Ubuntu Precise Pangolin

[myglaren]

Big Boobs in Linux.
Red faces at Redmond.

[myglaren]

I have my seven year old grandson staying with me over the weekend.
He asked to use the laptop so I logged him into a guest session.

He hasn't encountered Linux on the laptop previously although he has used it with Vista.

He never asked a single question, just got on with it and found everything he wanted.

So much for Linux being hard to use.

[CitroJim]

Steve, this is music to my ears...

So much for Linux being hard to use.

It's Windows that's hard to use in my humble...

I have to use it at the salt-mine and I find it slow, frustrating and totally illogical... Maybe Windows 8 will be the breakthrough Microsoft so badly need to find..

[Xaccers]

Steve, this is music to my ears...

So much for Linux being hard to use.

It's Windows that's hard to use in my humble...

I have to use it at the salt-mine and I find it slow, frustrating and totally illogical... Maybe Windows 8 will be the breakthrough Microsoft so badly need to find..

To be fair, how we use computers (new user accounts, group policies etc) and how a 7 year old use a computer (find games program group, open web browser from desktop, interface designed to be similar to Windows) is going to be completely different.
Ask him to set up apache and I'm sure he'll fail quicker with that than installing IIS on a W2K8 server.

[Northern_Mike]

Steve, this is music to my ears...

So much for Linux being hard to use.

It's Windows that's hard to use in my humble.

<fingers in ears>

LALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!!

I can't hear you!!!

Keep your penguins in a zoo, please

[myglaren]

Steve, this is music to my ears...

So much for Linux being hard to use.

It's Windows that's hard to use in my humble...

I have to use it at the salt-mine and I find it slow, frustrating and totally illogical... Maybe Windows 8 will be the breakthrough Microsoft so badly need to find..

To be fair, how we use computers (new user accounts, group policies etc) and how a 7 year old use a computer (find games program group, open web browser from desktop, interface designed to be similar to Windows) is going to be completely different.
Ask him to set up apache and I'm sure he'll fail quicker with that than installing IIS on a W2K8 server.

I don't dispute that Xac.
My intention was to show that although Linux is perceived to be a nightmare for the average user who only wants to do some surfing, send some emails, watch videos, listen to music, write a few letters, bugger around with their photo's and do their domestic accounts that there is in fact nothing at all difficult with it at all.

Like most seven year olds he has some experience of computers - as said, Vista on this machine, whatever they use at school and his dad's Macbook.
What was noteworthy was the ease to which he adapted to PP, which was completely new to him - he hasn't used Ubuntu on my desktop machine.

My second daughter's three kids all adapted rapidly from being Windows familiar to using my wife's Ubuntu laptop, with no instructions as the wife is less experienced with computers that they are and they tell her what to do half the time. The youngest of them is six and she is probably the most adept with it.

Going beyond that - and the example you cite, is likely to phase most average Windows users and I readily admit that configuring Apache would pose problems for me as it is something I have not had call to do

[Xaccers]

The thing is, most linux developers come from a windows background so have made the GUI very similar. Some previous versions of gnome/kde would have had them up in court for copyright infringement against Windows
So it is designed to be easy for Windows users.
When people say linux is hard to use, they're not talking about browsing or using open word to write a letter, they're talking about its configuration and fixing it when things go wrong. With windows if something goes wrong, you just reboot

[Homer]

I readily admit that configuring Apache would pose problems for me as it is something I have not had call to do

I'll wager it's a lot easier to get set up on an Ubuntu box than on Windows. A few clicks in the package manager will have a basic Apache server up and running.

[scratcher]

Which version of unbuntu (10,11,12) is the best one to start with?

[Xaccers]

Which version of unbuntu (10,11,12) is the best one to start with?

Probably the latest.

[CitroJim]

Which version of unbuntu (10,11,12) is the best one to start with?

Probably the latest.

Yes, although 11 is still very functional... It's not an LTS (Long Term Support) so will not receive updates.

If 12 doesn't play on your hardware then a reversion to 11 might help...

[myglaren]

Note that there is a new version due in October but if you have the previous version installed it is quick and painless to upgrade online and you don't lose any data.

[Homer]

Note that there is a new version due in October but if you have the previous version installed it is quick and painless to upgrade online and you don't lose any data.

Hmmm... none of my upgrades have ever been quick and painless. They usually end in a complete reinstall. The last one IU attempted I abandoned when it started telling me it had 4 hours to go (this was at least an hour into the process).

I find it much quicker and easier to have /home on it's own partition and just do a fresh install rather than an upgrade. Installing the apps I need is much quicker than fixing the multiple problems which an upgrade seems to bring.

[myglaren]

My main machine died so I installed 11.10 on my laptop from a CD, then upgraded to 12.04.
The installation and upgrade were both quick and completely without problems of any kind. Much simpler that previous upgrades.
Laptop was previously running Vista and is much better on Ubuntu.
The other machine ran Ubuntu from being built so can't compare there.

[scratcher]

Hi, thanks for the replies. Gerry