6 ms·

Linux is ready for a lot of people. Inset my parents up with Ubuntu six months ago and they like it. Not super tech savvy, they can wait word docs, email, and b

by Cerium 9y ago

Linux is ready for a lot of people. Inset my parents up with Ubuntu six months ago and they like it. Not super tech savvy, they can wait word docs, email, and browse the web. All their purchase price went to hardware and none to Microsoft!

yostrovs 9y ago
And think of how many people worked on everything related to Linux and how many tried their best to use it, all because of their hatred of Microsoft. And for what?
boyce 9y ago
For people ugrading from w7, it's much easier to adapt to Cinnamon than W10, especially older folks
- lucb1e 9y ago
  I myself had an easy time adjusting, and I'm planning to give my grandma either a Debian or a Linux Mint system with Cinnamon once it's finally time for a new laptop. It's curious how a "supported" OS like Windows 7 mysteriously only runs on old hardware and cannot be bought anymore. You'd almost think they're trying to force you to upgrade.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- overcast 9y ago
  Except the whole not running any normal software they see in day to day use. Older folks are definitely not going to understand why their version of Office 2016 isn't installing on their "Linux machine" their grandson setup for them. I went down this route before with my own, and it ends in either installing Windows, or getting a Mac/iPad.
  - reacweb 9y ago
    I have migrated my parents from a slow laptop (windows XP) to a miniPC with ubuntu gnome. It was easy to say that there were less differences between their old "word" and open office than between their old "word" and the new one with the ribbon. It is 4 years ago. The main used applications are Chrome, thunderbird, microsoft powerpoint viewer (using wine) and the default video and picture viewers. They receive many mails per days containing powerpoint files (probably like many old people). The powerpoint viewer is free and works very well (slow start) on ubuntu. You just need to spend some time for file associations.
    - overcast 9y ago
      See, all of that setup, and configuration. For what? Just to have your grandparents running Linux? Trust me, I attempted this multiple times, no one wants to deal with it if something goes wrong, or setting up special configs, or using an emulation layer just to view a powerpoint. I applaud your patience, but I've got better things to do. With that said, I dropped an iMac on my fathers lap ten years ago, and without any instruction, both of my parents were up and running, and they used Windows their entire life.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    I am an older folk. You know, we've been using computers since the seventies. Not only do I know why Office 2016 doesn't work, I know quite well why it doesn't work. I also know how my hardware works, quite well. If I need to, I'm even comfortably modifying much of my software. I even know why, and how, to compile a custom kernel. These older folks built the very things you used. As for the "definitely not going to understand" bit, there's a not insignificant chance that I understand it better than you.
    - theWatcher37 9y ago
      Surely you realize you're the exception, not the rule.
      - KGIII 9y ago
cookiecaper 9y ago
My mom has been using Linux as her desktop OS without issue for over 10 years, and it makes the hardware last a lot longer (Win10 now has dynamically compressed memory, but for a long time this was a feature that was only available on Linux, and helped a lot). If you just need a web browser (Firefox and/or Chrome), office suite (LibreOffice), and basic scanning and photo editing (GIMP), Linux is completely adequate.
oelmekki 9y ago
Have Ubuntu quit making a separate partition for /boot on install by default? In my experience, this was the reason most non tech savvy people quit using linux a decade ago. The symptom was always the same : "I can't upgrade anymore". And the reason was always the same : like 20 different kernels in /boot, which has no more free space and was breaking upgrade process for any package. EDIT : sorry to have to ask that, by the way : I'm on kde neon myself, but I always make my own partition scheme, so I can't answer that question.
- mmagin 9y ago
  Most Linux distributions do that by default today, Ubuntu included. It is definitely one of those things where the default case has been made to cover everything and has gotten really complicated. But the upgrade tool really should be smart enough to clean up the oldest kernels when /boot gets full. That's pretty sad if they haven't fixed that yet.
  - jackweirdy 9y ago
    I think it's a fear thing. Do you wanna be the dev who introduces a bug to the /boot cleanup code and accidentally nukes all the kernels?
    - theWatcher37 9y ago
      Well, I always wanted to be famous!
    - zie 9y ago
      It's basically done already: apt-get autoremove It's just not enabled by default, you have to put it in /etc/cron.monthly, if you want it to just run for you.
- pwg 9y ago
  The separate /boot partition is partially a leftover and partly a method of increasing the likely-hood of the install working on a larger group of hardware. Older machine bios'es often had a hard size limit of where on disk they could read boot data. Having /boot be a small partition at the start of the disk meant a greater likely-hood that the new install would boot properly. Newer Linux boot loaders have largely eliminated the need, but old compatibility items everywhere tend to stay stuck well beyond the point where they ceased actually being necessary anymore (partially due to the "if it is not broke, don't fix it" mindset). But the problem you describe is not a failure of having /boot be a small separate partition. It is a failure of the upgrade scripts not cleaning up old, no longer used, kernel files.

