A parent`s box

mitschel · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject: A parent`s box

Hi,

I want to setup my parents a gentoo box. So I bought an amd64 3000, 1gb of ram and a geforce 6200. So far my parents can deal with windows for browsing or to manage their digicam. Sometimes they watch a movie or burn a cd. So you can see, normal pc usage. So my question is, what kind of window manager and apps could you recommend. I´m using ion3 with a lot of curses stuff, so I`m not really familiar with mouse clicking systems. Another point is, that "all" has to be rock stable, because I don`t live anymore at home. So once the system is installed, it has to run for a couple of time without strange things goin on.

So I`m really interessted in your suggestions!

nixnut · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject:

If you're parents are used to MS-Windows, kde (optionally with an xp theme) would be most familiar to use for them.
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PaulBredbury · Watchman Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 7310

mitschel · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 6:16 pm Post subject: Re: A parent`s box

PaulBredbury · Watchman Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 7310

zietbukuel · l33t Joined: 30 Dec 2005 Posts: 607

Maby GNOME, with Firefox, Brasero (cd burning), aMSN o Gaim for chatting, Rhythmbox for Music, Mplayer or Totem for movies, etc. I don't know about Digicam, sorry. Hope it helps.

SirYes · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject: Re: A parent`s box

zxy · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:14 am Post subject:

I guess KDE is the best for this.

I overlook a few gentoo boxes, family and from friends. No problem, I ssh to their machine, setup software, update and do any necesary work. I don't see their machine for months. I don't need to.
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mitschel · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:37 am Post subject:

i92guboj · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:32 pm Post subject:

zxy · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:33 pm Post subject:

Openoffice/Gimp - I like it much more, but tastes differ :wink:

For graphics take a look at XaraLX (as soon as it is finished porting, but it works even now and it's fantastic)
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SirYes · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:23 pm Post subject:

As a plan B I'd recommend putting /home on a separate partition. Three reasons:

Easier backups (both system and users' data).
Can be handy if you ever need to replace one Linux distro in favor of another one.
It's definitely handy when you have several Linux distros installed on the same machine (shared mail/browser settings, same files on Desktop, etc.)

Personally I'm on point three, so I guess I know what I'm talking about.

Good luck and make a good plan - your solution will be in "production" use a lot longer than you spend planning it anyway.
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a16b03 · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject:

I recommend KDE for your parents!

a16b03 · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:52 pm Post subject:

Oh forgot to mention, that for your parents I would recommend kubuntu linux.
Easy to install/update. Gentoo should be maintained often.

batistuta · Veteran Joined: 29 Jul 2005 Posts: 1384 Location: Aachen

just to throw some more ideas.
I've installed Linux on my girlfriend's computer, and I've decided for Ubuntu: reasoning was that Gentoo x86 is a bit outdated, and ~x86 breakes too often for someone else's computer. Plus I don't mind leaving my computer running overnight to compile, but they like to shut them off. And compiling during video playback or browsing is kind of silly... too much overhead. So I would definitely go for a binary distro when using machines that power-off.

My experience with Ubuntu for non-technical people
Ubuntu is bit different, but learning it is a snap. The only "trick" to learn is that you need to add some other repositories (kind of like overlays) where all the multimedia, beryl, Picasa, skype, etc etc packages are. But this is easy to grasp. You get Ubuntu up and running quickly. And maintaining it is just three apt-get commands.

With respect to KDE vs Gnome, I think both are OK. KDE is more windows-like because of the menu. But I find Gnome easier to use for non-technical people. Less options, but they don't want options. Every option is a question, that they don't know how to answer and frustrates them. So less options is better. My girlfriend needed one week to learn gnome and she's quite happy.

If you want to convince them, give them eye candy:
- install the OSX icon set (Gnomes original is not the nicest)
- Beryl
- kiba-dock

they will like it, and be happy

mitschel · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:43 am Post subject:

I just finished setting up the system so far. And with a big thanks to the developer and helper, I have to say it`s runnning really great. I`ve decided to make the basic installation steps, like it is described in the wiki.evolution-mission.org/Install_Guide_4.0. But with gentoo_sources instead of the emission ones, because there are problems running sata.
Until now I`ve only installed kdebase-meta and added the following packages:

a16b03 · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:23 pm Post subject:

When setting up qemu don't forget to emerge kqemu and load it in kernel.

This will increase qemu emulation speed.

I haven't tired, but i read that you can make image with qemu (+setup basic system) and then run it on vmware-player (it's free), which is much faster.

i92guboj · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:18 pm Post subject:

Just a quick note, bash sources the scripts -like make.conf- by taking each carry return as a command separator, that is, unless you escape it with a slash in the end of line. So,

mitschel · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:49 pm Post subject:

The use flags in the make.conf look like I`ve posted it. I always do it like this and it runs well for 2 years know. 0o

i92guboj · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject:

Strange, maybe emerge sources the make.conf script in any obscure way. I dont know anything about the emerge scripts internals. In bash terms, that way to declare variables is plainly incorrect.