Today at the grocery store a sweet older lady approached me and asked if I knew anything about computers. I said yes I do, and she produced a mouse saying that her son set up Linux mint for her and she was wondering if the mouse was compatible. It needed kernel version 2.6 or newer so I said that the mouse should work, guessing mint itself was probably newer than that kernel. Happy with my answer, we chatted a little, then she thanked me and left.
It was a nice experience, so I thought I should share!
Based boomer ladies embracing open source software.
I tried to install Linux on my mom’s laptop for her, it was too scary. So she is still using windows 7 and probably getting scammed left and right.
My dad is running xubuntu for about 6 years now. I didn’t get any questions in the last 2 years. Besides for installing a new printer.
Before that it was mostly which program he needed for something. Never a black screen anymore, malware or anything like that.
He’s using Linux; even the hackers think he’s suffering enough.
My mom on the other hand did not find it problematic , given that she never used computers before and her first exp was linux mint 😌
Back in 2010 or so I got sick of my mother constantly getting viruses, Trojans and spyware and installed Linux on her laptop. It actually worked out great… support calls went from once a month to her just wondering how to get the photos from her camera periodically. After a few years she got a Chromebook, which surprisingly has been more annoying. My dad somehow thought she needed 6 Google accounts or something and she’s constantly confused about which one she’s signed into. Other than that, both are a whole lot easier to deal with for both of us than her having windows.
Zorin looks easier for the unacquainted.
https://zorin.com/os/
After I tried to set up her new home internet and she had a melt down because I asked her if she had done any of the items I asked her to do (try connecting her smart tv to the network using the information I gave her) I no longer offer tech support to her, in fact we have barely spoken since then. It has been wonderful.
They’ll probably enjoy Linux way more than windows. It’s so much less intrusive.
Yeah plus after two hours googling how to make something work, and then another two hours googling why the solution failed they can get used to getting off the PC and internalizing the concept of ‘life’s too short’.
Um, no, they’re going to call grandson to do it lol.
Also, Linux mint is a very stable distro & I doubt grandma will have to do much if she just uses it for email, a browser, and sudoku