Planning on giving someone I know linux as their new primary OS

So once again I am faced with opportunity to introduce someone to linux.
You see my dad has this friend, hes not too tech savvy and when his desktop had an issue I elected to repair it.
In my initial boot of his desktop it was not booting into the hard disk nor even recognizing it.
BIOS came up fine (which is good as BIOS errors are usually only fixable by actual pros not by folks like me who have no training in fixing a BIOS)
I used my linux recovery thumbdrive to access it and turns out that SMART was reporting a dead disk drive.
So I gave him my old hard disk drive (just as big has his dead one, but a little older yet still functioning)
Now I gave him the option to recover windows 7, I have professional and he had home premium and I offered to give him a copy of win7 if he wanted me to buy it
He said to skip it once I said the cost of a windows 7 install disk or its licence.
Then he asked what could I do to help him get his computer to do anything again and I suggested linux.
Of course he never heard of it but I said that if he knows what an android is then he techically knows what linux is.
I said it was free and could do practically everything windows can and he said do it.
So came to the question of what distro to give him, knowing what kind of person he is a knew I needed something dead simple.
After giving some debate I think I found his distro… drumroll please…

Ubuntu 13.10

I know, I know not the ideal choice but it seems to be the most logical for the range of this persons limited computing technique it seems the best route.
I could have gone the mint or zorin route but both have some delays in their versions being based off ubuntu.
No Ubuntu’s predictable upgrade cycle and the next version being LTS it would make their user experience upgrading to it better for this kind of user.
The no fus no muss style of Ubuntus upgrader is the key element in my decision.
If this person was a little more tech savvy I would have given them something else but this person has only really used windows 7 at the age of 55 my decision seems to be the right call.
Plus based on my own experience with my parents knowing how non tech savvy they were when I shown them linux I feel my call was right in this case.

On Tue 18 Feb 2014 11:56:01 PM CST, MadmanRB wrote:

So once again I am faced with opportunity to introduce someone to linux.
You see my dad has this friend, hes not too tech savvy and when his
desktop had an issue I elected to repair it.
In my initial boot of his desktop it was not booting into the hard disk
nor even recognizing it.
BIOS came up fine (which is good as BIOS errors are usually only fixable
by actual pros not by folks like me who have no training in fixing a
BIOS)
I used my linux recovery thumbdrive to access it and turns out that
SMART was reporting a dead disk drive.
So I gave him my old hard disk drive (just as big has his dead one, but
a little older yet still functioning)
Now I gave him the option to recover windows 7, I have professional and
he had home premium and I offered to give him a copy of win7 if he
wanted me to buy it
He said to skip it once I said the cost of a windows 7 install disk or
its licence.
Then he asked what could I do to help him get his computer to do
anything again and I suggested linux.
Of course he never heard of it but I said that if he knows what an
android is then he techically knows what linux is.
I said it was free and could do practically everything windows can and
he said do it.
So came to the question of what distro to give him, knowing what kind of
person he is a knew I needed something dead simple.
After giving some debate I think I found his distro… drumroll
please…

Ubuntu 13.10

I know, I know not the ideal choice but it seems to be the most logical
for the range of this persons limited computing technique it seems the
best route.
I could have gone the mint or zorin route but both have some delays in
their versions being based off ubuntu.
No Ubuntu’s predictable upgrade cycle and the next version being LTS it
would make their user experience upgrading to it better for this kind of
user.
The no fus no muss style of Ubuntus upgrader is the key element in my
decision.
If this person was a little more tech savvy I would have given them
something else but this person has only really used windows 7 at the age
of 55 my decision seems to be the right call.
Plus based on my own experience with my parents knowing how non tech
savvy they were when I shown them linux I feel my call was right in this
case.

Hi
You can download the windows OEM 7 DVD, then there is a tool to unlock
them so you can install any version… Google on digital river+DELL (I
think I’ve posted on the forum about this before).


Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (x86_64) GNOME 3.10.2 Kernel 3.11.10-7-desktop
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

If his computer had a version of windows, you can re-install it and use the product key from his machine. But then you will need to activate it, (I usually do it by phone) and windows will basically re-licence you with a different code.

I have put 3 different people on Linux this week and in all cases used Mint 13 (Mate and XFCE)
If you use Mint 13, post install you need to disable the Medibuntu source.

I think the issue is not distro but desktop. I have just given an XP user xfce with KDE Kontact for email because that was the easiest way of importing all his emails from Outlook Express. He likes Kmail and also the general look of xfce but dislikes GTK. I have given someone with slight eyesight difficulties KDE because it is so much better for anyone who has difficulties seeing the screen; the downside is the complexity of KDE and I had to give a whistlestop tour of the basics with the expectation that I will have to go back to explain other things in due course.

But both are getting on with using their new Linux desktops.

I’d try something more familiar to someone coming from XP/W7. Unity is very different (if that’s what is still used, there’s been some time since I experimented with it). From what I read Mint seems like a good choice.

So, did you make it? Did you introduced that person to Linux? I’m thinking about it, too (my mom is the target). Just want to know how it goes

Yeah so far so good.
Ubuntu seems to be doing fine, unity just takes a bit to get used to.

Congrats Madman, yet again.

