Ubuntu as Mom’s Operating System
Mon, Mar 29, 2010
A lot of tech-savvy indivuals face the same dilema: their parents, who aren’t so tech-savvy, count on them to provide constant technical support for their Mom & Dad PC. This can become an incredible burden in a Windows world, where the dangers of spyware, viruses, and total system meltdown loom large. I’ve found that the best solution to the problem is not to load up the parents’ PC with antivirus or malware protection, but to ditch Windows altogether and go with a clean Ubuntu approach.
Here are seven reasons why an Ubuntu-based machine makes the best Mom & Dad PC:
Instead of having to pay for an additional copy of Windows, Ubuntu is a free download. Additionally, Ubuntu’s software center has lots of free applications that are of a high enough quality to meet the needs of mom and dad. Using an Ubuntu solution with Open Office easily saves several hundred dollars worth of software licenses when compared to an equivelant Microsoft solution.
On top of the free software, the system requirements for Ubuntu are minimal. I setup my parents on a low-cost Atom-based nettop which cost about $300 to build, complete with a solid 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 300GB hard disk. Obviously this system is going to win any gaming competitions, but for the solitare that mom likes to play, and the news sites that dad likes to surf, it’s got plenty of power.
A Windows-based machine would require monthly patching and rebooting, virus protection, malware scanners, and a host of other meta-applications, just to keep the system running smoothly. With Ubuntu, I simply setup automatic updates to run once a week, and I’ve completely forgotten about it since then. Every once and a while I’ll login to the system and run a quick “apt-get dist-upgrade” just to make sure I haven’t missed anything important. And I don’t have to worry about viruses or malware at all.
In the case that something does go wrong, it’s a lot easier to troubleshoot the problem when I can just SSH in remotely (using X11 forwarding if necessary), find the problem, and fix it; no talking Mom through how to readjust the screen resolution when I can do it myself in a fraction of the time. And SSH means that I can solve any technical problems from anywhere.
Although it is possible for me to fix things remotely, I almost never have to. That’s because Mom and Dad have their own, non-privilaged user account. It is an easy way to rest assured that they can’t mess anything up too badly — even if they somehow manage to destroy their individual account, the reset switch is as easy as creating a new user (I’ve never had to do this). Compare this to Windows, where the norm is to run as Administrator, and the reset swith is a format and clean install.
If you have a mother that plays WOW or does CAD, maybe an Ubuntu-based PC isn’t right for them. But if that’s the case, they probably know enough about computers that you don’t need to hold their hand through all their minor technology troubles. But, if your parents, like mine, simply want to check their email, play card games, and surf the net, then Ubuntu will get the job done without getting in the way. Whereas any Windows machine is guaranteed to become loaded up with all sorts of extensions, additional programs, and malware just by the act of putting Dad on the internet, you can be sure this won’t happen with Ubuntu.
And ultimately, that’s why Ubuntu makes for the best parent PC. Because the parents don’t really care what their OS is, as long as they can do the things they want to do with it, whether it be Linux, Windows, or Mac. But by chosing Ubuntu, you’ve simplified your own life by removing the need to provide constant technical support. And, if something eventually does happen, you know it will be less of a headache to resolve the problem than if you had gone with an alternative solution.
Do you provide tech support for your parents? What OS are they running, and how often do they need to you to solve their technical problems? Leave your responses in the comments below!
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For me, the best operating system is Linux because it rarely hangs.*:-
You’re far from alone
About a year ago the relatively new windows desktop they were using crashed (mother board burned). We had an 10 years old computer, considered practically unusable, which I set up with Ubuntu. Thought there were going to be some complaints at least. It wasn’t.
Its been working perfectly, the only maintenance I’ve done is upgrading to a new version every once in a while. No problems, and best of all, it is not cluttered by 500 browser toolbars
Its been working surprisingly smooth.
I installed Linux Mint on my boss’s netbook, his daughter’s laptop, and his mother-in-law’s old PIII desktop. They all love it and have stuck with it for over a year.
I switched my father-in-law’s computer to Ubuntu. I haven’t used Vista enough to be able to support it well, so keeping him on something similar to what I use is beneficial. I’m sure I would have more calls if he still had Vista on there.
How ironic, I just converted my mom to Ubuntu yesterday after her old Windows install was flooded with viruses! Took longer than expected due to stupid RAID garbage, but in the end it is a beautiful success!
I converted my mum’s laptop to ubuntu because she didn’t understand all the pop UP’S in Windows Vista. And she said Vista was to slow. On a brand new machine. My dad liked ubuntu so much he put it on his machine as well. Now I have 2 happy parents.
Mom & Dad have been running Ubuntu 8.04 for two years now and have never had an issue!
