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

[Alain Hoang <hoanga@example.com>]

Micheal E Cooper wrote:
>> I still think that you'd be better off providing him with what *you* use.
>>     
    These are words well spoken.  Because WHEN things break it's best 
you have an idea of
what to do since usually the family sys admin is the first, middle, and 
last line of defense for
family members when PCs start going wonky.

    In regards to using Linspire, the main issue I see is that it is a 
subscription based model
for updating the machine.  Personally, I wouldn't want to be having to 
handle the subscription
behind the scenes if I could help it.  It's just one more extra 
administrative pain to avoid. 
Since it is a .deb based system you could just update the 
/etc/apt/sources.list or whatever
it's called in Linspire to point to Debian sources or whatever and avoid 
the subscription
but why would you want to?  I've never personally used it so I really 
can't comment
if it's the spawn of evil as some other folks seem to believe it is.  
But just from a cursory
inspection I don't see any huge advantages it has over Ubuntu or Debian 
itself for your
case since in the end it is going to be you who is going to setup the box.

>> has some rough edges. Debian is stable to a fault, unless of course
>> of date. Ubuntu has a good balance of regular releases and stability.
>>     
>
> Points well taken from Godwin and Jake. Thank you. With less than two
> weeks left before I leave, I really don't have enough time to do all the
> things I would like to.
>   
    I've had favorable experiences with using Ubuntu since it is quite 
good at going from zero to GUI
enabled desktop and (mostly) happily working hardware with just a few 
brain-dead clicks.  I've always
found Debian requiring a bit more  tinkering before it's a happy camper 
unless you're on a
very plain vanilla desktop box.

[snip]
> Once I get back to Japan, I plan to install Gentoo, Debian, and Ubuntu.
> Then I will have more perspective.
>   
    Gentoo is fun but I'm not sure I'd hand that over to a neophyte 
unless I had a pre-tuned system
ready to hand to them.  But, tuning takes time.  Perhaps other people 
will disagree with me on
this.
> My present plan (modified today) is to carry over my old Gateway PIII800
> with me... somehow. I plan to pre-install something in it. Just in case
> something goes wrong with that, I will also take with me a Damn Small
> Linux CD, because Dad has a 9-year-old Pentium machine that someone gave
> him way back, and I am thinking that DSL and a webmail account might be
> all he needs. If my Gateway does not work.
>   
    BTW why not just fire up Knoppix on your Gateway and see if it 
auto-detects the hardware?
If Knoppix blows up on something or refuses to find it then you know 
you'll have one particular
problem child along the way.  If it finds everything, then at least you 
know there's some way
for Linux to get it to work even if the distro you finally choose 
decides it wants to ignore it
on installation  :-)
    If you're going to go the DSL route for your folks I think this 
might be advantageous from
the connectivity perspective since it shouldn't be hard to track the IP 
so you can remotely log
in when things need updating.  Or perhaps you could setup a DDNS agent 
with some
particular hostname so you don't have to bother remembering IP addresses 
at all (and
hope the DDNS agent never has problems).

Cheers,
Alain