Re: [tlug] Linspire as a senior citizen's first computer... what do you think?

[JJJ3 <juggins@example.com>]

Just want to add an anecdote (If you've heard this one before I hope
you've forgotten it.)

A couple years ago my sister arrived in Japan to stay for a year.  She
needed a computer and she wasn't going to be living anywhere near me
(I was in Kamakura, she was in Ibaragi).  Someone gave her a p133 with
Win98 (Japanese) preloaded.  It was worse than useless.  Simply do to
a lack of any other options (that I could think of at the time) I
downloaded a Woody Iso and installed Debian for her.  At the time I
was extremely clueless, but following a few helpfiles I somehow
managed to get PPP working.

The most difficult thing was finding a dial-up modem that worked with
Debian.  But once I had that everything else went very smoothly.  I
set it up at her apartment.  Pointed out the power switch, the loging
screen and pointed to a Konqueror icon and said, "there's the
internet".  Since she used webmail I didn't even need to set up a mail
client. I didn't have a complaint out of her for a year and a half -
the little machine chugged along beautifully.  Once, GOL made a change
that required everyone to use a new phone number for dial-up.  I was
able to change the setting for her over SSH.

I only wish I had had the confidence to get my parents using linux
earlier, but while I've been away in Japan they've gotten 'other help'
and by now are quite dependant on WinXp.

So the moral of my story is "Start them on Debian!" and never look back.