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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Linux and your family (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

71 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Greetings, I am asking whether Linux has helped your family or not going from Windows to a friendly distribution that caters to young or elderly.

How was your experience with helping relatives or your kids with Linux? Was it because of an older spec machine? Costs etc?

I helped get my grandmother (dad's side) to move from windows 8.1 to Linux Mint which so far has been good, she only really browses and required some basic budgeting apps.

This was on something like an older core i3 or i5 but I didn't hear that many problems apart from getting drivers for her Epson printer to work.

So how has it been for you?

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Not Windows, but I rooted/cracked an old Chromebook for my mother and put Gallium OS on it because newer ChromeOS wasn't suported anymore. She was able to take care of affairs with it when my Dad passed and uses it daily still to keep in touch and manage her life. 90% of what she does takes place in Firefox, so as long as an OS has that and some basic utilities like a calc and text editor, she's good to go.

A $150 laptop bought in 2013 still able to accomplish modern tasks. It makes me sick thinking of the throwaway society we have created. When I pass by the neighborhood dumpster and see an entire perfectly fine big screen LCD TV with just a couple bad capacitors in the power supply. When I see entire vapes with batteries littering the ground. When Microsoft decides to arbitrarily kill off an entire previous generation of PCs with TPM.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Don't get me started on dispo vapes, the absolute worst. The juice is all bad, and the single use sucks. Much better to get a refillable pod system, even better to make your own juice but even if not, the stuff in the bottles is better than the stuff in the dispos.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for mentioning GalliumOS! I'll be putting that on my SO's old Chromebook now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

https://wiki.galliumos.org/Welcome_to_the_GalliumOS_Wiki

Unfortunately, looks to be discontinued, I just checked. I guess I gotta check up on my mom's laptop and get her something that's still getting updates haha. That news totally slipped by me.