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Ubuntu for the computer illiterate?

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Project86

Golden Member
I'm considering making the switch to Linux, probably Ubuntu to start with. I'm completely clueless about Linux, but I'm fairly knowledgeable about windows, so I'm sure I'll be OK. The question is actually about my wife, who is a casual email/internet/spreadsheet user. How hard do you think it will be for someone like her? Does anyone have experience with family members or friends trying to use Linux, successfully or otherwise?

I'm asking because she is a stay at home mom, and I work at least 40 hours a week, sometimes a lot more, so she needs to pretty much be able to handle it herself. She is smart enough to teach herself basic operation of MS Word, Excel, and is actually better than I am with Outlook.... so not totally clueless.

Also, I was thinking a dual boot setup might be good just for me to get a feel for Linux and see what I think. Would I need to start with a fresh format and install both, or can I just install Ubuntu onto a drive that has an existing XP install?
 
It's a great idea so long as you two don't mind spending a day transferring everything over. The usage is basically the same, click a menu, browse to internet, click on firefox and you're on the web. My dad recently tried linux and he couldn't find an easy way to move all his contacts from outlook into evolution (I don't think he looked very hard though), so he stopped using it. Most of his "problems" with linux were having to do with converting over and inputting his contacts, moving over his files, etc. I'm sure that once he got it running he'd be fine though.
 
I had my parents using Redhat 8 a long ass time ago when Windows ME crapped out on them and I couldn't get the OEM disk to work with a new cdrom drive (the old one went bad).
Worked fine for my mom because she used web-based stuff and only needed single word proccessing. Eventually replaced it with a WinXP machine for gaming for my brothers and dad.

Ubuntu is a hell of a lot nicer.

What you probably want to do is run it just for yourself for a couple month and be sure to read the FAQ and check out the unofficial Ubuntu documentation website. These will help you deal with very common problems people face with using Ubuntu, otherwise having to figure it out on your own by trial and error can be very frustrating.

Then after you get the hang of it and get a decent understanding of how to run and maintain it then look at what your mom uses the computer for and make sure that she can accomplish the same sorts of stuff using Linux.

Meanwhile try to get her to switch from outlook to thunderbird and introduce OpenOffice.org. That way you can know that alternatives that run under Linux can accomplish what she needs and wants.

Also, I was thinking a dual boot setup might be good just for me to get a feel for Linux and see what I think. Would I need to start with a fresh format and install both, or can I just install Ubuntu onto a drive that has an existing XP install?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. As long as you have plenty of unused disk space you should be able to shrink the existing XP partition and install Ubuntu on it.

Just be carefull. Like it usually is it's best to go with a clean install of XP first then Ubuntu second. (since that makes it easier to deal with the bootloader.).

So what you do is back up everything with XP that you need _as_if_ your going to do a clean install, then go ahead and shrink the existing install and such. Then if something goes wrong then it's not the end of the world and you can blow it all away without any serious problems except time lost.

The safe way to try out Ubuntu is when you download the installation cdrom it comes in "Live Linux" cdrom form which means the OS can boot and run directly off of the cdrom without installing anything. Performance isn't as good as running it from the local drive, but it can give you a good overal feel of what to expect.
 
I put Xubuntu (which is Ubuntu with XFCE instead of Gnome) on my parents' Compaq when Windows ME got too hard too keep clean.

They've been using it for 6+ months and couldn't be happier. They are completely and utterly computer illiterate; the only apps they use are a Web browser, email client and word processor. They were already used to using Firefox and Thunderbird under Windows, so that made the transition even smoother.

Like drag said, download the ISO and try the Live CD to get a taste.

 
I'm about to install Ubuntu v6.10 on my Dell 600M laptop.

The article on hardocp.com was very information and sparked my interested. Also picked up Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks by Rickford Grant today.

 
The way I look at it is......Firefox is Firefox whatever OS you are using.
And Thunderbird is Thunderbird.

As long as you are the installer and the tweaker. The users should get along fine.

But as mentioned if you have room why not dual boot?

With linux you have very little virus worries.

Also if you decide to do a dual boot install. Be sure to do a scandisk and defrag with windows. Before you install Ubuntu.

Also as Drag mentioned you can run Ubuntu CD as a live CD. But you can play with it and see how it likes your hardware before you install it.
 
I think Kubuntu is preferable to Ubuntu.

The GUI is more polished and more powerful for that matter.

I prefer the KDE office productivity applications, too. e.g., KWord.
 
I just installed Kubuntu myself after a couple of years of not really touching linux. I must say it is very nice. If you have a computer-savy person around to set it up and diagnose problems, I don't see why a casual user wouldn't be able to handle it.
 
I posted this in another thread. Here is the cut & paste:

I am pretty new to Linux even though I used to try it once in a while for a few years. Last week I tried a new derivative of Ubuntu called Linux Mint - That must be the best (easiest and good visuals) Linux distro I used to date. (Comparing with versions of Mandrake Linux, Redhat, Ubuntu, Edubuntu, Fedora). It installs ndiswrapper by default, for wireless internet.

As with Ubuntu the ISO file is a little bigger than normal CDs. To be on the safer side, burn it on a DVD. I used Infra Recorder to burn CD ISO image to a DVD
 
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