[lug] Linux for Dad

Collins Richey crichey at gmail.com
Sun Aug 17 15:24:48 MDT 2008


On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 1:23 PM, Michael J. Hammel
<mjhammel at graphics-muse.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-08-16 at 22:55 -0600, John Dollison wrote:
>
>> I just found a distro called Foresight Linux, which sounds like the
>> kind of works-right-out-of-the-box solution my dad needs.  It uses
>> both free and non-free software, and claims to "eliminate the need for
>> users to know Linux" (I'm not trying to start a flame war; I'm just
>> trying to consider my dad's technical abilities.)  I'm thinking I
>> might send that to him.
>>
>> Anyway, I'm open to any ideas you might have.
>
> Re: Debian:  bad idea for dad.  Debian is for geeks.  Not the unitiated

Certainly you are entitled to your opinion.
>
> If you're going to do this for Dad, and are willing to do his IT work,
> then you can configure his new box with CentOS (and your desktop of
> choice, probably KDE though I hate that even more than GNOME).  This is
> a distribution intended to have a long life (10 years), so Dad can rest
> assured of meaningful software releases for a while.

By meaningful software releases, I hope you mean critical patches
only, since RHEL/CentOS won't be supplying any meaningful improvements
that come along.

>
> Along with CentOS, you set up his yum to look for a repository on his
> DVD drive (assuming he has one of those).  Then once a month (or every
> other month or once a year - whatever) you send a DVD that is the
> repository and he does his update from the DVD.  Updates are fast and
> don't cost a ton of money via a dial up.  Then he can use his dial up
> for what it was meant for:  emailing you to thank you for saving him
> from the Redmond menace.  You're work will involve maintaining the
> repository at home ready to burn the DVD when the time comes.

All of this applies equally to Debian stable, but then you (with the
common prejudice against Debian) have relegated to a non-choice.

Meanwhile, I think the initial proposal to try Foresight Linux on one
of the inexpensive Shuttle boxes has a lot going for it.



-- 
Collins Richey
 If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
 of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.



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