I actually just did this for my brother and am in the process of doing it for my sister, with two late-'90s/early-00's Dells. (And I'm learning a lot about XFCE!) Anyway, one of the nice things about doing this sort of thing for the "computer illiterate" is that, IMHO, it seems to lead to fewer questions and frustrations and an easier learning curve, because their needs are much simpler, they're not going to try and mess with their system, and they have fewer Windows habits to unlearn. I set up the root account for me, a user account for my brother, put a panel with commonly used apps in the bottom-middle of the screen with big friendly-looking icons and tooltips, gave my brother a half-hour tour, and sent him on his merry way, and he's been doing just fine, in a month I haven't had one phone call. With the added bonus of feeling like I really did something worthwhile instead of wasting my afternoon cleaning out spyware! On 5/10/06, Jerry W <j_wrocky at comcast.net> wrote: > > Kraig, > > The book "Point & Click Linux" (Mepis) by Robin 'Roblimo' Miller has a > DVD that is really great. Can play it on your TV DVD player or DVD > drive. The book also comes with a Mepis CD. > > HTH, > > Jerry W > > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: Kraig Jones <jkjones at tcq.net> > > Comments? > > > > I'm working on salvaging an old broken Compaq PIII for a friend. After > > some hardware repairs (replacing the CD drive, and a true hack on the > > motherboard involving a Dremel tool and soldering iron) I'm now trying > > to get the original-equipment Windows ME running again. Spybot S&D > > found about 900 spyware objects and cookies, Ad-Aware subsequently found > > 1500, and AVG Anti-Virus is up to 125 trojans etc. and counting. I > > don't have the Windows restore disks (and there isn't a restore > > partition, either) -- or I would just wipe everything and reload. > > > > I'm thinking now -- maybe I'll just install Linux for him. My friend > > doesn't know anything at all about computers. He had a few photos on a > > CD that he wanted to view -- and I showed him how it could be done (with > > my Ubuntu laptop). He says he would use a computer for "research" -- > > but he doesn't have Internet access (yet). Games? I showed him > > Mahjongg on my computer & he was amazed. Tried to play Solitaire on the > > Compaq but Windows was too messed up. So I don't think he's going to > > be a hard-core gamer. He wants to get a digital camera, and he will > > need a computer to process his photos -- although he could just get > > prints directly from the memory card in the camera. > > > > On the other hand, I may get this thing limping along under Windows. > > It's slow, and there are error messages popping up constantly, but maybe > > it will work well enough to do the simple stuff we need. > > > > At this point, he doesn't know or care about pros and cons between > > Windows and Linux. I'm pondering which way to go. With either choice, > > I'll be glad to help him get started, but I don't want to hold his hand > > forever. Sooner or later he'll hear about some new thing he wants to > > try, and odds are that it will be a Windows app. I don't want to have > > to explain "you can't do that, because it's a Windows program, but maybe > > there's something like it..." Most of the "reading material" -- "___ > > for Dummies" and "Computers made Easy" stuff -- is geared to Windows, so > > it may be hard to get him off-line instruction. > > > > And, when I told him that this Compaq could be a hopeless case, he said > > he may just go get a new one, although I didn't like to hear that. He > > has a limited income and I'm trying to save him some money, by fixing > > this thing without putting much money into it. > > > > So -- I'm just looking for comments. What am I getting into? Anyone > > know of a good way to explain computers (Linux or Windows) to a complete > > newbie? Any words of wisdom are appreciated. > > > > Kraig > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20060510/d7314479/attachment.htm