Switched my Parents to Linux
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.
set up some remote desktop in case you need to support them when your vacation ends
Rustdesk! Its a GUI copy of Teamviewer but it works.
It has all the DynDNS stuff that miss in all the other options so they are unusable in countries where IP addresses change.
But no wayland, yet.
Already threw RustDesk on there and tested it.
I did that about 10 years ago because I got tired of removing malware for them. They haven't had any malware since then.
Same. And also because it kept getting slower for no reason. The only support requests at the beginning were "how do I install this" --> app store, and "it won't boot" --> that took longer because they had turned off the computer during a system update - by holding down the power button. The last one warranted a sticky note on the screen "NEVER turn off the computer during an update".
Same here. Not just my parents, but also some of my aunts and uncles. None of them are particularly tech savvy and none of them have had any major issues.
People who claim that Linux is difficult to use, or not suitable for newbies, have no idea what they're talking about.
Linux just needs to come preinstalled.
People, stop buying windows stuff and then installing linux! Buy Linux: https://linuxpreloaded.com/
An excellent choice to use Linux Mint! If my parents allowed me to switch their computers to Linux, I would've chosen Linux Mint as well for them. But, I probably wouldn't give them the Windows 10 look.
My mom insisted that it look the same lol. I figured it was a small price to pay to get them off Windows. I still might change it secretly before I leave haha.
Why does it matter what the layout is?
Because MUH LINUX
I wish linux was my parents.
I wish I had a linux
We have Linux at home!
Linux at home: MS-DOS 5.0 on 5 1/4" floppies
You would be free to play in the streets.
I gave my mom a macbook with debian KDE and a mac OS theme.. I dont think she's noticed yet....
I mean, I literally have the same thing, but with Ubuntu and Mate, so I get it 🤓
Not worth it. You will end up playing the h support when something goes wrong.
My parents would ask me for tech support anyway no matter the OS. I have them update software and update Firefox and Chromium and their Netflixing will keep working, been very low stress generally.
As if I'm not already doing that. Why do you think I was home working on my parent's computer in the first place?
Plus with how shitty Windows is getting, I'll likely be doing less tech support going forward.
I set up Mint on my parent's PC a couple of years ago, and the amount of support I have had to provide has dropped to basically zero.
Probably doing that anyway
I don't know, maybe?
I play support now, and have for decades. Sometimes windows can be a bear.
Maybe, for basic usage like this, Linux can make sense if it's well thought out?
I have an older (80's) family friend who recently switched from a laptop to an iPad, and seems OK with it (surprisingly).
Typically all of us who switched our relatives to Linux were doing support anyway — but it's much easier than Windows.
Windows needs constant handholding like a needy pet (and not the cute kind). With Linux I spend extended periods of time without having to do anything. I get like one major issue a year, and it's usually hardware related. The only questions I get occasionally are "do you know an app that does thing".
There's no difference if they are on windows
At first I read i switched my parents FOR Linux...
Reasonable
Welcome to the club. It's the don't need to remove malware from the parents computers every week club.
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.
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
Good job on that! Linux is way better for average uses like you described. 😊
And that's the thing. It's great for casual users who do simple computing tasks, and it's great for the programmers, hackers, and IT professionals. But there's no middle ground for power users who know a bit more than the average users but can't be bothered to learn shell scripting.
I'm using Linux ten years now and I never learned shell scripting. Or do you mean running commands in the shell?
I don't agree with your exact reasoning on the middle ground, but I think there's truth in the underlying sentiment.
I do think that users that are are competent with technology but unfamiliar with Linux are pretty likely to get frustrated with it. I had this discussion with a friend just yesterday. They want to try out Linux because of frustration with Windows 11's restrictive hardware requirements. But they also want to ease in to it. I think that's wise. In this specific case, I think if they tried to dump Windows in it's entirety and try to use Arch right off the bat, they'd get frustrated and give up. But if they tried a user friendly distro on a secondary piece of hardware? I think that has a good chance of creating a new Linux user.
I guess the point of that rambling paragraph is that that type of a user is a challenge, but there is middle ground to be had.
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
I'm sorry... Gentoo? Mom's Laptop? ...
Got my dad on Mint for a few years now. That me reminds me I have to check which version he is on. He might still be on 20 something.
Get ready to address hard to debug issues in the future op.
I did the same, except with Windows 7 look instead 😈
I did the same thing with my Dad. He's been using Linux Mint for a bit over 2 years now.
Linux Mint is more than enough for his usage: Email, internet browsing and word processing.
Right on!
Did you swap Word for Libre Office?
Yes I did.
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.
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.
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
Similar story—last year my mom wanted a new macbook for Christmas. I got her a refurbished Asus something or other for a fraction of the price, installed Linux Mint on it, and customized it with a Mac theme.
I was transparent with her about the fact it’s not a Mac, and taught her to use things like Keepass and Firefox. It took some convincing and persistence, but in the end she stuck with it and I’m kinda proud of her tbh.
Good on you for showing your rents there’s a viable alternative to Windows.
Awesome!
You're a good offspring.
Can u come over to my house next?!?!
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.
I see what you're saying, but it has gone down fine so far. My dad is completely computer-illiterate, every phone/computer he uses seems like it was found in an alien spacecraft to him, so changing from Windows to Linux doesn't make any difference to him. He just needs to be able to click the Chrome icon and then click the YouTube favorite button or the Hotmail favorite button.
My mom worked way back in the day for a corpo that used DOS systems, so she actually has remained slightly computer savvy. She was worried about the change until I showed her that the Spotify app worked perfectly, she could read her emails, open Word documents, and print stuff.
I also explained that the computer would run faster and would be safer for them to use because the malware that effects Windows doesn't effect Linux, and that made sense to her.
If she had insisted I keep them on Windows, I would have. But she was just concerned that nothing would work the same and she would have to become some techie to figure it out. Once I addressed those concerns, she was alright with switching.
Thinking about doing this for my parents is giving me an anxiety attack, thanks OP.
It went smoothly, even smoother than I was suspecting. I just made sure to backup all their data, and made sure they had all their passwords for accounts.
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.
tried to do that but mom wanted some esoteric bookkeeping software to function - so back to windows for her
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.
Nice. Take that, adware installers! Web exploits and phishing are still (minor) risks though, since they're mostly platform agnostic.
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.
@OP, can you advise what themes etc you used to make it look like windows 7?
I'm about to switch one of my parents over, I think that would make the transition easier.
I can't remember the exact name for the themes I used, but if your go into the Linux Mint theming section and search "Windows" you will get several results.
I don't know if there is a Windows 7 theme specifically, you would have to look for that yourself. I also did little things like allign and resize their desktop icons the same way their Windows desktop looked. I changed the default folder colors to a tan-ish color to look similar to the Windows folder colors. My mom could tell it looked different, but it was close enough.
Making their app icons look the same and be in the same rough location as their Windows machine is probably the most important. My Mom loves the Spotify desktop app, so I made sure to install it from the software center and pin the icon into the taskbar right where she was used to seeing it.
Make sure their browser home page is set the same too, and any bookmarks they have.
Also, guide them through the new install. Have them click through all the typical tasks they do. I had my mom sit with me and showed her how Spotify opened up and looked exactly the same as it did on her Windows install. We played some music and I showed her how to adjust the little volume knob in the Mint toolbar. I had her print some documents, browse the web, look at pictures and videos she had saved on her drive, stuff like that.
That will make them feel much more comfortable with the change. There is a balance between trying to get everything to look identical, and helping your parents become comfortable with something new.