Author Topic: Old person on Linux....?  (Read 6156 times)

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Offline iago

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Old person on Linux....?
« on: July 12, 2006, 09:30:34 pm »
Well, I talked to my grandpa's friend today.  His computer is really starting to annoy him, and he's totally fed up.  He is sure it's because of Microsoft, and he really hates Bill Gates (I'm not sure why, but eh?), and he said he wants to try something else.  He mentioned that an old friend of his swears by Linux, and he was curious about it. 

He uses his computer for:
- Email
- Internet
- Word Processing

And that's it.  Always has been. 

He was telling me that he misses the days of DOS, when everything was simple.  And those days only ended a few years for him, when he upgraded to Windows XP.  Since then, he's had many problems with things like viruses (I had a particularely horrible adventure trying to get rid of either Blaster or Slammer from his computer, I think I posted the story on vL's forum, or maybe here -- search my posts for Blaster or Slammer for more info). 

So on Monday, I'm going to go down there, back up his files, and install Linux for him, as an experimental thing.  I also want to keep the Apple option open, because I think he might like using a Mac. 

I think it'll be an interesting experiment, to say the least.  I have a feeling he'll have some trouble at first, then warm up to it.  After all, he's just going to be a user, not an administrator, and I can remotely connect to install programs, if I have to. 

Offline rabbit

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2006, 09:42:16 pm »
Give him Fedora!

Offline Newby

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2006, 10:22:20 pm »
Give him Fedora!

I think he'd be more comfortable in Ubuntu.
- Newby
http://www.x86labs.org

Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline iago

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2006, 10:26:18 pm »
He's not going to be installing his own packages or anything.  All I need is firefox, thunderbird, and other software like that. 

Offline Newby

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2006, 10:28:17 pm »
He's not going to be installing his own packages or anything.  All I need is firefox, thunderbird, and other software like that. 

Ubuntu. Easy to set up, has a comfortable login screen iirc, and according to people who've switched to it, is very user-friendly.

Plus, it'll make keeping stuff up-to-date easier. AND it comes with Gnome! :)
- Newby
http://www.x86labs.org

Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline Joe

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2006, 05:40:06 am »
Ubuntu is the Mac OS X of Linux, as far as ease of use, and the Windows of Linux as far as package availablity (not that it matters).

OpenOffice, and Firefox are already installed. sudo install mozilla-thunderbird will install Thunderbird.
I'd personally do as Joe suggests

You might be right about that, Joe.


Offline Furious

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2006, 10:57:54 am »
I played around on Redhat before, but got bored and reinstalled Windows 98 :/
Quote
[23:04:34] <deadly7[x86]> Newby[x86]
[23:04:35] <deadly7[x86]> YOU ARE AN EMO
[23:04:39] <Newby[x86]> shush it woman

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[17:53:31] InsaneJoey[e2] was banned by x86 (GO EAT A BAG OF FUCK ASSHOLE (randomban)).

Quote from: Ergot
Put it this way Joe... you're on my Buddy List... if there's no one else on an you're the only one, I'd rather talk to myself.

Offline deadly7

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2006, 02:08:17 pm »
Give him KDE on Slackware and you're good to go.. assuming he knows how to read prompts.
[17:42:21.609] <Ergot> Kutsuju you're girlfrieds pussy must be a 403 error for you
 [17:42:25.585] <Ergot> FORBIDDEN

on IRC playing T&T++
<iago> He is unarmed
<Hitmen> he has no arms?!

on AIM with a drunk mythix:
(00:50:05) Mythix: Deadly
(00:50:11) Mythix: I'm going to fuck that red dot out of your head.
(00:50:15) Mythix: with my nine

Offline Newby

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2006, 02:58:21 pm »
Give him KDE on Slackware and you're good to go.. assuming he knows how to read prompts.

Actually, if you just changed the runtime level it enters on boot (GUI login) (check Slackware handbook for more information) he'd be fine.

Go with that. :P
- Newby
http://www.x86labs.org

Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline deadly7

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2006, 03:28:31 pm »
You can give Slack a GUI login as opposed to plaintext?  Whoa.
[17:42:21.609] <Ergot> Kutsuju you're girlfrieds pussy must be a 403 error for you
 [17:42:25.585] <Ergot> FORBIDDEN

on IRC playing T&T++
<iago> He is unarmed
<Hitmen> he has no arms?!

on AIM with a drunk mythix:
(00:50:05) Mythix: Deadly
(00:50:11) Mythix: I'm going to fuck that red dot out of your head.
(00:50:15) Mythix: with my nine

Offline iago

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2006, 03:50:24 pm »
You can give Slack a GUI login as opposed to plaintext?  Whoa.
Yeah, but I wouldn't for any intelligent person.  You save 6 keystrokes, but if you need to do something quick or if something goes wrong, you're wasting a lot of time.

Offline Ergot

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2006, 04:04:10 pm »
This is why you asked me how to start up in X?
Who gives a damn? I fuck sheep all the time.
And yes, male both ends.  There are a couple lesbians that need a two-ended dildo...My router just refuses to wear a strap-on.
(05:55:03) JoE ThE oDD: omfg good job i got a boner thinkin bout them chinese bitches
(17:54:15) Sidoh: I love cosmetology

Offline iago

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2006, 04:19:12 pm »
I was weighing my options about what to do with that computer.  I still haven't decided.  But in the rc scripts, I can't find any reference to starting X-windows.. are you (Newby) sure about this?

Offline Newby

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2006, 04:25:26 pm »
I was weighing my options about what to do with that computer.  I still haven't decided.  But in the rc scripts, I can't find any reference to starting X-windows.. are you (Newby) sure about this?

Quote from: /etc/inittab
# These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
#   0 = halt
#   1 = single user mode
#   2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
#   4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
#   5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
#   6 = reboot

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:3:initdefault:

Change that to 4.

The Gnome login manager is prettier, but eh? I dunno if it comes with latest Slackware since they removed Gnome..

Further reference, see 6.5 (xdm) of the Slackware handbook.
- Newby
http://www.x86labs.org

Quote
[17:32:45] * xar sets mode: -oooooooooo algorithm ban chris cipher newby stdio TehUser tnarongi|away vursed warz
[17:32:54] * xar sets mode: +o newby
[17:32:58] <xar> new rule
[17:33:02] <xar> me and newby rule all

I'd bet that you're currently bloated like a water ballon on a hot summer's day.

That analogy doesn't even make sense.  Why would a water balloon be especially bloated on a hot summer's day? For your sake, I hope there wasn't too much logic testing on your LSAT. 

Offline iago

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Re: Old person on Linux....?
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2006, 05:00:07 pm »
Cool! 

And hmm, I just love this error for some reason:
ron@South:/etc/rc.d$ xdm
Only root wants to run xdm

Makes me laugh :)