Hello there. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a Linux distro for grandparents? They are over 70 years old, with an old HP desktop and laptop running Windows 10. All they need is a Web browser, so no need for special software or wine to run Windows programs. Would preferably like something that is low maintenance so I don’t have to be constant tech support for them (apart from the initial install and setup). Thanks for any suggestions.
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Mint or debian will do the trick. Set up a script to update the system and turn it into a button or desktop shortcut, name it something like “click here to update” and done
For that matter you could use the built in autoupdate tools
Thanks for the ideas. Will the update script still need sudo to run, or can it be done at an unprivileged user level?
Im not sure but its probably fine to sudo it (now someone will come here and say it is a national security problem)
I installed hacky ChromeOS to my grandma’s laptop a few years ago. She never had issues with the OS itself, rather hardware issues. It’s easy to learn and ChromeOS is literally just a web browser, it’s not even useful for anything else. Though I would recommend you install something like Fedora Silverblue, Kinoite, or a distro from UniversalBlue instead. Container based distros are secure and hard to break.
Mint is the way to go. Easy UI, stupidly stable, relatively up-to-date, easy to fix problems.
Mint easy to install easy to navigate
Thanks, I will put Mint on a USB, along side some others as well. I have fond memories of Mint, as it was my first distro.
Mint is definitely the right choice here. I’ve had it in my main machine for about two years now and I’ve had zero issues. If I had to set up something for family, I’d 100% choose Mint.
NixOS is an immutable file system if they are disaster prone. You will have to load everything for them ahead of time, browser, email client, Only/Libre Office, etc.
I had to switch a friend’s mom to this because after switching her to Linux Mint previously, she somehow deleted the UI entirely.
This is why we don’t give terminal to the grannies.
Good lord. If you’re not already familiar with NixOS, there are far, far easier ways to go immutable.
Configuring Nix makes Arch seem like a walk in the park.
What are the other alternatives?
Aurora/Bluefin or Silverblue/Kinoite.
Silverblue/Kinoite
Those are not immutable, especially on the file system. I’m glad the fedora team switched the term to “atomic”, because “immutable” set all the wrong expectations.
So you’re saying that most directories in
/usrand (also) some other directories in/are not read-only during runtime (under regular system maintenance/management) on Fedora Atomic?No, that’s not what I wrote.
Thank you for clarifying what you didn’t write nor mean. Could you be so kind to explain what you did mean with what’s quoted below?
Those are not immutable, especially on the file system.
mine are on bazzite since I already had an image on usb. since I did the install and included the ancient chinese windows games they like via bottles/wine (kept on a usb taped inside the computer since windows xp days), they have asked for nothing. I also set up their email and printer and some ancient obsolete crap they refuse to get rid of but no problems so far.
Red Hat fuckery aside, I still feel like Fedora is the best refined distro out of the box for the average user, and Gnome is the most consistent desktop. Immutability is perfect for grandparent types who don’t need much of any customization, so I’d strongly consider Silverblue. Just make it a habit to go upgrade releases every 6 months, you should be visiting more anyway ;)
I was thinking Fedora as I use it personally on all my computers and really like it, but I thought Gnome would be too much of a drastic change for them since they are coming from Windows. Might just put it on a USB just in case, and let them test out a couple DE’s before committing to anything.
If they are used to Windows, go with Kinoite. I agree with the previous sentiment, that atomic distros are much safer. Far fewer bits and pieces that can break. I love it.
It is different, but it’s also logical, simple, and consistent. It handles average use cases very well, whereas KDE is more typical to Windows users, but can be cluttered and confusing because it seems to try to address every use case.
Just keep them on Windows 10 unless there is an issue. Don’t make them learn anything else.
Too unstable. Windows keeps changing shit, advertising shit. Dump it and move on.
For grannies, I like to go with Endless OS. Curiously, it combines aspects of the two most named distros under this post; based on Debian and utilizing OSTree (like Fedora Atomic does).
It’s often overlooked (for some reason), but actually combines the best of both worlds:
- Over two years of support (since release), while Fedora Atomic only offers 13 months of support since release
- Automatic updates are enabled by default and updates are applied atomically in the background, while Debian(-based) are not capable of atomic updates
- Does not even offer installing software through
aptand doesn’t even have it’s ownrpm-ostreecounterpart. Instead, it goes all-in on Flatpak.
The only thing that might give something like Fedora Atomic an edge would be by installing any of the opinionated uBlue images (like Aurora/Bazzite/Bluefin etc.) that just apply and ship fixes for you (without requiring you to do anything for it) and that are even capable of automatically applying updates to major releases for you in the background. This is basically just hands-off mode.
I hate to say it but they’d probably be better off with an android tablet or an iPad.