Thanks, seems that Ubuntu is my go to distro for getting people to use linux recently but hey I will move them on when they are ready.

I find Unity is not all that bad of an environment to get used to. Chances are once 14.04 LTS comes out you’ll want to upgrade to that and leave it until the next LTS comes out (16.04) so he can get comfortable using it. My family desktop runs LTS-to-LTS releases unless I find a significant reason to upgrade in-between but that hasn’t happened since 9.10.

When I was converting my wife from Windows to Linux I started by changing the applications she used to open source ones I planned on installing in Linux (Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.). It made the transition easier. If you think there is any chance of changing from Ubuntu/Unity to another distro/desktop environment you may want to make sure he gets used to applications that can be installed wherever (even Windows and Mac!).

I ‘converted’ a couple of people too, though as of today, only one definitely stayed, using Ubuntu 12.04, installed the day it came out in 2012. He already asked me to get ready to install new Ubuntu when it comes out.
He didn’t have to touch the terminal not one time ever since install. Otherwise, i don’t think the person would know how to install Ubuntu himself. So much for linux not being for newbies.

unless he is a simple user, as in uses the Internet and email only. I do not see how.
he never needed install programs or something.
every time I am looking to do things I get response form help “sudo app-get blahblahblah”
or is it just me :slight_smile:

9 times out of 10, if you see ‘sudo apt-get install …’ then you can do the same thing with the Software store (a GUI). You can also add sources (such as PPA’s), get more information about programs and install programs (free and pay-for programs).

A separate routine will alert you and allow you to run updates, again providing a gui for doing it.

I haven’t had to use the terminal except when I either prefer it over the GUI, or are doing administration type activities (symbolic links from Apache server to my /home drive for instance)

Yep. It was like this: i installed ubu LTS, installed ‘ubuntu restricted areas’, showed the person around software center, and that was it.
The downside is he didn’t update his libreoffice. And that’s about it. But everything works so far.

I think I will have to check out Ubuntu again.
I just really do not like Unity much.

I think Ubuntu Gnome can have most of what vanilla Ubuntu has, without Unity. I don’t know, however, how much of it actually COMES with the initial installation and how much has to be added on post-installation.

They are even trying to get Ubuntu-Gnome to have LTS status (but until then the do pledge to support it for 3 years).

I have converted many users in the past couple of years, all to openSUSE.

I set them up with Firefox (familiar feel, whether they have been using Firefox or IE), Thunderbird (familiar feel again), and OpenOffice from Apache.

Interesting to note that most of those who came from XP seem to think it is very similar to using XP, except a lot slicker, quicker, and sturdier.

I put a few who have never had nor even touched a computer before into openSUSE, and they are completely at home in it.

If you install and set it up for them, then patiently answer a couple of their minor questions when they have them, they do not seem to have any problem with openSUSE (or most Linux).

None of the converted have at this point shown any interest in returning to the Windows world. Even those I set up as dual-boot tell me that, as they grew more familiar with Linux after some time, they grew less and less likely to boot the Windows side.

My daughter uses the openSUSE (KDE) on my laptop and doesn’t want to share it with her siblings… they can use the desktop’s Ubuntu with Unity. :stuck_out_tongue:

Now I am glad that they have been exposed to Linux since the beginning. I had a nagging feeling that it “could” cause confusion when they use the school’s Windows (XP, now 7) computers, but nope! They prefer using Linux over Windows even then they have the two side-by-side. The Chromebook is a close second (between Linux and Windows).

agreed for most parts with couple of exceptions :slight_smile:

for a casual everyday user, who only needs a web access and email mostly and an occasional need to create and print some docs that does not have to be compatible with MS OFFICE it would work just fine.
in-fact I am in the process of converting couple of my home PCs to OpenSuse including my 6+yo laptop.
as I used them for mostly Internet surfing and email it will work great. I might need to sweat a bit with setting up Skype
and some games with wine or alike but we get there when we get there :slight_smile:

can not really agree to this except for (slicker, quicker, and sturdier.) part.
I have been an XP user for long time, almost since it came out. it is a great OS. although I do think the win7 is a bit better over all. and now way I can say that Linux in general and OpenSuse in particular looks or feels anything close to XP or Win7.
Similar… yes, close enough for a casual user(see above) most definitely. but not the same by a long shot.
again , we all have our preferences and I am not here to argue better or worst.
just not the same. I know I can tell the difference. and I know my 78 yo father in-law can tell the differences.

but there lies the key to your success :slight_smile: they never touched a computer before. a clean slate. the best kind of situation by far.
I really wish some times that when I started learning computers I had an option of using Linux OS in like current state of dev. not as it was 20 years ago. not that it would have matter as my main interactions for work and school would still be windows but at least it would make it easier for me today to do what I want to do using OS that is build for the task.
and not struggling as I do today.

Well, actually, most I have converted are corporations and small businesses, and they are constantly sharing the documents back and forth between MS Office and OpenOffice, including Excel and Access.

I do the same.

Mostly, no problems. Interesting that OpenOffice can open files from different versions of MS Office, do a reasonable job of converting them to a different version of MS Office, while MS Office itself can not read the other MS Office version. :sarcastic: