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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 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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] 1 points 1 month ago

Moved my sister to Ubuntu a while ago aside from the occasional support call everything works quite well.

As for my mom, I sat her down way back and told her she needed to move off of Windows XP (support was running out). I explained to her that she could learn Windows 7 and eventually 10 (8 was already a known dud by then) or she could switch to a "Traditional" desktop paradigm that resembled XP closely where she'd only had to relearn once and then keep running it forever, so I moved her to MATE.

While most issues she had with incompatibilities could be solved (and often remotely by me just via ssh) there was one MFP that just wouldn't scan properly (I've scoured the web for guides and sane drivers etc.) in the end I set up a Dual boot Windows (with a nice "switch to Windows " script right in the pinned apps) just so she could scan from there (scans automatically saved on a NAS share that was also available in Linux so she could use the scanned documents there). These days the MFP died and she got a new one that will actually scan in Linux but I kept the dual boot just in case (though I doubt she ever uses it).