by Cerium 9y ago

yostrovs 9y ago

And think of how many people worked on everything related to Linux and how many tried their best to use it, all because of their hatred of Microsoft. And for what?

boyce 9y ago

For people ugrading from w7, it's much easier to adapt to Cinnamon than W10, especially older folks

lucb1e 9y ago
I myself had an easy time adjusting, and I'm planning to give my grandma either a Debian or a Linux Mint system with Cinnamon once it's finally time for a new laptop. It's curious how a "supported" OS like Windows 7 mysteriously only runs on old hardware and cannot be bought anymore. You'd almost think they're trying to force you to upgrade.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
overcast 9y ago
Except the whole not running any normal software they see in day to day use. Older folks are definitely not going to understand why their version of Office 2016 isn't installing on their "Linux machine" their grandson setup for them. I went down this route before with my own, and it ends in either installing Windows, or getting a Mac/iPad.
- reacweb 9y ago
  I have migrated my parents from a slow laptop (windows XP) to a miniPC with ubuntu gnome. It was easy to say that there were less differences between their old "word" and open office than between their old "word" and the new one with the ribbon. It is 4 years ago. The main used applications are Chrome, thunderbird, microsoft powerpoint viewer (using wine) and the default video and picture viewers. They receive many mails per days containing powerpoint files (probably like many old people). The powerpoint viewer is free and works very well (slow start) on ubuntu. You just need to spend some time for file associations.
  - overcast 9y ago
    See, all of that setup, and configuration. For what? Just to have your grandparents running Linux? Trust me, I attempted this multiple times, no one wants to deal with it if something goes wrong, or setting up special configs, or using an emulation layer just to view a powerpoint. I applaud your patience, but I've got better things to do. With that said, I dropped an iMac on my fathers lap ten years ago, and without any instruction, both of my parents were up and running, and they used Windows their entire life.
- KGIII 9y ago
  I am an older folk. You know, we've been using computers since the seventies. Not only do I know why Office 2016 doesn't work, I know quite well why it doesn't work. I also know how my hardware works, quite well. If I need to, I'm even comfortably modifying much of my software. I even know why, and how, to compile a custom kernel. These older folks built the very things you used. As for the "definitely not going to understand" bit, there's a not insignificant chance that I understand it better than you.
  - theWatcher37 9y ago
    Surely you realize you're the exception, not the rule.
    - KGIII 9y ago

cookiecaper 9y ago

My mom has been using Linux as her desktop OS without issue for over 10 years, and it makes the hardware last a lot longer (Win10 now has dynamically compressed memory, but for a long time this was a feature that was only available on Linux, and helped a lot). If you just need a web browser (Firefox and/or Chrome), office suite (LibreOffice), and basic scanning and photo editing (GIMP), Linux is completely adequate.

oelmekki 9y ago

Have Ubuntu quit making a separate partition for /boot on install by default? In my experience, this was the reason most non tech savvy people quit using linux a decade ago. The symptom was always the same : "I can't upgrade anymore". And the reason was always the same : like 20 different kernels in /boot, which has no more free space and was breaking upgrade process for any package. EDIT : sorry to have to ask that, by the way : I'm on kde neon myself, but I always make my own partition scheme, so I can't answer that question.

mmagin 9y ago
Most Linux distributions do that by default today, Ubuntu included. It is definitely one of those things where the default case has been made to cover everything and has gotten really complicated. But the upgrade tool really should be smart enough to clean up the oldest kernels when /boot gets full. That's pretty sad if they haven't fixed that yet.
- jackweirdy 9y ago
  I think it's a fear thing. Do you wanna be the dev who introduces a bug to the /boot cleanup code and accidentally nukes all the kernels?
  - theWatcher37 9y ago
    Well, I always wanted to be famous!
  - zie 9y ago
    It's basically done already: apt-get autoremove It's just not enabled by default, you have to put it in /etc/cron.monthly, if you want it to just run for you.
pwg 9y ago
The separate /boot partition is partially a leftover and partly a method of increasing the likely-hood of the install working on a larger group of hardware. Older machine bios'es often had a hard size limit of where on disk they could read boot data. Having /boot be a small partition at the start of the disk meant a greater likely-hood that the new install would boot properly. Newer Linux boot loaders have largely eliminated the need, but old compatibility items everywhere tend to stay stuck well beyond the point where they ceased actually being necessary anymore (partially due to the "if it is not broke, don't fix it" mindset). But the problem you describe is not a failure of having /boot be a small separate partition. It is a failure of the upgrade scripts not cleaning up old, no longer used, kernel files.