[lug] Linux for my Dad?

[Michael D. Hirsch]

On Thursday 11 December 2003 12:24 pm, John Dollison wrote:
> My father is looking to replace a VERY old computer with a newer model, but
> doesn't want to spend much money on it, since he only uses it for
> solitaire, e-mail, and occasional web-surfing (at 56K).  He's been looking
> at the WalMart computers ($200 - $400) that come with your choice of
> Lycoris or Lindows.  I have no experience with either.  Dad's not a
> computer geek like me, he just wants to plug it in and use it, without
> worrying about configuring much of anything.  He lives out of state, so I
> can't help him much if he gets stuck.
>
> Does anyone out there have any experience with Lycoris or Lindows, or
> Wal-Mart PC's in general?  Or should I just mail him a Windoze Millenium
> CD, and walk him through an install of that?  It seems that Wal-Mart has
> been selling Linux PC's for well over a year now, so maybe it's really
> working for the Average Joe?

The Linux Journal review of Lindows is pretty positive.  In particular, it 
seems really good at installing software easily.  It's security is a bit weak 
as you are encouraged to run as root all the time, but otherwise they seem to 
like it a lot.  I haven't tried it.

--Michael