1w ago

Linux For Your Grandma - A Linux guide for those that are not super techy

If you're tired of Windows, or just want to try something new, perhaps it's time to give Linux a try? I put a lot of time and effort into writing and recording this video, Linux is something I am v...

Howdy there! I posted here a while ago sharing a script to a video guide on how and why someone might want to switch to Linux and I wanted to share the finished product now that it is complete. My goal with this script was to create something explaining why an average person might want to stop using Windows and what Linux can do for them in its place. It is able to be watched on Peertube and YouTube as well as read in its entirety on my website. If you give it a watch or a read please let me know what you think. Thank you for your time :)

38 comments

I looked on the topics of the video and all of them make sense. However, I think the biggest problem for average persons is that they don't care enough to watch a video that is 80 minutes long (if they even find it). Also, I'm not sure if video is the correct format since I prefer text and some pictures. But I'm not an average user :) for a grandma a video might be better, I don't know.
For feedback of the video itself, the parts where you show Cinnamon, Gnome and KDE could benefit from showing the screen more and how to navigate in the OS. If I try to imagine how an elderly person would feel about changing OS to Linux from using Windows for decades then I'm not sure watching does short glimpses would convince them that they can handle it.
Sorry if it sounds harsh, I'm trying to give constructive feedback. I think it is a nice initiative and from what I saw the topics are well chosen and you speak slowly and clearly.

A heads up that, in 2026, a 70 year old grandmother could just as well have had a 30-40-50 year career in computing. Don't use grandmothers as the go to trope for tech illiterate users :)
- Decent point. Not every grandmother is my grandmother. And a 21 year old that has only used phones and tablets to consume content may actually be less tech literate than an older person with no screen experience that knows how to fix their car, blender, or sewing machine.
- Grace hopper died in 1992 well into her 80s.
  Edit: Ada Lovelace (maiden name Augusta Ada Byron. Yeah that was her dad, no they never met, but that's the time period) wrote the first computer code with a quill pen. Computers were largely considered 'women's work' until I think like the late 50s; most of turing's team at bletchley park were women. Up until the 1980s it was probably wise, if you wanted the deep lore on computers, to ask somebody's grandma.
  
  In fact, "computers" were women whose job was to do calculations in the era before electronic computers.

The premise is why you should change for those that arnt techy? I mean I'm pretty techy but get my ass handed to me anytime theres the slightest hiccup with Linux. The tutorials come from nice and well intentioned people but they gloss over a ton of stuff like drawing an owl meme. Its nice that its customizable but it also does allows people move app data from one drive to another without a warning to comical effects. Really, its cool for what it can do but it is not for the faint of heart and Ive yet to find any tutorials that dumb it down enough for this simple person thats been using computers since they were called IBM compatables.
- I agree with you, however: People have no fear changing things in regedit or 10 layers deep in the control panel to make windows more like it was "before".
  Linux us just unfamiliar. That makes it more scary. So having tutorials like this makes it more accessible.
  
  Very few people do that
- There have been some efforts to mitigate this by adding warnings where appropriate. But that doesn't stop certain people from ignoring those warnings and typing "Yes, do as I say!" and bricking their install anyway.

Is there a good linux with tech support for less technically inclined individuals? Like ppl just call windows support when they have issues or know they can contact hp, dell, etc. Would they even get help using linux?
- Yeah. That's the entire premise of the zorin OS paid tier
  
  Except they only help you with the install IIRC, so basically useless.
- Is it a thing that people call Windows or Dell etc. for problems with their PC? I looked quickly at Microsoft's support page and in my country it seems like the only way to contact them is over a chat. But I can understand if the grandma user would prefer a phone call instead of a chat with an AI. Maybe Fedora or Tumbleweed have support over phone? Otherwise I would say all distros have good tech support in forums.
- I've been thinking about doing exactly this but for the free and open source applications that I know well. Having a hotline/helpdesk would be way faster and easier for newcomers to make use of than reading forum posts scattered all over the internet that usually assume higher technical skill levels, or starting their own posts. I for one would learned way better this way and in many cases would have been happy to pay (reasonably) for it.
  If anyone would like to get involved in setting something up let me know.
  
  Just a heads up, you have apparently never helped any stranger.
  Once they know you can help for free, they will expect this of you all the time, for free.
  And the questions will be infuriating as ever. If you want to try it, just go to a beginners forum like gutefrage or your equivalent shitposting site and just answer every question on linux. No skipping.
  Trust me, or if you dont at least just get a second phone number for it so you dont have to migrate to a second one once you decided that it takes a way too big toll on your mental health
- you can potentially buy ubuntu or redhat commercial distros. there support is more industry oriented, but i assume they have some amount of beginner friendly tech support. but just guessing here, so please do check before buying anything.
  
  Wasnt asking for myself, was just asking since ppl brought up swapping from windows to linux and thats why the average person wont

This is an excellent idea and very valuable - thanks for doing it 👍

Secondary comment. Linux aside, I appreciate your Thing video. Yes, that's exactly the difference with the original vs the prequel. I enjoyed the prequel much more than most (and you give it a nod at the end) but it's far from the original.
- I honestly love the two together, I think the original was enhanced by the prequel, which is a rare thing.
  Story-wise, the transition is pretty well thought out and I think the prequel does a good job of honouring the 1982 story.
  There is a 1 hour yt video out there covering the making of the prequel and it really drives home how much the director was steamrolled by the producers, especially on the CGI.
  
  One of the things I appreciate about the prequel is that it ends seamlessly into the first movie. It actually builds that tension that leads from the originals beginning. One of the best moments of the movie.

Disclaimer, I did not watch the video other than the intro.
I intend to scrub through it, but its very long for an basics video. Maybe this should be broken up into a series.
Looking at the topics, it seems odd to including gaming for Grandma. Again, if it was a series you could do an offshoot gaming focused video for non grandma.
Though to be constructive and positive, I love your intent here. When you know nothing about Linux there's a lot of information to process and understand (even for non grandmas). You cover a lot of important topics and how to get going.
- it seems odd to including gaming for Grandma
  Why? Back in the 90s, my great-grandmother learned how to use the family computer (it ran DOS) because she wanted to play the Wheel of Fortune video game.

Nice video. I remeber reading the article version of this (or am i mis remembering stuff). great work. congrats and thanks

What is the alternative to Ubuntu (lets pretend snap doesn't exist) if recommending someone a distro where you don't need to use the CLI to install apps?
Unfortunately there are many apps that can't be found on flathub/discover.
- Linux Mint is always the better Ubuntu.
- Out of curiosity, what apps were you unable to get from the repository that can't be found in discover/software/whatever?
  Those apps are front-ends for the OS's package manager so as long as it's in the repository, it should be in there.

js let boomers use windows. no boomer cares about bloatware or ads they js wanna use a basic os
- Basic os is arch.
  Kid-with-concussion friendly os is android/iOS
  Windows is just crap.

38 comments