8 May
2019
8 May
'19
7:14 a.m.
On Tuesday 07 May 2019 19:16:59 Felix Miata wrote:
Michael composed on 2019-05-07 11:48 (UTC-0500):
He would probably be better off sticking with Windoze (I hate to say it), but
I imagine that a large part of the problem here is money, and I wouldn't
recommend that anybody use pirated versions, either, which are possibly the
only thing worse than Windoze itself.
So you're trying to help somebody less fortunate, which is a good thing. From
what I gather of the situation, I would recommend something like PINGuy Linux
(based on Ubuntu), if it is still around.
https://pinguyos.com/
https://www.distrowatch.com/pinguy
I tried it out myself a little, but wanted more control over my own system.
However, when I had some friends who wanted to give Linux a try, but weren't
techies or geeks at all, and didn't seem likely to make the jump from Windoze
to something like Debian, Slackware, etc., I set them up with PINGuy, and it
seemed to work pretty well for them.
If you are just looking to build a computer for somebody else out of an old
box and parts, etc. (which I'm still doing myself), then it requires minimal
user input; the firewall is already set up, and I imagine it can handle
dial-up, too.
ALSO: I sometimes have to use public computers in an area shared by lots of
people who are rather similar to your description of this person. The network
admin installed Lubuntu (i.e., with LXDE desktop) on all the public computers
at this place, and everybody seems to have adjusted pretty quickly. You could
also install Debian with LXDE. But then I imagine that you might fall into
that trap of having to hold his hand for every little thing, and I myself
have a deep appreciation for anybody who wants to avoid people who will not
only waste my time, but who will somehow claim more and more of it. Life is
short.
Either way, I think, you get caught in a dilemma. Do you choose the initial
ease of installation, and simple point-and-click interfaces, etc.; or do you
choose stability, and trust that maybe you won't have to return too often.
Good luck,
Bill
Felix Miata wrote:
Plain Old Telephone Service (land line). For a long time he had wifi, but
it recently disappeared.
Maybe the better question would be does anyone
here have any users using
POTS and WINE, and if so, on which distro? I haven't haven't suffered
POTS or known more than one who has in close to 20 years. The one who
has is the owner of the target. He has zero competence in computer setup
or maintenance, historically struggling to do much more with internet
than collect Windows malware. His email is Juno.
Absent a suggestion backed by recent experience with POTS and WINE, I'll
be choosing between Mageia, openSUSE and Debian.
Target is a Vaio laptop (not mine) with 2.2GHz dual core with 2GB RAM
and GM965 14" 1280x800 video. I have an openSUSE maintenance
installation (only IceWM for X) on it now, which will stay.
Q’s first:
- POTS as he connects to the Internet by telephone dial up? - Juno as in Juno WebMail or through a mail
client?
I doubt he knows what a mail client is, though possibly in the past he
might have used a proprietary Juno or Netzero or other cheap proprietary
ISP client.
Otherwise:
- User has No computer skills.
He has a tablet to use when he can get a free wifi connection, which is
rare where he lives. Let's say minimal any kind of skills. He's physically
and mentally challenged to a degree I don't have a handle on, living on
disability his whole life. He accidentally had his head bashed (before he
reached his teens is as much as he remembers).
- Needs Wine. (for what?)
Dunno. Maybe he doesn't. Sometimes he throws out Windows app names I've
never heard of. His poor memory keeps me challenged.
- Computer’s technology is 10+ years old.
12 or so, first generation of Intel GPUs (GMA X3100) supported by Xorg's
modesetting DDX.
# # #
Based upon just the ‘zero competence in computer’ try him on a MX Linux
Live USB in persistent mode [1]? That should be about the easiest way
for you to test if the hardware can handle it and once that’s figured
out, then you can add TDE.
I don't do USB except for occasional rescues. My interest isn't so much in
what the hardware can support as a desktop he and I and POTS can work with,
with an emphasis on minimal effort from me when he needs help. Without
broadband, his phone is tied up with internet connection at the times he
needs to call for help. Or so I thought. I just found out he has a cell
phone too. Must be an Obama phone.
I already have minimal openSUSE 15.1 and TDE on Debian Buster installations
on two of five / partitions I allocated for root filesystems. That leaves
two possible distros/desktops to try besides IceWM and TDE (there will be
two openSUSE 15.1: the existing, which will be for me only for fixing
breakage on the other four, and one for him).
[1]
Update the release references to 18.x on
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/create-a-live-usb-w-persist-from-a-window
s-desktop/ and
https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/MX_Linux_Trinity_Repository_Installation_
Instructions
This might also help,
http://inet-design.com/blogs/michael/how-create-bootable-usb-stick-iso-im
age.html
Or just search, https://mxlinux.org/?s=make+live+usb+persistence
AFAICT, MX is XFCE-focused. I don't like XFCE (or Gnome, the reason why I
jumped on KDE1 when I discovered it), or that it's built on a gtk3
foundation, which may be why.
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=757142 (wontfix)
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1269274 (wontfix)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1420743 (wontfix)
http://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1022830 (FIXED)
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1269145 (fixed)
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=781807 (wontfix)