I am a Linux user have been for over 3 yrs, My Biggest bug is hearing far to much about how good Ubuntu is, Lets face the truth here, Ubuntu has done a lot for Linux there is no doubt about that, through all the publicity it gets, When it comes right down to it Ubuntu is not at the starting line compared to the ubuntu derivative communities, like Linux Mint, Ultimate Edition they have left Ubuntu well behind,
It seems the ones that do all the shouting and write up’s have never used any other Linux distributions, All they know is unbuntu, Get some Linux knowledge if you want to shout about Linux, There are other distribution that work out of the box, where as Ubuntu doesn’t. Everything needs Setting up, Restricted drivers and software (Compiz fusion) need downloading, This for the newbies is not what it’s all about, They need everything to work out of the box,
For you Ubuntu fans try other distribution and then compare Ubuntu with the communities distributions, I promote Linux, I never promote Ubuntu because it does not work out of the box, For the best newbie Linux experience I promote Community distributions.
Jonathan, I do not know in what stage in life are you but there is one major benefit to Ubuntu for parents that you’ve missed — it’s virtually immune to abuse by the grandchildren…
Most grandchildren use Windows (so that stats go) and when faced with Linux they reduce their activity to the browser (mostly) and are very unlikely to cause harm (not intentionally, for sure).
With a Windows PC at the parents’ a grandchild and a spare hour could easily spell a day long restore and virus hunt.
By the way, I have installed the Mint distribution (Ubuntu based) at my folks as it so easy to set up and it includes almost all one needs to get up and running.
Regards,
Dror
My mum on Ubuntu is another story of success http://mattinaction.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-mom-on-linux.html
cheers,
Matt
I think Linux is a lot easier to promote among non-technical computer users, than among more seasoned ones.
I have made my parents use Linux only, and they had not earlier been using any other OS. I rarely hear of any problems that would be Linux-only. I mean they don’t necessary know how to crop an image, but that applies to whatever OS if you have never done it. And as mentioned in the article, they aren’t able to break the system which makes it a good choice. The systems have been up for years and that’s what every normal adult wants, including the one taking care of their systems. Longevity is key.
I agree with Carling. I don’t know about the distros that work out of the box, but I think there’s a lot of those cool kids who have discovered Ubuntu and think they are really computer-savvy. Getting things up and running with Arch, Gentoo, Slackware, FreeBSD and other more user-centric (not necessarily user-friendly) OSs will give a little more insight to the Ubuntu-only people. And for an OS to be truly novice user-friendly, your parents should be able to install it themselves, only then Linux could get better foothold among this user group. Every mom or dad does not have an informed computer person at disposal, unfortunately. I have yet to see that day that my mom has taken matters into her own hands and installed an operating system herself (on an existing system, preserving that data, of course). She would probably be able to do it, but not necessarily understanding what she did, after all most defaults are sane on most installers.
Some thoughts.
I really wouldn’t consider the Ubuntu installation process too hard. The main obstacles for non-tech-savvy people to be able to install it themselves are
1. Realizing that you can install another OS (“what is an OS?”)
2. Burning an ISO
3. Getting BIOS to boot the CD.
Anyone managing to do that will manage to install restricted drivers etc. At least I managed that when I was _completely_ new to linux 2 years ago without much problem (I had lots of other troubles though).
Ubuntu is at least much more polished than derivatives such as Xubuntu or Kubuntu, and definitely easier than Fedora. Linux Mint might be nice, I haven’t tried; I see no reason to use UE, I just add the packages I need to the Ubuntu system.
I put Ubuntu 8.10 on a friend’s old computer a while back… I have received three “service calls” , one was incredibly minor and one was resolved over the phone. My Mom’s PC runs it, with no problems after setting up shortcuts on the browser. I even recently installed to an older laptop for a co-worker whose Windows install had gone increasingly buggy. No issues, no calls, no complaints. I think it’s all a matter of setting it down in front of the potential user now. The system sells itself.
“Atom-based nettop” … “solid 1.6GHz processor” … what?
My parents live a continent away. After a couple years of use their XP machine slowed down to the point of being unusable. Since I visit only once a year or so, the normal reinstall is not a viable option. The box only has 256MB of memory, so I went with Vector Linux.
Three years later, the thing is still running and as fast as the day I set it up. It runs IM and VOIP so we can chat. They can safely let the grandkids use it. I use ssh to upgrade it from time to time. Once I set up a new printer. Otherwise, just smooth sailing.
The only thing I can comment on here is remote access. Sure ssh is available but that doesn’t help fix problems when your technophobe parents cant describe the problem properly and you need to see it to fix it etc..
I wish freenx & xrdp came working on ubuntu out of the box.