-supporte…

You should have heard me last night yelling at a new mac and new phone within 3 feet of each other failing repeatedly to air drop. Sometimes it worked. Complete mystery. Regardless, I do all the photo editing I need with medium-strength tools all free, and I have great Nikon gear. I don't have the time to spend hours on each photo. "Damn Good" doesn't need much work! Browser and Libre Office work on Ubuntu for my for…

I've found shared copy and paste between iOS and MacOS to be more. convenient than airdrop for things that can handle that

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#57

Post by oliwarner »

SushiHippie wrote: post #23
doubled112 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HP did have great drivers in the HPLIP package, which is ironic considering their Windows drivers are a total dumpster fire. I say did because I haven't used them in a while. It could still be true.

I have a relatively old (10+ years) HP Scanner (which is also a printer) for free that someone wanted to get rid of. It already has some online services integrated into it, which luckily don't work anymore as they've shut down the servers. On linux I can use `hpscan` from hplip which works very well, someone also wrote a server that allows you to use the 'scan to PC' functionality of most HP scanners. Printing also w…

What's better is no custom software at all.

Our Brother DCP-L8410CDW (colour laser, scanner, mid-size) is "driverless" in CUPS. Blew my tiny little mind. No setup, just plumb it into the network and everything can just print to it, scan from it. I've had zero problems with it in 4 years and ~ten thousand pages. I've never experienced that with another printer.

The obvious extra benefit is that Brother are generally —especially compared to HP— pretty decent about consumables.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#58

Post by SushiHippie »

oliwarner wrote: post #57
SushiHippie wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a relatively old (10+ years) HP Scanner (which is also a printer) for free that someone wanted to get rid of. It already has some online services integrated into it, which luckily don't work anymore as they've shut down the servers. On linux I can use `hpscan` from hplip which works very well, someone also wrote a server that allows you to use the 'scan to PC' functionality of most HP scanners. Printing also w…

What's better is no custom software at all. Our Brother DCP-L8410CDW (colour laser, scanner, mid-size) is "driverless" in CUPS. Blew my tiny little mind. No setup, just plumb it into the network and everything can just print to it, scan from it. I've had zero problems with it in 4 years and ~ten thousand pages. I've never experienced that with another printer. The obvious extra benefit is that Brother are generally —…

CUPS also works without custom software for the hp printer, but I think cups is only for printing and not for scanning?

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#59

Post by oliwarner »

SushiHippie wrote: post #58
oliwarner wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's better is no custom software at all. Our Brother DCP-L8410CDW (colour laser, scanner, mid-size) is "driverless" in CUPS. Blew my tiny little mind. No setup, just plumb it into the network and everything can just print to it, scan from it. I've had zero problems with it in 4 years and ~ten thousand pages. I've never experienced that with another printer. The obvious extra benefit is that Brother are generally —…

CUPS also works without custom software for the hp printer, but I think cups is only for printing and not for scanning?

It is. This Brother scanner works (on Linux) via the airscan/eSCL protocol, ingested by SANE.

Hopefully these sorts of driverless, protocol driven peripherals become widespread. And to think, it's only taken 50 years of consumer printing to start to get there.

Re: If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can (2012)

#60

Post by doubled112 »

oliwarner wrote: post #59
SushiHippie wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CUPS also works without custom software for the hp printer, but I think cups is only for printing and not for scanning?

It is. This Brother scanner works (on Linux) via the airscan/eSCL protocol, ingested by SANE. Hopefully these sorts of driverless , protocol driven peripherals become widespread. And to think, it's only taken 50 years of consumer printing to start to get there.

Apple’s AirPrint being more or less a combination of Bonjour/Avahi and driverless IPP is probably the best thing to happen to printing on Linux in recent times.

Can’t hurt that they use CUPS too.

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