Switched my Parents to Linux

I’m visiting my parents for the holidays and convinced them to let me switch them to Linux.

They use their computer for the typical basic stuff; email, YouTube, Word, Facebook, and occasionally printing/scanning.

I promised my mom that everything would look the same and work the same. I used Linux Mint and customized the theme to look like Windows 10. I even replaced the Mint “Start” button with the Windows logo.

So far they like it and everything runs great. Plus it’s snappier now that Windows isn’t hogging all the system resources.

Sanyanov,

Recommending Linux is good; forcing it down someone’s throat is not.

If parents are just comfy using Windows, it’ll get them super frustrated when they’ll face new issues coming from Linux use, as you just can’t turn Linux into Windows and they never asked for it.

Now, if they complain about all the shit Windows throws at them, you can offer an alternative.

wabafee,

Get ready to address hard to debug issues in the future op.

Kwakigra,
@Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

I’m about to do this for my mother as well. I just switched back myself and found Mint has come a very long way. The last time I ran it as my main OS 10 years ago it was pretty demanding from the user, but mint now is probably more user friendly than Windows.

some_guy,

You’re a good offspring.

KE0VVT,

I don’t believe in making GNU/Linux look exactly like Windows. It’s a different OS, and any attempt to fool users will be in vain.

I tell family members: “I don’t know anything about Windows/macOS.” (Because I don’t, at this point.) “I can only help you if you use what I use.” Usually, they stop asking me for help, and that’s great for me. If they say yes, I install Fedora with GNOME and whatever applications they expect to use. After a brief explanation of how GNOME works, people generally get used to it and are satisfied.

I share my laptop with Mom. It runs GNU Guix System with GNOME. She uses it to run Chrome for stuff she can’t get on her tablet. She’s used to it at this point.

LordKitsuna,

I mean I was with you in the first half, I also tell my family either to use it I’m used to or don’t ask me for help. But I would not be so rude as to put gnome on it and force them to learn a completely different workflow.

Especially when 99.9% of what they do is in a web browser there’s no reason to change anything on them. I just used KDE plasma as it’s already extremely Windows 7 like in layout right out of the box couple more tweaks to make it a little more Windows 10 like and they don’t have to relearn a bunch of shit.

They don’t need to know how to install things, I have a tray applet helper for handling updates all they have to do is Click yes, doesn’t matter if they understand the differences between Windows and that. They just need to be able to open the web browser, open libreoffice, and occasionally click print. There’s no reason for me to force them into an entirely different workflow.

I’m glad that your mother figured it out and seems to be doing well, but to me it just feels like an unnecessary change

ricdeh,
@ricdeh@lemmy.world avatar

It is not rude to advocate for computing freedom and privacy, no, in fact, I think it’s everyone’s duty to carry GNU/Linux into their families and campaign for its adoption.

LordKitsuna,

You should attempt to read the message again, I did not say Do not advocate for linux. I said do not pointlessly change the workflow. Gnome is a massive UI departure from windows and a workflow shift. Which is just completely unnecessary for the average person and just makes the transition hard for no reason.

jodanlime,
@jodanlime@midwest.social avatar

I did this about a decade ago for my parents. Upgraded their computer last year and they told me they wanted to keep Linux on the new machine.

My dad wasn’t convinced until his hoyle card games ran with wine though.

h3mlocke,

Can u come over to my house next?!?!

TheLobotomist,
@TheLobotomist@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

At first I read i switched my parents FOR Linux…

prof,

Reasonable

Yerbouti,

My dad has a Surface Go. I’ve installed Fedora on one of those and it works really well. Dad is still unsure about this but I will try to convince him during the holydays.

clay_pidgin,

Any trouble spots on the Surface? I have a 2017 model that could use a refresh, but I was worried about the touch screen, digitizer pen, and detachable keyboard.

Yerbouti,

The only problem I had was using a specific App (Tidal music). The virtual keyboard doesn’t show up so I either have to plug the real keyboard or use the web version of the app. Otherwise its really smooth, way better that it was on windows 10. Touch screen is super responsive, I dont have the pen.

clay_pidgin,

I always have the keyboard attached, so that’s not a big deal for me. Thank you for the review.

Lonewolfmcquade,

I recently loaded the latest Ubuntu LTS onto my old Surface Pro and I wish I had done it a long time ago. It works so much better than Windows. Zero issues with any hardware. I don’t have a digitizer pen though I remember reading you can load a special kernel if you have any issues with it. Give it a go, I think you’ll be happy you did

clay_pidgin,

Thank you, that’s great to hear! I’ll do it next week.

dutchkimble,

I put ubuntu on a surface Pro 4, around 2016, and everything worked perfectly without fiddling with drivers back then except autorotate. I’m guessing by now even that works.

clay_pidgin,

Thank you.

blavius,

Congrats. I did that several years ago and they had no issues. even have my grandmother using it as well. As longs as the internet icon was in the same spot she’s good.

SigHunter,
@SigHunter@feddit.de avatar

I switched my mothers Laptop to Gentoo with KDE some time ago and she did not even notice, because I placed the firefox icon at the same location it was in windows … 😜 she noticed only that the wallpaper is different

optimal,
@optimal@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I’m sorry… Gentoo? Mom’s Laptop? …

jacktherippah,

Master…please teach me your ways.

radioactiveradio,

Just uninstall your proprietary parent and install Linux.

clay_pidgin,

I’d just like to interject for moment. What you’re referring to as Parents, are in fact, GNU/Parents, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Parents

h3mlocke,

How do I uninstall my mom??

jacktherippah,

Open your terminal and run sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root. Trust me bro, it works!

YoorWeb,

Mom?

…

MOOOOM?!

jacktherippah,

Hello son, I am your mother. However, I’d just like to interject for moment. What you’re referring to as Mom, is in fact, GNU/Mom, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Mom.

9488fcea02a9,

I gave my mom a macbook with debian KDE and a mac OS theme… I dont think she’s noticed yet…

jelloeater85,
@jelloeater85@lemmy.world avatar

I mean, I literally have the same thing, but with Ubuntu and Mate, so I get it 🤓

pastermil,

I did the same, except with Windows 7 look instead 😈

bluetardis,

Did you swap Word for Libre Office?

elbarto777,

Yes I did.

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