[sf-lug] Somewhat related to "Ubuntu 17.10 now out, etc..."

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 10/24/2017 03:38 PM, acohen36 wrote:
>
> Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com> wrote at [01]:
>
>> Today the latest version of Ubuntu 17.10 showed up on
>> the <http://distrowatch.com/> site.  Shortly it was followed
>> by Xubuntu & Ubuntu Mate.  I found the Lubuntu site
>> <http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/17.10/release/>
>> so that I have Lubuntu 17.10 in x86 and amd64
>> varieties as  well as Ubuntu 17.10 amd64. No 32 bit version of
>> Ubuntu is up as of my writing.
>
> So "somewhat" related to the various 'buntu's v17.10 listed
> here, figuring out how to best configure a 'buntu install
> for a Windows (yuck, I know!) user who is still using 32bit
> Windows XP on a 64bit PC, who is footdragging on using
> and learning *any* form of Linux, and just refuses to
> upgrade to Windows 10 despite Microsoft and others'
> continued exhortations to do so.
>
>
> Who?
> - For a 70yr+ Senior Citizen, by me; no charge for my
> performing what's necessary for this family member

     Backup his data and just install as this will put him in
a position where he will have to use and by using and
crying on your shoulder/calling on your expertise he will learn.
>
> On What?
> - A DualCore amd64/64bit Windows 10-compatible PC
> with 4GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB hd, DVD R/W,...etcetera

     Lovely.
>
> When?
> - ASAP before Halloween, and of course before the next
> SF-LUG meeting [02]

     Put Lubuntu on it or Zorin.  If you need an iso let me
know and I will pass it to you this weekend if you can
make into the city.
>
> Where?
> - Residential house and apartment (as opposed
> to offices, I-cafes, workspace/hackerspace areas,
> etc in the central, urban parts of the Bay Area.
> There is sufficient Ethernet/wired and WiFi/wireless
> access at both residences.

     Yes well why wait.
>
> Why?
> - Reason explained above and also because that
> Windows user isn't going to shell out more
> money and do any Windows upgrades by themself.
> And _NO_, I'm not going to blame that
> particular family member for refusing to upgrade
> Windows XP or for their continued refusal to just
> sit down and learn Linux(!)

     It is harder to sit down and learn Linux than
to sit down and use Linux.

>
>  How?
> 1a. Probably will use one of the Ubuntu-based LTS
> distros Linux Mint [03] v18.2 and/or Xubuntu[04]/
> Ubuntu Mate[05]/Lubuntu[06] v16.0.x
> Am comfortably familiar with using these distros,
> their Community Support and their accessible
> documentation.
> 1b. Possibly would consider Linux Lite [07] in the
> future, although for the time-being, no.
> 1c. No plans to install and use Zorin [08]
> (don't like their available support or the push
> to use their Software Store)

     Good point about Zorin!.
>
> 2. Would partition a 250GB hd as ~40GB /,
> 1.5 x physRAM swap, and 200 GB /home.

     Does he need so much space in /home?
     I would have separate /boot, "/", /usr, /usr/local, /var
and /home.  That is of course if the system is not EFI
compatible
>
> 3. After such an install, am seriously considering
> using Noobslab's [09] theme and icon
> reconfigurations [10][11] to essentially "fool" the
> user into being familiar with a Windows 7/8-lookalike
> adaptation to the standard Linux desktop environment.
> After configuring the Linux distro's startup splash
> screen and default wallpaper to mimic Windows 7/8,
> then I'd probably also want to configure desktop
> shortcuts renamed to labels such as at least "My
> Computer", "Control Panel", "Wordpad", "Office Suite",
> "Printer", "Graphics Editor", "Command Prompt",
> "PDF Viewer", "Image Viewer", "Media Player1",
> "Media Player2",...  etcetera.
> Note that nearly all the aforementioned distros have
> pre-installed variations of Firefox, Thunderbird, and
> Chrome/Chromium.

     Seems like an extravagant investment of time in masquerade.
     Remember he is using XP and continues to do so because
he has learned to use it.  I learned to use Linux in just the
manner described when I was in my 60s   Before that though
I had used Amiga OS which was very simple compared to
Linux but he has learned to use XP which is simple and
has probably taught him some lessons.
     Linux won't require him to manually defragment and
optimize his disk and if you tell him that he will likely
be happier.
     How does he deal with email?  Does he use Usenet
Newsgroups?
     What ISP will/is he using?

>
> The above seems to be the best gameplan, although
> helpful pointers are almost always welcome here ;-)
> -A
>
>
>
> References
> ==========================
>
> [01]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2017q4/012918.html
> [02]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2017q4/012917.html
> [03]https://linuxmint.com/release.php?id=29
> [04]https://xubuntu.org/
> [05]https://ubuntu-mate.org/
> [06]http://lubuntu.net/
> [07]https://www.linuxliteos.com/
> [08]https://zorinos.com/
> [09]http://www.noobslab.com/
> [10]http://www.noobslab.com/p/themes-icons.html
> [11]http://www.noobslab.com/2015/06/do-you-like-windows-look-and-feel-but.html 
>
>
> ==========================
>
>
> acohen36 at sdf.org
> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
>
> _______________________________________________


         bliss