Linux for fathers laptop???

parcival

My mother has just had a new machine as her old one was very full. Dad has decided he wants the old one just for a bit of email and internet.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to reformat the hard drive and install Linux. He is not vey computer literate so I need something that is not very complex. He won't need any Word / Excel just an internet browser really and an email client.

If I went down this route is Linux something he would find easy to maintain himself. Also how would I get it onto his machine?

Thanks

amiaspden

Have you considered Jolicloud? It's based on Linux but simpler - I have it on my Asus eee.

See http://www.jolicloud.com/jolios.

tweeter

Try this clicky

video: clicky

Distrowatch

HTH

tom717

parcival wrote: »

Also how would I get it onto his machine?

Does this mean you have never installed linux before? If not, have you even used it? Remember you are going to be the person expected to sort out any problems, so if you are not familiar with linux yourself I would not recommend installing it for someone else.

Kernel_Sanders

parcival wrote: »

My mother has just had a new machine as her old one was very full.

This to me is akin to having a new garage built because the existing one is full of junk. Why not have the 'digital junk' transferred to an external hard drive?

s_b

look here OP
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
you download onto a cd or dvd then go into bios on the laptop and get it to see the cd drive as first device then follow the instructions
couldnt be simpler and works out of the box
of course it even finds drivers for things like a scan machine automatically
its ideal for internet surfing and so much easier to use than windows
i use opera when im on linux but the more stable one is firefox

gonzo127

another vote for Linux Mint, however depending on the system spec you might be worth looking at Linux Mint LXDE which is a low requirements version which will work on systems with as low as 128mb of ram

TakeThis

parcival wrote: »

My mother has just had a new machine as her old one was very full. Dad has decided he wants the old one just for a bit of email and internet.

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to reformat the hard drive and install Linux. He is not vey computer literate so I need something that is not very complex. He won't need any Word / Excel just an internet browser really and an email client.

If I went down this route is Linux something he would find easy to maintain himself. Also how would I get it onto his machine?

Thanks

Why not just re-install Windows? Not that I have a bias, but is there a reason why not?

Make and model of laptop?

Kernel_Sanders

s_b wrote: »

you download onto a cd or dvd then go into bios on the laptop and get it to see the cd drive as first device then follow the instructions
couldnt be simpler

It could, because you don't need to use a CD or optical drive at all. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/51866895#Comment_51866895

closed

or - backup the data, and resintall windows from factory restore partition, it will work like new.

s_b

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

It could, because you don't need to use a CD or optical drive at all. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/51866895#Comment_51866895

i would rather have the cd
this way you know its all downloaded on one disc
usually takes about 45 mins on my 2meg virgin