Whats a good OS for my 80+ grandmother?

[WarMace]

I am looking for something to put on a laptop so my grandmother can do basic surfing and write e-mails.

I need something that is:

-Easy to use with poor motor skills (stroke).

-Intuitive for someone over 80 with no previous computer knowledge.

Any mouse/pointer suggestions?

I envision a kiosk mode where from a cold boot it comes up with 2 simple options for write mail or web. I am currently toying with Ubuntu to see what can be done...

Thanks for your input!

 

[ochadd]

Huge fan of Linux Mint for this type of setup.

My mother who eats windows installs absolutely loves it after nearly a year. Has never crashed, hung, received a virus, or been forced to deal with any malware. She reads forwards and other bad activities 3-4 hours a day. One fella was calling me once every couple months to come fix his machine. Porn junky and was always stumbling into viruses and malware. Installed Linux Mint and he hasn't called in 2-3 months.

I've never been successful securing windows while still allowing normal computer/web usage. Mint seems to do very well.

 

[black0ut]

Gentoo minimal install.

 

[leSLIe]

Gentoo all the way!!!
all the 133+ 9r4nÐm4$ are using it!!!

 

[DeathFromBelow]

DOS. No mouse needed.

I am currently toying with Ubuntu to see what can be done...

Get used to the "Human" GUI. She'll ask you to do something on the computer and you'll do it for her.

Seriously though, I think you're on the right track with a kiosk-type interface for Ubuntu or Windows.

 

[Catweazle]

Got Vista in use for my 85 year old Dad, and it'll be getting changed to Windows 7 sometime very soon, because his eyesight is now failing and the Magnifier feature of Win7 is a very high quality one.


Not trying to be offensive here. Just talking from the perspective of somebody who is providing this sort of support. Is this rig being set up to suit your grnadmother's needs, or is the exercise really one of setting it up to minimise your need to provide support afterwards? Those are actually two different considerations, both important of course but neither 'more' important than the other.

Windows is highly configurable (especially if you learn to use policy editor or registry tweaks to lock stuff down after it's been user configured.) For an older person, it's especially awesome if you have the machine conected up to a largish, widescreen HD monitor, with screen fonts set to a custom 200%, unecessary stuff disabled from the start Menu, the 'recent programs' list disabled, and the small number of apps regularly used 'pinned' to the Start Menu.


It's kinda demeaning to lock a machine completely down kiosk style to restrict it to only a couple of possible functions. That's kinda like treating your Nan as if she were a naughty kid, in a way. It's an understandable perspective/approach, from a 'computer support person' point of view I guess, but when it's your Mum, Dad, Grandparent.......


My old Dad is showing early signs of dementia. Failing memory, gets frustrated by stuff etc etc... Yet, with the 'hard yards' put in configuring a Windows box for him, he gets the dignity which comes from a bit of freedom to explore, and I'd estimate that his calls upon my 'support' would only probably average about one or two per week. And they're not particularly complex ones. Instead they're the kinda things which, if you're not actaully gonna be within easy reach, you can easy enough teach somebody else to deal with. Sombody who is gonna be close enough handy.



As said, I'm not trying to cast aspersion in my comments here. Instead just trying to provide food for thought.

 

[sphinx99]

I like some of the HP touchscreen PCs for this purpose, they seem to work reasonably well.

Developing the motor control skills to use a mouse can be difficult and time consuming.

 

[WarMace]

Thanks, Gentoo minimal install is downloading now.

Very good stuff Catweazle.

I know Grammy' is capable to learn new gadgets (we plan on getting her a Kindle). I just don't want to overwhelm her. I want it to be simple to get what she needs without the common "I don't know what I did, but now its broke" kind of stuff.

Reading what others have done is encouraging. I think I will add the games folder to the desktop and leave it there for exploration.
Ubuntu seems to be nice because I can remove everything from the top bar except for the bar itself. Leaving the clock and weather is good and Firefox, mail, and a games folder on the desktop will be nice and basic. Also the ability to manually resize the desktop icons is nice. Set it to a lower rez and we will see what she thinks. I can then go back and add stuff as Mom see's a need.

Now I need to configure Firefox and e-mail to be more user friendly. Any plugin suggestions? (besides adblock) Custom google homepage.

 

[WarMace]

I like some of the HP touchscreen PCs for this purpose, they seem to work reasonably well.

Developing the motor control skills to use a mouse can be difficult and time consuming.

If I had the funds, a tablet would be my first choice, I think operating a pen on the screen would be a heck of a lot more intuitive.

 

[heatlesssun]

I like some of the HP touchscreen PCs for this purpose, they seem to work reasonably well.

Developing the motor control skills to use a mouse can be difficult and time consuming.

If I had the funds, a tablet would be my first choice, I think operating a pen on the screen would be a heck of a lot more intuitive.

Funny you guys mention this. I upgraded 5 machines this weekend to Windows 7 Ultimate including my HP tx2z multi-touch tablet. The pen and touch and even multi-touch with the beta drivers work very well. The issue with touch especially with web browsing is that it can be difficult to click on things as really the stock Windows UI is not designed to work with touch. They have a little virtual mouse that helps with fine control and works very well but probably not for someone with motor skill issues.

Personally I agree with WarMace, the pen is far supieror for easy and intuitive control.

PS. I'm having ONE very annoying issue with my tx2z tablet that I NEVER saw in the Beta and RC releases. After resuming when the screen powers down, the machine will hang for as long a 3 minutes before it becomes responsive but usually its like 20 seconds. ARGGGGG!!!!!!! This is the LAST major issue that I to resolve out of 5 installs, so that's actually not bad but this is bugging the hell out of me.