I have been pretty successful with helping non tech people running Linux, mainly women, after learning from some mistakes.
Here are a few comment: * Working with women is easier - they are in the end more practical, more flexible and way less egoistic than men. IMHO. So your chances are better here. * Go for vanilla mainstream LTS distro such as Ubuntu or maybe openSuse. * Enable automatic updates. Non tech people do not like maintenance, frictions and tech support unless they feel they need to setup something new. * I cannot recommend Fedora - it is great and functional, but it requires frequent yearly distro updates. This is too much for most people. Unless they show interest it messing with computers - not your case * Ubuntu LTS in default is great for non tech person, it doesn't change visually, it auto-detects printers, scanners, media, ... Maybe not the best choice for tech person with diverse interest, but that is not the point here. * Enable remote access via dynDNS/tailscale + ssh + RDP (VNC is still problematic on Wayland) so that you can help effectively. * If there is distance - like in this case - setup identical system for yourself, so that you can develop and verify solutions without remote debug and diagnosis. Do it like NASA - have local a copy on the ground. * I am not fan of mint/mate/derivative - similarity to some ancient system is not that important to non-techie woman - lack of friction it the most important. They will learn where to click on an icon. * Setup automated, frequent, incremental data backup. I recommend NextCloud, Borg or symple rsync to some cloudy VM instance. NextCloud has great client for Android/iOS and you can sync data across devices. No need to backup vanilla OS. Best luck, Tomas On Sat, Jan 4, 2025, 09:05 Chuck Hast <[email protected]> wrote: > Good day folks and happy new year... > I am about to install linux on a computer for my wife. It will be a > Framework 13. Now the fun part. > My wife has been a real luddite, but he smartphone has slowly showed her > that she needs to have > a real computer for daily work. She wanted something small and light I > showed her the Framework 13 I have, she wants one. > > So my question is what distro should I put on this thing that will be easy > for a very non-computer person to use. > > I am not with her all the time. She is in Costa Rica as executor of her > father's estate, I go down > there when I can to help, and we are also starting a new business which > entails export from > Costa Rica to USA. So she does need a computer (I have been telling her > that now for many > years). > > So what distro would be best for her to start out with? > > -- > > Chuck Hast -- KP4DJT -- > I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. > Ph 4:13 KJV > Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece. > Fil 4:13 RVR1960 >
