PC Duality for Mom
I wasn't around yesterday because I spent the day setting up my mom's computer and doing homework.
Then I went out to watch a movie with the singles group.
I just got tired of myself. I've been making her wait a long time to check her e-mail and stuff easily because her laptop, which I had set up to do this, is having hardware woes.
So I set her up with a dual boot so she can play games in Windoze and do real work in Linux. :)
Well, so far, I've installed Windows(tm), installed Linux, and done (I think) most of the configuration for the Linux side. Once that is done, I'll do the lilo config so she can boot into Windows or Linux any time she wants.
I started by installing both KDE and IceWM on it, but since it's a rather old Dell(tm) ( Entry regarding its arrival 12-20-2003m) with minimal RAM, KDE runs painfully slowly on it. So, I think she'll be using IceWM, which is the same window manager I use. This will make it easy for me to make modifications to her configuration, because I'm familiar with it.
I have set up her Web browsers, e-mail client, sound, IM, and games. I need to configure GAIM to use the sound system and sort out the desktop icons.
I am happy with the progress I've made in the past couple of years. I can now do a full Linux install, including configuration and loading software, in less than 3 hours. I can usually start using it in less than 2 hours from the time I insert the install disc.
This is a little faster than I can install a base Windows(tm) system and securing the most obvious security holes thereon, but not including the time to install all the software I'll need to do real work with it. To sit down and start using it is at least 3 hours from the time I insert the install disc, from what I remember of my experiences with it.
When I think about the number of things I'm likely to have to go back and fix again, and how often that is likely to happen in the course of six months, that difference becomes larger for me. I know when I set something in Linux, it's going to stay set unless I change it. With Windows(tm), my experience is that I often have to go back and set something I've set before because it has mysteriously become unset.
The only thing you need Windows(tm) for nowadays is some games. And that realm is shrinking. More and more games are being ported to MacOS(tm)/Linux/Un*x (think Unreal Tournament), or are becoming usable under Wine (think World of Warcraft). And there is a wealth of games available for Linux that are so cool, they've even been made usable *gasp* in Windows(tm) (think anything that mentions Cygwin in its install documents).
For anything other than games... anyone can improve their experience with computers by switching to either a Mac or a Linux install. If it isn't available for Linux or MacOS(tm), it probably isn't available for Windows(tm)... except for viruses; oops, my mistake...
And if you still want to keep Windows(tm) for some reason, there's always dual-booting, like what I've set up for my mom. If you have any questions, ask me. I'll be glad to help.
By the way, if you're wondering how many games you can play on Linux, here are some lists:
Natively (Some free, some commercial)
Natively (Debian repository (free))
Under Cedega
Under WINE
Then I went out to watch a movie with the singles group.
I just got tired of myself. I've been making her wait a long time to check her e-mail and stuff easily because her laptop, which I had set up to do this, is having hardware woes.
So I set her up with a dual boot so she can play games in Windoze and do real work in Linux. :)
Well, so far, I've installed Windows(tm), installed Linux, and done (I think) most of the configuration for the Linux side. Once that is done, I'll do the lilo config so she can boot into Windows or Linux any time she wants.
I started by installing both KDE and IceWM on it, but since it's a rather old Dell(tm) ( Entry regarding its arrival 12-20-2003m) with minimal RAM, KDE runs painfully slowly on it. So, I think she'll be using IceWM, which is the same window manager I use. This will make it easy for me to make modifications to her configuration, because I'm familiar with it.
I have set up her Web browsers, e-mail client, sound, IM, and games. I need to configure GAIM to use the sound system and sort out the desktop icons.
I am happy with the progress I've made in the past couple of years. I can now do a full Linux install, including configuration and loading software, in less than 3 hours. I can usually start using it in less than 2 hours from the time I insert the install disc.
This is a little faster than I can install a base Windows(tm) system and securing the most obvious security holes thereon, but not including the time to install all the software I'll need to do real work with it. To sit down and start using it is at least 3 hours from the time I insert the install disc, from what I remember of my experiences with it.
When I think about the number of things I'm likely to have to go back and fix again, and how often that is likely to happen in the course of six months, that difference becomes larger for me. I know when I set something in Linux, it's going to stay set unless I change it. With Windows(tm), my experience is that I often have to go back and set something I've set before because it has mysteriously become unset.
The only thing you need Windows(tm) for nowadays is some games. And that realm is shrinking. More and more games are being ported to MacOS(tm)/Linux/Un*x (think Unreal Tournament), or are becoming usable under Wine (think World of Warcraft). And there is a wealth of games available for Linux that are so cool, they've even been made usable *gasp* in Windows(tm) (think anything that mentions Cygwin in its install documents).
For anything other than games... anyone can improve their experience with computers by switching to either a Mac or a Linux install. If it isn't available for Linux or MacOS(tm), it probably isn't available for Windows(tm)... except for viruses; oops, my mistake...
And if you still want to keep Windows(tm) for some reason, there's always dual-booting, like what I've set up for my mom. If you have any questions, ask me. I'll be glad to help.
By the way, if you're wondering how many games you can play on Linux, here are some lists:
Natively (Some free, some commercial)
Natively (Debian repository (free))
Under Cedega
Under WINE