3 ms·

Install Linux Mint on it and you'll never get another phone call about using the computer again

pmlnr 10y ago
I wanted to write the same line. Mint looks, feels and works as a good windows XP, but with up to date security and drivers, and is perfect for anyone who's using their computer for generic activities, eg. browsing, watching movies, etc. Add a Google Chrome and you have Netflix & the rest, Skype works out of the box on Mint, and it has an 'app store' - also known as package manager for a decade in linux terms -, so there really is nothing missing from Mint for generic scenarios. ( No, you really don't need full back-and-forth MS Office compatibility in generic life and Libreoffice is doing a good job on compatibility. You also don't need Photoshop for generic, everyday users; there is Digikam, Gimp and Inkscape and countless others for the non-professionals, all of them are more than enough for someone who's not making a living of this. )
ryanl0l 10y ago
Yeah until the users ISP drops them because of the kaiten sending outgoing DDoS.
- Piskvorrr 10y ago
  Or for being a part of any other botnet. Oh wait, it's you: all those Windows zombies are nonexistent, because "shouldn't happen = doesn't happen, Windows is secure, Linux suxx0rz, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia".
RaleyField 10y ago
Too bad Mint is done by cowboys. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-linux-mint-hack-is-an-indicator-of-a-larger-problem/ http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-linux-mint-hack-...
WorldMaker 10y ago
Until the next LTS dist upgrade? Linux doesn't solve the dist upgrade situation any better than Windows here: there's still a lot of cheese that moves around between dist upgrades. Sure, if you stick to LTS dist upgrades you restrict the amount of change to roughly once every two years, and if you use a particularly conservative distribution like Mint you can count on, for now, a fairly decent track record of trying to stay in a "Perpetual 90s" of GUI choices. But even with Mint there are lots of little differences between dist upgrades, and especially if you stray conservative and only do LTS dist upgrades then your relatives also don't benefit from the slow gradual updates and are forced into the changes more jarringly. (And yes, Windows 7 to Windows 10 is an LTS dist upgrade.)
- Piskvorrr 10y ago
  Yes. Until the next upgrade: which happens with me at the console, at a time which I choose (which includes "oh look, at least I made a complete image before starting an upgrade"), not at the whim of some abstract schmuck trying to fill his KPI quota of systems upgraded. (And TBH, I think it does solve it better: went from 10.04 to 12.04 to 14.04 to 16.04, and still running well; the upgrades were polite, didn't interfere with normal system use except for one restart each for new kernel, and most importantly didn't break the system. Maybe I was exceptionally lucky, but I dare you to do this from Vista to 7 to 8 to 8.1 to 10)

pmlnr 10y ago

I wanted to write the same line. Mint looks, feels and works as a good windows XP, but with up to date security and drivers, and is perfect for anyone who's using their computer for generic activities, eg. browsing, watching movies, etc. Add a Google Chrome and you have Netflix & the rest, Skype works out of the box on Mint, and it has an 'app store' - also known as package manager for a decade in linux terms -, so there really is nothing missing from Mint for generic scenarios. ( No, you really don't need full back-and-forth MS Office compatibility in generic life and Libreoffice is doing a good job on compatibility. You also don't need Photoshop for generic, everyday users; there is Digikam, Gimp and Inkscape and countless others for the non-professionals, all of them are more than enough for someone who's not making a living of this. )

ryanl0l 10y ago

Yeah until the users ISP drops them because of the kaiten sending outgoing DDoS.

Piskvorrr 10y ago
Or for being a part of any other botnet. Oh wait, it's you: all those Windows zombies are nonexistent, because "shouldn't happen = doesn't happen, Windows is secure, Linux suxx0rz, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia".

RaleyField 10y ago

Too bad Mint is done by cowboys. http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-linux-mint-hack-is-an-indicator-of-a-larger-problem/ http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-linux-mint-hack-...

WorldMaker 10y ago

Until the next LTS dist upgrade? Linux doesn't solve the dist upgrade situation any better than Windows here: there's still a lot of cheese that moves around between dist upgrades. Sure, if you stick to LTS dist upgrades you restrict the amount of change to roughly once every two years, and if you use a particularly conservative distribution like Mint you can count on, for now, a fairly decent track record of trying to stay in a "Perpetual 90s" of GUI choices. But even with Mint there are lots of little differences between dist upgrades, and especially if you stray conservative and only do LTS dist upgrades then your relatives also don't benefit from the slow gradual updates and are forced into the changes more jarringly. (And yes, Windows 7 to Windows 10 is an LTS dist upgrade.)

Piskvorrr 10y ago
Yes. Until the next upgrade: which happens with me at the console, at a time which I choose (which includes "oh look, at least I made a complete image before starting an upgrade"), not at the whim of some abstract schmuck trying to fill his KPI quota of systems upgraded. (And TBH, I think it does solve it better: went from 10.04 to 12.04 to 14.04 to 16.04, and still running well; the upgrades were polite, didn't interfere with normal system use except for one restart each for new kernel, and most importantly didn't break the system. Maybe I was exceptionally lucky, but I dare you to do this from Vista to 7 to 8 to 8.1 to 10)