I’m visiting my parents for the holidays and convinced them to let me switch them to Linux.
They use their computer for the typical basic stuff; email, YouTube, Word, Facebook, and occasionally printing/scanning.
I promised my mom that everything would look the same and work the same. I used Linux Mint and customized the theme to look like Windows 10. I even replaced the Mint “Start” button with the Windows logo.
So far they like it and everything runs great. Plus it’s snappier now that Windows isn’t hogging all the system resources.
set up some remote desktop in case you need to support them when your vacation ends
Rustdesk! Its a GUI copy of Teamviewer but it works.
It has all the DynDNS stuff that miss in all the other options so they are unusable in countries where IP addresses change.
But no wayland, yet.
Waypipe could probably be used as a reference or incorporated as a library to make it work
Rustdesk supports Wayland but only “experimental”
It doesnt work. Just static viewing.
Worked for me…?
Cool! On wayland? What compositor, flatpak or native?
Not sure
Yes Wayland, but experimentally.
Already threw RustDesk on there and tested it.
It’s so funny that having a different theme makes the computer hard to use for some parents. :)
Those people drive cars on the road!
UI/UX 101, my friend.
If people are used to see specific symbols for years is hard for them to use different ones.
There’s a reason why floppy disk is still the icon for “save”.
Those people drive cars on the road!
Imagine if they change all road signs designs suddenly before you go for a ride.
I wouldn’t be overly harsh.
Some logos/images/designs are simply hardwired to the function that they can’t remember where the apps are if the logo changes. I’m pretty sure I’ll be the same if I use something for 30 years.
My wife changed her Windows work laptop last week. Her Desktop is synced to OneDrive so really she just needs to login. Despite that she was panicking that her PDF’s were gone. They weren’t, it’s just that the new laptop has a newer version of Adobe Reader which uses an updated icon.
Some people are just tech illiterate and the slightest difference can be upsetting. My mum’s the same with her phone. Using Google Maps to navigate is an achievement for her and I’ve been telling her to use it for years. The first time she did she reached her destination literally shaking. She was also amazed with herself that she had done it.
Materia theme or similiar fixes that.
I did that about 10 years ago because I got tired of removing malware for them. They haven’t had any malware since then.
Same. And also because it kept getting slower for no reason. The only support requests at the beginning were “how do I install this” --> app store, and “it won’t boot” --> that took longer because they had turned off the computer during a system update - by holding down the power button. The last one warranted a sticky note on the screen “NEVER turn off the computer during an update”.
Same here. Not just my parents, but also some of my aunts and uncles. None of them are particularly tech savvy and none of them have had any major issues.
People who claim that Linux is difficult to use, or not suitable for newbies, have no idea what they’re talking about.
Linux just needs to come preinstalled.
People, stop buying windows stuff and then installing linux! Buy Linux: https://linuxpreloaded.com/
An excellent choice to use Linux Mint! If my parents allowed me to switch their computers to Linux, I would’ve chosen Linux Mint as well for them. But, I probably wouldn’t give them the Windows 10 look.
My mom insisted that it look the same lol. I figured it was a small price to pay to get them off Windows. I still might change it secretly before I leave haha.
Why does it matter what the layout is?
Because MUH LINUX
I wish linux was my parents.
I wish I had a linux
We have Linux at home!
Linux at home: MS-DOS 5.0 on 5 1/4" floppies
Awesome comment
You would be free to play in the streets.
My dad is Mandriva.
I gave my mom a macbook with debian KDE and a mac OS theme… I dont think she’s noticed yet…
I mean, I literally have the same thing, but with Ubuntu and Mate, so I get it 🤓
At first I read i switched my parents FOR Linux…
Reasonable
Welcome to the club. It’s the don’t need to remove malware from the parents computers every week club.
