I thank all of you for your suggestions. I've been summarily well informed. I've decided to try the following: 1) Build a dual-boot machine 2) Set them up with two Linux accounts. Create an easy-to-deal-with environment and test out the OpenOffice<->Word/Excel conversions 3) Use Netscape/Mozilla as the browser. 4) Let them try it out for a few weeks. 5) If they have too much trouble, switch them over to Microsoft and buy MS Office,Anti Virus stuff and whatever else. Wash my hands. I tried to explain in as much detail as needed what the issues were with MS and Linux. I was trying my best to be even handed. I believe they need broadband because they don't want to tie up their line and don't want a second line. At ~£22/month it is a pretty good deal. Also, I believe once he learns about the WWW he'll be surfing regularly. They are not dumb in any way, they are more of the artist types. My wife thinks I'm crazy for not starting them with Windows (she's not a Microsoft lover either and has an MSEE to boot) but I'm thinking ahead with the endless upgrade costs, restrictive licensing issues and the viral issues. I have some further questions: 1) KDE or Gnome? I write software for a living so I'm used to command-line. I personally use Gnome but I find I open terminals all the time anyway. For ease of digital camera IO and dragging and dropping files into a writable CDROM I'd like some advice. 2) Which R/W CDROM ? The motherboard will be ASUS since I already know the beast. TIAA & Cheers Marcel Broekman wrote:
On Thursday 01 May 2003 13:16, expatriate wrote:
Greetings Being the de facto neighbourhood computer expert/admin/geek, I've come across a situation where I might need the assistance of someone more experienced. I've volunteered to facilitate bringing a couple from the 20th to the 21st century. Their current system is a 10+ years old HP computer with a 40MB disk running Windows 3.11. He rarely uses the computer and most of his exposure to it is an occasional game of chess. She does a fair amount of Word (MS Word 6.0) and Excel (didn't check but probably the same vintage). At present, they have no internet connectivity but they feel the pressure ( "can't I just send you an email?"). I've established their needs as follows: 0) ADSL hardware 1) Web browsing and email 2) Word processing and spread sheets 3) CDROM reading/writing (don't have writing abilities at present) 4) Ability to get digital camera pictures into their computer so his artwork can be placed on eBay (have yet to get camera) 5) Printing to an HP 660 printer
My concern is that if I build this for them with Linux, I would be the only local source of help. If I build this with Windows, more of their friends could assist them when I'm not around or when I leave the country for good. Obviously I would prefer not to promote Microsoft products. At the same time, their budget is modest.
So I guess the main questions are: Can Suse 8.2 handle neophytes with limited point and click experience? Can anyone share a similar experience?
TIA and Cheers
If i read between the lines, your neighbours aren't really interested in enhanced features of ANY operating system. He uses the computer to play a game of chess and she uses it as an advanced typewriter. If they really wanted to do more with the computer they would have upgraded years ago. And now they want to be able to write (or reply to) an occasional e-mail and maybe use the web to sell or advertise his artwork. My take on this is that it doesn't really matter which OS they are going to use: It 'll be -different-! They probably won't bother installing new applications because they don't know they need it ;-) and it's scary anyway. If you really want to help your neighbours it will cost you a lot of time setting up the system and instructing them on how to use it:
1. only install for desktop use and only the applications they are really going to use (no need for 3 different e-mail clients either). 2. Tune the desktop in a way they can easily understand it (for example: place icons on it that do exactly what they need and give these names they understand, like "check my e-mail", "play chess", "browse E-bay", "start a new document", "browse my photo's", "burn my documents on a CD"). Keep it as simple as possible. 3. Convert old documents to the new format and make sure that the new default format for saving is something that can be read by most other applications/people (i guess this would be MSWord, Excel) 4. Make sure that all documents of all applications are being saved in the same location, so it's easy to find them back again. 5. Printing should only involve clicking the printer icon or clicking "print" in the menu of the used application. Check that the documents print the way your neighbours expect it. 6. Investigate the way they use their current applications and explain how to -exactly- do the same with the new versions. 7. Explain -every- "new" application: How to reply to an e-mail, how to use the addressbook, how to attach a document, how to download the photo's from the camera, how to upload a photo to E-bay, how to use the CD-burning application. Let them do this themselves a few times until they are comfortable with it. 8. Make the system secure. Install a well configured firewall and configure automated updating.
Regarding support: If you want to be able to help your neighbours after you've moved, be shure to install remote management software that gets activated automatically at boot and don't shut yourselve out with too secure firewall settings (check!)
About the choice between Linux and Windows: I don't think it really matters in terms of ease of use as long as you set it up the way i explained above. You might be right with your assumption that help from others then yourself is easier if the OS is Windows, but i've seen "help" from other Windows users that totally screwed up systems more then i'd like to remember. On the other hand, if you don't want to support them after you've gone elsewhere, who would solve their problems?
Costs: Linux/Gnu doesn't cost a dime. If they are going to use Windows they need to pay for at least the OS. The rest can also be done with free software (OpenOffice, VNC, etc.). Are you shure they need ADSL? Of course it makes everything (remote support, updating, making internet connection) a lot easier, but it might be a lot cheaper for them to just use a modem.
That's all i can think of right now. Let us know your and your neighbours' decision.
regards, Marcel