Hello there. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a Linux distro for grandparents? They are over 70 years old, with an old HP desktop and laptop running Windows 10. All they need is a Web browser, so no need for special software or wine to run Windows programs. Would preferably like something that is low maintenance so I don’t have to be constant tech support for them (apart from the initial install and setup). Thanks for any suggestions.
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Mint or debian will do the trick. Set up a script to update the system and turn it into a button or desktop shortcut, name it something like “click here to update” and done
For that matter you could use the built in autoupdate tools
Thanks for the ideas. Will the update script still need sudo to run, or can it be done at an unprivileged user level?
I think in Mint you can set up auto update on their updater app
Im not sure but its probably fine to sudo it (now someone will come here and say it is a national security problem)
Mint easy to install easy to navigate
Thanks, I will put Mint on a USB, along side some others as well. I have fond memories of Mint, as it was my first distro.
Mint is definitely the right choice here. I’ve had it in my main machine for about two years now and I’ve had zero issues. If I had to set up something for family, I’d 100% choose Mint.
I would go Debian, purely because it will result in less maintenance on your end. Maybe show them several DEs and see what looks easiest to them.
Thanks, and good idea on letting them check out the different DE’s. Does Debian have multiple DE’s ready to go, or do you need to install each one individually?
It does have live versions for several DEs (gnome, kde, xfce, probably a couple others). If you have a bunch of spare usb sticks you could flash each of them into one and swap between them
It’s been a long time, but I do think you can install multiple with the installer and then switch between them at login.
Yes but in Debian this will install all the standard apps from all DEs, so you’ll have multiple image viewers, PDF viewers, music players, etc. visible in all DEs, and if you click on a file it will prompt you which program to use.
It may also install sddm alongside gdm as display manager and I’m not sure how it handles that.
Actually yes. Debian might be a bit tricky to set up, even Debian 12 might have minor issues here and there, but once it’s working, it’s gonna work forever.
Rock solid sounds like something your grandparents would appreciate, and what will minimize your tech support work.
Make sure you put the internets on it so gram gram can whip some ass in online poker
Red Hat fuckery aside, I still feel like Fedora is the best refined distro out of the box for the average user, and Gnome is the most consistent desktop. Immutability is perfect for grandparent types who don’t need much of any customization, so I’d strongly consider Silverblue. Just make it a habit to go upgrade releases every 6 months, you should be visiting more anyway ;)
I was thinking Fedora as I use it personally on all my computers and really like it, but I thought Gnome would be too much of a drastic change for them since they are coming from Windows. Might just put it on a USB just in case, and let them test out a couple DE’s before committing to anything.
If they are used to Windows, go with Kinoite. I agree with the previous sentiment, that atomic distros are much safer. Far fewer bits and pieces that can break. I love it.
It is different, but it’s also logical, simple, and consistent. It handles average use cases very well, whereas KDE is more typical to Windows users, but can be cluttered and confusing because it seems to try to address every use case.
I hate to say it but they’d probably be better off with an android tablet or an iPad.
Mint is the way to go. Easy UI, stupidly stable, relatively up-to-date, easy to fix problems.
I had some issues with an old HP Laptop not so long ago because it uses some weird Wifi that needs Bluetooth enabled and it was a hassle to get it working. In Mint it simply worked out of the box, so I stuck with it on that device. Mint with Cinnamon is also very similar looking to Windows and should provide a smooth transition for your grandparents.
I’ve been using Rocky Linux for awhile. As an OS, its pretty good. The only problem is software availability. Some fedora apps work. It also has flatpak. But for the gnome apps that aren’t available in repos, I normally have to go and compile them myself if I want a more standard look and feel. Otherwise, it’s reasonably secure, stable, and easy to use out of the box. I use it for mine, my SOs, and my kids computers, one of which is neurodivergent. I see it as the best possible canvas to build on. And, for me, its install once, cry once. The EOL is likely gonna be after the computer its installed on has long been obsolete.
I installed hacky ChromeOS to my grandma’s laptop a few years ago. She never had issues with the OS itself, rather hardware issues. It’s easy to learn and ChromeOS is literally just a web browser, it’s not even useful for anything else. Though I would recommend you install something like Fedora Silverblue, Kinoite, or a distro from UniversalBlue instead. Container based distros are secure and hard to break.
mine are on bazzite since I already had an image on usb. since I did the install and included the ancient chinese windows games they like via bottles/wine (kept on a usb taped inside the computer since windows xp days), they have asked for nothing. I also set up their email and printer and some ancient obsolete crap they refuse to get rid of but no problems so far.