Good job on that! Linux is way better for average uses like you described. 😊
And that’s the thing. It’s great for casual users who do simple computing tasks, and it’s great for the programmers, hackers, and IT professionals. But there’s no middle ground for power users who know a bit more than the average users but can’t be bothered to learn shell scripting.
I’m using Linux ten years now and I never learned shell scripting. Or do you mean running commands in the shell?
I don’t agree with your exact reasoning on the middle ground, but I think there’s truth in the underlying sentiment.
I do think that users that are are competent with technology but unfamiliar with Linux are pretty likely to get frustrated with it. I had this discussion with a friend just yesterday. They want to try out Linux because of frustration with Windows 11’s restrictive hardware requirements. But they also want to ease in to it. I think that’s wise. In this specific case, I think if they tried to dump Windows in it’s entirety and try to use Arch right off the bat, they’d get frustrated and give up. But if they tried a user friendly distro on a secondary piece of hardware? I think that has a good chance of creating a new Linux user.
I guess the point of that rambling paragraph is that that type of a user is a challenge, but there is middle ground to be had.
It was hard for me too, but PopOS made my life easy back in the day when I first tried.
No drivers needed, everything worked out of the box, including the Nvidia GeForce 2060 Mobile. So I just needed to get comfortable with the OS in general.
Or gamers who want to play triple a titles
I play AAA titles all the time on linux. Just not ones that come bundled with
viruses and rootkitskernel-level invasive anticheat.And during anti-cheat outages… Turns out the games play fine with proton.
*linux-hostile-anti-cheat multiplayer titles
Got my dad on Mint for a few years now. That me reminds me I have to check which version he is on. He might still be on 20 something.
I did the same, except with Windows 7 look instead 😈
I don’t believe in making GNU/Linux look exactly like Windows. It’s a different OS, and any attempt to fool users will be in vain.
I tell family members: “I don’t know anything about Windows/macOS.” (Because I don’t, at this point.) “I can only help you if you use what I use.” Usually, they stop asking me for help, and that’s great for me. If they say yes, I install Fedora with GNOME and whatever applications they expect to use. After a brief explanation of how GNOME works, people generally get used to it and are satisfied.
I share my laptop with Mom. It runs GNU Guix System with GNOME. She uses it to run Chrome for stuff she can’t get on her tablet. She’s used to it at this point.
I mean I was with you in the first half, I also tell my family either to use it I’m used to or don’t ask me for help. But I would not be so rude as to put gnome on it and force them to learn a completely different workflow.
Especially when 99.9% of what they do is in a web browser there’s no reason to change anything on them. I just used KDE plasma as it’s already extremely Windows 7 like in layout right out of the box couple more tweaks to make it a little more Windows 10 like and they don’t have to relearn a bunch of shit.
They don’t need to know how to install things, I have a tray applet helper for handling updates all they have to do is Click yes, doesn’t matter if they understand the differences between Windows and that. They just need to be able to open the web browser, open libreoffice, and occasionally click print. There’s no reason for me to force them into an entirely different workflow.
I’m glad that your mother figured it out and seems to be doing well, but to me it just feels like an unnecessary change
It is not rude to advocate for computing freedom and privacy, no, in fact, I think it’s everyone’s duty to carry GNU/Linux into their families and campaign for its adoption.
You should attempt to read the message again, I did not say Do not advocate for linux. I said do not pointlessly change the workflow. Gnome is a massive UI departure from windows and a workflow shift. Which is just completely unnecessary for the average person and just makes the transition hard for no reason.
I switched my mothers Laptop to Gentoo with KDE some time ago and she did not even notice, because I placed the firefox icon at the same location it was in windows … 😜 she noticed only that the wallpaper is different
I’m sorry… Gentoo? Mom’s Laptop? …
I did the same thing with my Dad. He’s been using Linux Mint for a bit over 2 years now.
Linux Mint is more than enough for his usage: Email, internet browsing and word processing.
Right on!
Get ready to address hard to debug issues in the future op.