I know how this sounds, but (rolling) openSUSE.
I have my parents and granparents on Tumbleweed, but I update it manually when I visit.
I set them with a big macos style dock at the bottom of the screen and that’s all they need tbh (Firefox, Kmail, Office, Signal, photo gallery … that’s it).
Never had any issues, but can’t complain much about Debian & Fedora either (I had them on Debian for like a decade, less than a year on Fedora, I think now 4 years on Tumbleweed), it’s just that it was a pain for me to upgrade them when the time came, so I wanted a rolling distro.However, if I ever have to set them up with a new PC (instead of constantly upgrading their rigs with old parts from my PCs), I’ll try opensuse.org/Aeon. Seems low maintenance & low extra config for my usecase.
For grannies, I like to go with Endless OS. Curiously, it combines aspects of the two most named distros under this post; based on Debian and utilizing OSTree (like Fedora Atomic does).
It’s often overlooked (for some reason), but actually combines the best of both worlds:
- Over two years of support (since release), while Fedora Atomic only offers 13 months of support since release
- Automatic updates are enabled by default and updates are applied atomically in the background, while Debian(-based) are not capable of atomic updates
- Does not even offer installing software through
aptand doesn’t even have it’s ownrpm-ostreecounterpart. Instead, it goes all-in on Flatpak.
The only thing that might give something like Fedora Atomic an edge would be by installing any of the opinionated uBlue images (like Aurora/Bazzite/Bluefin etc.) that just apply and ship fixes for you (without requiring you to do anything for it) and that are even capable of automatically applying updates to major releases for you in the background. This is basically just hands-off mode.
Just keep them on Windows 10 unless there is an issue. Don’t make them learn anything else.
Too unstable. Windows keeps changing shit, advertising shit. Dump it and move on.
Not to mention that Windows 10 is going EOL next year
That’s what they say but Windows 10 has a 70% market share
True but at the same time it is hard for someone older to use a computer let along learn something completely new.
NixOS is an immutable file system if they are disaster prone. You will have to load everything for them ahead of time, browser, email client, Only/Libre Office, etc.
I had to switch a friend’s mom to this because after switching her to Linux Mint previously, she somehow deleted the UI entirely.
Good lord. If you’re not already familiar with NixOS, there are far, far easier ways to go immutable.
Configuring Nix makes Arch seem like a walk in the park.
What are the other alternatives?
Aurora/Bluefin or Silverblue/Kinoite.
Silverblue/Kinoite
Those are not immutable, especially on the file system. I’m glad the fedora team switched the term to “atomic”, because “immutable” set all the wrong expectations.
So you’re saying that most directories in
/usrand (also) some other directories in/are not read-only during runtime (under regular system maintenance/management) on Fedora Atomic?No, that’s not what I wrote.
Thank you for clarifying what you didn’t write nor mean. Could you be so kind to explain what you did mean with what’s quoted below?
Those are not immutable, especially on the file system.
I’m not sure why it’s harder than Arch. It basically has it’s own app store and you select the stuff from their website to install through the terminal.
Could you expand in your reasoning?They have a GUI package manager? That’s news to me. When I tried it out last year, package management was handled by
nix-envorconfiguration.nix.Anyway, I found it much harder than Arch because it requires learning a completely new paradigm of system management. There is a very high upfront investment in learning multiple new concepts in order to change even the most basic aspects of your system - What are flakes? What are channels? What is
home-manager?Also, the documentation and online support is far more sparse. If you encounter an issue, it’s much more likely that you can find the solution for Arch through the wiki or a forum than it is with NixOS. There also tends to be no single way to resolve a problem, and so a lot of the information you find online may appear contradictory and confusing.
I never said it had a GUI store, but if your installing things for grand parents it’s pretty easy through the root account, that the grand parents dont have access to. Go to https://search.nixos.org/packages search for one like Firefox and copy the command.
How is this harder than Arch?
And I never said installing packages is harder than Arch. I said setting up, configuring, and troubleshooting the system is harder than Arch.
In any case, the original point was that NixOS is a weird choice for an atomic/immutable system for grandparents when compared to something like Silverblue.
This is why we don’t give terminal to the grannies.
I was wondering if someone would suggest Nix. Even Slackware would fit this use case better.
